I’ve been in Haiti now for exactly 5 days. I think Matt said it best when he commented that the days pass by slowly and the weeks quickly. Sometimes I forget that all the activities in one day feel like 3 days. We still completely rely on Steeve, our translator and friend to pick us up from GRU and bring us everywhere. I’ve been dedicating all of my time so far to GAP and working with Matt to visit our existing sponsored kids to help them with chores and hopefully setting down a budget so that money can consistently flow. One night we take the kids to ice cream and they all ate a gigantic cup each of the dessert that’s expensive and out of reach to most in Haiti. The girls are cooking up meals and all of the kids make us feel so welcome. Jean Widson, the 6 year old, is so full of energy, so I take him out and play leap frog, jumping jacks, and sprinting races. Matt and I visited all of the kids’ different schools to settle tuition payments and to visit them all. We find that some of the kids don’t bring lunch. So later that day, Matt and I work with the kids to create a chore list. They all rotate days to make lunch and another chore to take care of Jean Widson so that he gets his energy out as well as learns to read at kindergarten level. We managed to bring 10 kids to Fonkoze where Dr. Nancy and Matt previously had an agreement that the kids would be able to open bank accounts if Matt cosigns even without their birth certificates that were lost in the earthquake. We show up really late to the bank branch and still need to get all the kids 2 photos at photo place that was quite a distance from the Fonkoze bank. Somehow Steeve must have told the bank manager setting up accounts about GAP’s mission because she asks Matt if he would consider sponsoring her two cousins that are teenagers and not in school. Because of this, she stays an extra hour after the bank closes and sets up an account for all 10 kids! What a generous and amazing favor all for the love of education. Matt and I rotate spending nights at the girl’s apartment and at GRU. I already don’t want to leave and am in love with everybody and everything here.
Besides the kids that met Matt and initiated the start of GAP, we have so many more requests. When I went to visit JPHRO, the IDP camp that Matt volunteered at last summer, we met so many teens that had no jobs and no secondary school opportunities. It was amazing to finally be there in the place that I heard so much about. I fell in love with Matt and his stories at J/P. There are still so many issues within the camp such as lack of sanitation, rape, water shortages, and shanty tarps housing large families. I work with Matt to enroll about 4 new kids. Some lost all of their family and try to make ends meet on their own. Another girl’s dad couldn’t afford the $15/month tuition. 4 new lives transformed and renewed hope shining in each of their eyes. Education is so valuable and so many of us have taken public education in the states for granted.
P.S. The street food and Haitian food in general is incredible! Lots of spiciness, rice, beans, and chicken :)
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