The past 3 days have been extremely BUSY for the team in Haiti! On Saturday we had the Christmas party for the children in our sponsorship from infants up to age 12..... that's a little over 300 kids! They started arriving around 7am and I think the last one left around 5pm. Each child was given a number in consecutive order when they arrived and waited patiently to be called to have their picture taken and write a message on the Christmas card to be delivered to their sponsor back in the United States. The children played games while they waited and were given lunch of chicken, rice & beans. Each child received a small monetary gift (or one given by the sponsor) and a string bag filled with clothing, a Barbie, toys, soap, popcorn and a brownie, but the highlight of the day was picking out a soccer ball of their choosing. We repeated this same process for the older kids (and some adults) on Sunday, but had a much smaller group of about 70. Thank you to all who helped Ann and Judy collect 400+ soccer balls and Barbie dolls! You made a lot of kids very happy! When we went to the work site on Monday, it was such a pleasure to see kids on their front porches playing with the Barbies or in the streets kicking around their soccer balls!
On Saturday the team didn't only help with the Christmas party, the carpenters in the group were busy building the last 3 bunk beds for the bunkhouse. So now when teams come, no one will have to sleep on the short metal bunks with their feet hanging over each side. You will also have a firm mattress that doesn't sag in the middle! Since we had less children on Sunday for that Christmas party, it was a shorter day and the team was able to go to the National Museum in Port au Prince and out to dinner at Epidor.
It was back to our normal routine on Monday, working in the clinic or on the construction site. Since work on the children's Christmas party was complete, Barbara who is a retired RN worked in the clinic doing triage in the morning and helping in the pharmacy in the afternoon. Peg sorted through the 400+ pictures we took of the children at the party to make sure we got one of each child and did some inventory data input in the afternoon. Paul and Peter sorted eye glasses all morning and made high energy/vitamins peanut butter cakes for the emergency child feeding program. The construction crew mixed cement and hauled boulders for the foundation of the house they are helping to build in Blanchard.
What an amazing team!
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