Haiti - Day 5

Haiti - Day 5

By: Cassie Do, Faith Perez, and Margaret Kadlec

This morning, we woke up earlier than usual because we were all excited to go to the last day of camp. When we arrived, the kids were praying for us, which made us feel blessed. We taught them a bit of English today using body parts. The kids were a bit restless, so teaching didn't go exactly as planned, but it was still good.

They mayor of the town gives us our Kreyol lessons

We had our last Kreyol lesson, and after, we took out the paint. We had been eager to use the paint all week and finally we were able to use it. Once the paint came out, it became chaotic, but in a good way. We started painting kids faces, but soon they took over and painted us all over. They painted our faces, legs, arms, and backs. It's was crazy, but we loved it. Then came lunch.

We sat down for a little and ate, but soon the time to swim came. Both us and the kids were excited to get in. Each of us had about six kids piling on us as soon as we dipped our feet in the ocean. It was an extremely happy moment for all of us. When the waves became too strong for the little ones to swim in, we got out.

Cass and Faith began talking to one of the older boys named Max and the topic of strength came up, which brought us into an arm wrestling competition. Soon all the kids came around and watched the older kids arm wrestle to see who was strongest. We participated, but for the most part lost. Margaret held her weight against the many of the boys, though. It was so entertaining to watch the whole event.

The day flew by quickly. When 4:00pm came around, we were called to gather to say goodbye for not only the day, but the week as well. Father Walin spoke to the kids for a little, just as he did all week, and then addressed the people from Saint Stephens. He told us thank you for coming to the camp and the kids all said, "mesi ____" and filled in the blank with each of our names, one after the other. It was so heartwarming to experience that.

Right after they had said, "thank you" and Father Walin had dismissed everyone, the kids showered us with hugs. Kids took pictures with us and told us they loved us. Then papers flew in front of us from each kid, left and right. Most of them wanted to keep in contact with us, so we wrote our numbers along with our names down on pieces of paper. We suspect that the little ones did not really want our numbers, but just a piece of writing from all of us. When we said goodbye to Titi and Gerald, two men who are in close contact with Saint Paul's, they both said they would pray for us and asked for prayers as well. It was an emotional moment and made us tear up a bit. We said thank you and goodbye to the teachers and Father Walin, and hopped in the van.

We thought today was extremely successful, but also heartbreaking. We feel blessed to have come to this camp in the first place and hope to see many of the kids and teachers from Saint Paul's in church on Sunday. We are extremely excited just because there is them possibility to see them again before we leave. Hopefully, we will.

The lovely people who cooked for us all week