Travail

Today was our first day of work in Cite-Soleil (it might be Cite-de-Soleil, I'm not 100% sure on that). We all slept better and got up a bit later to the sounds of the school children filling the compound in their dusty pink and blue uniforms; the girls have beautiful white ribbons in their hair, and they all sing together at the beginning of the school day before going to their respective classrooms, grades 1-6. We loaded into the tap-taps at about 7:30 and headed to Cite-Soleil church, where we left our bags stuffed with snacks for lunch and crossed the thoroughfare to the poorest place in the Western Hemisphere.

Blanchard children- so cute!

Most of the dwellings are made of sheets of tin or tents, with little furniture, though there is electricity. We are working on two cinder block homes within ten yards of each other, for members of the church I believe. We worked about three and a half hours; we drew a great crowd but we greeted people with smiles and "bon jou" and received the same in return, and soon people were comfortable with our presence. We formed bucket lines and passed cement up to the Haitian masons, about four of them I think for the two houses. We did the same for cinder blocks. I prefer the cement line to the cinderblock line, that's for sure. We unloaded two school-bus loads of blocks. It was stop and go work though, and in between we entertained and were entertained by the children who weren't in school. They wanted to know our names and our ages and wanted to play very much; I spoke in French as much as I could, and I think I was mostly understood, as often they replied with questions in Creole, to which I could only respond "je ne comprends pas, desolee!"

At some point a UN humvee showed up, and they were surprised to see us. They were wearing full combat uniform including weapons and rounds, but at least not helmets, only blue baseball caps. They were Brazilian, and were intent on determining our mission for being present, and were surprised we had not alerted their base previously, so that they could provide security. I, however, felt more comfortable without them there than with them; they seemed really ridiculous entering this neighborhood with combat uniform, while we were standing around filthy in t-shirts and work gloves. I almost wanted to ask if they wanted to help us out, because it seemed to me that we were doing more for the people in that moment than they riding around in their white UN vehicle meant for war were doing. They did mention that there was some gang violence in the next neighborhood over, but seemed content with what we were doing and left after about half an hour.

The afternoon was really hot, and dusty, and the odors of human and human excretement grew worse with the heat. Trash floated high in the wind, and heavy clouds that looked like rain but were probably amalgamations of smoke and trash hung over the city. The rest of the kids who attended school had returned, and promptly removed their uniforms, leaving most of them half if not fully naked. They pulled and pleaded with us for our hats and watches. What got me was when they begged for water, and we couldn't share, for our water bottles were all we had for us. There was so much malnutrition; some of the babies had yellow-ish hair in evidence of this. Mud-pies were laid out in the sun on canvas to dry. Mothers are so very young; elderly people are few and far between. Children were running around with condoms filled with water as cups; we wondered if they knew what they were really for.

I still have a lot to process, and tomorrow will be another day like today. We are going to meet and reflect in a minute, and then bed. For those of you at home who worry, don't worry about our team- we are safe. Worry about those children in bed tonight who begged for water and might not have gotten it today.