Remembering the earthquake

This morning we were informed that school was going to be cancelled today. Many of the schools in Haiti cancelled because January 12 is such a significant date out here. In the states January 12 is just an other ordinary day for us. In Haiti this date in 2010 changed their lives forever. It was just like any other ordinary January day until an earthquake came later in the afternoon. I can't even remember what I was doing on this dat and I barely remember hearing about this quake. People had no idea that this quake was coming and had no way of preparing for the damage it was going to leave on them. This morning I read a little bit about the earthquake since I didn't know a whole lot about. The quake hit Port Au Prince the worse. That is the town that we flew into. You could see that most of the town was damaged and most of the buildings were ruined. In the Haiti they do not have building codes. So most of the buildings are not built very strong or on level ground. When the quake came many of the buildings could not with stand the vibrations.  The quake had also hit Jacmel which is the town I have been staying in throughout this trip. The orphanage that we are working at was once in Port Au Prince but the damage that was done to the buildings and the space they had was not big enough.

This is where Rick and Barb come into play.  They came and saw the orphanage and the living quarters and decided it was not acceptable. So they moved the orphanage to Jacmel and built a place that would be beneficial for the kids. As I was reading the facts about the quake it was heartbreaking. There were points where I wanted to stop reading because being here made it all feel so real. For days after the quake they were still pulling the deceased out of houses that had collapsed. It felt like a genocide because the streets were filled with people that were killed. Can you imagine walking through what was once your home and seeing family and friends just laying there? They said the smell was horrible because the heat made the bodies smell. Amidst this pain and devastation you could here people singing in the streets. They were singing hymns. Even though these people were hurting they still found the courage to praise. I cannot even fathom what these people have been through. They have been fighting for their lives since day one. Many Haitians lost their homes and families due to this earthquake. Haitians slept in the streets and away from all the buildings in fear that they may collapse on them again. I see kids at the beach each morning picking up shells just so they can sell them to get enough money for food and school. Yet I catch myself complaining about school or how the food I have isn't good enough. Every time I saw someone today I was wondering what the day was like for them and how it had affected their life.

This afternoon we got an opportunity to go to a deaf school. Their are some retired teachers at our hotel who are teaching at the deaf school and invited us to go and visit the school. It was an eye- opening experience. I have had very little experience with the deaf population so I was excited to see what the school was like. The retired teachers were doing a professional development for the teachers at the school. They were giving them the resources to be successful in the classroom. It was interesting to see a sign classroom. I was also amazed by the teachers. They were so into the professional development. They were so excited to learn about teaching these kids. Haitians have such a passion to learn. The picture to the right is at the deaf school.

On our way down to the school we hopped onto a very full tap-tap. There was no place to sit so Haley and I were standing on the bumper of the tap-tap. This is a small little pick up. We had three garbage bags of food on there along with two chairs in the bed of the pick up. We had all that stuff in the pick up along with twenty people in the truck! It was a little squished. On the way back to the hotel we decided to take the moto! I love riding these things and it was really nice to not be crowded for once. When we got back to our room I had a little visitor in my room. I saw gecko running across the ceiling of my room. After a little screaming and laughing we got one of the workers to come into our room and get him out. I will not miss these little critters when I get home! The picture on the right is the gecko that was in my room.

With Love,
Abby

We took Ryan to the beach today and took some more pictures. While taking one of the pictures a wave come up and we nearly went under water!