I got to ride a moto!! :)

After having all that time yesterday to sit and reflect on the trip I was excited to go to the orphanage and see the kids today! Our van is still not working so we had to use other forms of transportation today. I was very excited about this because Sean (He lives here and his family helps with Love Takes Root they are from Okoboji!) wanted to take a moto. I was so excited when he told me that and Haley just looked at me like I was slightly crazy. We first had to find someone to give us a ride which did not take long at all. In Haiti they like to pile people on their moto's I usually see three to five people squished on to them. So Haley and I and our young Haitian driver set out on our drive. Haley was hanging on to me for dear life and kept saying "Just don't think about it, just don't think about." I on the other hand was sitting their giggling have the time of my life. I was enjoying all the sights you can really see a lot when riding on the moto. The only part that was a little scary was when we got on the gravel road it was super bumpy! I think that our Haitian driver also enjoy driving us around. He was waving at the younger guys and being like "Hey look who is riding my moto." Not often in Haiti do you see white college girls BUT on the rare occasion do you see white college girls riding on a moto. I think he enjoyed giving us the ride and all the attention fellow Haitians gave him. Below is Haley and I on our moto ride! I also took a video while riding and I can show you guys when I get back!

Today we had decided that we wanted to see the school that Sean's children attend. This school does half of the day in French and the other half in English. It is a very small school with only four teachers but oh my goodness. This school really knows what they are doing. It was such a relief to walk into a classroom and see them teaching in English! I could understand what the kids where talking about too. These students are so smart. One girl told me she could count to ten in ten different languages. I mean that is just crazy. I am so impressed with how many languages these people can speak. Haley and I also got a chance to speak to the director of the school. She is an amazing lady. She was telling us how in Haiti these teachers do no lesson planning at all. Which is hard for me to understand because we do so much lesson planning in our college courses. Most of the teachers also do not have college education and also have not completed high school. This school is also set up differently then many Haitian schools. In Haiti they use corporal punishment in the classroom. I have a very hard time with that. In this school they teach like we do and use love and compassion towards the students. I believe that has helped these students so much. They listen to the teachers and respect the teacher.

After spending the morning observing this school we took a short walk over to Love Takes Root. When we walked in we didn't see any of the kids. So Haley and I decided to walk down to the supply room and start looking at the supplies to see what crafts we could do with the kids. Let me tell you they have one shelf of supplies and it is very hard to think of crafts with only one shelf of supplies for the students. Haley and I have been thinking all day about ways that we can use the limited supplies that we have.

Once we looked at supplies we headed over to see if the kids were done with their chores. Sure enough they were out playing so we went and sat by them for awhile. I had a little boy pull my arm and he had handed me three rocks and he had three rocks. He sat down on the tile and put one rock down and then told me to put a rock down. So I figured out they were using this as a tic-tac-toe board. So I said tic-tac-toe and the kids freaked out. It was amazing to see that they had limited resources but they still found new ways to play games. They also take their tic-tac-toe very serious out here. I had many kids yelling at me and telling me what move I should make next.

While playing the game a little boy had gotten hurt and was sitting on the ground crying and no one was going to help him. I couldn't just sit there so I went over picked him up and comforted him. While I was sitting holding him this little girl came up to me with a children's Bible. She kept pointing at it so I started reading, soon I had kids hovering over me. One little girl was laying on my legs sucking her thumb half asleep. I just kept reading and reading. These kids just wanted someone to read to them. They loved the fact that I took time out of my day and read to them. I bet that I read for over a half hour and they just sat their and listening. It was so comforting being surrounded by kids and just reading to them! Below is when I was reading to the kids!

After a morning of hanging with the kids we headed back to the orphanage and we rode on the moto for the second time! (Sorry mom) I may have found my new favorite form of transportation! This driver drove way faster and weaved in and out of the traffic! I thought it was fun and Haley was not a huge fan! We got back to the resort and headed towards the beach. I am really starting to love my afternoons at the beach.

Haley and I get to a chance to reflect on the day and talk about what we think would be the best ways to help the school. One of our main topics we talk about is how we have to accept the fact that we are not going to change this school or these kids in three weeks. We need to make the most of each of these days. Give the students and teachers the resources that will help. But overall our main goal is to love on these kids. We know that it is going to be hard to say goodbye for us and them. We are just trying to do little things that will make a difference in these kids lives. Like today reading the Bible with the kids. They often do not have someone sit down and read a book to them and they were so excited to read. They didn't even have a clue as to what I was saying but just having the company and having someone care was enough for them.

With Love,
Abby