Bo Joint

So, as promised, a week or so later, here are some more pictures! Hoorah! I am going to try to find some from my favorite village, called Bo Joint... (Maybe my spelling is wrong...?) pronounced Boo Jwin. The people here were so very, very sweet. We played a game called "Little Sally Walker" (You know the game, right? You dance in a circle.) The little boys were so funny. And um, explicit. Haha. I'd be dancing with them, and then be like "Whoa! I had no idea a five year old would do that!" Boys are boys are boys... They shared Cacao with us, which is a funny story I will tell you, and sugar cane, which is another story I will tell you.

This is a Cacao fruit. It opens up, and inside are a bunch of seeds, like a pomegranate, but bigger. There is a white flesh covering the brown seed. You can suck the fruit part off of the seed, and spit the seed out. A few of us (Not me. I was warned before I did it...) Tried chewing the seed. Yuck! What did I do when I was offered some? I tried to take the spit out, sucked on seed from the wrong side of the shell! I was the subject of much laughter. I didn't realize why they were laughing, until one of the teenagers showed me what that side was for. Then we all had a good laugh together, and I took from the other shell. It was really good. I don't have a picture of the sugar cane... but, the story goes like this: When we arrived at the village, they were all sitting around eating it. We eventually asked for some (Not a rude thing to do. In fact, you can ask for anything. But, its also acceptable to say no, without explanation. A great practice I wish we adopted here in the U.S. ) Well, nobody wanted to share. So, we said "No problem, no problem..." BUT then they all went outside the tabernacle (The place they meet for church, sort of like a garage port...) and started EATING SUGAR CANE IN FRONT OF US! So we asked again, and again they didn't want to share. After a long silence, a little girl said "You want to buy?" And Mark laughed and asked her why she would try to sell it? As it turns out, there were some Blancos in the village a couple of days before who bought it... Mark said "No."

I am not going to get into all of the details of whether or not we should have bought it. We had good reasons for saying no. Yes, this is a country where this kind of thing CAN help them. But, we also had reasons for not. Primarily relationship. (At least, thats why I wasn't going to buy any.) Buying from them would have set us up just like all the other rich, white, Americans who come and purchase anything they want. This village has just been adopted by my church, Church Project Greeley, as our sister church. We are funding the construction of their church building, and supporting the pastor of this village. But more than throwing money at a situation, we went to create a RELATIONSHIP with them. We will go back there again and again and again. They needed to come outside of themselves and let us into their lives. The inner workings of their village.

Guess what? A teenaged boy went home and got us a couple of stalks of sugar cane. And he gave them to us. When we went the next day? They had a bunch for us. And they shared their bread. Possibly their weeks worth of bread, for us. I'd say not buying the sugar cane was a wise choice.

So, sugar cane is so, so good. You chew the stalk, and kind of suck on it, and then spit out the tough stuff. You only get the juice out of it. I began understanding how their lives go... they lack in a lot of "real" foods, and quite frankly, its so hot there you don't really feel like eating, but these fruits they have can level your blood sugar and keep you feeling energized.

This is a river we stopped at for lunch one day, on the way to Bo Joint. It was in this beautiful jungle-y area. My friend and I were careful to point our cameras and our eyes in this particular direction, since there was a naked man bathing in the river behind us... 

This is the truck we rode around on the whole week we were there. We sat in the back. If you look carefully you can see the benches. I liked to stand and hold the rail, because I could take in more of the sights and smells of Haiti. Plus it was more cooling to have the wind blowing in my face. In Haiti there are no rules on the road. There is a lot of honking (Just to communicate. Not like here, when you honk, you have rage.) There are many Motos... Motorcycles... driving between two cars passing each other, in either direction. We saw a couple of car accidents. Mostly involving tipped over trucks. There is a high rate of mortality when it comes to the road... People were piled on top of trucks, and they were especially skilled at fitting four people (Yes, I saw four people) on a moto, and sometimes they would be carrying live animals, like a goat, in a bag tied to the side of it. It was delightful. (I am being serious. Delightful.)

So, this is the last photo for today... the troops are getting restless. My day is calling. This, my friends, is the church they are building in Bo Joint. As you can see, it is in the newly developed phases... While the VBS team was there playing with the people the men went back to town to get some more brick... clearly its running low. When the truck arrived and we finished our activities the children RAN down the road, laughing, and excited, and started helping unload the block. There were little bitty things carrying these cement blocks... they have so much pride in their meeting place. Its going to be the central part of the inner workings of their village. A school, a place of worship, a meeting place for other functions... They were all so excited, and everyone wanted to pull their own weight when it came to finishing it. I saw another, recent photo this past Sunday at church. The walls are completed! I can't wait to go back and have church there, with my brothers and sisters of that particular village! (And, a side note... most places had septic bathrooms. At the very least, a covered hole. Here? Its really in the backwoods. We had none of that. A tinkle trip took a hike. It was very... freeing.) 

Awed...

So, obviously I've been back from Haiti for awhile. Oh, how I love that place... those people. They are so sweet, and kind. I don't even think I could tell you all about it here on the blog, or even if you were sitting right in front of me, and do it justice. I can say that I would go back tomorrow. Or today, if I could. And you know I'm going back there! A lot of my expectations were... shattered. I expected dirty, stinky, trashy... despair and hopelessness. But instead it seemed that everywhere I looked there was beauty. They burned their trash at night, and I would lay next to the open window trying to sleep and listen to the crazy roosters crow in the dark, and smell the scent of burning plastic and wood and paper... and I loved it. You couldn't go three feet without seeing some kind of animal. Goats were everywhere... Ha! It was hilarious. I love goats. And I got to eat goat. It was delicious. There were cows and pigs and horses too. Chickens. Free range chickens all over the place. I asked if people knew who the chickens belonged to, and the missionary (Rick) who lived there said "Yes. There aren't many property disputes. They know who has what, and they respect that." If only we could have that kind of attitude here, in a place where everything we want is almost handed to us... Let me load some pictures and tell you some stories...

This is the New Life Mission House. I woke up at 5 AM every day... an hour and a half earlier than what I did before I left... I surprised Mark, the team leader... haha. He came out in his boxers, not expecting anyone to be awake. It was hilarious, and a joke we carried on for the rest of the week. (I kept saying "Do you have any idea how many naked people I see every day?") He also got up early, and we drank our coffee (Mmmmm. Haitian coffee...) and did our own quiet activities until folks started stirring. A few of the days we had some great conversation about the culture of Haiti, and about ourselves. It was wonderful to be awake before the sun, and hear the sounds of the day stirring... Peace.

This beautiful woman is Andina. She cooked for us, and cleaned too. She went to bed long after I did, and woke up around the same time... I would some out of the room, and sit at the table, and she would have the coffee brewing already. She would put it out, and wave at me, and say "Coffee, coffee!" I found out that it is rude to not greet eachother in the morning, so on the second day I found her in the kitchen and said "Bonjour, Andina!" She lit up... They loved when we tried to speak their language, and laughed when we messed up... 

This is a typical meal in Haiti. Rice and beans. So, so good. We had rice and beans every day... our food didn't vary much, but it was delicious, and I never felt like I wasn't getting enough. We ate three meals a day, but most Haitians only eat once a day. I think its a cultural tradition born of poverty. Even the children took what they were given happily... 

I loved this little girl... she reminded me of Delilah, with her sass and spunk... She lived at the children's home near where we stayed. It was exhausting being outside of my comfort zone, but every time we went to see the kiddos at the home I was excited and energized. They loved the attention and all the games we could play with them. We jumped rope, played soccer (They ALL adored soccer!) and even just sat and talked. Some of them can speak English, but try to keep it a secret. We would see that one of them was understanding more than they were letting on and we would say "You DO speak English!!!" And they would laugh and get embarrassed. 

More of the Children's Home. The boys were so BOY! I have a soft spot for little boys. I love their hearts, and their gentle spirits that are hidden behind that rough edge... Boys in Haiti were no different. See that thumbs up? What a Prince... and they loved high fives and fist bumps, and secret handshakes. Throwing the ball, kicking the ball... 

I can't help myself. Seriously. Aren't they the cutest? I left a huge chunk of myself over there... I spent a lot of time being humbled by these people. Even the children... And this sounds cliche, but these kids are the future of that wonderful country. I am honored, also, that I got to observe first hand how the Saints over there are pouring the love of Christ into these motherless, and fatherless... abandoned souls. They need encouragement, for sure, but can't you see the light in these precious babies? Its working!

This is a goat... that was given to Mark as a gift. We all know that in most foreign cultures its rude to refuse a gift, so he took it, and he went for a ride in the truck with us. Whats funny is we left him on the truck to eat at a restaurant, and he was still there when we came back. Respect. The goat was called Jason Shepherd. Ha. Inside joke... I am sure that by now he is in the missionary's freezer. 

Okay, I'll end today's post on this one. This is a really special photo for me, because of the sign behind the kids. (In their lion masks they made for vbs...so cute!) That is a Church Project sign, just like the one we have here in Greeley, Colorado at my meeting place, and in Aurora, Colorado, and at multiple locations in Texas, and in Ohio? I think... And this was presented to this church while we were there... It says "Church Project, Biblical, Simple, Relevant" In Haitian Creole... There are churches in Haiti who are a part of the Church Project network. And we got to worship with the believers who attended this church, as well as another congregation... (That was the one thing I was the most excited about, meeting the Saints in Haiti. What a privilege to come to the throne of God with those warriors! I was not worthy of them... I can say that much.) I was just so excited to see a physical representation of what God is doing in my world... adding churches that I know to be doing work that I am also laboring in... in parts of the world that I alone cannot touch. We are all one body, and I was just so... I don't even know what word to use... humbled? honored? Awed! to be there to see that... And to be a part of a body of believers who are sacrificing in order to build a more lasting kingdom!