Something we all are guilty of taking for granted. Even me, living here, I still have a hard time comprehending how so many people don’t have clean water. People -mostly women and children, are responsible for getting clean water for their families. Some are lucky enough to have a good working hand pump within a short walking distance. Others walk a long way to get that water. And even others, walk long distances for dirty water-the only water they have available to them. The list of sickness caused by drinking unclean water is long, and heartbreaking. It sucks to know people in this country die from preventable diseases, diseases caused because they drink dirty water.

We’ve only been here a month, and are still very much trying to figure what we are doing! For now though, most of what our days include is mapping out where all the pumps are located that Living Water International has fixed thus far. That way, we can figure out what areas and communities they have been working in. The goal then, is to come alongside that community. We want to provide more than clean water-we want to make sure they are hearing the gospel. Almost every village here has a church, so we want them to come alongside us in giving the people clean water, and talk to them about Jesus too. And, if they need more tools to do that, perhaps we can help with that too. In addition, LWI wants health and hygiene to along with the pump repair. Sickness isn’t just caused from drinking dirty water, but not knowing or implementing basic standards of sanitation. Yes, that is a lot LWI and we are aiming for!

In the meantime, we are also going out with the national team as they continue to repair broken pumps. While we work on mapping out communities and getting a game plan going, we can still fix some pumps too. And, it has been so cool to see what the national team does. It typically only takes a few hours to transform a dry broken down pump, into one that gives life giving water once again! The guys that work for LWI know what they are doing, and work together as a team very well. It’s been great to go along as an observer, to see what they do, how the do it.

Here are a few pictures they took. Part of their job is to record a lot of information about the pump. And one thing they do is take pictures. Being the picture freak that I am, I love this! I love that the local guys working are the ones taking photos of the people in the community. And the people react much differently when a fellow Haitian takes their picture, rather than when a “blanc” does! They are way more casual, less intimidated, and more open to taking photos. We just stand back and take it all in. And, since we have to type out all the reports, and transfer all the information, we get access to those photos! It’s like getting great snap shots without all the fuss and hype of taking them myself! I love it! So, here are a few I wanted to share with you…

The week went by too fast, the whole five days we had with Curtis and Danielle. The latter half of the week, we were able to show them a little of what we are doing here. We did some ‘mapping’ with them, which allowed us to show them Cap Haitian. We simply drove along the roads looking for pumps, and when we found them, we’d jump out and write down a bunch of information down too. There were a few times when the pumps had an easy fix, and Curtis was able to help Brandon fix the pump right there, and give that community clean water right away. We loved it, Curtis and Danielle loved it, and the community was so excited! Another day we drove to the border of the Dominican Republic. It’s only about 45 miles from where we live, and it was fun to go and check it out. Since Brandon and I have to renew our visas, and we want to explore the DR, we scoped it all out while we were there. It’s a typical border crossing- crazy and confusing. Close the border is a town called Fort Liberte, and they have an old fort right on the ocean. It was so cool too, cause to get to it, you have to drive through this small and unassuming little town. I love how there are old forts and ruins in so many random places! Our last night we went to this great restaurant in downtown Cap Haitian. They have amazing food! Of course, us girls took the opportunity to dress up, it was so fun to feel girly! We can back and hung out at our house, just chatting. They left the next morning, bright and early. We drove them to a a little town about two hours away, they got on mottos, then took a boat, and a truck to get back to their place! Oh, how fun it was so see them, and how thankful we are they made the long journey to come and see us! It sucked to say goodbye, since they are moving back to Kentucky in May, and we are unsure of when we’ll see them next. But, they have huge hearts for Haiti, so I think we’ll see them again sometime!!

 

We set off for the beach. We live about an hour away from some pretty amazing Caribbean beaches. When we got to the beach we intended to hang out at, Brandon and Curtis had already formed an idea. There is this tiny little island off in the distance that Brandon has talked about wanting to go to. Since we were with Curtis and Danielle, and they are always up for an adventure, we decided to go for it. We rented a boat and set off. Where we got on the boat was right next to Labadee, the private island Royal Caribbean owns where the cruise ships stop. It was hilarious to be scooting along in this rinky dink boat right along side the biggest cruise ship in the world! We all got a good laugh as we were taking pictures of the other white people on jet skis and the huge ship.

Turns out, this island called Ile Rat, was first named  La Amiga-when Columbus discovered it!! Columbus discovered different parts of Haiti, and this little tiny island was part of those first findings. Not only was it beautiful and quiet with no one around, but there were treasures lying right underneath the surface of the water! Curtis, who knows a lot about Haiti, said that Indian artifacts have been found on this island-from the indigenous people who first lived here. We didn’t have a shovel, or any tools to dig with, but it was pretty crazy to think stuff was pry buried right underneath us!

We finished off the most perfect day by stopping off at a beautiful hotel on the beach. We have been there before, alone and when we met our friends from Port de Paix. But, this was the first time eating dinner there, and it was just amazing. They have glass balls, and shell lights everywhere, and it felt so fancy and fun! We sat in the open air with a full view of the ocean.The food was great-fresh shrimp and seafood! What an amazing end to a perfect day!