Friday, May 28
The team visited the Brakeman school one last time to watch the opening ceremony. The view from the balcony of the school was astonishing. It wasn’t mountains or ocean that we were looking at; it was a sea of yellow and gray uniforms (the colors of the Methodist schools) lined up in the courtyard, waving at us from below, singing and praying. Pastor Dorceley addressed the students with some words of inspiration: “Do today what you want to achieve tomorrow.” That may be a rough translation, but you can tell from his demeanor that he pours inspiration into the Brakeman students.
We gave the teachers of the classrooms in which we made crafts Thank-You cards. From the balcony we could see one teacher showing her card off to her colleagues. What a joy that was to see.
We said our last goodbyes to the Dorceley family, at which point, Pastor Dorceley gave us each certificates acknowledging our presence for the week. He told us we bring hope to the people of Haiti, expressed his thanks and asked us all to come back. Madame Dorcely was as kind and compassionate with her goodbyes as she was with her hello.
We drove about two hours back to Petionville. The traffic in the urban areas is rough, to say the least. One team member described it as “aggressive considerate” driving. There are people passing, cutting off, going around and honking constantly; and yet, there’s no “road rage” like you see in the United States. There are no traffic signs or lights, yet somehow everyone has an understanding of when to let the other go ahead. To us Americans, it’s a little unnerving, but we arrived everywhere we needed to go safe and sound!
The driver of one of our vehicles, Johnny, had a quite a story to tell. He was in medical school when the earthquake hit in 2010. He lost all of his medical books and supplies (which cost quite a lot), and was unable to go back to school. He loved to teach Biology to secondary students, but had to give that up as well because a teacher’s salary is not secure enough to support his family of six. Johnny now drives, translates and sells flags to support his family.
We spent some time up time going about 3,000 feet up the mountain the the Baptist mission. They had a small museum and zoo. The team then went to an overlook spot on the mountain with a beautiful view of Port-au-Prince. Rudy pointed out all the different spots that we had been or that he had been. You could see it all.
The Brazil UN was there at the overlook as security detail for a two-star General, so we were enjoying the view side-by-side with armed soldiers, which was interesting.
After we soaked up the view, we did some shopping on the street. You don’t have to try very hard to buy something. As soon as we got out to the van there were men and women offering trinkets, jewelry and paintings. We respected their persistence, as even when we were back in the van they were negating prices.
We ended the day back at the Heart to Heart headquarters in Petionville with another amazing dinner. On our final night together in Haiti we discussed what seeds we planted here, and what seeds were planted in us through Haiti and the Haitian men, women and children. The night ended with the team sitting poolside with our feet soaking in the water, enjoying the sight of the moon and stars that can be seen from Haiti, Kansas City and all over God’s kingdom here on earth.