Regrettably, one of our team members, Marilyn, fell seriously ill last night and woke up not feeling well. She was unable to travel with us today. Please keep Marilyn in your prayers for a speedy recovery and strength to travel.
Today we gave up the paint brush for an opportunity to travel and move about Port-au-Prince. The first stop was the metal-works where local Haitian artisans skillfully create some really cool artwork from tin. They use old 50 gallon drums as their source of supply of tin. We did a great job stimulating the local economy! It's also really cool to walk around a Haitian community and move from shop to shop and talk with the many of the local artisans. Many do speak some English.
The next stop was a first-time stop for all of us. The name of the organization is Apparent Project, started by an American woman and her husband to create jobs with dignity for local Haitians. Much of their artwork consists of necklaces, bracelets, other types of jewelry, baskets, purses, and the like. In four years, this woman-owned business has grown to include buyers from Macy's and Disney and today employs 220 local artisans (70% are women). What a terrific outreach to be able to provide the opportunity for a living wage for these folks.
Another treat was to actually eat lunch at a local Haitian restaurant. In years past, we have lunched in higher-end hotel restaurants. This year, we had requested something with a bit more of a local flavor. We were rewarded! We sat on an outside patio and had a terrific lunch off the main drag in Delmas, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. We also made a quick stop at the supermarket for things like coffee, vanilla, cigars, rum, and Haitian desserts.
Our intent was to then head to the Earthquake Memorial but due to the high volume of traffic and congestion, it was too late in the day. We'll have to save this for another trip! Many of us commented that a day of riding and getting beaten up in the open-air truck with the sun on us was more difficult than the days painting! It was still enjoyable because it's nice to get out!
Tonight, during our nightly devotions, lead by Mark, who requested that we all describe in 3 words what a memory would be of this trip. Here is what we shared (some of them may not seem self-explanatory, so we encourage you to discuss further with the team members):
-all the children (Sarah)
-peaceful sunsets (Yvette)
-smiling children singing (Tom)
-dirty dishes done...not by me (Roberta)
-Stevenson doing well (Paul)
-Marie's girls bubbles (Greer)
-open-air truck (Tish)
-encouragement, hope, love (Christine)
-paint, paint, paint (Bert)
-white walls rollers (Mark)
-joy, fulfillment, hope (Jim)
No comments:
Post a Comment