Day 3- Water Truck

Hello Friends and Family!

Today was our first water truck delivery into Cite Soleil, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Haiti. First stop is filling up the water truck and then we bring it into one of the 20 some sub neighborhoods of Cite Soleil. We made three stops and I think it is safe to say that everybody is exhausted as is 9:30 and everybody is crawling into bed.

Water truck is always a crazy day filled with mixed emotions from heartbreak and confusion, to joy and laughter. It never gets old driving into the neighborhood and being greeted by children running after the Tap Tap smiling, waving and yelling "hey you!". Getting off the truck they instantly reach out repeating "Pote m'" which means "pick me up".  Everybody instantly has one, two, even three children in their arms. The language barrier is instantly shattered by the love that we can't help but pour out onto these people. Our time there is spent dancing, holding, hugging, singing, and trying to find any way to connect with them. A big group of kiddos loved learning "ring around the rosie" and "the hokey pokey" and hearing their laughter and seeing their smiles is something that is just simply contagious.
The other big part of water truck day is obviously delivering the water and its a process that can get hectic at times which just reminds you of the extreme need and desperation for what we are bringing them. I think personally, my favorite part of the day was at our first stop when we got through filling all of the buckets of water, but still had more water in the truck. The panic and desperation was gone and the kids were now dumping water on themselves, our team members, and standing under the water hose. It was amazing to see the joy on their faces and we all look forward to doing this again on Saturday!
We also had the opportunity to witness the progress happening on Hope church which is being built in Cite Soleil. We brought the kids into here and they all joined us in singing and dancing. It will be amazing to one day have a facility for these kids to go to school for free as well as a church for the people to worship in. Some day soon!
We appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers.

God Bless!
Haley