Day 4

Tara McEnroe-Kent
Jan 19, 2018
2 min read

Friday January 19th, 2018

Bon Swa!

Today was a very long day but fun at the same time. We got an early start and had finished breakfast by 0800, Ailish met us at Vacation Village along with Captain Lennon and we began our 2.5 hour hike to Madame Bernard. Madame Bernard will be our central location for offload of supplies when the ship arrives in a few days. Madame Bernard is also where the Mayor’s office is as well as the orphanage we do work at.

The hike was very muddy. More so than usual. This is typically Haiti’s dry season, however they have been experiencing wetter weather than usual which makes local transportation difficult. The composition of the soil is mainly clay which becomes very slippery when wet. This made the hike much more interesting. There was one section we passed through that had been almost completely flooded and Liv’s bag got completely soaked!

When we finally made it to Madame Bernard, we briefly visited the Mayor’s office, the orphanage and Ailish’s office, all of which are in the same vicinity. Ailish told us all about the project she has been working on over the last several years. The project is to help women on the island develop their own business and run it successfully to support themselves and their family. The program goes through five steps which include: Selection, Health screening, Education, Empowerment and Graduation. In Haiti women for the most part are responsible for supporting the family so a program like the one Ailish has implemented is extremely beneficial.

After hanging around Madame Bernard for most of the day, we headed back to Vacation Village. Another 2.5 hour hike. By the time we made it back we were all exhausted and ate dinner, cleaned up, and went to bed. We wanted to meet with the Mayor but he wasn’t available today, so we will head back tomorrow to meet with him and tie up some loose ends for the offload of the supplies. Tomorrow we will likely take a boat over to Madame Bernard which will save our energy for the long week ahead of us. Talk to you soon!

Kaylene