Day 10

Bon Swa!

It is crazy to think tomorrow is our last full day on the island. The last week has been at times tough but overall rewarding and very memorable.

Today we spent the entire day in Madame Bernard. We took the boat over in the morning. When we got to Madame Bernard we walked up the hill to the orphanage. We spent a few hours visiting the orphanage. This was a very difficult experience for most of us. The children at the orphanage are severely handicapped and require round the clock care. It was extremely eye opening to see these kids who have next to nothing smile and laugh. These kids have been dealt a very difficult hand in life. Most of them are unable to walk on their own.

Usually our two hour hike back to Vacation Village is filled with various complaints. But we didn’t complain too much this time.

We made it back to Vacation Village and washed up. We then headed over to Joe’s house for dinner. Joe is a young guy who is from France but grew up in England. He married a Haitian woman and now lives on the island with her and their son. He has turned his home into a restaurant and built a rooftop porch where we ate dinner.

The theme of dinner was takeaways. What have we taken away from this trip. Most of us took away the simplicity of the island. Jenelle mentioned how there were little kids completely content playing with a piece of cardboard. We all agreed that we take a lot of things for granted and being in Haiti and on Ile a Vache has opened our eyes to how lucky we truly are.

One of the best quotes from the night came from BJ, a guy who is working for Bill on a cement choral reef project. He said “be the light in a dark world.” This quote resonated with all of us. As our world is surrounded by the darkness of poverty, disease, and hatred among other things, be the light. We hope that the 43 pallets we have brought this winter, will help create some light in the darkness.

Tomorrow will be our last full day on the island. Bittersweet to say the least.

Kaylene