Haiti is hard!

Let me repeat in case you didn't get it.....HAITI IS HARD!  I cannot ever adequately explain what a day in the life of a Haitian is like. There are no midday breaks, coffee breaks, lunch breaks, Spring breaks, four-day weekends or 'bucket list' vacations.  There is only the grueling daily hardship to merely survive and care for your family. Each day brings a need and a constant search to fulfill that need. Perhaps it is a simple bar of soap, a bucket of charcoal, an 8 ounce bag of rice.  Perhaps larger needs such as $5 IV bag for your sick child, the backpack that completes the obligatory items to actually attend school or the $50 tuition to attend one more year.  And as each day brings its task, the stomach gnaws from hunger and the throat thirsts.  This is life in Jeremie. And as you travel outside the city, there is one task and only one task--food and clean water. It is so unimaginable.  So, where do they get their strength?  I shake my head as I truly don't know. I believe their strong belief in God guides many through their days. Without that protective spirit and unconditional love they would despair. But instead the tackle each day--one day at a time. 

I cannot seem to write in detail about the people we've met and touched, but feel blessed merely because WE CAN. At the end of each day we laugh with joy for some and cry for others and pray that tonight God would take them to a better place.....a place that isn't so hard.