Fun day today. Nicholle and I borrowed some bikes from base volunteers and decide to find the ocean. Well…biking in Haiti is like off roading in the US. Good God. I needed my padded shorts! Got a nice crushed crotch to prove it. J Our first stop was on the way to the beach…Cordaid, a Dutch NGO who decided they would build shelters with the money they received. Their base is right around the corner from ours. I had met Mike last time I was here. He’s an architect. I asked Nicholle if she was interested in talking to him. I could hook her up. She is interested in studying architecture. Sure, she said. He had a lot of good recommendations and we toured the models they had on their base. She got his contact info and some good ideas to search on the internet. Anyway onward…lots of friendly faces and shouts of “bonjou”, “bonswa”, “Hey You” and “Blan” along the way. So we ended up in a fishing village and found a tree with some shade and were just going to sit and have some water and snacks. Didn’t happen. When a Blan shows up in any village you become the entertainment. People come to just stare at you. So you play with the kids and take their photos and try to converse with the adults (Nicholle and I know enough French to have some sort of conversation). We met Wilson who had perfect English. He’d spent 20 years in West Palm Beach, FL but ended up in jail for 4 years for grand theft auto and marijuana possession. He’s 33 and has 7 kids! He prided himself on never missing a child support payment. Once again, I mentioned…if you want to stay in the US you have to be good! He has changed his ways, he said. He was very likable and I invited to come to base to talk to the Project Director about work or volunteering. He was very interested. Told him times to show up and he said he would. We shall see. Back to base and the usual laundry, nap and now I think we’ll hit MINUSTAH which is the UN cafeteria where they have burger and fries. Yum! (Photos: Me and Cholle get ready to have a biking experience in Haiti; we found a fishing village. They wanted Cholle’s earrings and her bike. 🙂 ; CordAid’s spec homes! Nice for Haiti)
Giving Hope a Chance 