Journals from Haiti

I went downstairs to have coffee while Jovite ate. This would be the last time. He asked when we were leaving and I told him. A small rodent scurried along the edge of the kitchen floor, and he pointed and said “sourit,” then asked “rat?” and I nodded. He asked if I would come back next year - I hope so. Then if I liked Haiti and why - the people, and it is very beautiful. Pat reminded him not to forget his tie as he got up to leave for seminary. He shook my hand and said goodbye, and something in Creole. Pat translated, “greet your family for me.”

Soon the rest of us gathered at the table for blueberry pancakes, bananas, and juice. We paid Pat for our stay and gave her our extra money to use as she saw fit. She mentioned Jovite’s house and a roof for Pastor DeGonzaque’s house and was very surprised and thankful.

I’d been very careful about water but caught a bug anyway, so I told Pat. She told me what meds to take but said it happens a lot here and I’d be fine.

Enoch came up to say goodbye. He had to leave for something but knew we were flying out today and wanted to see us first. He hugged me. I will miss his kindness and funny comments.
I finished snipping threads off the new curtains, got ready, packed, and read the Bible, then went downstairs.

Clark showed me, on a map, some of the places where he looks for artifacts. He is very much into archaelogy and had told us about Columbus’s landing on Haiti. Someone asked if it was safe to say no one had gotten sick. I reluctantly admitted that I was, and Abby, ironically, had gotten a cold.

Pat took us to a store to get more vanilla for a few of us, and a woman named Suzie came with very nice wares that a few of us bought some of. The daughter of Claudette, the cook, also visited.

We had our last meal together - spaghetti with meat sauce, peas, and cole slaw - and about five minutes later it was time to load the truck. We gathered for one last photo and said goodbye. I tried to take in everything as if for the last time, but said to myself, “God willing, I’ll be back again.” We saw one last U.N. tank on the way to the airport.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Cap Haitien. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.