The Past Few Days in Haiti
I finally got the internet working at our house in Haiti. It only took about 25 phone calls to the same person until they finally sent someone out that could fix it. I can now update you on what has been going on here in Haiti, and it has been a really good few days.
The drive from Port Au Prince was fairly uneventful. Lener told me that any time he does not see traffic, he is scared; when he does see traffic, everything is normal. There were a couple of “no traffic” moments, but we sped through and everything was fine for the entire trip.
After not seeing the kids for months, we drove right past 7 of them on the way to the house on Tuesday as they were leaving school. Apolon was walking with a group of friends, so he pretended not to see us and just kept walking. The other 6, however, ran up to the car, jumped in, and tried to hug me from the back seat. The funny thing about Apolon is that he was probably happier to see me than any of the others, and it has been evident over the past 2 days.
I got home and then walked down to the kids’ house and hung out with them until dinner and then they came up to my house to hang out. It was a lot of fun seeing them, and I think this might have been as important as anything else I have done or will do while I am here. They are huge. I am not kidding. They look like they have grown 2 years in the past 5 months. They are happy and they are really excited about school starting back. The past 4 months of no school has been harder on them than I realized, and they really miss it.
I have spent the last few days getting the generator fixed, visiting the schools to make sure everything is ok, hanging out with kids, meeting with employees, getting some supplies ready for the fundraiser, and making sure things are running well here at All Things New. I can happily report that our kids are happy, they are healthy, our employees are great, and things are running well even in our absence. Tomorrow morning (Friday) we are going to have a big employee meeting to discuss what all has happened over the past few months and to thank them for the hard work that they did while we were gone. Our employees are incredible and we could not do it without them.
The main reason I was hoping to have it working is because we are having our first computer coding training this Saturday. I am going to show them how to log in to their accounts and show them what the videos will look like and what we expect of them throughout the training. It has been a long time coming to fruition and I am really excited about these guys getting started on what I hope will turn into a good career for them. In just a few short months we should start to see some of our coders finish their training and we will begin finding them jobs based on their skills. Please continue to pray for this opportunity for our kids.
Of course I have had to do some disciplining, correcting, and some other unpleasant things as well. That is just part of anything having to do with kids, but the overall feeling here has been extremely positive and I don’t think I could be happier about what I have come into after months of being away. Thank you for your prayers and support, they have meant a lot and they are truly appreciated and needed by all of us here. Now that I have internet, I plan on giving some more updates while I am here, and maybe telling a couple of the stories that have happened over the past few days.