Top 10 Things I Missed About Haiti While in America (Jess)
10. The Kids – Imagine leaving your kids in another country for a month at a time.
- Lack of Consumerism – I love that we can just be here. We don’t feel the need to rush to the store and buy things. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements and discussions about the next biggest thing. This is just not important here.
- Our House – More than any other place right now our little house here in Haiti at Christianville feels like home and I missed it. Even when we walked through the doors last Saturday night for the first time in a month and I had to immediately clean cobwebs, kill ants, and chase lizards, it felt like I was home.
- Our Haitian Friends – We are slowly learning the language here and making friends. We have found wonderful friends in Marjorie and Lener who work for the orphanage. We will often times spend an evening just hanging out and attempting to talk and I missed it very much.
- The Kids – Imagine not being able to communicate with your kids for month at a time
- Our Christianville Family – This has dwindled over the last year as people have come and gone from Christianville that we miss very much but Christianville is our family now and when we are away, we miss them.
- The Slow Pace – There is a common joke here that says Haiti runs on “Haitian Time” which probably sets everything about an hour or 2 behind what we would do as Americans. Things just move more slowly here and everyone is in much less of a rush to do things. After spending time in America, this can be very refreshing to come back to.
- Our Routine – I missed getting up and getting the kids ready for school each day, dropping them off, then picking them up again and forcing them to do homework. I missed going over their behavior at the end of the day and watching them pick from the Treasure Box on Saturdays.
- The Friendliness of the People – The people here are always ready with a hand shake, hug, and conversation and I missed that.
- The Kids – Imagine not being to hug, kiss, and praise your kids for a month at a time.