Wednesday, August 4, 2010

7.22.2010

The storm didn't rage last night like the rumors had predicted. It did rain, but nothing too bad. We were able to go over to Tortuga Island. We were worried that if the weather was bad we wouldn't be able to take the boat to the island. It is just a sail boat that you take, so any rough seas or bad weather will cancel the trip quickly. We started the morning off with devos and breakfast. After that we had to get ready to leave. We walked down to the beach with Alex (the guys sports ministry camp staffer) and translators. Because of the weather throughout the week a lot of the trips had been cancelled, so people came along with us. In all I think we had 20 people. When we got to shore, the boat crew was there to greet us. Not only were they there to welcome us, but to carry us out to the boat. Yep, we climbed on their shoulders and they walked us out in the waves to the sailboat. We were told about it, but I guess I thought they were kidding. These Haitian men put us all on their shoulders - even the 250lbs plus folks that were with us. Once we got on the boat we sailed over to the island. I think it took us about 90 minutes to get over there. I guess it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 4 hours (depending on the weather and waves). The sailing was so nice and peaceful. Once we got away from the St. Louis shore it felt more like a vacation. Once we got close to Tortuga Island, the captain jumped into the water to swim to shore to get a smaller boat that would be able to reach the shore. Some of the guys jumped over and swam to the shore too. We took the small boat to the shore (well we got out when we were about 150 yards out - 3 feet deep or so) when we got close enough the kids started coming out to meet and greet us. There were probably 100 kids there. We broken them into boys and girls. The guys played soccer and the girls played duck, duck, goose. After a while of duck, duck, goose, we played some clapping games that they taught us. We stayed and played with them for about 2 hours - then it was back to the 'main land'. These kids were a lot of fun. It is difficult for a lot of people to make the trip over there, so they are just stoked to have people to play with (since it can depend on the weather, waves, getting a boat, etc). The kids outside the mission here are usually asking for your money or personal items, but the kids there just wanted 'friends'.

Kristina said that the average school level is a 4th grade education here. Of course a government or infrastructure will crumble when the majority of your people have less than an elementary education!

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