Reflections

Greetings everyone!!  Sorry for being out of touch here for a day or two.  For those of you who not have seen my FB status, unfortunately I had pretty bad food poisoning and have been rather sick for the past 36 hrs.  I'm feeling better now which is good because there is so much work to do. 

Being under the weather has given  me an opportunity to reflect.  As with any visit to a foreign country, you take in the smells, environment, sounds, weather.  It is one big package and your brain is trying to make sense of it.  Here in PaP, there are dogs barking in the distance, cars honking, helicopters flying around, crickets making that cricket noise that they make.  At the team house there is music playing, people talking, people working and yes people snoring.....

I don't wear a watch which is both good and bad.  It is bad b/c I never know what time it is exactly....unless I really need to know then I glance at some else's watch or I check my cell phone.  The good side is having a greater appreciation for how time goes by and the relative flow of life. 

For example, the nights here are very loud.  When you combine the dogs and the people who snore and music blaring outside....its a wonder you could get to sleep.  But somehow you kind of doze off.  Then between 4 and 5am there is a man (who isn't too far from this house) who gets a loudspeaker and starts singing Praise Songs.  He will do that for a while, then he will go into the Sermon.  How do I know what this is??  Trust me I've been to enough church services to figure it out.  He will end with a song. Then it is quiet again. 

He has done this every day since the earthquake from what others have told me and it goes to show you that even though almost a month has gone by since the quake, people need to cling to their Faith. Its about all they've got right now.  They need that more than anything else.  If they lose that, they lose hope.  And then that leads to despair and depression and more anxiety about the future.  And then they look for other things to put their faith in......and unfortunate things like gangs and riots and violence. 

I have to admit I think about an aftershock all the time and I wonder how the Haitians are dealing with that same anxiety.  The rumor is they are expecting that to happen at any point.  They are calling for a big one based on the size of the 1st quake and the 1st big aftershock.  So they have sent us standard operating procedures for what to do in a quake.  It involves having a "quick run bag" by you but they say you should not necessarily run.  Drop, cover and hold.  Cover your head.  Move away from windows to avoid falling glass.  Try and have food and water by you.  After it is over check yourself for injuries then check for others.  They tell you if you get trapped you should have a whistle so you can signal you are there.  How many people are running around with whistles?? 

Its very easy to get very anxious and wonder what might happen.  I know that I've been sent here for a very specific job and I'm happy to help out.  On the other hand there is great uncertainty here. 

I guess what I'm saying here is that we just need to let life happen.  As much as we think we can control things we can't control things.  There was hardly a person spared in this earthquake...if a person wasn't injured or killed they certainly have friends/family that were.  It is a nation in mourning.  People walk up and down the street with sad looks on their faces.

I wrote a few days ago about the resilience of the Haitian people and I'm still so impressed by what I've seen so far.  Each day though I am noticing just how hard and long term this process will be. 

As the dogs continue to bark into the wee hours and that guy continues to blast his Sermons on the loudspeaker.....life does go on.....and there is comfort in that.