Water Truck in Cite Soleil - Day 2

                                     

There is no good way to accurately describe Cite Soleil, where our team went today with a water truck to assist in the delivery of water.  The people who live in this vast tent city are among the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere.  The water they receive at our delivery is their only free water, otherwise it must be collected from the rain or purchased.  This is the water they use for everything: cooking, drinking, bathing and washing clothes.  The process is simple.  The truck pulls up at a designated water stop.  People line up with their containers and using a huge hose, the containers are filled.  But that doesn’t begin to illustrate the layers of the experience.  Images that will stay with me forever include children, many naked, running behind our “tap-tap” yelling “hey you! hey you!”  They climbed up the back of the tap-tap and swarmed us as we tried to exit.  Children all around us were raising their hands saying “ Pote m’ ” (Carry me).  And we did.  I believe Luis held the record of four children at once and every time I looked, Jamie had at least two children clinging to and smiling up at her.  Anne started up a game of London Bridge and the children squealed as they were caught in the bridge.  

As we helped many children carry their water buckets they clung to our hands.  We saw small children struggling with their buckets.  Whenever we could we would jump in and carry the buckets.  They were heavy!!  These children and adults who carried the water were strong!  Many put the bucket right up on their head.  One little girl that couldn’t have been more than three led me far down a street with her water bucket and as I began to wonder if she knew where to go I looked up at adults standing around and they all pointed to her home.  She knew right where to go.  We connected easily with the children while the adults were more reserved.  At our first stop I remember thinking “I think I’ll pass on holding the children without pants”  but one look into their beautiful eyes and that went out the window and I found myself not even noticing the lack of clothing.  I only was aware of a child craving some loving interaction. The whole experience left me wanting to know more about Haiti, to understand more about the culture, to learn more of the language….

Anna