Day 3-Water, Water Everywhere

Wow what a day! Our third day was the water truck day, which consisted of traveling to three different spots in the heart of Cite Soleil to provide them with water. Healing Haiti is the only organization that provides Haiti with clean water to the Haitians which is free of charge, 6 days a week. The water truck stops at each place, sounds the horn and the men, women, children and even the elderly would come running. At each stop we filled bucket, after bucket, after bucket after bucket; the line would have continued if the water supply would have allowed. It was such a surreal experience to see these people become so aggressive over water and making sure their bucket was next in line when that is something I take for granted on a daily basis, it definitely puts a different perspective on my own life and how grateful I am for the life I have. There were SO many children; some of them were fully clothed, some partially and some not at all, and ranged from babies to teens and older. It made my heart so full to see these children LOVE the attention and interaction we were there to give them. They would tug at your shirt, stick their arms out and say “potem” which means “pick me up.” They enjoyed climbing on us, piggy back rides, playing hand games and just loved being held. I spoke with three older boys around the age of 15-20 and found out that they spoke Creole, English, Spanish and even French and all had been orphans at one point. One of them was wearing his school uniform and had just finished for the day and came to hang out with us. It was amazing to me see how many children were wearing school uniforms; in Haiti, children are able to attend school only if they can afford school uniforms and it was so enjoyable seeing how many of them are able to go. Today was definitely physically exhausting but being able to interact and help made it all worth it. Having the opportunity to be able to provide and serve today was such a wonderful and fulfilling experience-I love knowing at the end of the day that I came here for a purpose and that purpose was to serve and do God’s work.

-Erica