Thursday

Today was more of a laid back kind of day!

After breakfast we got a break from riding on the bumpy roads in the tap tap and did some walking.  We walked out of our little neighborhood and down a main road.  Which is not quite like how it is the in states.

The driving here in Haiti has absolutely no rules.  There’s no speed limit.  No dividing line down the center.  No shoulders.  No sidewalks.  No stop signs.  No stoplights.  It’s really just mass chaos!  And here we are walking down along the edge of the road doing our best to not get hit!

We made down the street and ended up at a place called Haitian Creations.  There is a ministry here called Heartline Ministries that does so many different great things, but mainly their job is empowering women.  One of those ways is they’ve started a sewing program.  They teach women to sew and make different things.  Primarily right now they make these amazing purses (you can see pictures on my Facebook)!  They sell the purses here and in America.  The women get the money from the purses they’ve made.  The staff here teaches them how to tithe 10% of it and they have to save %25 percent of it.  The staff here keeps their saved money for them.  As they save it up they can use that money to purchase the sewing machine they use so that they can then go into business on their own if they want.  They told a story last night of a lady who had been saving and never requested to use her saved money for anything.  They finally asked her about it and said, “Wouldn’t you like to buy your sewing machine or something for your house?” and she replied, “No…I’m saving to buy me a house!”  She was determined!

So at Haitian Creations they have a big sewing room where the women come for classes to learn to make different things.  Yesterday they were learning how to make a gathered skirt.  This is also where they make the purses that they sell.  Along with the sewing room they have a really nice store.  This is where the purses are sold along with other Haitian things that they get from other places.  The money made from other items helps to fund the whole process.

After that we walked back home.  We stopped at a bakery…again much different than the US!  We walked into what we thought was a home.  To the left was the bakery.  Which really was just two open rooms…one for making dough and the other for baking it.  To the right was a litte mini mart.  And straight in front of you there was a little beauty salon.  And all around cats were running around!

We got some fresh bread and went back to the house for a little PB&J snack with our fresh bread.

Then we headed back out of the neighborhood and walked down to the Heartline Ministries building.  This is used to minister to pregnant women.  They have a birthing room there where women can come and have their babies and they’re currently working on raising money so that they can build themselves their own hospital.  That way when a woman comes who may need a C-section or having complications they can do it themselves without having to send them to a Haitian hospital which doesn’t always have the best conditions.

Today we saw their prenatal program.  They have about 20 expecting Haitian mothers ranging from ages 15-52 in this program currently and there is a really long waiting list.  On Thursday they come and get their blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and weight checked.  Then they get served a meal with high protein rice, fish, two eggs, high protein milk, and get their prenatal vitamins for the week.  There are two midwives who work here and they do monthly check ups for the women at the center too if they’re scheduled for that day.  After the women get checked and eat then they all come in for class.  Yesterday’s class was on breastfeeding.  For many years Haitian mothers were told that if they breastfeed then they are bad mothers and don’t care for their children…which we all know is crap!  Plus they are surrounded with the great formula that we have in the states nor can they afford it all the time either.  So Heartline is working hard to change that stereotype and teach these women that breastfeeding is one of the best things they can do for their babies…and cheap!

There was also another American lady there named, Heather, who lives in Haiti now with her husband and 4 boys.  She comes to help out at Heartline during the week and her husband teaches at a Haitian private school here called Quisqueya Christian School.  I talked with her for awhile about the school and how you apply…maybe a future opportunity!

Afterwards we headed back to the house and relaxed.  One of the ladies has a little mini video camera that she’s been recording with all week, but couldn’t figure out how to download them to her laptop.  I said, “Surely it can’t be that hard!”  She told me she’d give me 10 bucks if I could get them downloaded.  And well…I am now 10 dollars richer!

It was a nice slow moving day especially since Friday will be a full day!

One more day here!