Sunday in the Village

Our morning started off with a wake up call at around 6:30am in order for everyone to be ready for breakfast at 7:00. A few of us were even awake to witness the sweet surprise of a quick rainfall, which accounted for the heavy humidity in the air all day.

Everyone enjoyed a more familiar meal to us: an omelette with fruit and bread on the side. After this, we had a bit of free time to get ready for church, which ended up being quite an exciting and different experience for all of us. As we walked in, we were greeted with the rhythm of drums and a guitar playing unfamiliar songs; something we were definitely not used to. Our faces were covered in smiles as we clapped along to their gospel singing and even though we did not understand a word of it, it was neat to be able to communicate with them through their music. We also got to sing a few Psalters for them in English as well as learn a song in Creole which was taught to us by the locals who joined in as we sang.

After this, we separated from the rest of the church and had our own Bible study (which we could actually understand) in the cool breeze of the gazebo before rejoining them for the closing of their service.

After lunch we all had a very short nap (to uphold our Sunday traditions), which was disturbed by Adrian and Nathan’s snoring. With groggy eyes, we met in the cafeteria and waited for the arrival of the local children which were all around 5-7 years old. At first, we were a little worried that no one was going to show up with it being summer vacation for them, but eventually the building was filled with 29 children that were a bit skeptical to join us at first. This didn’t last long, however, because the minute they saw the suckers in their bags their eyes lit up and they were eager to see what else we had planned for them. Crayons and stickers filled the table as we taught them about the seven days of creation in the form of a coloring book that Ms. Moens sweetly prepared for us all.

Many of them surprised us with their skills and ability to read the words on each page at such a young age, especially with an education system so limited. They put us to shame as they giggled at our pronunciations of many Creole sentences, but we managed to communicate with short phrases such as “tre byen” (good job) and “sa pou ou” (it’s for you). We were all in adoration of their sweet smiles and collaboration with us, and we all had a good laugh at their creativity when they coloured mountains purple, placed fish stickers in the sky, and birds in the sea. When they finished, they eagerly waited for their next activity and were disappointed when they realized we didn’t have anything else planned for them. They finally headed home with their colouring books in hand after we sang them a few Psalters and gave them candies as a parting gift.

From here, we took a few minutes to clean up and cool off before we began to put together food baskets that consisted of beans, rice, and a mix of canned goods in preparation for their delivery to a remote village on Tuesday.  We finished this just in time for supper and now look forward to a good night’s sleep in preparation for the next week.

(PS: Happy 5th Birthday Brooklyn! Love you – Auntie Ash.)