Ke Kontan

Ke Kontan

Saturday 21 May 2011

Day 20

Once again it rained through the night leaving a great amount of water on the ground and many streets flooded. 
The six-month Atlantic hurricane season begins and U.S. government forecasters expect it to be an above average season.
As many as 18 named tropical storms are expected to develop before the season ends Nov. 30, and three to six of those could strengthen into major hurricanes with top winds of 111 mph or higher, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.
Haiti’s extreme deforestation, from decades of over farming and the cutting of trees for charcoal, compounds the flood risk from even weak tropical storms, Read said, and hundreds of thousands of Haitians are still living in tents after the earthquake (information from Haitian Truth.org). 
We were up at five this morning to get ready to go to the beach.  Jean only wanted seven of the fourteen kids to come but when the others found out that they would not be coming they began to cry.  I felt so bad for them and went and spoke with Jean.  He said his only concern is having to watch all of them.  I told him I would give him some extra money and his wife finally talked him into it.  We decided to bring twelve of the fourteen kids and leave the two youngest behind.  All twelve children, Jean, his wife, Mom, and I all loaded up into the back of a Tap Tap.  The kids were so excited.  They had all kinds of questions on the way to the beach since most of them have not seen the outside in quite awhile.  We went through many small towns that have been completely ravished by the earthquake and Jean stopped the vehicle in front of the President House (like the White House) so we could take pictures of the damage caused by the earthquake.  It took quite awhile to get there and we stopped at two other beaches to see if they would be cheaper but they were not very nice.  We ended up going to the beach that I had previously gone to with Jean, Blaire, Josh and Sam.  We finally arrived at the beach and unloaded the truck.  We had buckets of water, bags of food, and bags of toys to carry to the water.  There was music playing when we arrived (English music actually! Such as Akon, Eminem, and Bob Marley).  All of the girls got up and danced.  It was so cute ! After that we got all of the kids into their swimsuits and headed for the water.  None of the kids know how to swim since they have never been to a beach before and they do not have swimming pools in Haiti.  A lot of them were scared of the water and would not go in at first.  After Jean and I jumped in they became more brave.  I always had about five or six of them hanging onto me and whoever I could not carry with me sat on the steps and waited for someone to go and get them.  The older kids ended up going off on their own.  Ricostah hated the water and cried when we tried to bring him in it.  We stayed in the water for a bit and then all got out and had snacks.  We had brought with us bananas, cookies, cheese, muffins, nuts, plantain chips and lots of water!  We played some soccer and skipped and then went back into the water.  I had a blast !! It was so awesome to see the kids having fun.  It was definitely worth every penny and I am glad we ended up bringing the other kids as well.  I have never seen Jean's wife so happy.  Jean ended up buying Haitian fruit for all of the kids and us as well.  It is kind of a mix between an orange and a mango.  We ended up staying at the beach until one thirty.  The kids and I were completely exhausted by then.  Many fell asleep on the way home.  The exhaust from the vehicles is very hard on your lungs and you get a lot of dust in your eyes when riding in the back of the truck.  We got back to the orphanage at three thirty.  I was expecting the kids to take a nap but as soon as we arrived at the orphanage they seemed full of energy again!  Mom and I had potatoes and hot dogs for dinner.  It was pretty good !!! Tonight we are playing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the kids (that's if the electricity stays on).  It has been a long but great day ! I am looking forward to bed tonight. 

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