Tuesday

Sunday we went to church in the morning, stopped at the Luginbuhl household and then had lunch. The team headed off to Rainbow beach, and we spent the afternoon/evening with the Hartzlers, Luginbuhls, and Arthur Greenbank. Hartzlers loaded us into the gator (rudy, arthur and I stood in the back and held on to the roll bar) and we started on the road up the mountain. We went for about 30 minutes,  waving to many along the way, and then turned around and returned. It was fun, relaxing and beautiful. We had tacos at the Luginbuhl house for supper.

Monday, Rudy and I worked together on the stair railing at the Klopfenstein house. We managed to get a plan figured out, supplies secured, and the railing constructed. Each post had to be attached to the concrete wall. That was tough drilling - I only drilled a couple of them. We went to Hartzlers for supper and the evening.

Today, Rudy returned the front end loader to Cayes. Once again, Toto rode along. They spent a little time at the compound until their ride showed up, so Rudy had lunch with Tim and they talked about his work teams. While he was gone, I stained our railing,  helpef Leah with her school work, and spent some time with the ladies at the "little market".

The little market is a perk for the hospital employees. It also has some other purposes. The Haitian government recently raised some taxes ( or something equivalent that reduced the Haitian wages). Many of the workers only understood that their take home pay was reduced. Items are shipped over or are left here, without a good/beneficial way to distibute. Always handing things out creates an atmosphere similar to welfare and a community of beggars. Years ago, they had a little market and they are revisiting the idea. They put a verylow price on the items and the workers were allowed in at a certain time , starting with the lowest paid first. Ex: $1 = 40 gouds. Items were marked, 5 gouds, 10 gouds or 25 gouds. In Cayes,  Jami paid 250 for a pair of shoes. In the market, they had them marked 25 gouds. So, they are paying something so it is not just a handout, but yet the prices are so low that it is definitely a benefit. Like items were grouped on 6 different tables and they were allowed to purchase 1 item from each table. It was fun to be there this morning and to see what interested them and how they reacted. It was a very positive experience. The knotted quilts were definitely one of the most popular items (I had given mine out, but there some other ones here). The shampoo was also purchased quickly and they liked the coffee mugs. And they bought some shoes and adult clothes, and childrens clothes (interestingly, it seemed to be the least purchased item).

This afternoon, we sang some in the hospital.  The two translators for the medical team, Bosley and Frantzou, joined us. Our "bosses" were in a meeting and many of us were needing some direction for our next assignment, so we found something to do.

This evening,  Rudy and I babysat the Hartzlers while the missionaries had their weekly meeting.  The majority of the team joined us, and we had a fun time with the kids. I didn't know how itwould go with a medical team vs a construction team, but it has been good. Not too much medical talk and it has been fun to have Alyssa's mom here in addition to the team. Debbie Fischer is a nurse practioner and in the past she had 4 Haitian s that had stayed eith her and her family while they were in the states for heart surgery.  One of the young men that she has kept in touch with over the years spent a few days with us. She actually had not heard from him since the earthquake until recently.. they had resigned themselves to the idea that he had not made it, but really they had each lost their ability to contact the other. He found her again on facebook.