Toms toms toms

Hello again!

I’m so sweaty because the generator wasn’t working until just now.  Still pretty spoiled though.  Anyway, today we did a lot more Toms.  We went to two schools that were about an hour and a half away from here.  I love Toms, but I don’t think I will ever buy another pair (though if my mother bought me a pair, I would wear them).  I wouldn’t discourage other people from buying them if they normally spend $45 on shoes, but I just don’t think that Toms is as great as I always thought it was.  The shoes that we gave the kids barely fit them.  We had to squeeze them onto their feet, so most of them will probably outgrow them within a few weeks.  Also, the kids we have seen already had shoes.  Granted, the Toms may have been better, but Toms kind of makes it seem like the kids they distribute shoes to have never owned a pair of shoes in their lives.  Ali said that at some of the places she has given shoes, she has never seen the kids wearing them again (not even the next day).  Who knows what happens to them?  Maybe the kids don’t like them, or maybe the adults sell them.  I have no idea, and it would be really hard to investigate.  We had a lot of good discussions tonight about organizations like Toms and how much they really help Haiti.  There are so many problems here, and it’s all so flippin’ complicated.  It leaves my head kind of swimming.  The thought almost makes me want to run; I can’t solve all of the problems here.  I’ll never be able to.  I know that it’s no reason to give up though.  I mean, it’s not my job to fix every single thing that’s wrong with the country.  I can do my best to love the people here right now, and the country may or may not be a better place in ten years.  I don’t know, but I feel like it’s going to improve here.  It’s just a feeling, anyway.

I got to have a lot of good, long discussions tonight about Haiti, ministry, needs, etc.  I guess I feel like I still have no idea where God is calling me.  Should I live here when I graduate?  I don’t know.  If the greatest need that a person can have is the need for God, isn’t the need just as much in America?  And I know how to minister within American culture, so should I be doing that?  I can learn how to do it here, but it will take years, and I’ll still never really be a Haitian.  I don’t know… These are just things that I think about.  Sometimes I think about how I’m graduating from college in ONE YEAR, and I get a bit nervous.  Oh well, I’ll try not to think about that too much and just enjoy my time here.  I really do love it. 

By the way, tonight we had chicken creole for dinner, and it was SO GOOD!  The whole meal was really grand and ended with delicious anana (pineapple!).  Did you know that I live on a tropical island?  Mangoes, coconuts, pineapples… It’s okay if you’re jealous.

All right, it’s hard getting you people to comment on my blog, but here is a game for you!  What song is this?  (It’s an easy one).

Papa Abraham gen a pitit ti moun.  Papa Abraham gen a pitit ti moun.

That’s actually all I can remember right now.  I was trying to get our translators Mano and Ostenel to teach me, but we ran out of time.  I will learn it soon though!  I am determined!  I love to sing and dance and play with these beautiful, wonderful children.  There is a lot of argument about what kind of aid hurts and what really helps in the long run.  One thing that I know is that it does not hurt anyone for you to love a child.  I think that it is really important to give them some of the love that they need, and I hope that I’ll get to do a lot of that in the next three months.   I hope some of the River Falls people got a picture or two with me in it because I have literally only taken three pictures since I’ve been here, and they have been of this room.  I almost took a picture of my feet today; my Chacos kept a “Z” shape on my foot from getting dirty, but the rest of my feet were covered in a thick layer of dirt.  It was so funny looking.  I keep forgetting to bring my camera over to the other house, and I don’t usually come back here until it’s time to go to sleep. 

There’s a lot of free time these days to play games or watch the Lion King 2, but I think I will be getting much busier after this week.  Responsibilities, yay!

Peace out!