I heard something behind me and turned. It was one of those moments you wish you had a camera. Hand in hand walking there were 2 small children. One a little girl about 8 years old carrying one of those large flat baskets on her head with bean shells in it and the other a little boy about 2 years old that was just wanting to hang out with his big sister. He was along to help. They greeted me and kept walking across the edge of the field. They dumped their basket in the garden and on the way back the little boy had the basket (that was almost bigger that him) on his head upside down. He clearly wanted to help out his big sister with the job at hand. Again so wish I would have had the camera.
I continued to sit and clear my head, but shortly after the children had disappeared over the hill an old lady came and greeted me. "Ou bezwen sole?" she asked me 'You need sun?' ...Yes sure that sounded like a good reason to explain what I was doing here on the side of a mountain by myself. I also tried to explain I just needed time by myself to think. Which most people may take as a cue to keep walking, not the case in Haiti. She kept talking to me about life and hwo she was and then she said, "Mwen genyen sole kay mwen." 'I have sun at my house!' She really wanted me to come to her home. We chatted a bit longer and then she said it again. I was convinced I probably needed to go.
Her house was just beside me on the hill. And when I got to here house I discovered that the 2 young kids were her grandchildren as well as 1 more child there. Their mother had died and she was caring for them. We visited for a little bit and ten she brought me a letter in English that was addressed to her grand-daughter. It was a sponsorship for her schooling from an international organization. It was a lovely little letter and I was happy to translate it for her. We visited about the sponsorship and I am not sure her granddaughter is actually sponsored or at least they have received no money for her.
They wanted to make some coffee for me. But I really needed to get back to my house. Ass I had now been gone for some time to clear my head. As I walked back home, I thought my head is clear but I am not sure why. The oldest boy from the house came running up behind barefooted and asking me for sandals. I explained I didn't have any, this is pretty common thing for small children to ask for from foreigners.
As I continued to walk home I just thought again about God. What am I doing here?
I know this is a question many missionaries ask themselves from time to time. The experience is amazing, but there are many things that are rough from time to time about daily living. So you find yourself asking the question. I hope many people ask themselves that from time to time just to stay on track with what God wants from us in our lives. It has now a few days later - I feel on track; despite still having a water shortage. One of the artisans came by with some beautiful crafts and the rooster is crowing and all is well with the world.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Haiti? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Haiti in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez