Time to Go?! We Just Settled In ?

It is so hard to believe that it is our final full day here at HATS. The time has just flown by! We feel like we are settling into life here in Haiti just in time to say goodbye.

As usual our day started with devotions with the staff and younger children who were not in school. The songs are animated and even the children sang them enthusiastically. Some songs were even familiar to a few of us!

The team then started on a second (and thankfully final!) coat of paint in the girl’s house and we finished that in no time flat. We really have picked up our painting pace over the week! Their main area is a beautiful bright pink and the girls couldn’t be happier.

The rest of the day was true to the motto of HATS – “All about the children”. We took an afternoon walk to the mango trees with all of the kids and another long walk near suppertime with the older ones.

We spent time coloring and enjoying conversation. The team has picked up a bit of Creole and some children are quite good with their English so together we can kind of understand each other. Thank goodness for Keith, Joan and Karen to fill in the gaps!

We got quite the shock when little Jonathan showed us his hands containing two baby tarantulas! We quickly learned that baby tarantulas are harmless, but still a tad scary for us Canadians. By the end of the playtime they had collected five in total!

A final treat before supper was playing one of Canada’s favorite games – hockey! Surprisingly the Haitians schooled us all! Much fun was had and only a few penalties and injuries occurred.

We have so enjoyed our time here. The work we have done has been fulfilling, the fellowship has been memorable and our hearts are forever impacted by the sweet, sweet children. A piece of HATS will always stay with each of us and who knows, maybe a few will return!

~Ashley Withrow, Nicki White, and Deborah Gilbert