Camp Day One

Monday July 9, 2012 I don’t know how I’m so tired already. It’s 8pm and I’m so ready for bed. I’m gonna blame the heat so I don’t feel so much like a wuse. Day one of camp finished today. It’s actually week two since Leah did a week alone last week but it’s my first week. This week we have 50 kids ages 10 – 15 (although it’s always questionable who slides in). It’s going well so far. From the little time I’ve spent in our zone in Cite Soleil, I am so impressed and blown away by the leadership, organization, and initiative. We have a set of “workers” employed for the week but we are always surrounded by people jumping in to “help”. I guess this is a reflection of the desperation for jobs and also maybe the music pumping from the stereos from the church (somehow a self-appointed DJ showed up) draws a crowd. It is people, people, and more people everywhere, all in such close quarters filled with cement block boxes for houses and shoulder-width alleyways to shimmy in between. It is definitely a close community; the feeling that they take care of each other is more real than any other place I’ve felt in Haiti. I suppose that’s what happens when there is no government and gangs rule the roads in regards to discipline. People stay close to people they know have their backs. Even still, the adults we work with here seem to genuinely want a better future for the kids and so they welcome us with open arms. So day one filled with sweat (it’s HOT), crafts, a Jesus skit that the Haitians HAM UP, and my first attempt at a health lesson. With this, I’m following Mario’s (a nurse who mans the clinic here and is also doubling as our bible story teller, and Jesus, who also started health lessons out of the blue last year on his own!). Today's lesson: worms. Awesome. We both gave a little briefing and followed by giving all the kids a worm pill with lunch! I love it. Pediatric community health in action baby. Tomorrow involves a tooth brushing lesson with a skit involving Leah and I stuffing our faces with lollipops and waking up with black teeth. Should be good…