Beach Day in Haiti

Today was a very fun day for everyone on our team. We got up this morning and we went to grace village church. It is like no church in America.  For starters, everyone is crowded into the feeding center where tables are turned into benches and people are everywhere shoulder-to-shoulder.  Many people came up from the town below to worship. The pastor sang like he has never sang before with more energy than I have ever seen!  It was wonderful and everyone was caught up in the moment. Everyone kept shouting praise to God and kept thanking him for everything.  It is amazing to hear them thank God and worship him, even when they seem to have so little to be thankful for. 

After church our team was set to meet up with twelve amazing girls from Restavek Freedom.  They all have been rescued from slavery, and now live in this wonderful home.  We got to meet them the last time I was in Haiti, and they quickly became our new friends!  Some of us girls from our team went to play with some of the kids from Titanyen while we waited for the Freedom Girls to get here. I really love playing with the kids down in Haiti.  They are so kind, and love the attention.

Once the Freedom Girls arrived, we all headed off together to go to Kaliko beach. It was so beautiful!  I have never been to the Caribbean Ocean before.  The first thing we did was go to the beach.  Many people got stung by see-through jellyfish, and some of the girls even picked them up and threw them (not me). Since the ocean had too many jellyfish we decided to spend our time swimming in the amazing pool. After swimming a while, they had us come and eat buffet style. We got to see what real Haitian food was like.  Luckily, no one got sick! 

After a great lunch, we had fun playing more games in the pool.  I think it is so great how quickly and easily we became friends with our 12 new Haitian girl friends!  They were all so kind, and easy to play with.   When it was time to go, we went down to the ocean for pictures. We ended up seeing a real live lobster! It was huge!!  We all said good byes, and we tap-tap surfed on the way back to Grace Village to drop off some people. We all had a very fun day and laughed at A LOT!  It was such a fun and happy day!  What a great way to end an amazing week in Haiti!

Blog Post by: Kayla (12 years old)