Day 6 by Hunter Fortuin

Day 6 - Hunter Fortuin

Today we started earlier than any day this past week. We woke up bright and early at 5:45 to get ready for Haitian church. We went and it was very interesting, despite the fact none of us understood the Creole being spoken for the sermon. There was lots of soulful singing too!

After church we went back to the hotel and had crepes with bananas. Most of us were pretty tired so we went back to sleep for an hour so we had enough sleep to plant trees later. We woke to our new friends, McEvans, Mackenzie, and Katie leaving to go back home.

Once the tap-tap showed off we departed for Cormier again. When we got there we threw the seed bombs we made earlier in the week up in the mountains. We found that this was more easy said than done as balls of dirt like to roll back down steep slopes. When all of the bombs were thrown, we went to go see what's called the "glass house". It's called this because the walls are made of glass bottles and cement to allow light in.

We then traveled to the memorial down the road to pay respects to all the people that passed during the earthquake. Not only did we pay respects, but we also planted decorative trees along the pathway to the center. 

Finally, lunch was here. The food in Haiti has been my personal favorite. We had chicken and other Haitian staple food that we shared with the dancers that were about to give us a lesson in their art. After lunch we did just that, learn to dance. There was multiple drummers and a singer accompanied by dancers. It was certainly an interesting experience. 

After dancing it was time to plant trees. Periodically throughout the trip a few of us have bee playing with the local children. We've played games like hopscotch, miss Mary Mack, slaps, and more while we were waiting for the compost for the trees I introduced the children to a whole new type of game; a video game. We were taking pictures on my phone together and they were fascinated by the touch screen. Swiping through home screens on my Android was like magic for them, seeing their joy was amazing. Once I opened up Temple Run 2, a game on my phone, I had near every child in town crowding to see my tiny screen. It was a surreal experience.

At the end of the day we got word that we had planted over 800 trees so far, exceeding our goal by more than 300 trees. We climbed in the tap-tap and were given a goodbye by many many children all waving goodbye beaming at the time they has with us today. 

We returned to a exhibition put on by local artists showcasing their work which was beautiful.  Normally this is where the post would end but tonight was very special. As we were all close to going to bed, Frits showed up and pulled us to the bed of his truck to go see Ra-Ra music. This was an AMAZING experience as there were thousands upon thousands of people playing music and dancing. It was the biggest party I have ever seen in my entire life. It was truly amazing. After we had had enough we rode home though the beautiful night to get sleep for the day that lays ahead of us.