the days following Tuesday...

Wednesday morning, Troy and I went off to check on several people and then back to Three Angels. We were seeing things for the first time in daylight. Here is Troy's video he took along some of the drive, walking (climbing) down Delmas 91, the people gathered across the street of TAs (listening carefully, you will hear them singing): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viXd8mD77UE

I stayed behind at Three Angels, while Troy went to continue checking on people and getting other things done. After we didn't see the orphanage kids across the street, I went over to the TA building. The cooks were there working on the afternoon meal. Francois was there waiting to bring the food down to Quisqueya School, where the kids and nannies had set up "camp". I walked with Francois to the school so he could bring the car back to the O and load it up with the food and many other supplies. We got the food down and I was able to hang around and play with the kids for a little while. After things were settled there, I took a moto taxi (people on motorcycles ride around and you pay them for a ride) back to Tabarre (the area of Port au Prince where I live). The aftershocks were still hitting often. From there on out- my days blend together. I can continue telling stories, but I honestly don't know what happened on which day. I went back and forth from Tabarre to Petionville (where Three Angels and Quisqueya are) everyday except Thursday. After the first day, they decided to save gas and not drive the car as much. I helped them carry the large pots of hot food (rice and bean sauce) several blocks down to the school. As we would walk by many of the collapsed buildings, we would see dead bodies covered in sheets or blankets. I was thankful they were covered. It would make it all that much harder to have a face to put with each body. The past several days have been so hard without reliable communication. It is getting better. My phone works most of the time now. However, I have been unable to get more minutes on it (in haiti, all cell phones work similar to the pay-as-you-go phones. you just buy a phone card to put minutes on it). Yesterday, two Three Angels board members and 3 other people were finally able to land in Haiti on a missionary flight. Things and information are constantly changing. It was hard and frustrating when things are changing and you have no easy way to communicate that to the people that need to know. Yesterday was an adventure for me. After getting word that Gretchen (TA board member) and team had landed (after someone else had just called me telling me they could not land), I desperately tried to come up with a solution. I was able to send out one text message that I hoped would get to Francois, letting them know they needed to pick up the team from the airport, but his phone was not working, it was to someone else's phone. Then, I ran out of cell phone minutes. I couldn't make any calls even if I knew who to try to get ahold of. I left the Livesay house simply telling Tara, "I have to go do something." But, I didn't exactly have a plan. Normally, I would not just go out by myself in Haiti (at least, not often), mostly because of my limited Creole and also because it's not always the wisest thing for a single woman. I started walking down the street and ran into Troy, so I asked if he knew where I could by a phone card. He told me there is normally a guy down by the boys and girls home that sells them. I walked down that way and started asking people, in my best possible Creole, if they knew this guy. Some boys directed me to where he was at. I went and knocked on the gate, eventually someone came to the gate, but said that guy was at church. So I continued on back down the road to a corner where people are set up selling things. I asked several people, no one had any phone cards. So then I just decided to get on a moto and go to the airport. When I had last been able to talk to Gretchen, she told me they were at the domestic airport, which is separate from the regular one. At this point, I had no idea if Francois and Abbey had even gotten my message, and if they had, I was afraid they would go to the regular airport. Gretchen called me while I was on the moto ride. She said they found their own tap tap (public transportation- usually a pickup truck with benches in the back) and would just go ahead on their own. Since I was headed to the airport, I decided I would continue on there, and see if I could find Abbey and Francois, in case they did show up to pick up the team. I didn't see them there, so an airport employee went with me to the domestic airport. We walked most of the way, because traffic was so horrible. Someone there told us that the 5 white people had already left. So from there I took a moto and went to the school, where the Three Angels kids were gathered. Gretchen and team had already arrived, but still no one had heard from Abbey or Francois. I walked with the team up to the Three Angel property so they could take a look around. Again, the cooks were preparing the meal, so then I helped them carry it to the school. As I carried one of the hot, heavy pots, I wanted to put it up on my shoulder to make it easier to carry. So I picked up a shirt off the street to lay it on. One of the people I was walking with said, "No, li mouri." Meaning, the shirt was from someone who died. After getting back to the school, I was exhausted and ready to go home. Abbey and Francois showed up just as I was leaving. They had got my message and had gone to the airport to pick up the team. I went and found myself a moto. It was a poor choice. We had to stop twice so he could fix something on the motorcycle. But I made it home. Then we worked on getting the Women's Program building at Heartline set up for the medical clinic that we will be starting on Monday. A team of doctors, nurses, and others are suppose to be getting in today on a private plane. I have not heard any updates on them. Hopefully there are able to land so we will be fully ready to start tomorrow.