Today was the water truck day. The group woke up, and right after breakfast headed to a tent city and gave them water, then off to Cite Soleil. After our third trip bringing water to different parts of Cite Soleil, we made our way back to our place, went to the pool to cool off after the hot day. Then we ate dinner (AMAZING spaghetti with garlic bread), had our team gathering then some of the group went out and played soccer with the neighborhood kids for a while. This is just a synopsis for you folks back home wondering what we did today in a whole.
I want to touch more onto bringing water to these people that quite literally have no clean water, let alone clean anything, let alone....anything. I was thoroughly moved today. I have never been out of the country let alone a third world country. What I saw today, no words can describe the devastation that we would consider these people to be living in. Getting off the top top (truck we ride in), these kids were at our knees begging us to pick them up, show them some love. When I got off, I already had five kids all asking me to pick them up. I had to take turns, because it was impossible to pick them all up. These kids were SO happy to see us. Through all three stops, I found a kid that I was attached to. It's like right when I got off, we made eye contact, I grabbed their hand, and that was the kid that wasn't going to leave my side 'til I had to bid farewell. There was this one girl on the second stop, I remember getting on my knees and looking her in the eyes, and just giving her a big smile, and the way her face brightened up, just to get that smile it broke me. I don't know quite why, but I got really touched by that moment. I took some water and poured it on her head and would take another handful and touch her face and she'd just giggle, I did it over and over and she never got bored of it.
I had a lot of thoughts enter my head through the day. From, "How do these people live like this?!" to "I hate saying no to giving them my shirt when they have nothing" to "Dear God, please bless all these people. Keep them safe." These people have nothing. There is garbage, bathroom remains everywhere. I feel so much for them. I loved seeing such laughter, such joy in these people when we were giving them water. How we did this, was we had a water truck and there was this massive hose attached, and once the crank was unleashed, it would pour out and people would line up with their buckets and we'd give them clean water, something they really never have. I got told "merci" many times today, which translates to "thank you!" Joy, the smiles I saw on these people, seemed so much more genuine than the smiles I see in America. These people have nothing, yet have genuine smiles from just something as simple as a hug. I know for me, God has showed me how blessed I am through the past two days. It has changed my outlook on life I could say. Sometimes it takes an experience like this, to make you see how truly blessed you have been. Americans are known for always looking for the next "big thing" to grasp in their possession, materialism I guess is how you would put it. What comes to mind while typing this, is temporary happiness. I don't believe that anything on this planet will give a person permanent happiness. There is one thing that is not on this planet that will, and that is Jesus. He IS love. A simple touch to some of these kids, and you could tell it just made their day. I will never forget what I witnessed a few hours back, and can't wait to get home and tell everyone about the rest of my experience here!
Hope all is well back home.
- Ben
Pictures from Day 3
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