It has been a comical few days here. It started with the whole haircut conversation that led to shaving James Yutzy's head. Jeff posted on facebook that if 100 people clicked the like button on his status, I would give James a haircut. We ended up with about 128 or so. Monday morning began with THE HAIRCUT. We discussed giving him a mullet, afterall, he was at my mercy. Then there was the discussion over a mohawk. I decided to be nice and do the conservative pastor cut. We had a good laugh over it. Please see the before and after below.
We had a fun few days as the two pastors visited our ministry here.
Monday morning began at 5:30am as Vanessa and I prepared to go for a run. This was only our third time going out. I have been too chicken to go it alone up until now. We decided it would be better to run a more rural road up over a very large hill rather than on the busy road where there are no shoulders and drivers can pass on either side, running off the road if so desired. Our first trip on this route was uneventful.
Monday however, was a different story. Part of the road (path) runs through a field where several local haitians take their livestock to graze. About 1/4 mile into the run, we came upon a herd of cattle, bull included. Now, keep in mind, Haiti is hot and these cattle are not being fed the fattening grain they might get in the states and water may be a minimum so the energy level is very low. They move at a very slow pace. Every bull we have seen here has taken on this same level of energy, but I know what a bull is like in the states so it's hard to get that picture out of my mind. I'm getting out of there just in case he had an apple or something that morning...one never knows. Thank goodness neither of us wore red shirts (as a friend of mine so kindly pointed out...I'll be sure to NEVER wear a red shirt while on foot here)! We made it out of there a little faster and maybe a little sweatier.
We continued on our run and came through a small neighborhood where several street dogs live. Didn't see those the first time through there. As we past the first two stationary barking dogs, I decided to pick up a branch laying close by just in case. We then rounded a corner only to find three more dogs to the left of the road and one in the middle. It was like a scene out of a movie. As we tried to continue on, the one in front of us ran off (at the time I wasn't sure if he was running away or staging an attack around the next corner). The other three must have felt threatened by our "swift feet" and began chasing/barking/showing teeth. I'm just going to pause to describe the branch in my hand. The twig had a handle then many little tiny spindly pieces protruding in all directions, kind of like a hand made old time broom...no strenght what-so-ever! This branch/broom saved our ankles at least. As we continued to move in a forward direction, I used a sweeping motion behind us, thus keeping the dogs back and off our legs. I then turned forward to find Vanessa had moved from the position she had been in beside me to hiding in front of me. Turns out I was only protecting myself, Vanessa was in a great position to use me as her protection. The problem then was that Vanessa was too scared to be moving forward fast enough to get out of there, so now, I'm caught between rabid dogs, a branch, and a young lady ready to start screaming like a 3 year old(as she put it). I instructed Vanessa to infact continue moving forward at a faster rate (better known as "GO, GO, GO!!!"). Finally, we made it out of there with our legs/ankles still in tact. We rounded the next bend to find no dog waiting for us, he obviously saw the twig, but a few haitian men looking at the two white girls laughing uncontrollably carrying a branch/broom. Needless to say, I left the house today with protection...got quite a few stares as I carried the baton (2ft ceiling fan extention pole) for our relay. Vanessa informed me at the beginning of the run that it probably would not by wise to pass the baton as in a normal relay at any time during the run. You never know when a bull might have extra energy or a bunch of wild dogs feel like they rule the neighborhood.
Speaking of neighborhood, this leads to my third funny event.
Tuesday is gym class day at the Good Samaritan girls home. Vanessa and I and my kids drive there to be entertained by 22 girls (ages 7-20) who never had any kind of gym class, trying to do push ups, sit ups and some sort of dodge ball or competitive game. Jeff runs there to meet us. So driving through the neighborhood on the way, a lady carrying a very small child frantically ( hind-sight #1, she only became frantic...better known as dramatic...when she saw it was a white lady driving) knocked on the side of the car. On the verge of tears, she began speaking very quickly in kreyol, none of which I understood except "hospital". She then procedes to tell me in English...her baby is sick and she needs to take her to the hospital and has no money(hind-sight #2...she speaks some English, she's educated...should have at least some money). So, me, seeing the baby in her arms laying still under a blanket(hind-sight #3, baby was peacefully sleeping), reach into my wallet, pull out the largest bill (goude) I have and hand it to her. I drive off only to look into my rear view mirror to see her meet up with a man and they both begin laughing...which then leads to Vanessa laughing uncontrollably once again. Not that she used her nursing skills to offer any kind of help in assessing the situation or anything. Obviously we are both terrible when put on the spot.
I don't know what that means for the next time someone asks for money, but at least I came away from it not wondering if the baby was ok or if the mother was able to get help. How she used the money is between her and God anyway.
But, glad I could provide some entertainment for you Vanessa!
~Deb
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