A Day in Haiti

A few people have asked what a typical day in Haiti looks like, and we’ve put off trying to answer that because there’s not much of a pattern to a typical day!  We’ve tried logging our time a few different days, but that gets put aside when the first urgent need of the day comes up. We never get bored of the routine, and there’s always something else to learn!

Our campus consists of perhaps 15 acres of land, separated by a suspension bridge. The front of the campus is where our offices, daycare, activity center, game room and library are located.

We also have the depot where food for the campus is stored, the garage area that houses our generators and solar equipment / batteries, and staff / team housing.  On the other side of the suspension bridge are 10 houses for our kids and their caregivers, the soccer field / playground areas and the aquaponics building where we grow fish and vegetables, and several areas where we grow papaya, plantains, bananas, passion fruit and mangoes.

While there’s no such thing as a “typical” day here, the days often begin at 4am or 5am when power goes off. Some of the kids are up by then to get ready for school. Then at 6am the kids gather below our bedroom waiting for a ride to school. This waiting period often results in the sound of singing, chanting, and loud conversations. Some staff arrive around 6:15am to take kids to school – our kids go to 7 different schools, plus some are home schooled.  They take placement exams for schools so that kids get the best education possible.

After that, it’s checking to see if the water pumps ran overnight to fill our water tanks, checking  the back well to see if there’s water available in the kids houses, and checking for any new issues that need to be addressed on campus. Other staff arrive around 7am to begin work in the daycare and to clean up the grounds, cook for the kids and wash clothes.

After breakfast, we usually have a quick check-in with the maintenance and admin staff to talk about what needs immediate attention, and what the status is for repairs on generator(s), water systems and maintenance tasks. Perhaps you’ve seen our Facebook post – we have a new generator!  Thanks to everyone who had a part to help make this happen!!  The rest of the morning is often spent in staff meetings, or with different people working on finances and translations, coordinating with schools regarding schedules and future planning, prioritizing projects and repairs, planning for reunifications, beautifying and maintaining the property, planning for upcoming teams, working in the medical clinic, and monitoring and distributing power on campus.

Around lunch time, some kids are picked up from school and return to the campus. The rest arrive home from school over the next few hours. We have about 10 tutors here for lessons every afternoon. Some of the lessons begin at 2pm, but most are from 3-5pm.

There are groups of kids with their tutors scattered around the front of campus during these times so they can have some space to work on projects and homework with fewer distractions from other groups.   There’s even one group that meets on our front porch!  We often hear small groups chanting phrases over and over again to memorize something for a quiz.

During this time, we’re often working on projects ourselves, such as prepping for caregiver training sessions, working on coordinating upgrades to our power and water systems, and planning and analyzing how special needs kids are cared for in the community.

After lessons, the kids often spend time in the front of the campus playing games (soccer, basketball, tag with the dog, etc.) and hanging out. There are group devotions after dinner several nights each week, followed by more play time, sometimes carrying water to their houses in the back, and bath time. When we have power in the evenings, many of the kids stay in the front of campus and play until 8:30 or 9pm. They all are supposed to be at their houses by 9pm.

The electric company generally turns on our power every other day around 4:30pm and leaves it on for about 12 hours. There’s really no set schedule, so when it comes on, here’s the checklist: Does the fish house have power? Check the breaker for the pump that sends water to the rooftop tanks. Check to see if there’s water being pumped to the roof. Check the well pump. Check the water pump for the fish house. Check the well pump for residential houses.  Recheck the roof pump before retiring for the evening.

There’s no such thing as a typical day, but that’s the general idea of what it would look like if other urgent matters didn’t come up!