If you want to catch up on my Haiti recaps thus far, please check out part one and part two.
After seeing Insitution Univers and Hugues’ clinic, we spent the next day visiting a different local school called Institution Mixte Primaire.
You see, Institution Univers is a private school and all of the students are required to pay some type of monthly fee. However, there is another local school that is completely public and free, and unfortunately, the difference between the two buildings was massive.
The classrooms are far more crowded and depending on how many students show up each day, the public school often rotates through sessions in order to get some daily schooling in for each students. Ideal? Definitely not, but at least it is better than nothing.
The school doubles as a church on Sunday, and the same man that runs both of those also runs a local orphanage. We left Institution Univers early on Friday morning and walked through the streets of Ouanaminthe, taking in the sights of the town, and eventually arriving at the orphanage. On deck for the day? A fun trip to the beach at Phaeton, Haiti!
As soon as we arrived at the orphanage, I knew that our day at Phaeton would be my favorite. Y’all, the kiddos were so excited to see us! A few of us had lugged some duffels full of donated candy, shoes and toys from the United States, especially to drop off at the school, but even that had nothing to do with their excitement. Honestly, I think they were thrilled at the thought of having company and love for an entire day.
Luckily for me, I also met the love of my life at the orphanage, and you can see his little face in the photo above on the right. His name is Chinee, and for the life of me, I have absolutely no idea if that’s how you spell his name! Regardless, he ran over to me within minutes of walking through the door, and this 9-year-old was my best friend for the remainder of the day.
Seriously, I love this little boy.
After touring the orphanage and watching a rousing game of basketball, the foreigners and the kiddos loaded up their stuff, dodged some traffic in town, and caught a bus headed for Phaeton.
The bus ride it itself was an adventure involving local police, money exchanging hands, and my personal favorite– a blown tire. Jenn, a firefighter/EMT with our group, was besides herself with stress during the ride! By nature of her career, she always looks for the potential safety issues in any situation, and let me tell you– this bus ride was wrought with them! I later laughed at the differences in people because, unsurprisingly, I was not even the least bit concerned!
We finally arrived at the beach, and the kiddos immediately stripped off their clothes and jumped in the water. A few of the volunteers jumped in as well, and we spent the next couple of hours splashing around in the warm ocean.
Although frolicking in the water and the sand was fun, it was more special to spend time with the kids. Truly, all they wanted to do was play with us, but almost all of the entertainment involved touching. They wanted to ride piggyback in the water or have you hold them while they learned to swim. Chinee always wanted to hold my hand while walking in the sand and the little girl loved to be carried like a baby. These kiddos crave love and affection, and I fell in love with all of them. By far, this was the highlight of the Haiti trip for me.
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Have ever gone on a “voluntourism” trip such as this? Would you ever visit Haiti?
8 Comments
They are precious! I’m sure you wanted to bring them all home with you!
I did an 8-week volunteer project in Costa Rica when I was in college. I worked in the schools and taught dental hygiene. They were the best!
Chinee looks like such a stud…what a great way to spend a day!
Chinee is adorable. Hope you discover the true face of Haiti during your trip!
What a cool experience! So cool to see these pictures, thanks for sharing!
Absolutely adorable. I’d want to hug and love on them all.
That’s exactly how I felt too!
you are flipping amazing.
Such a touching post, it breaks my heart when kids go nuts over the slightest amount of affection or love. Obviously they don’t get it much at home. I don’t know about these kids but that’s how it is at my school. Glad you were able to show them a good time!