A marketing blog.

I feel like AL Pacino in the movie, Insomnia.  In his case, he was visiting Alaska and couldn’t sleep because of the constant light.  For me, here in Haiti, it is the oppressive heat and humidity.  So, for the third day in a row, I got up early, bathed in the ocean and semi-napped on the beach before breakfast.  Being wet with the ocean breeze is as comfortable as I have been since I got here.

Today, we did another day of VBS, much like yesterday. The highlight of the morning for me is hearing the kids sing Jesus Loves Me.  They are SO loud and enthusiastic, it is fun to hear.  And many of them were in voodoo families just in the past couple of years.

At the end of VBS, Ella and I got out two bottles of bubbles and let the kids take turns making bubbles. Some of them got a bigger kick out of rubbing the bubbles on our arms into a white lather.  We were both a sticky mess, but it was a lot of fun.  

Ella is doing great with the culture.  It reminded me of college when I took an International Business course where we traveled to Germany.  In preparation, we were instructed to respect the culture and try to adapt to their customs as much as possible.  Here in Haiti, I am still saying Hello and Thank you while Ella corrects me…”Dad, it’s afternoon, so it’s Bonsoiur”.  

Again, she was surrounded by kids for well over an hour as they told her their names and watched her write them on a booklet.In the early afternoon, I was talking to our translator, David (yes , the one that almost died two days ago).   He was telling me about his”yard” where his uncle owns a bakery and where his immediate family of 38 lives.  I asked if we could visit.  It was a very interesting look into a typical Haitian family compound.  They have electricity for lights and charging phones, they have clean water piped in from the mountain water, but they don’t have any mode of transportation.  So, again, he said if he had gotten sick at his house, he probably would have died.  He’s a tall, healthy 25 year old or so.  Just hard to fathom.

Also, at David’s family compound…they had a coconut Grove.  So, one of the motorcycle drivers, Jacob, (we called him Bob Marley because he had a Bob Marley shirt on the first day, but today it was Taylor Swift!) scaled the coconut tree about 30 feet up and kicked down 4 coconuts.  He machetes a couple up for Ella and me and we drank the coconut milk and sampled the coconut meat.  It was neat.
In his yard, there were multiple one or two room houses, a small building for cooking, small room for the bakery with a Wood-fired stove, an outdoor dining area, three toilets and an indoor and outdoor shower.  

For food, they raised their own goats and chickens, and grew their own plantains, sweet potatoes, coconuts and passion fruit.

David’s uncle gave us a tour of the bakery.   It brought back memories of visiting the Colonial Bread company in Atlanta back in grade school.  Of course, the Haitian bakery was in a 15 x 15 foot room…with a handmade wood burning stone oven in one area, a bread press in another corner, and a finishing area in the back.  The uncle was 56 and first worked in a bakery when he was 12.  He became what I would call an apprentice when he was 18, and several years ago started his own bakery by making his own oven.  His lifetime dream would be to double the size of his building and oven, buy an automated press (his is manual now) in order to feed as many people as possible.  David said he needed between $1,000 and $1,500 to realize his dream.  Of feeding more people!!!!   Everyday….!

I know there are probably hundreds, if not, thousands of examples like this all over the country, but it really has got me wondering about our charitable donations at home.  For instance, my church, http://www.crosspoint.tv in Nashville takes up an extra dollar once per month for a total of $5,000 to $7,000, called the Dollar Club.  They do good things with the money like buying cars and groceries for a family in need or building a playground for an impoverished urban neighborhood.  But, if you could channel that money into areas where you can feed thousands of people everyday…seems like a very worthwhile investment for not a lot of money.  I am bad about oversimplifying  and trying to solve problems, but it is certainly an interesting thought.