Hand in Hand in Haiti

There has been a lapse in my blogging lately, starting with my week in Haiti, where the internet was only available for a short time in the afternoon, and the signal was not strong enough to upload photos. And what's a blog without photos?
When I returned home on Monday morning, it was Thanksgiving week, and there was book club, unpacking, MOPS, and laundry, along with groceries to buy, costumes to make, and cleaning to be done. Not to mention over 600 photos to sort through in order to select a few hundred reasonable number to share on the blog.

This was my fourth trip to Haiti, and my first since the devastating earthquake in 2010. I was anxious and apprehensive at the same time to see how the landscape had changed since my last visit. The trip was led by my friend Jamalyn, and her daughter Margaret, age 6, was a part of the group as well. In this photo, Margaret is talking to her grandma during our ride to the airport.

After an overnight in Miami, we were up bright and early for our flight to Port au Prince. Margaret was so excited, especially about meeting her friend Bervencia for the first time. They have exchanged letters and photos, but this would be their first face to face meeting.

It takes about 2 hours to make the 45 mile trip from Port au Prince to the mountain community of Fondwa. We had two vans to transport our group and our luggage through the busy streets of PAP through Leogane and on to Fondwa.

We stopped at the beautiful new guest house in Leogane and took a photo of the whole group. There were 19 of us, made up of a combined team from Indiana and North Carolina, with one from Illinois and one from St. Louis with us as well.

We arrived in Fondwa and got settled in our room for the week. Margaret was greeted by some new friends, as she unpacked and shared some of her toys with them.

She and her mom were soon on their way to Bervencia's house, carrying the backpack Margaret brought for her, filled with goodies.

Instant buddies.

Bervencia was happy with her gifts, but even happier to be with Margaret.

Soon they were headed out to the neighborhood.

Hand in hand.

See you later, Mom, I'll be fine. And she was.

Stay tuned for more adventures from Haiti!