Tet Chage + God Magic = Haiti

The last two days have been action packed! 

I've had three desperate mothers at my door with no means to feed their kids, or get them the medicine they need. (I have been able to help them all, God is good)

No electricity. My batteries have gone dead. So like really- no electricity

No running water. (My pump is being fixed, and this bucket thing is way harder than it looks) 

This morning, I woke up crabby about another day with poop filled toilets and bored kids. 

I prayed. God said "go to church" 

I tried to call my friend Allen to walk with us cause I wasn't sure of the way from my new house. 

My phone was out of minutes. 

I cried a little. 

Then, my favorite neighbor boys, Frankie and Dolincie came to play with the boys.  

I mustered up enough creole to ask Frankie to find me someone who could go get me minutes.

In Haiti- you bring some money to a guy on the street, he takes a cut and adds some minutes. I'm sure there is a more efficient system that no one uses. This is just how it's done. 

So, the guy comes. I'm an energy reader, and I knew he was shady. But at this point, I needed one thing: Nicola. It was worth the gamble of losing $1000 GUD. ($20 US) I was going crazy. 

So, I send my money off with shady dude, told him to buy himself some pâté as a thank you. Pâté on the street is $25 GUD. So like 50 cents. 

Boom! Minutes! Boom Nicola! 

Nicola showed up immediately and cried to him about life without water and electricity. He showed me empathy, and support and was starting to problem solve when...

All of sudden... Frankie pointed something out to Nicola and said "EDH!" Which meant the power had turned on. I screamed and hugged all the Haitians around me, and ran into my house to flush the toilets and run some water! 

EDH!!!!! We had been waiting for the electricity to turn on again so we could blow up the inflatable pool my mom bought the boys. Day saved! Electricity is a miracle! Nicola had to take the pool to the man with the pump, and carried it back like this on a motto. Haha! 

While I was feeling completely elated that the Haitian government allowed me the luxury of not smelling poop in my house- Allen and the Pastor Leo showed up to check on me. I told them I didn't make it to church because of tet chage- they understood and came in for lunch. 

The pastor said that God was bringing me to his mind a lot in the past week. I showed him all around the house, and told him all of my ideas for programs here. 

He kept smiling and he told me that he has been praying God would send a missionary for all of the programs I told him about. He runs a program for kids, he gardens, and wait for it- he is a carpenter! 

I was like: I hadn't directly prayed for a pastor to walk into my house with all of the specific skills I need right now- but... 

Pastor Leo- meet #godmagic

While we were eating, I showed Nicola my phone and had him translate how much money had been added because its all in French. 

Sure enough, shady dude had ripped me off. 

Nicola and Allen scolded me for giving money to someone I don't know. Then they told Frankie to go get shady dude. Shady dude speaks English- so I took it from there. 

I entered the conversation lightly, and asked him if I had any change. He said no. 

I told him that I knew I did, and he should not lie. 

He jumbled off a million things trying to confuse me, and telling me the pâté he bought for himself cost way more than it ever could. 

So, I got out my notebook and got loud. 

I did the math of everything he bought, and how much should have been left over. Even if the pâté had cost his made up ridiculous amount- he still owed me. 

It was a weird moment. Because there is nothing to do in Haiti, a white chick yelling at a shady dude and doing math draws a crowd of observers. I didn't want to shame him. I didn't want to seem ruthless, but I HAD to get him to admit there was change. 

$275 GUDS ($6) didn't matter, it was the lying that had me yelling. Since my divorce from a pathological liar, something comes over me in battle with dishonesty. Shady Haitians got nothing on my ex-husband. Mama will break you. 

So, we did the math over and over. Finally I stood up, towered over him sitting, looked him in the eyes and said "I bought you pâté because you helped me when I needed your help. But you are stealing from me, and lying to me- and now I can not ask for your help ever again. Bring me $275 GUDS today! Do the right thing." And walked away. 

20 minutes later, Frankie came and found me excited saying "My money! My money!" And pointing for me to come outside. 

Shady dude brought me $235 GUDS. 

And then.... we hit the math again.

He said "I have stealed never from anyone!" 

I said "You are stealing $40 GUDS from me right now. THIS is stealing!" 

He eventually brought me another $10 GUDS claiming the pâté had a new, lower (still lying) price. 

We called it even and shook hands. I thanked him for being honest, and told him that he will be blessed for doing the right thing. 

Victory. 

All in front of the pastor. Hahahaha!  

Later that afternoon, the whole house flooded. One of the toilets went crazy, and we had about an inch of water everywhere. 

Frankie and and his pal, Dolincie, have become my pre-teen sons. And they are soooooooo helpful. They play with the boys non stop, and take my trash to wherever the heck it goes in Haiti, and just help out constantly. I love them, and feed them mangos every morning. 

While they were frantically trying to clean up the water with the 3 towels I own, I was frantically making phone calls to the landlord, and laughing. 

Once they figured out a system that worked to move the water out of the house. 

I said "Frankie- dlo. Tausha- motege." 

Frankie said "Wi motege!"

Translation: Frankie- you handle the water, I'm going to make some food. Yes food!!

Food... Crap. I got nothing. I haven't had a fridge for 3 days, so we've been living off a pate and chicken from the street. I DID have a huge pot of Haitian rice this morning that one of the moms made me as a thank you for giving her money to buy her baby amoxicillin. But, then another mom came over and explained that she had nothing to feed her 7 sons (who I've met) today- and I gave her the pot of rice. 

In walks Lana. 

My all time favorite Haitian girl. (Note- her cute owl earrings, that God put in my moms suitcase just for Lana) She was my neighbor at the house I just moved from. Her whole family just makes me die in Haitian love. 

Lana held in her hands a pot of rice, and a pot of sauce from her mom. They sent me food from a mile up the mountain. Just enough to feed my flood rescue team, my boys, and the two little skinny girls that I didn't know that we're hanging out outside my door staring in. 

#GODMAGIC

I could tell 200 more stories from the last two days... But I will sign off with the facts: 

#tetchage + #godmagic = #peacelovehaiti