Day 5

Day 5 (January 6th)

I apologize in advance for this late blog post! Things have been a little hectic with everybody finally getting a chance to post their blogs, I just happen to be getting to it a little later than everybody else.

Today was the last day our team spent at Limonade. We woke up to a wonderful (and special) breakfast of pumpkin soup. It is a tradition in Haiti to have pumpkin soup on January first every year. It used to be that only the elite would be able to afford to have pumpkin soup, but after the revolution, al Haitians were able to afford it, and it is something special they share every year. It was delicious and reminded me a little bit of beef stew, and I was honored to be a part of this cultural tradition (though a little late)

We went back to Rafaval today for the final time. The business team needed to print out some of their charts and spreadsheets to give to the women, but for some reason the printer was having some difficulty connecting to the computer, so much of the morning was spent waiting around until somebody was able to figure out how to fix it. I think some of us were a little frustrated that on our final day, we spent hours doing literally nothing. Lunch was some spicy pasta and questionable meat (later identified as sausage) that had an interesting red hue. The daring boys experimented with the hot sauce, and I think Billy lost some taste buds during that lunch. After lunch, all of the Rafaval workers and our team gathered in the common area while the business team (with the help of Gabbie) explained how to use the different spreadsheets they had just made for the factory. They also explained the logo we proposed (Bon KoKo). The education team made the teacher we worked with a certificate, which put the biggest smile on her face. Before we left the factory, the women of Rafaval sang and danced with us. They even got us all dancing (including me and my red face) and laughing and I can’t imagine a better send off. After dancing, all the women lined up to hug us all, which is a special moment I will always keep in my heart. I think we can all agree we felt at home at Rafaval and were sad to leave.

When we got back to Gabbie’s house, we all went straight to the roof, the perfect place to watch the sun set, which was absolutely beautiful. I think it was the perfect way to reflect on our last day at Rafaval and our time at Limonade.

Dinner was complete with a beautiful cake (very sweet! Side note- I’ve noticed how Haitians love sweet and spicy things) and guanabana juice, which was creamy, thick, and sort of like a smoothie. After dinner, Gabbie joined us for reflection, where we were able to ask her all the questions we hadn’t gotten a chance to in the past week, and were able to debrief about our time spent together.

Though part of me doesn’t want to leave the north and Gabbie, we are very excited to tackle our next mission in Port-au-Prince, and can’t wait to update ya’ll about our time spent there.

-Hannah (and team)