12 Oct. Cory's Birthday and trip to Bory

Today is Cory's birthday which unfortunately he has spent printing out newsletters. I promise to do my best to get him out in the garden later. We did have yummy lasagna for lunch and I plan on making his oatmeal cake as soon as this blog is done.

Yesterday we visited our 20th church in the district. Bory is 4 miles [40 minutes] to the West of us. Last mile or so is off the 'main' road on a two track that has grass because trucks so rarely go that way. We past a couple of VooDoo temples on the way and lots of families are raising turkeys.

Having had close to an inch of rain from Tropical Storm Henri the night before Cory was a little worried about making it but thankfully we have the 4-Wheel drive. When we got to Bory-they were surprised to see us as they were expecting us the following week. [Hard to do any more with all the cell phones about]

The Bory elementary school has 250 students. We didn't pass that many houses so makes you wonder how far the kids walk to school. The church and school are on the edge of a hill with a valley on the other side.

The church was very warm with only block windows. Thankfully during the service the Pastor's must of decided we needed the fan more than them and turned it our way. [Remember they all had suit coats on!] We greatly appreciated their sacrifice on our behalf.

Once again we enjoyed some great acapella singing. Haitian singing is something you really have to experience first hand to understand the impact it can have on you.

Following church we walked around the school a bit and then went to visit the colonial runes that were just across the street. We were told that part of the church was built on the stone foundations. It wasn't hard to imagine the ancestors of the Haitian congregation working on the sugar plantation that had once stood where we were standing. Now the land is planted with bananas and rice.

The folks in this area appear poorer than most. Most homes in Haiti any more have tin roofs and not the thatched roofs. Also this house wasn't built with blocks but mud on sticks. We were able to share Moringa trees with the church and some of the members are planning to come to the gardening class next week.

Others are interested in English classes as well but will need to wait for the January class.

Interesting to think that just over 200 years ago this was a thriving sugar plantation. Haiti was the most profitable colony in the Caribbean.