Haiti: Day 3 {part 1}

  On Thursday, our day started by making a stop at the Mass Grave.  You can see in the two following photos that there is a village directly next to it.  These kids were very excited to see us!

  This is the memorial for the 2010 Earthquake.  This memorial says, "12 January 2010; We Will Never Forget".  

  We climbed a hill overlooking the Mass Grave.  Three crosses stood at the top of this hill.  On the right side of this photo, you can see the memorial.  In the photo below, the main tract of land you see is the Mass Grave.  This solemn property is where 200,000 to 300,000 people are buried from the 2010 earthquake.  It breaks my heart thinking about it.

 The two young men on the right and left both shared their stories of what happened on January 12, 2010.  This was JD's (left) first time sharing his story.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to share that story...for the first time...at the Mass Grave.  What breaks my heart most about this place is that family members of lost ones can visit, but they don't know where they are buried.  I would imagine it would be hard to find closure.  Here in the U.S., we have grave stones so we can go directly where our loved ones are buried to remember them.

  Up on the hill, this photo was captured of the other man who shared his story.  He knelt and seemed to pray and worship.  This photo really struck me: he had lost everything - home, family, friends, his city - and he is at the place where his loved ones are randomly buried, and he kneels at the foot of a cross to worship our Lord.  Even during his story of the earthquake, he gave glory to God!  What a testimony!  And how convicting for the rest of us - at least for me.  

  When we left the Mass Grave, we headed to a Haitian market.  It was not appropriate to take photos, but it was certainly an interesting experience!  This was not a place for tourists, this is where Haitians went to buy meat, fruits, vegetables, and I spotted some other household objects such as toothbrushes and the like.  We split up and I was in a group with four others.  We walked through the meat section where at least a dozen individuals were selling their meat.  We walked through the seafood section, where the smell of fish was extremely strong.  But you wouldn't know, now, would you, Tim? :)  When we all gathered back together, we had so many new fruits to try!  We had purchased mango, avocados, pineapple, sugar cane, coconut, bananas, quenepas, and so, so many more!  Over the next few days, we got to try several of those fruits.  Let me tell you, I don't like mango here in the US.  Oh.my.word.  It is SO good there!  And the pineapples taste like candy (and they're white!).  Very interesting to try new foods and how different everything tastes when they're fresh! :)

 Next post: the River Walk. 

Love,

   Sierra