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my old bossman (that's what we call boss' in Liberia) from Liberia (well, of course) came down to visit Haiti. what a breath of fresh air! Kendell is definitely the best boss I think I've ever had. It's mostly because of him and his wife that I am here in Haiti- i feel like they taught me so much about development and just helped me to have the most amazing experience in Liberia, making me want to do what I do. (if you're reading this Bev, thanks mom).

it's been pretty chaotic here, and it just felt like kendell's presence brought some peace. it was so great to reminesce about old times in Liberia and even to talk to him about how much i feel like Haiti is so much like Liberia- to the point where my first day in the village i spoke to the kids in Liberian English. I forgot where i was!

my favourite thing though is when he came down to our base. we had another earthquake. it lasted a little longer than normal, so we started to get up to get out of the building before it stopped. it wasn't bad, but it was kendell's first earthquake here in Haiti. Well, as i was sharing my new earthquake I.Q. which has increased, i was mentioning how you can hear the earthquake coming, and i was doing such a good job of telling it, that we felt another super small aftershock, i freaked myself out and started to run and everyone else that was listening was running too- and everyone else in the other part of the room- was wondering what we were doing. they all blamed me- i agreed- it was cause i freaked myself out. it was actually really funny though.

yesterday, saturday, i was walking out to a couple of IDP camps that had asked me to come. i've been walking lots of places because of logistical issues- and so i'm becoming quite popular within Grand Goave. people come up to me and ask me to come to their camp. and i really do try to make time- i think it's really awesome that they'd ask me and it helps me to get an idea of future places we may be able to work. so, we go to one camp and on the way back, we see this man in the mountain, Adam, my translator knows him and i say- "what's he doing up there?" Adam doesn't know. "Can we go up there?" I ask. "sure" he says. It was Adam's pastor making a new place to live because as the waters come in the future, they will sweep away his temporary house". we talk for a little and climb back down. adam showed me where he was staying before the earthquake. although it's still standing, it's not safe to stay in. Adam is the same man who lost his fiance' in the earthquake. i flat out cried in front of him when we were talking about her and he just said, "i lost my heart". i don't really understand much about love, but i can't even explain yet what that statement did to me. i think i'm still processing what those 4 words mean. especially to adam.

patty

i drove myself and jordanne out on the ATV to the beach. we met the rest of the team out there and it was just really pretty. i really like the ATV. i feel like i have now lived my life.