These questions didn’t phase me at the beginning but now they are starting to kick in. We have 6 days left in Haiti. I have mastered the art of imitating my Haitian friends and I love hearing my name in their deep voices as they pronounce Viickie. I have adjusted to the barrage of questions upon meeting people, men my own age. Question 1. Do you have kids? Question 2. Do you have a husband? Question 3. Do you have boyfriend or Fiancé? Question 4. Do you love Haiti? Question 5. Will you come back to Haiti after you leave? Question 6. What is your name? Okay so sometimes what is my name comes first but today I asked the young man after his questions what my name was and he could not remember. Then his friend who didn’t even ask my name started asking me them and my new friend Tatoo literally laughed and mimicked the kill sign to stop asking… This has become a new norm. One I will actually miss.
My favorite question to ask after the interrogations is how old do you think I am? The best answer yet was 20. I can laugh now but Haiti has a very romantic culture even a young girl we were talking to today could not believe we were all single. When she asked us the questions our translator Evens laughed because he knows how often we have been answering them. One time I thought I would be funny and I told the young man that if he was so concerned that I was not married that he could pray for my future husband. He thought about this and then turned back around and said, “No I cannot.” I asked, “Why?” He replied, “If I pray for him, then I will pray that I will be him. Would you like me to pray that?” I laughed so hard because the grin on his face said gotcha. I had walked right into his set up on that one. Then he asked if I would like him to be my husband. I had known him maybe a full day.
But back to the end of the list, Do I love Haiti? I do! I love Haiti how could anyone not. It is tropical. It is beautiful. It is full of beautiful people and exciting culture. Coming from a part of America where there are not many African Americans it has been crazy to walk down streets and be in villages all morning and afternoon where the only white people (Blans) I see are my teammates. I have loved every single day of Haiti. Mission of Hope has been so good to us. Our translators have welcomed us into their homes and introduced us to their families and it has been wonderful. I feel like I not only was here to work but I made actual friends. When they ask if I will come back to Haiti my answer is I hope so. I have loved it here so much. Yesterday I was reflecting on my time here and was fighting off sadness all day of it being the last week. Then this morning God reminded me that most mission trips are a week. I have been saying goodbye to the short term missionaries all the time. It just feels too short but a lot can happen in 6 days and God isn’t done with me yet. I will never forget the people I am meeting and can continue to pray for my new friends for the rest of my life.
