Blog from Lucas

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Today we went to the beach. I slept in until 8:30 and had breakfast of bread, mangoes, boiled eggs, and pineapple. She made homemade orange juice that tastes a lot different than normal stuff in the states (SO much better). We sat around and talked for awhile and Crystal explained some more stories about life in Haiti. She talked about how charity can be toxic and that their organization works very hard to give sustainable income for families, not just handouts. She said that it's frustrating when they've worked very hard and are on the brink of completing a project like that and another group comes in and just gives it to them instead and ruins their project. The people are just reliant on the handouts until that new group leaves. Then back to square one. Basically, handouts perpetuate the problem, they don't actually fix anything, making ministry a very difficult thing. 

After the morning, we went to the beach. The ride there took an hour. We drove through many cities where we saw poverty that was very bad. No running water, houses made out of tarps, which many of which said "USAID" on it because of the earthquake handouts. The drive there was rough on some of the roads that were unpaved and bumpy but others were flat and straight meaning Reggie could absolutely fly. In a bus. Full of 10 people. Yikes. I noticed on the journey that nearly 90% of the people who drove motos drove the boxer moto. It was a cheap 125cc that people could afford and buy parts for it. No helmets are ever worn either. Most people would fit 4 people on them too. 

The beach was gorgeous. It was a thin beach but it was long and right at the edge of the mountainside. I could see right through the water too. There were people trying to sell things along the beach that were slightly obnoxious but Crystal explained that they were trying to make a living. We bartered and I got a machete for $12. The people on the beach were very nice to us and seemed like they wanted to take care of us almost. Definitely expected it to taste like mangos or something. On our way back we were able to study on the bus some but it was too distracting. I was watching the poverty stricken villages pass by and I had too many ideas of how to help running through the my head. I love it down here and I absolutely can't to graduate and think of ways to come back and help as a registered nurse. 

-Lucas Roshong