Reiser Relief Mission Trip Journal: Little Miss Attitude

Reiser Relief pays teacher salaries at a school called Reiser Heights which is 2 hours southeast of Port au Prince via a steep, beautiful mountain climb. We ascended today to check on a construction project underway. We are replacing the roof on the community center of the school and adding movable classroom partitions so that students who are currently receiving instruction in a dark and uninviting out building can move into the main school building.

I'm happy to report that construction is going great and we expect it to be completed shortly. It was so awesome to see the sturdy roof taking shape that will not leak rainwater on the kids. But that wasn't my favorite part of the day.

We passed out shoes and backpacks to about half of the students today that were collected and purchased by generous supporters. The kids were so delighted with their new shoes. And one teacher who received a pair of be-dazzled canvas sneakers literally did a jig of joy. But that wasn't my favorite part of the day.

Our day also included purchasing vegetables from a street vendor for the guest house. Before our purchase was finalized it started to downpour sheets of heavy rain. We were frantically trying to find places for multiple bags of fruits and vegetables before we all got soaked. A large watermelon ended up being stashed between my knees. I'm wearing a skirt. Ann had bananas on her head and Shelley had very ripe tomatoes in her lap. We laughed until we cried. But that wasn't my favorite part of the day.

We were at Reiser Heights at school dismissal time. We asked the children if any of them wanted to show us where they lived. One little girl kept posing for me and sticking her hip one way and her elbow another (picture Madonna in Vogue). When I imitated her she found it very funny and led us everywhere until we left. Her name is Rose Danna, but I called her Little Miss Attitude. Her joy was contagious and her smile warmed my heart. We carefully followed her through steep terrain, gardens and footpaths to her humble home. She lives in a tiny place barely large enough to hold 2 single beds. Her mother Jean Marie proudly introduced us to her 2 month old daughter Rose Darling. We also met her son Kensli who is 9 years old and attends Reiser Heights. Jean Marie does laundry for other families to make money. She and her husband Anel Pierre had a tiny plot of carefully tended fruits and vegetables that they grow to sell and market and feed their family. No electricity. No bathroom. A little lean to with a charcoal pit to cook. And smiles a mile wide. Materially poor and spiritually rich.