Today I awoke to the sound of rain. Yes, I guess the rains were not fully over. It was just a little rained then it quickly subsided. Then I went downstairs to the ‘Cocina’ or ‘kitchen’ as we say in English. To see what there was to eat for breakfast. The cook who usually makes meals for us, but she has the mornings off because there are just a few volunteers here at the orphanage. The kids have their own cooks that make their meals.
As I went into the kitchen I put on some coffee. We have a cool Italian type coffee maker. You just put the coffee and water in it and place it on the stove. Then when it’s ready it shoots the hot water through the coffee grounds with a burping noise. That’s when you know its ready. I put the coffee into a thermal so others could have some, then I found some Quaker Oatmeal packs. I put on some hot water I had to boil it in a frying pan lol.. When the water was ready I poured it on the oatmeal that I had poured from the packs. Then took that and my coffee to the table outside to eat breakfast. I thanked God for the food, and then I began to drink my coffee and eat the oatmeal. After the second spoonful I looked down at my bowl and noticed little brown sticks floating in my oatmeal. I looked even closer and realized that they were not sticks at all they were actually insects or weevils. I immediately dumped out the bowl into a bucket we save for the hog food, and went into the pantry and found a closed box of Quaker. I then repeated the process and this time there were no extra guest in my bowl lol.
Some might have been grossed out by this story but every once in a while it’s probably going to happen here lol. The Kitchen here is open, the pantry is closed and able to be locked up.
After eating breakfast, then working on some other things. I went down to eat Lunch. It was ok, but wasn’t the best. After lunch we left to go to Santiago, D.R. Which is about 2 hours from here its the second largest city in the DR. We went there to go shopping at the grocery store for the volunteers. It was myself and Tom the Executive Director of Orphanage Outreach and the driver Pegero, who really knows how to drive on these crazy city streets. After doing a few errands we went to the Airport to pickup July, and Coco. July is a volunteer that will be staying for 2 years. She will be helping me with the ESL program and other things. Coco is the Director of OO here in the Dominican Republic.
On the way to Santiago I began to read my National Geographic. It was very interesting, because it talked about Haiti. Montecristi is just 30 minutes from the Haitian border. The picture I saw I had to put on my page to show you the shock I got when I began to read the article. The title read, “Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt”. It was very troubling for me to hear about people, so desperate that they had to eat dirt to survive. ”Dirt Pies” to survive.
Coming from the U.S. I realize just how bless we are as a country. Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola. Haiti is located on west and the Dominican Republic to the right of the island. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The official Religion of Haiti is Voodoo. The United Nations Peace keeping mission is currently keeping the peace in Haiti. Also, there is severe flooding in Haiti because of the tropical storms, and hurricanes that have touched down there recently. Eight of their eleven provinces are currently flooded. If you will say a prayer for the people of Haiti, they really need help!
After learning more and more about Haiti and also seeing extreme needs before my own eyes. I began to thank the Lord for all of his blessings in my life. I also began to repent for my materialism, and for complaining. You know, a hungry person in Haiti would have eaten even the bowl of oatmeal that I poured in the hog’s bucket probably.
Are you thankful for what you had to eat today? Are you thankful for how blessed you are today?
This blog was submitted to the Ministry From Bro. Jeffrey Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment