One of our beloved team members left this morning for a new chapter in her life. Emi Pierce leaves behind friends, 10 boys (collectively known as the "naked boys" for their propensity for being naked - their only 3 what do you want from them), parents who love her, a community who will miss her activism and ministry, Magda, and the insanity known as our life in Haiti. I find it humorous that the things we laugh most often about are the daily - sometimes it seems hourly - "disasters" that we endure, usually taken in stride because "this is Haiti." Today, in honor of EMi's departure, they seem to all have happened in unison.
The morning began with no electricity - which isn't all that unusal. EdH (the Haitian Power Company) usually goes off around 4 am and returns some time after 6 am....though lately its been off longer and longer, but as I write this at 4pm we still have no EdH power. Generally we compensate by turning on the generator until EdH comes back on; however today, the generator won't work. Try as they might the guys can't seem to find the problem and therefore no solution...which means no power. Still. Did I mention it's blazing hot? Hotter than it's been in a Haitian month (which may actually only be a week or two but feels like a month). No fans. No Internet. No Water! Our water system requires a pump - which uses electricity...so as I speak we have begun to run out of water in the houses...and still we are sweating away.
In the midst of all of this, Child Services shows up. They only come when Dr. Ken is gone, or so it seems. They also seem to show up when the kids are in school and want to speak with a child who isn't at home because, surprise - they are at school at 10:30 am on a Wednesday. These visits seem to take forever! and Wednesdays are a crazy busy day for us with getting our weekly supplies delivered to each house.
While all of this is going on, my phone rings and the man on the other end of the line announces that he has just spoken to my husband (at which point I got excited because I haven't even spoken to my husband yet, as I'm not married) and he told them I could give them some medicine because their whole mission team was sick.... At which point I realized delirium had probably accompanied his illness and he was just confused when Dr. Ken gave him my phone number.
After hanging up the phone and pondering the likelihood of God revealing my future husband to me via a phone call from a complete stranger (and determining it to be highly unlikely), Cameron returns home from picking up the kids from school. While on his way to the school, he was stopped in a traffic stop in which he may or may not have been the only car stopped - and the only Blanc driving. One a singularly positive note, Odius was nearby and kept him from spending the night (in Haitian time - a week) in a Haitian prison/jail - and to get his American driver license returned.
This has been our day - the Day Emi Left... WE hope it's not indicative of life without her...though I'm sure the universe will be balanced again soon - at least we hope. So as I finish writing this - old school with an actual pen and paper - I realize that the day is not nearly over and I just want to say if the septic system goes out and we have to call Billy PooPoo, it's Stacie Tippett's fault for suggesting it could still get worse.
Epilogue:
Then came the torrential rain - right at dusk. In time for the dark to be even darker - and no power. Water bottles are distributed to all the houses (especially the Baby houses) to get them through the night - we can't find our flashlights and can't find all the babies in the dark - okay so we could, but it sounded funny - and it did make counting noses difficult. And now I hear the glorious sound of the generator and the lights have flickered and come on! Praise God for electricity.
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