Today was going to be our last day out off the Mission and going places so naturally we chose to go visit another orphanage! The last one we visited was taken very good care of and the kids didn't seem to need as much attention as the others had at prior orphanages. This one we kind of sat and watched them play, as you can imagine by this point we were all pretty worn out and tired of the same games and songs. We still sang a few songs, but other than that, we just watched the children interact with each other. Some of the guys in our group noticed that a lot of the little boys were playing with a wooden plank and some cement blocks. Noticing the length of the board, our guys took it an created a teeter totter for the kids to enjoy. They thought it was the weirdest thing they had ever seen and we had to teach them how to use it. They LOVED it! I bet if I were to go visit them right this minute the boys would still be on it! After our orphanage visit, we went to the Mission and pretty much relaxed and had some down time.
Later on in the evening some of the village boys came to the porch to hang out with us. Marie and I had been sitting there and she told me about this fruit she had tried called a kanip. She was determined to find more and have me try some. Mackendy overheard us and took us on a kanip finding adventure! We eventually found a whole tree of them and made sure to take a whole branch back to the porch with us! They were so yummy and I wish I could've brought some home. While we were enjoying our hundreds of kanips there was a little boy sitting across from us. We decided it wouldn't kill us to share and offered him some, we talked for a while and quickly became friends. As we went through the motions (What is your name? How old are you?) we realized that this little boy was not that little. He looked to be about twelve, but instead surprised us with the fact that he was seventeen just like us! We literally talked with him about it for a good five minutes and finally believed him when another friend of ours from Lifeline said he had an ID to prove it. We were shocked!
For the rest of the night we hung out with the boy (whose name I don't even want to try and type out for you) and many of the other kids! We were really beginning to build friendships with them and it was fun to just hang out and talk with them. While we were hanging out one of the older boys came up to me, poked me on my shoulder, shouted "TING!" and quickly ran off. I was confused, but laughed anyways and then continued my conversation. A few minutes later the boy came back and did the same thing only this time he stood there laughing at me. I was so confused and asked what he was doing, but he wouldn't tell me. So I decided to go ask a Lifeline helper and here is what I learned. You know how in America if one of our friends does something to embarrass us and we jokingly say "I'm gonna kill you!" Well in Haiti they say that too, but have somehow come to the shortened version of "Ting." Apparently it catches on quickly because it is a game all of the boys play. After figuring this out I spent half of the night trying to "ting" people back. It was extremely funny!
After our childish game we decided to take some pictures and that was when it happened. The heart shattering moment that poisoned my mood for the rest of the trip. My precious camera was dropped and died instantly. I got a few pictures with the boys and as someone was handing me my camera back, I grabbed it, but the string was caught on the other person's hand and the camera was pulled down onto the tile. The lens was stuck out and once I did get the camera to turn on the focus did nothing. It was tragic and we passed around the camera to a few people to see if they could fix it but no one could. The Haitian boys definitely taught me a lesson that night, for as I was trying to turn the camera back on they quickly dug into their pockets telling me over and over again "Nina, my friend, we pay new one!" It was amazing that these kids, who had absolutely nothing, were offering to pay for something of mine because they felt bad. My heart went from shattered to in awe of what these guys were doing. I, of course, did not take their money and told them that it would be alright. But even as we were saying goodnight all of them gave me a hug and said "sorry about camera my friend." It's crazy how in one moment you can learn from a child in a third world country more than you've ever learned from seventeen years in America.
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