I have two men that I want to tell you about. They have both stolen my heart and made me love this country even more.
Tonight I was sitting on my porch just wasting time on facebook. I saw Tancred walking my way. There was no reason for him to be over by my house since he always sits at the gate, and he usually isn't around at this time of the evening. I walked over to where he was and asked him what was going on, assuming there must be a problem. We began talking, and I'm still not sure if there was a problem or not, but nevertheless we got it settled. And then he began to tell me about how he was not happy that I was here all alone. So he decided he was going to sit and talk to me until the night guards got there. We talked for a while about nothing in particular. In case you don't remember, this is the man whom we were able to bless with a house in February. I asked him how his new house was and if he liked it.
His reaction was a little confusing. He looked angry for a second and then began to talk very fast. I realized he reacted this way because he couldn't even believe I was asking such a ridiculous question. He said, "You SAW my old house! You wouldn't even let your dog sleep there. You know that. (true)." He talked for a while about how great his new house was. Since it rained last night I asked about the rain. I thought he was going to cry when he told me that it did not come into the house! We talked about how awesome the sound of rain on the tin roof is. He talked about how "Bondye te beni nou"-"God has blessed us [his family.]"
He told me that today at the gate he heard me tell one of my friends from church that I was leaving on May 23 and that he was going to miss me. *biting back tears*. I told him that I was not happy to leave. I wanted to stay here. Now the tears are welling in my eyes, threatening to run hot down my cheeks, my voice is getting all choked up and cracky. I tried to explain how God has put love in my heart for the people of Haiti, but that I love the people of Ti Guinea most of all! When I am at home I miss everyone here. I always pray for them. My heart hurts to come back. I told him that even if I'm away a very long time I don't want anyone to think I've forgotten them. I will never forget you. I told him the reason I am leaving in May is to finish school. He said, "I thought you were finished already." I had to explain that I was finished with one kind of school, but need to go back to school at least one more time, maybe two, to finish learning all that I want to learn.He smiled and said, "When you finish learning everything you will come back and serve us here?" It was a question, but by the way he asked it he already knew the answer. I shared my dreams for the future and he said he couldn't wait for me to come back and help them all.
Then we moved on and just talked about other things. Like how much we love the mountain, how beautiful it is up there. How God has blessed us with all these beautiful things here.
It was a precious, precious conversation with such a precious man. He's not someone I get to talk to on a day-to-day basis, but I'm so glad he came to say hello tonight. It started getting dark, and after making sure at least 3 times that I was going to be ok if left all alone, he decided to go home, munching on a mango as he went.
I'm so blessed by the hearts of these people. He was so gracious to listen to my Kreyol (and compliment me on it.). I'm so glad we were able to give him a house. He knows he is blessed. He is so thankful. It is so beautiful to talk to someone so thankful.
I believe I'v talked about this man before. I honestly don't know his name. Some people call him 'iron hands", I call him "the most adorable little man ever". Gersan told me he is the toughest man in the village. He is also somewhere around 5 feet tall. Did I mention I think he's adorable? I do. He came to me with a machete cut. He had been slaughtering a cow and somehow, I think he fell on the machete. He lost quite a bit of blood considering his age and size. The cut was deep, and I was worried about infection because it had been two days, and he said the machete had cow blood on it when he cut himself. His cut was decently deep, and his hands are so incredibly tough from all the work he's done in his lifetime. Hence the name iron hands. The first time I cleaned it there is no doubt in my mind that it was incredibly painful. But he stood and just watched and didn't so much as flinch or even blink. It was incredible. I asked if it hurt and he just smiled and said. "oh yes!" I found out later that this man has had a long history of running Americans out of the village. He has never liked Americans and doesn't welcome them here. Because of his situation, and my friendship with his daughter-in-law, I think he was persuaded to come to us for help. As he began to heal I saw his walls come down. He told me about his family. His wife, he told me, is crazy, she doesn't remember him or their kids.She only remembers her sister, so she lives with them to help take care of her. He has a few living kids, but most of them left and are in the Dominican Republic. He has no living brothers or sisters. He told me about his garden on the mountain, but how its becoming hard to climb up there to take care of it. I asked him his age the first day he came. He had no idea. Two days later he came back with a tiny paper folded and put in a matchbox that he kept in his pocket. It had "74" written on it, and he informed me that he found out, or figured out his age. It was so adorable. Thankfully his hand began healing well. He really could have used stiches, but the butterfly bandages worked almost as well. He always thanks me before he leaves. At his last visit I told him I was so glad he had come and I was so happy that his hand was all healed. He looked at me with the most sincerity and told me, "Mesi boucoup, miss! Mesi anpil, miss! Mesi anpil anpil!" -"Thank you so much, nurse! Thank you a lot, nurse! Thank you a lot, a lot!" I had to fight the urge to give him a huge hug and tell him that I loved him. (That would be somewhat culturally inappropriate).
I am so thankful for these two old men. Life has been lived in them. You can look in their eyes and see that.
God has blessed us! Bondye te beni nou!
1 comment:
I really liked this one Noelle (not that your other posts weren't good...)! Thanks for posting it!
Gabe
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