Exciting last day

Our last day was an eventful day! We got an early start and it was exciting to watch all the workers (31 Haitian and 8 blan) working on the cement roof. They have quite a system. They mixed and poured 225 bags of cement a zillion buckets of water from the canal and the hose and a ton of gravel. I went to devotions at the school and just as they were raising the flag and singing the National Anthem Cabano came running into the school grounds and spoke to Luckner and he took off on the run and jumped into another mans truck and tore out of the yard. I wondered what happened but didn't think too much about it. Later I was walking to the compound and saw that all the staff were talking excitedly and running to the gate so I took stock of who was missing and I saw the truck was gone. When the truck is gone I know that Dickie and Karen are gone too. I headed to the gate with the biggest knot in my stomach and Cecile stopped me and took me back to her house and put Josee in my arms. After a few minutes she headed to the gate again so I put Josee on the step and headed to the house and then I went out the side gate to the school and ran down the road between the compound and school and as I walked past the gate I could hear them all talking and I heard my name but I didn't look back. Faith had come from the accident to get Dickies drivers license that was in his vest pocket and had told me that they were okay so when I got there I found Ed, saying he was fine, Dickie saying he was fine and Karen saying she was fine and about 500 Haitians talking and yelling madly at every blan there. Dickie had blood on his nose forehead and knee and the eye peices were missing from his glasses, Karen had a big bump on her right side of her head and was holding her ribs and Ed was white and limping BUT they were all fine. They had taken 2 people from the Tap Tap to the Hospital. We had to wait for the Police and it was hard to manouver around the two trucks so everyone stopped and got in on the action and the Tap Tap owner was cursing us big time and everyuone was yelling and talking excitedly. It was the Tap Tap drivers fault BUT when you are lan in Haiti you are in the wrong. The Police finally arrived with the Judge de Prix and they looked everything over and took photos. We had taken a lot of photos by this time and I was talking to Faith and I noticed a Police behind us with a machine gun so we both turned to get his photo but he moved so we each took a side of the road and hoped to get a good one. It seemed we were there for hours when given permission to leave. Dickie had to give his drivers license to the Police and they wouldn't give it back. Faith ran and photocopied it but they wouldn't accept the photocopy so we didn't mind he could get a new one when we got home. We returned to the compound and got ice on Ed's ankle and iodine on Dickies scrapes and ice on Karen's head and ribs but before long they were all back at the school again limping, hurting some and continuing to enjoy the day! What troopers. Poor Luckner was left to deal with the Tap Tap owner and anyone he could bring to help him plead his case for $50,000.00 US for a new truck. Luckner was wearing many hats today, first he was the school director, then the construction foreman and then lawyer....all before 9:00 AM.

The roof was finished and we had a fun time with 12 of the workers here on site where they all got to say what they wanted to each other, share a pop and we gave them all a bag of shoes, clothes and hats to take home to their families. Then all the kids and Cecile came for a visit and pop and they all thanked us and sang for us and told us how much they appreciated us. Faith was wondering since our arrival how she was going to take a little kid home with her BUT today she changed her mind and was wondering how she was going to take a tall dark and handsome man home. Timothy is about 7 feet tall and handsome as can be.

We gave the staff their tips and said our goodbyes today and we will be on the road early morning. Don't know how we are going yet but we will be going. Please pray for our safe travel to Port Au Prince.

Sandra

It was a very exciting day to say the least. We were up early and all working towards the big roof pour. We hauled all the cement over in the back of the truck from the depot to the school site, then we went to Luckners to get a ladder. The next trip a few minutes later was back to Luckners to get some gas for the cement mixer. It was on the return trip that we were hit on the rear passenger side. In order to get on the road by the canal which leads to HATS you have to make a wide turn in order to make it in one try. That is what I did but a woman walked in front of me and I slowed down and got hit very hard. The tap tap driver was going really fast. It spun us around violently. Ed and Cabano were in the back and were thrown unto the hood of the tap tap.Ed hurt his ankle. Cabona appears to be OK. Karen hit her head, ribs and ankle. I hit something that knocked me out, I have two scrapes on my forehead, a cut on my nose and am sore everywhere. We are all very fortunate considering the possibilities. We gave the biggest show in the area for a couple of hours. This has been a wonderful trip and we accomplished more than we expected when we first arrived.

Dickie