Trip to Gonaives and some photos...

The children at one of the orphanages with the things bought with the money.

Rice fields

Miss Betty last night.  The white stuff is yogurt.  JoHannah was feeding her, and she (Betty) somehow managed to knock the cup so that it spilled the yogurt on herself.

A little girl that I was watching today in Gonaives.  Her brother and sister were selling things on the side of the road not far from the car.

Today Mr. Schmidt took JoHannah and I to Gonaives.  It was about a two hour drive, but the road was pretty good in most places. Mr. Schmidt says that the road used to be terrible- it was full of potholes and things- and that it took over three hours to get there.

A large part of the drive was through the rice-growing part of the island. He pointed out the seed beds were the rice is started, the fields it's transplanted to, and the drying and threshing areas, were it is taken after being harvested. There were animals all over the place, grazing the fields after they were harvested. They looked better here than in other places I've seen, probably because there was more food.

We were taking some money to a couple of orphanages in Gonaives that was donated to them for Christmas for the children. The orphanages are run by two pastors. I got to meet one of them, but the other was away for a few days, so we met his wife instead.

Today is JoHannah's “gotcha day”. This is the day she was adopted, and the Schmidts celebrate these days for the three children. Josh's was a few days ago. The boys are making a special dinner in honor of it, so that Jo doesn't have to cook.