We Stop for Coffee

What a wonderful day the Lord blessed us with today.

We started the morning with a peaceful rest. I slept hard. They had to wake me for breakfast. The morning's cold shower was not frigid. The breakfast was not hot (a trade off for sleep). But the conversation was delightful. Then it was off to the bank, wait, we didn't need to go to the bank to request more checks. someone else will take care of that. Another blessing.

Time to reconfigure the GPS, if we had a GPS, and head to Rebo cafe. Some nice lattes, mochas, chocolate caramel macchiatos and a banana muffin. Our morning meeting with pastor Olistin started, almost, on time. He was going to lead us to the Onaville Baptist Orphanage, which we would never find without him. But he needed to run an errand. Something for his vehicle. Great. We could go across to the Rebo Coffee and pick up the standard 24 bags to give away in the coming months.

In Haiti, ordering coffee can be a long, complicated process. 1. Tell the clerk what would, repeat twice. 2. Have Valery reconfirm. 3. Enter the order and calculated. 4. Have calculation checked. 5. Repeat order stressing whole bean and not ground. 6. Take slip around the corner to pay. 7. Check payment twice. 8. Return to clerk who reads back what you just paid for and takes your receipt and issues a filling slip. 9. Take that outside and down the walk to the warehouse, it's full of men just waiting for another order. 10. Having pulled the stock is checked with two other men, they hand over the beans. That was the process today. But it just seemed quicker. Maybe because it was only 90 degrees and not 99.

Then quick call to pastor to check on his progress. It will be another 30 minutes, so a short debate commences. Do we sit in the car? Or go back into the air conditioned cafe? So second breakfast is declared, and we order sandwiches, fruit, smoothies and sodas. Being in Haiti, fast food is not fast, and just two bites into our food, pastor Olistin is back. We are now two hours into our three hour meeting.

So Tom and Valery opt to ride to Onaville with pastor Olistin and conduct our business along the way. At the orphanage, we are greeted by a throng of tiny hands and kisses from the older girls. Then a tour. We see the new building and hear the vision for the future of the project. After a short interview, we were on our way up the coast to meet another young man.

More on that tomorrow.