Party Time!

Final exams graded, last papers submitted and evaluated  - it was time for celebration!  Evidently, the Haitians do like to celebrate things accomplished - so we scheduled refreshments and singing (another favorite) for the combined advanced English classes and the computer classes.  After we went over the tests, we opened the floor to those who wanted to participate in the program, etc.

Then the unexpected happened!

One by one, those men came to the center of the room and began to give tributes to Larry and me!  Oh, my goodness!  It was so humbling!  Then, one advanced with his arms full of wrapped gifts!  I almost cried!  We were given two lovely Haitian paintings and two plaques with Haitian flags and crests on them in appreciation of our coming to Haiti to "help them".

Then came the songs - praise and worship songs to the Lord, sung with such emotion and praise.

And, then the prayers - for Larry and me!

Wow!  It was a memorable night.

Next week, when we have the May Talking Night ( the first of several evenings of English conversation during the off months), these men will be joined by members of a short-term mission team from our church, ALIVE Wesleyan, who will be here to work with Madam Soliette's orphanage children and the children's village construction project.

An hour or so will be spent with our Haitian brothers in Christ interacting with our brothers and sisters in Christ from South Carolina!  Looking forward to just watching that!  Our students brainstormed topics they wanted to discuss.  They will have questions for our visitors.   There will be a lot of practicing English goin' on.

And who knows?  Our students just might leave the gathering with some of their questions answered about American politics, education in the states, why they would come to Haiti for a week, to name a few of the topics we discussed last night.

And their English pronunciation is bound to be even more influenced by Southern accents!!