My Year in Haiti

My Year in Haiti
It's All About the Children

Monday, June 25, 2012

How much is Too Much?

One of the hardest parts of this job is knowing how much to give, and when to pull back. One could make themselves crazy down here trying to do what is best in every situation. It's like living in a moth bitten tent in the rainy season. You have to decide which holes to patch and which holes to leave. And you have to rearrange the furniture so the rain doesn't come in on the really important stuff. 


There are so many places that our tent needs to be patched up. You can't possibly fix all the holes. So, let's say we leave one, and tuck a bucket under it to collect rain water. That's well and fine, but if you don't watch out, that bucket overflows and now you've ruined the rugs! So you have to keep shuffling buckets and moving the furniture around. But nobody else is helping. So as fast as you can move buckets around, patches bust and more holes are letting in water. 


So now you are simultaneously, and independently, attempting to sew up holes, move buckets, rearrange furniture, and trying to keep the most precious of your possessions from getting destroyed by the ever onslaught of the masses of rain that just keeps pouring, and pouring and pouring in. Eventually you just want to go lay down on the bed and wait for the mudslide to carry you down hill. 


Surrender is inevitable. 


Yeah, it's that kind of Monday. 

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