Service Week in the Batey

Little children tugging on your arms, running their fingers through your hair, grabbing your hand and never letting go, and asking for piggy back rides. There is nothing more that brings joy to me other than this. This week at my school is service week. My class along with the 5th grade class had the wonderful opportunity to go to a Batey for two days. For all who don't know what that is, it's a village where mostly Haitians live in the Dominican Republic working in sugar cane fields. The people who live in these villages are very poor and make only about 50 cents a day. Their lives are very hard.

When I first stepped off the bus onto the ground of the Batey it was like entering into another world. Yes, I was still in the D.R. but I felt like was in Africa. You could tell right from the start these people had very little. The smell of wood burning filled the air and dust and dirt from the road was everywhere. There was one road that went down the middle of the village and on both sides stood pale yellow houses. There was one colmado, one small wooden blue church, and one school. The children were running and playing everwhere. We all walked around for a little touring the Batey and meeting the people who live there. We sat and visited with one lady for a bit and was so kind and generous to get 5 of us chair so we wouldn't have to stand. These people are wanting to serve and make you happy even if they don't have a lot. This is what makes them so special. After visiting for a while we went and played with the kids. We played a hand slapping game where one person has both palms facing up and the other puts their hands on top. Then the person on bottom has to try to slap the other person's hands. These children aren't worried about hurting you. My hands were bright red after playing. They were pretty fascinated by the color too. One little boy held my hand looking very closely at the strange color and decided to kiss it to make it all better. The kids are very rough; hitting and kicking each other is the only way the seem to know how to solve anything. Their lives are so hard and tough that they haven't been taught or shown how to behave properly. It's basically every man for himself. But this was a chance for us to show them that isn't they way they have to choose. As servants of God we can SHOW them how to love each other and how to be kind towards one another.

We ate lunch in the church and afterwards played games! We started out playing duck duck goose....but in spanish. Even though most of them are Haitian they all know spanish. We all stood and a circle and laughed and cheered as we watched kids chase each other around the huge circle. A couple people tripped and a couple ran around the circle a few more times than they should because they didn't know when to stop. Hearing the laughter of the kids, my classmate, and my teachers was so satisfying. There was nothing to do but smile. We also played red light green light and simon says. Starting the game was interesting. I never knew trying to get kids all in one straight line would be so difficult. The children could be very uncooperative at times; pushing, shoving, starting little fights because they all wanted to be in the middle of the line. It took a lot of energy to try to get them to calm down and follow directions. But once we started the games everyone was okay. A little dance competition also took place. One thing these kids do know how to do is dance. And they're good. We made a circle and two kids at a time would go at and have a dance off. At the end whoever the other kids cheered the loudest for won. It was so much fun watching them show off their moves, trying to "show each to other up." Entertaining the children took a lot of work and energy. All of us were dead by the end of the day.

We slept in a church that night that was about 15-20 min away from the Batey. They had bunk beds that we all slept on. Girls on oneside the boys on the other side of the building. The 11th graders were in charge of food. Daniel, Carlos, Mariana, and Sugeiry all made delicious tacos :) We were so hungry we each had two....those tortilla shells aren't small either. After dinner we all played games together. We sat in a big circle and played Judge Judy and Killer. I know the last game fits right in with this trip. The way you kill people is winking at them, harmless :) It was fun to get to know the 5th graders and to play with them. After they went to bed the teens stayed up and played Uno and talked for a while. I only got about 2 hours of sleep that night. Not becuase I stayed up late but because it was FREEZING cold. I had a sheet and I wore shorts. I would have had sweat pants but water had spilt on my bag and got my pants all wet. There was also a dog barking for bit because of the boys literally "kicked" it out of their room, and one of the girls likes to sleep talk. Lets just say I was a tad bit tired the next morning. Me, Sarah, Josuel, and Lissette were in charge of making eggs for everyone. Never knew scrambled eggs took so long to cook. But it was good in the end.

Our second day at the Batey was probably my favorite. I was a little nervous becuase we were doing crafts and none of us were awake enough to be able to be energetic enough for the kids. So on our way to the Batey all the teens decided to pray together and to ask God to give us a servant heart for the day. The fact that we all held hands and prayed together with out an adult asking us was amazing. I can go to school with these people, but praying with them reaches a deeper level of our friendship. Sure enough, we were ready to serve. Making bracelets started off great. It was calm, cool, and collected. The little boys and girls looked so content putting the beads on their piece of string. I think this is mostly becuase half of the kids were in school. So what happens they they arrive? Chaos. Little hands being shoved into my face, children tugging on my shoulders and legs shouting ,"Amiga! Amiga! mira!" I'm trying to cut string and tying nots as fast as I can, beads spilling everywhere. The thing is, these kids don't understand how to say "can I have some string please?" or a simple "Thank you". I don't think they even know how to have patience. And it's becuase they haven't been taught how to do theses things. We tried the best we could to demonstrate these things for them. Whether they notice or not, we know we did our best. That's all we can do. In the end they kids were happy with their bracelets and neckalces. Most of them had a necklace, a bracelet for each hand, and an anklete for each foot. They cracked me up with this. But they looked adorable. After cleaning up all the little scattered beads, a little girl named Victoria grabbed my waist and asked me if I wanted to go see her school. As we were walking another little girl came up beside me and grabbed my hand. An then ANOTHER little girl grabbed what space was left on my arm. Before I knew it I had about 6 little girls gathered around me as we walked through the Batey. We sat down on a log and they started to play with my hair. At first it felt nice, but then they started really pulling on my hair, which lead to some slight pain. But if they were content with playing with strange blonde hair, thats okay with me. It made me so happy sitting there with a little girl on my lap another one playing with my hair, and another wanting me to take pictures of her. They are so beautiful and I thank God for creating each and every one of them.

When we see people that are impoverished, we want to give them so much of what they don't have. We automatically search for material things that they need. Or what we think they need. But the greatest gift we can give anyone is love. Showing these children affection, playing with them, and demonstrating love towards them is the only thing thats really a necessity. Yes it would be nice if we could provide other things for them. But when we can't , Love is just as good and even better. I don't know if the children were being loved by someone at home, if they were told "I love you" today. So, you just got to let them know that they are indeed loved. By demonstrating God's love through us, they are able to get a glimpse of Jesus Christ.