Turning 23 in Haiti

I woke up yesterday, first a little bummed to not have my family or closest friends here with me, but when I stepped out my door to a beautiful, bright and shiny day, it was hard to stay feeling sad. The reality is, I could have done any number of things for my bday. I could have taken a trip out to the beach in Port Salut, or the breathtaking waterfall in Camparrin, a day in Port-au-Prince or hopped on a bus to the Dominican Republic to spend time with friends I don't get to see very often. Instead, I decided that no matter I went, no place would be as fun as a village of 600 children who all new it was your birthday. I couldn't have a party large enough for everyone, so instead, Naseer, Amanda, Fritzner and I, spent the afternoon filling 950 water balloons to start a village-wide water war. We filled up 500 balloons for the kids and put them into coolers that were strategically placed on the Espwa campus. I had a few of the older Espwa boys go and call out to invite all of the children over and within minutes, dozens and dozens and soon hundreds of children were running up taking cover as we bombed them mercilessly with giant water balloons from the roof of the guest house. By the end of the day, I was soaked. I had been hit everywhere and was sure that the kids were aiming for my head because I definitely received some dead on face hits! It was a blast and everyone had a great time. Fr. Marc even joined us on the roof to throw some balloons.

It couldn't have been a hotter day and everyone welcomed the water. The children started throwing themselves in the way of the balloons and some would catch them only to throw back at us.

Dee, a member of the Espwa board of directors, made the trip down for my birthday and brought me my favorite foods, remaking Thanksgiving Day dinner and lemon moraine pie. She brought me a black hoodie with the words "Ti Dokte" (Little Doctor is what the children used to call me when I first came to Haiti) embroidered on it. She also brought me two scrub outfits, one with my name on it and the other with "ti dokte," so that I could have them for med school in the fall. The children made me a ton of cards and pictures and I was serenaded to by one of the music groups on campus. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

Fr. Marc, underhanding the balloons.

Scoping out the grounds and identifying my targets.

The kids, gathering in preparation for the bombing.