Cecile

     Bonswa! This is Beth. Although a bit over tired and sweaty it's great to be here! We've had a bit of an unconventional start to our trip (I know that's hard to believe in Haiti). It was smooth traveling all the way through the airport and into Port au Prince. Our friend Bernadette was kind enough to pick some of us up when she realized the car coming to get us was not going to be sufficient. Driving in Haiti takes a little getting used to to say the least... let's just say I don't think they have any seatbelt laws here. We arrived at the Saint Trinité Cathedral and stayed for a few hours (and got a little Créole lesson from a camper, Remy, the returning group recognized from last year) before Bernadette informed us that the bus which was coming to bring us to Cange had gotten a flat tire and that we were going to find another place to stay for the night.

     In a village not so far from Port au Prince, Pétion-Ville, we arrived at Saint Jacques after dark. It took a little while for the people with the keys to get there, but we were inside soon enough. As we climbed up a staircase up to where our rooms faced an open-air porch I was a bit surprised to see a tiny kitten's head in the small beam my flashlight shone. It turned out to be not only a head, but an entire kitten! It was standing in a drainage gutter along which ran along the side of the porch and was peeking out through a small hole. I thought that we'd seen the last of it when we went to our room for the night but the next morning Thomas had a visiter in the morning.

     Before we left all of us moved our backpacks outside our room. The kitten was very interested. I'm still not sure how she managed to not completely entangle herself in the dangling straps she was playing with. A little smaller than the kittens we're used to back home we instinctually wanted to give it something to eat even though we knew it was really a cultural faux pas. Matta went and got a piece of bread from an airport sandwich and we fed it bite by bite with supplementing water. It kept us company all through breakfast before we left.

     A few minutes ago we learned from a woman, Ashley, who is doing missionary work here in Haiti that she'd been staying at Saint Jacques and that it was she and a friend who brought the kitten there in the first place. For all those interested, her name is Cecile. She is training to be a mouser for the church.

Beth