“M bezwen achte nèf mamit sik, e katoz mamit farin, e karant fig yo tanpri.” After saying the above sentence I waited for the guy to return to tell me the price of what I had just requested. (stay tuned to find out) When he returned he told me it would be kat mil sis san gourde….to which my jaw dropped to the floor. That amount is the equivalent of $115. So I sat trying to decide what to do. People were waiting on me at home to start using what I was buying but we did not anticipate it being that much money. So I sat for a minute to replay what I had asked for in my mind. I knew I needed 9 cups of sugar, 14 cups of flour and 40 bananas. It then dawned on me that the word ‘mamit’ is not the word for the small measuring cups they use, it is the word for the large coffee cans they use…..OOPS. So after straightening this up and paying around $20 for what I needed, I was on my way home 
After making 12 banana breads, over 20 dozen cookies and wrapping up roughly 50-60 gifts for the children in our ministry we were finally ready to head to the party. We were already tired when we left the house at 4 but knew that the evening would provide a great amount of entertainment!
We arrived a smidge late (normal for Haiti, however everyone else seemed to be on time, as all the kids were sitting at their tables waiting for the fun to start). Tables were arranged outside in a large horseshoe with a Christmas tree in the middle. We had a microphone and keyboard set up at the front and everyone was milling around waiting. About an hour later (see, really we were not late ) Robenson, our field director, took to the microphone. Each of the houses of children sang a song, several people sang duos and a few poems were recited. One round of musical chairs was had and then the adult gift exchange took place.
All those who wanted to participate had chosen a name the week before and spent around $5 on a gift. Robenson started off the fun. I guess its customary to walk around saying you cannot find your person and pretending to give the gift to other people before finding the true person. Robeson and one of our house dads, Adam were the only two people who did it this way though. Finally all of our gifts were given out and the real fun was about to begin.
We had around 200 gifts to give to the children. Each child got a ‘Christmas bag’ donated by an organization called ‘Christmas bags for Haiti’ and then they each got another toy. It started raining before we got all of the gifts handed out so we quickly jammed over 150 people into the school building. This is when for the first time I saw what it means to a child to receive what possibly was their first Christmas gift.
Rose-Carline and Rose-Carmene are two of our newest children. They are 7-year-old twin girls. This was their first Christmas with us. Rose Carmene walked around the corner where I was sitting and had the biggest smile on her little face.
She was proudly carrying HER gifts for all to see. This very well may have been the first time she has received a Christmas gift. It was an absolutely priceless moment that I got to see repeated on so many children’s faces. These smiles melted away my tiredness and replaced it with pure joy to be right there with these beautiful children.
After 6 hours of fun, food, games and songs, we were ready to load up the car and head home to bed. It was a wonderful Christmas present to be a part of the joy these children had in receiving their gifts. One I look forward to repeating for years to come if the Lord will allow me!
