Good Saturday evening to everyone: Are you all glued to your radios or TV sets as the Haitian folks are, following the start of the World Cup Soccer games. Yesterday as I drove around I tried to find news/music on a number of my usual radio stations but all of them were announcing the game that was being played. That is soccer for you in Haiti- POPULAR!

I now have a team with me from Naperville, Ill and they have jumped right in there. Last night even after a long day of travel they got right to work unloading their suitcases, wanting to be organized so they could get to the tasks at hand first thing in the AM....which they did. My office is now clean and dust free, the door in the dining room doesn't stick, Joel doesn' t have to fight with his door to open and close it, beans are bagged, items moved to the depot, supplies purchased.....and on and on...all in all a great day, at least from my perspective. Cathy's mother, in lieu of birthday and mother's day gifts provided funds for a pizza/cup cake party for Marie's girls. Hosting that party was the finale of the day for the team.

While waiting for the girls to wash and dress for their party, many of us sat watching the activities as the workmen poured the cement for the floor of the new orphanage...what back breaking work that is..hauling buckets of sand, rock, water and sacks of cement. I thought I was exhausted Thursday, after a day spent in and out of the car and traffic, while doing errands from sun up to sun down but that fatigue was nothing compared to what those workers will be experiencing this evening.

One of the errands I spoke of was going to see Mme Nazaire at the school of nursing. It was heartening to see that classroom tents were now set up on the grounds and the student nurses back in class. UNICEF provided a lot of start up materials so Mme Nazaire could get the girls back to class. Some of her staff were going through piles of items that had been recuperated from the rubble, cleaning and dusting them off for future use. Mme Nazaire and the Minister of Health have just signed an agreement with a French firm that will build prefab classrooms as a temporary school while the Swiss Red Cross prepares to do stage one of the permanent school.

Items still awaiting dusting and cleaning at the school of nursing...not a chore I would look forward to.

One of the items that struck both Cathy and I as we visited with Mme Nazaire was the sign posted on the all of the office, amid all of the refuse and constant reminder of their terrible loss. The translation may not be 100 % exact but the gist of it is...." every occassion carries a difficulty but each difficulty carries an opportunity. To me it is another reminder of the faith and hope that so many Haitian people still continue to have "despite it all".

Until next time....Debbie