Today we visited the community of Shada. It was a wonderful and spirt-lifting experience. Shada is one of the poorest communities in all of Cap Haitien and even Haiti entirely. They sit on a river-delta where around 20,000 people live. Between 3,000 and 4,000 children in Shada do not attend school because there are none in Shada and the closet one is not large enough for all the children to attend. I met one woman, Madam Bwa, who is an incredible woman who is the community health agent who has delivered the majority of babies in Shada. We were greeted just outside of Shada by Madam Bwa who took us into Shada from the street and into her home. There, like all homes we go into, were given chairs and all sat and talked. This time our conversation revolved around what the community of Shada needs. Unfortunately, there are close to no medical supplies available for anyone in Shada where worms, malnutrition, breast feeding and help while giving labor are unavailable. Just walking around the community you can see children and grown adults with belly buttons that were obviously not cut appropriately. I know that this community is hard to see through pictures but if you can image that I was walking around holding hands with children, hugging and kissing the members of the community just earlier today, then maybe you can image that this world really does exist for these people.

Here are the pictures I took while walking around Shada:
This picture is of one of Madam Bwa's great grandchildren who was sitting in the doorway of her home while we were discussing the medical needs of Shada.

The following several pictures are ones I took while walking through Shada



The woman in the green shirt in this picture is Madam Bwa! She's carrying a can of earth worms that we needed for our rooftop garden that we're starting. We asked the children around to find us some and immediately children were running around searching for worms to give us :) They are so amazing and ready to please :)

Sasha!!! I'm walking behind her through Shada :) She's amazing

Here the children wanted me to take a picture of them in the car that was broken down sitting in the middle of their living area.

The following several pictures are of Shada where people go to the bathroom because they currently don't have anywhere to go for such a large community. All of their waste goes into the river/delta that they live on.



Cute!!! Little boy watching us while we went to buy a bag of candy to give out to the children in Shada

I loved this, this beautiful girl had the greatest personality and is holding my hand in this picture :)

Extra group photos with the kids in Shada before we had to leave