The People We Meet

Every time travel away from our little piece of home here at Kaliko Beach, we are amazed at the people we meet.  The nation of Haiti has about 8 million people and the capital, Port-au-Prince, has about 2 million.  And though we can't say we know that many people in Haiti we always meet someone we know when out on the road.

Case in point, our trip to Port yesterday.  We were going to pick up some needed grocery items and one thing we enjoy is fresh baked bread.  We often see folks carrying the bread on platters balanced on their heads.  We are always looking for people selling aticho or artichoke bread.  They are buns shaped liked large cinnamon rolls.  We pulled over 15 minutes down the road and wouldn't you know it, the guy selling the aticho went to the church in Cabaret that I often preach at!  He recognized us and we had a good chat.

Passing through Cabaret we stopped for gas at the Texaco station.  Waiting for the bank to open next door is one of the elders from the Cabaret church.  We greet brother Markes.  It is always a joy to meet our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

But our day of providential meetings is not over.  The traffic was relatively light in Port, so after our shopping, a stop at the Canadian Embassy and picking up our mail it is time for lunch.  Our next stop is Epi D'Or, known to all the expats living here.  We say hello to a couple other blans sitting at a table near us.  Turns out they are helping run a textile factory in Port-au-Prince employing Haitian making clothes.  They are from the US.  We will write about our upcoming tour of the factory next week.

And our final meeting.  We are almost done eating our slice of pizza or sub sandwich (as only Epi D'Or makes them, it's in the bread) when in walks Randy Lodder.  Randy and his wife Karen are good friends working with a ministry of the Canadian Reformed Churches in Port.  He has stopped in for a bite on his way to the school.  We chat, he eats and drinks some leftovers from our kids and we are all on our way.  A man may plan his ways, but the Lord certainly places his steps!

N.B. The picture above is a camera picture of an original Haitian-made oil painting that hangs in our kitchen in Kaliko.  We really like it!