First news from the team Nov. 28, 2010

We all arrived safely with all bags intact, Hooray!

The guest house we are staying in is luxury accomodations. 4 people to a room, each larger than our bedroom in Memphis with bunk beds and a bathroom. So we dont have to share a bathroom for 13 people, which is a definite plus. Also there are stacks of towels in each bathroom, not just one towel one square meter size for each person.

Last night Chris (the owner) brought us each our own fan. Joy. The temp is 31 C which feels like about 80 deg or so.....quite comfortable and way below the boiling point temps we experienced in April.

We have clean water, from their well and filtered with chlorine added. Which means we can eat the salad, with fresh tomatoes and lettuce; something I thought we would have to avoid all week. The host and hostess weren't prepared to serve us lunch (something about advance notice which got lost in email communication between Memphis and Haiti) so we pooled our resources and shared granola bars and peanut butter crackers between us. There is coke for sale in the fridge so all was not lost!

Allie and her friend Mary Catherine arrived safely today, but no one else is going out due to the elections. I have spoken with Pere Sadoni who is in his home town to vote today. He says there is some trouble in the streets and right now does not want us to go anywhere. So we have unpacked and sorted the 20 bags of supplies we brought. A bounty of goodness for our friends at St. Vincent's. We hope and pray we can take it to them tomorrow. Resting in the guest house is great, but we are all itchy to see the children and get to do the work we came for.

Susan Nelson