The Luxury of Towels

This trip we stayed at a guest house run by Chris and Bev Plourde with Heartline Ministries. Our team is used to staying at St Vincents school with the kids, but the guest quarters were destroyed in the earthquake. We found out about Heartline Ministries through Amy Chanin who worked with them in April 2010. Apparently the guest house is in the former residence of one of the Haitian government ministers who fled the country after the earthquake. It is located In Village Theodat, and appears to be in a rich neighborhood by Haitian standards, (see earlier post).
The house has several large bedrooms which have been converted by putting bunk beds in each one. There are MULTIPLE bathrooms, as opposed to the St Vincents quarters. They had 3 bathrooms but usually only one worked at any given time, which can mean 13 people using one bathroom!
The first indication I had that we had made an UPGRADE in our living accommodations was the piles of clean towels on the counter in every bathroom. I had told everyone to bring an extra bath towel, because I remember using one towel all week last trip and by the end of a sweaty week in Port au Prince, things were getting desperate. Not only were there clean towels at our new guest house; they were washed and replaced daily. Oh my goodness.
The second realization that we were in high cotton was when Chris came into our bedroom as we were getting ready for bed, bringing extra fans. He told me he wanted to make sure each bed had it's OWN FAN. Now those of you who went to Montrouis with us in April remember sleeping in a room with 5 people and one fan, which turned off at midnight when the generator turned off. I just couldn't believe the blessing. Jill Bullard and I agreed we were in the Haiti Hilton. They even have laundry service for $5 per week. Of course my friend Sherye aptly pointed out that one of the things you give up in Haiti is your personal privacy. When you pick up your clean laundry in the morning you must sort through ALL the clean laundry to find yours. Boxers size 36, anyone?

Susan Nelson