Blog #3 Impact Trip Team! Spencer Overturf

UNFORTUNATELY IT’S OUR LAST DAY IN HAITI AND MOST OF US ARE HEADING OUT IN A FEW HOURS. YESTERDAY WAS AN AMAZING DAY GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO VISIT GERTRUDE’S WHICH IS AN ORPHANAGE AND A PLACE FOR THE DISABLED MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.

IT WAS AMAZING SEEING HOW HAPPY ALL THESE KIDS WERE TO SEE US AND HOW THEY JUST WANTED TO BE LOVED. AFTER, WE ALL WENT TO CITE SOLEIL TO SEE WHERE GUY GREW UP AND HE GOT TO SEE EVERYONE HE GREW UP WITH FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO AND A HALF YEARS. WE ALL WENT IN GUY’S OLD HOUSE, WHICH WAS PROBABLY ABOUT 100 SQUARE FEET FOR HIM, HIS PARENTS, HIS TWO BROTHERS, AND HIS SISTER TO ALL LIVE IN. HE SHOWED US THE EXACT PLACE HE WAS SITTING WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE HIT AND HOW THE TV FELL RIGHT ON HIM WHEN IT HIT. I LOOKED OUT OF THE HOUSE WHEN WE WERE ALL INSIDE AND IT WAS AMAZING TO SEE PROBABLY ABOUT 30 OR 40 PEOPLE OF ALL AGES CROWDING RIGHT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE WAITING TO SEE GUY AGAIN. I DON’T THINK I HAD EVER SEEN GUY THAT HAPPY IN HIS LIFE. HE TOLD US LATER THAT DAY WHEN HE CAME BACK AND SAW HIS NEIGHBORHOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME, HE SAW IT IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY FROM WHEN HE LIVED THERE. HE SAID HE COULD NOW SEE ALL OF THE GARBAGE AND POVERTY EVERYBODY WAS LIVING IN, IT JUST NEVER REALLY HIT HIM BEFORE BECAUSE IT WAS JUST A DAILY LIFESTYLE. WE WERE ABLE TO SEE THE SOCCER FIELD HE GREW UP PLAYING ON THAT WAS A FIELD WITH NO GRASS. IT ONLY CONTAINED ROCKS AND DIRT. HE TOLD US THAT WAS ALSO WHERE HE LIVED FOR 6 MONTHS WITH HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS RIGHT AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE HIT WHEN IT WIPED OUT EVERYONE’S HOMES. IT WAS BITTERSWEET SEEING EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE WITH THEIR LIVING CONDITIONS AND ALL THE SANITATION PROBLEMS, BUT THEY WERE PROBABLY SOME OF THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE I HAD EVER MET IN MY LIFE, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS JUST AMAZING. YESTERDAY AND THIS WHOLE WEEK WAS INCREDIBLE AND WAS TRULY A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE AND UNFORTUNATELY IT HAS COME TO AN END. I KNOW I WILL BE BACK HERE SOME DAY WITH GUY OR ANOTHER GROUP OF MY FRIENDS OR FAMILY BECAUSE IT’S JUST AN EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME THAT MANY MORE PEOPLE SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE.