22 Feb 2013
We were out the door first thing this morning in search of
the part needed to fix Louise's car, but as luck would have it, the only car
part’s store on this end of the island said they sold all they had yesterday to
someone who came in and bought their inventory up. It’s just a small plastic little thing the
size of a pencil eraser and Kory said it’s used in all kinds of places on cars
and they break often. Ugh. So we thought there was no hope in getting
her car fixed before we leave. As it is,
she has to roll down the window to open the car door from the outside. And it’s such an easy fix.
Kaleb’s “service” today consisted of hanging out the laundry
and bringing it back in. He also tore up
the box for the weed wacker Louise bought for Mark, their caretaker. He had it easy.
Mark is a Haitian who has been here since 2001. He works every day for Greg, taking care of
his properties – washing windows and doing all the yardwork and cleanup – which
can be significant after a storm. Greg
owns three pieces of property all right next to each other so everyday Louise or her daughter Sheila gets Mark, feeds him breakfast and lunch and takes him
home at the end of the day. He also acts
as a sort of security guard, since he hangs around all day working.
Mark’s wife and 2 children live in Haiti in now a rather
upper middle class lifestyle (for that country) because he has a steady job and
sends all his money home. He lives here
with 5 other guys in a one bedroom tiny place, just so he can support his
family, which is common. His children go
to a private school where they are learning English and computer skills and
their future looks pretty bright, compared to others in Haiti. Mark only gets to see them two times a year
for three weeks at a time – at Christmas and during the summer. He calls home every Friday and Monday, using
Louise's web phone, so he keeps in touch that way. He is a humble servants and says a lot of
“Yes, Ma’ams.” He is one of the few
Haitians who have been able to get his “papers” to stay here because Greg, his
employer, is the office manager for a huge law firm downtown and he arranged
everything for him. There is no hope for
him to go back to Haiti, since there is no work, and there are laws forbidding
him from bringing his wife and children to Bahamas, so it’s a sad life, for
sure. He’s just dedicated it to giving
his children a better future.
So, Louise bought Mark a weed wacker a year ago. Apparently Mark can’t read because he dumped
the little bottle of oil in the gas tank and didn’t understand why it didn’t
start. It needs to be mixed with
gasoline. Kory drained out the oil and
got the weed wacker working and showed Mark how to use it and refill it with
the proper mixture of gas and oil. He
was like a kid with a new toy.
Louise did NOT want the cardboard box out by the garbage,
since that’s putting spot lights on her house that she now has something cool
someone can steal. I guess stealing
is the number one hobby around here, so Kaleb tore up the cardboard box into
pieces and put them in a garbage bag so they aren’t noticeable to anyone. Even the shed, where the weed wacker is kept,
has two padlocks on it and a reinforced door.
Louise's house has two gates, both locked, all the doors have steel
plates near the handles so crowbars can’t pry them open and all the windows
have bars on them that won’t open. Even
still, things get stolen. Louise has
just had to let everything go, even the most meaningful things that have been
taken, as she realizes she can’t take it to heaven with her anyway.
Being a missionary would be rich material for book
writing. Oh, how I’d love to sit and do
that. Louise has story after story of
her supporters and “friends” of her supporters coming down here to visit who
want to “be a blessing, not a burden” (kinda like us – ha!), but they really
just want to go to the beach and eat her food and let her chauffer them around
the island. Even teenage work groups who
have come down to paint the church, show up and say it’s too hot to work, too
hot to pass out tracts, can’t we just go to the beach? So being in the Bahamas has its drawbacks as
everyone wants to come visit. She has had a lifetime of being taken advantage
of. She finally put her foot down and
said no more visitors, but she made an exception for us, so we’ve been the
first visitors in a good long while.
One group of friends of friends of hers showed up on a
cruise ship and called her to come get them.
She has this little 5 seater car and they were just indignant that she
didn’t have a van so they could all travel together as she showed them around
the island. They told her every
missionary they knew had a van and how come she didn’t have one? She couldn’t’ believe she was getting a
tongue lashing over the vehicle she showed up in, but I guess it ruined their
big plans to have her give them a private tour – people she didn’t even
know! She also told of one of her
supporters coming down to stay with her and when she saw how nice of a house
she lived in she said, “Well, this is nicer than the house I live in,” and then
she went home and dropped her support to Louise because she felt she was
living a better life. Crazy thinking. Louise doesn’t even own the house.
Louise is considered the mother to everyone in her church
and they all know if they need something or have a problem, to go to her. Even just driving around town with her, it’s
hard to go into a store that someone doesn’t grab her and give her a hug and a
big smile. And driving down the road,
someone she hadn’t seen for 20 years started honking at her and yelling, “Mrs.
Godfrey!” and talking to her through the open windows. All the Haitians love her, but she’s not so loved
by the locals because of what she does “for the least of these.” She has no fear though as she boldly supports
the plight of the illegals. Whatta
woman.
We had a lull in work this afternoon and Louise had a few
errands to run so she dropped us off at a nearby beach for about half an hour
so we could go beachcombing. The water
was so warm! What a treat. We got lots of shells.
We took Mark home this afternoon and we passed a little auto
parts store in his neighborhood. I told
her we should stop in and see if they had that plastic part needed for her car. She said it was a very dangerous neighborhood
and she didn’t think it wise for us to get out of the car. I said nonsense, let’s check. They had the part, used, but they had
it. The problem was, neither of us had
grabbed our purses so we had no cash.
Louise went out to the car and got an umbrella to use as a trade, but the woman said it was only $2 and we could come back later and pay for it,
which we did. Kory was able to put the
car back together and now, at least, her door works properly. Louise shouted out a big, “Thank you,
Jesus!” to which Kory responded, “My name is Kory.” Ha. Mission
accomplished.
Tonight we went out for Chinese food down by the harbor
where all the huge cruise ships come in.
The food was great. Afterwards we
went over to Paradise Island where the massive Atlantis complex is built, and
looked around. After seeing the real
Nassau for the past few days, it was more than a culture shock to go over there
were everything was done up like a five star resort. Nothing but opulence, massive yachts, people
with all kinds of money, and the stores to prove it. It didn’t feel right, after seeing how
everyone really lives here, but very few people venture off that little spit of
land because the whole island caters to the rich tourists from around the world
and it’s their comfort zone. The
cheapest room at Atlantis is $400 a night and the big suite for the Oprah
Winfrey’s of the world go for $25,000 a night.
There is a casino in the lobby so we walked through that, and the
world’s largest aquarium wrapped around one side of the dining hall that we
walked along. The things inside that
place are mind boggling – it’s better than Vegas, baby. There were three massive Chihuly glass
sculptures, too. It was something
else.
I’ve bought a few souvenir Starbucks mugs for a friend along
our journey and they cost $9.95. I
thought I’d buy one for me that said “Bahamas” on it but there was no price
showing. When they rang me out I gasped
at the $16.95 price tag. I told the
woman those mugs are $9.95 at all the other Starbucks and she just said,
“Welcome to Paradise,” with a grin on her face.
Ha ha.
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