Bahama Time

For us northeasterners, it's a big adjustment coming down to the Bahamas. We are used to the moving at a different pace. We are always on the move and in a hurry it seems. Well that all changes when you come down here. We quickly get introduced to "Bahama time." The importance of time is viewed very differently on the island. You get there when you get there. That doesn't bode well when you only have so much time during our week, so we seem to get trapped in the scenario of "hurrying up to wait." That was basically our day Monday. After breakfast, we got the bus ready with all our supplies. Lists were created and double checked, water bottles were filled, and all the sunscreen was applied. But there was one thing missing - Raoul. He was called away for a video meeting with the directors of Samaritan's Purse, so after rushing to get ready, we waited. So after a little wait, we finally arrived at the worksite. Because Sunday was Bahamian Independence Day, stores were closed on Monday in observance of the holiday. Last week when I spoke with Raoul and Karen about trip details, they decided to order some things we would need for the job - shingles and Sheetrock - in advance to be delivered on Saturday who when we arrived today it would be there. One problem, we need to run the electric in the house before putting up the Sheetrock and we had no electrical supplies. No worries, right? We can put some kids on the roof to help with the shingles. Well, the homeowners would not let any of the kids on the roof because of the intense heat. The island is in one of the hottest stretches since 2002, and they feared that we wouldn't be able to handle it. There are two other building projects to work on, but since the stores were closed we couldn't get the supplies necessary to start. So we needed a way to keep busy and productive. Instead of moping and complaining, the kids found so many ways to occupy themselves. We visited the site from last year, which was just around the corner. Miss Vienna took some kids on a tour of the area so we could meet the people we will be serving food to on Friday. Colleen gathered some kids to work on the beautification team - painting trees, fences, collecting garbage items to be artistically recycled. We were macheteing (not a word) some space to build the tables. Even though the work was not what we planned since we were all excited to hurry up and get to the site, the waiting didn't put a damper on our day. We began the important task of building relationships with the people of Eight Mile Rock. Like Raoul has told us so many times, the houses will eventually fall into disrepair again. It's relationships are what will last for eternity. Sometimes we need to slow down and see what's truly important about this trip. ]\aAq