Digicel Phone Tower

Digicel

Digicel, our main cell phone company in Haiti, has been booming like crazy. Anytime I go to the city, its like you see their red and white Digicel logo everywhere, on billboards, backpacks, etc. And, about every few months there is another new Digicel tower going up around here. I love seeing this, as it is a sign of progress and advancement for the country. In a place where some people ride donkeys and horses for transportation, its nice to see something up to-date like people communicating via cell phone.
Digicel has been around for only five years and its the fastest growing mobile telecommunications company in the Caribbean. The cell phones are less than $30 USD and you put minutes on your phone by buying phone cards. There is a new tower going up on a mountiantop near Pignon, so some friends and I ventured up there last weekend. I drove my 4-wheeler and Kara drove her Rhino. I didn't think we'd acutally make it-the mountain side was SO steep. It was crazy. The tower, which is almost finished, has taken only three weeks to build so far. The workers commented that this was their hardest tower yet. Pictures to follow...

Another Day of Giving Away Shoes

It's so funny to me how things that are simple and mindless in the States, can be time consuming and complicated here. The other day, I told Kara that I could take her into town on my 4-wheeler as soon as I flushed my toilet. Ok, so, in the States, that takes what, one or two seconds? Here, that can take around fifteen minutes (*when I don't have water) by the time I find a bucket, walk down to the well, pump the water by hand, and carry the bucket back up to my house. Who would ever think flushing a toilet could involve that kind of work and sweat? Really though, I need to be thankful that I have a toilet. People around here don't have toilets or even latrines.

Kids

Ants Eat Clothes

This is Paulette, my laundry lady. She comes to my house every Friday and spends hours washing all clothes. She is such a hard worker and has gotten out stains that even my washing machine back home can't get out!

I learned today that ants can eat clothes. It turns out that while I was in the States last week, my laundry basket was invaded by hundreds of hungry ants. They put all kinds of crazy holes in several pieces of clothing. Here's one of my favorite skirts that is now a little holey.