“To understand the people you must live amongst them 40 days” Arab proverb - 2 days to Haiti

My stay in Haiti coincidently is 40 days. A little short under the 6 week time frame. The concept of 40 is both very fascinating and spiritual. 40 days makes a habit; 40 consecutive prayers in masjid Nabawi grants redemption from Hell, 40 is the age of Revelation for Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him); 40 days of spiritual retreat in cultural sufi tradition; 40 was age of Khadija, when she married Muhammad pre prophethood; 40 days and 40 nights of rain fall during Noah’s flood, 40 years of wandering Israelites, 40 is where Celsius and Fahrenheit scales correspond…the list continues

In my life, I never imagined I would come to Haiti. I thought my teaching days were over when I graduated from college. I never imagined I would teach ESL abroad again after I had done so in Damascus. I always had a dream, an item on the bucket list to do relief work abroad. And here we are, I am a teacher, I am in Haiti, I am teaching ESL, and I am crossing off an item off the bucket list. But in all reality, we came on a journey to understand something about our own lives while understanding what it is to live like these people, who have endured and persevered beyond imagination crisis through crisis.