It's all Gourde! (Good)

The currency in Haiti is Gourde (pronounced Good). The exchannge rate changes everyday but it is about 40 Gourdes equals $1. For example-we went to Mac Eppy yesterday to eat (the Haitian play off McDonald's) I had a combo number 3 which was a hamburger, fries and sprite and it cost $110 Gourdes-so about $2.75 US. Cheaper than in the states-the bread is much more stale too :) One of the favorite saying for the mission group this week has been "It's all Gourde!"

Some of my emails are asking about security here. At the guest house here in Port there are 2 armed guards at all times. There are gates around every house, church, building in Port with individually hired guards at most of them. Right now things are pretty safe with the government in Haiti. I don't go out walking around here alone at all. But I can within the gates of a safe property. When I am here my prayers definitely include asking for safety and safe decisions to be made by the mission leaders. We have drivers that drive us wherever we are going. The driving here is crazy! Oneof the drivers, David says he will teach me to drive when I come back in January. The other Haitians laughed b/c not many women drive here. I don't know if they are ready for Ginny in Haiti yet! :) On Monday when we were getting the clinic building set up there were Haitian men sitting around outside watching us work. I thought I would spread the love and took them trash bags as they were sitting in front of a trash pile. They blankly looked at me. Since I can't speak Creole yet, I led the 1st one by the arm over to the pile and pointed to the trash. The rest followed suit and started picking up trash. The American team cheered. I don't know if Haiti is ready for me yet. But I am here and I'm coming back! :) It's all Gourde!