Meet Devan! She is one of our longterm Britsionarys who is staying at Brit's Home for 2 months. She is a recent college grad and is running a sports program with our 66 children during our summer camp! Devan also has her own travel blog, Dabbling in Traveling, which she updates frequently with "Adventures of the Day" and awesome pictures. Check out her latest post here! - 

This week was filled with burpees, sprints, trying to introduce new sports (and quickly learning the importance of feeling out the group and that the key to teaching is making things up on the fly), flips, malaria-filled dreams, (a few fights), Red-light Green-light, Sharks & Minos, soccer, laughter all while deepening connections and relationships. There has been a new sense of comfortability between the kids and I, which has led to numerous smaller-glittered filled conversations. I’ve always been fascinated at how BLB manages 66 children, giving them enough of the individual attention each one needs. Getting to be around the kids almost constantly, I’ve had time to check-in on a smaller scale, and it goes to show the power a simple “How was your day?” can go if it is coming from a genuine place. This has led to building a foundation of trust, on and off of the field/classroom.

Watching more girls playing soccer and beating the boys in running races is inspiring. Thinking back on my previous trips, and heck when I first arrived, you would not see a girl out on the soccer field, playing with the boys. There was a lot of pushback when we started doing push-ups and squats; they said, “Girls don’t want muscles.” But now, they’re willingly doing them with me. I catch them practicing when we are not in camp, and see them asking me to play more and more with them. I helped run the first all-girls soccer practice one afternoon last week, which even though there were only 8 girls, it was 8 more than I’ve ever seen. Watching Marie Flaure spiking the volleyball with some power, or trying to do a bicycle kick during a fun scrimmage with the boys was priceless. She is just one example of a girl that has so much athletic potential; she just needed someone to say, “There’s nothing wrong with being strong!”

And it’s not just the girls. The boys have been opening up even more as well, recognizing the importance and connection between exercise training and competing in their beloved soccer games. Granted, I’ve always been close with the boys from my past two trips but this time things are different. I’m building those relationships and connections that translate throughout the entire home, and honestly have led to the type of friendships I have with my best guy friends at home. From playing soccer (and now actually getting better at this, where it’s not just pity putting me on their team) to hanging out at night, there have been more jokes and poking fun at each other than I ever expected. It goes to show that speaking the same tongue doesn’t have to be a barrier to making friendships that will last a lifetime. They’ve become my little brothers (or as they like to say, some of my boyfriends) – where everything on the spectrum of poking fun to being protective has shown up (for example, Whenly, Tooveno, Fredo and Medlens said when I get a boyfriend I have to bring him here so they “can approve” – no joke they literally said this on multiple occasions).

I think one of the most heartwarming moments has been the relationship I’ve formed with nine-year-old Kervens. I don’t know how we started hanging out more and more, but by day 4 of me being here, he’s always in a small radius from me, whether it be holding my hand, cheering for me on the soccer field as he rides his bike around the track, or cuddling up for movie nights. This peanut made me a picture of him the first week of the doctor he wants to be when he grows up. At the time I made him a heart that says “always” in the middle, with Devan & Kervens written on it. I had forgotten about it, until yesterday we were sitting playing a game and he pulls it out of his pocket (all crumbled up) to show me he keeps it with him always. This tugged at my heart strings, and add in the fact he told me “You’re Super Woman so I can be your Super Man!” this little nugget stole my heart! It’s moments like these that make me realize, you don’t know the impact you can have on a person – whether it be from spending an extra 5 minutes playing a game or giving them the attention to just ask what their favorite part of the day was. It’s little lights like him (and all of these 66 children, 100+ staff members, community members, and Britsionairies) that make days better, bring more smiles, and help you realize the importance of being present so you can make the time for these relationships.

I don’t know how Haiti does it, but each day I find myself falling more in love with this place. It’s challenging, exhausting, incredible, entertaining and all around fabulous. It teaches, heals, expands horizons, and makes you think differently, question things while also reflecting. But most importantly, it’s the faith; hope and love that lives within the walls that makes me uncontrollably smile (which I’ll take the smile tan lines from the sun even if I do put on a consistent layer of SPF 50+).

Stay tuned for more Haiti adventures, but in the meantime, make your own adventures and #getupandgo!

-Devan 

To read more of Devan's adventures, visit her blog at dabblingintravelingblog.wordpress.com