top 10 things to bring with you when moving to a tropical third world country

10. Ear Plugs.  Because at 3am when the neighbor's donkey is he-hawing, or when the rooster crows all night, or when the dogs bark incessantly, or when the rain hammers down on your roof, or when the party down the street is so loud you wonder if the whole island is there, the motorcycle horns just don't stop beeping... you can reduce the noise level by 30 decibels.  PTL. 

9. An easily put on face that screams "I don't have a clue as to what you're talking about."  Because sometimes, it's just a lot easier to play dumb. 

8. Really heavy boots or a good sturdy sledgehammer.  Because 3" long cockroaches don't die easily. 

7. Deet. When you think about it, your options are (1) having malaria now, or (2) increased chances of maybe having cancer later. (And here's a ridiculous medical question... if malaria is spread by mosquitoes biting someone with malaria, then biting someone else and giving them the malaria from the first person, what about AIDS? Does it work the same way???)

6. After-Bite.  For when the deet fails.  Because sometimes, it will (or rather, your memory will fail and you'll walk out of the house without putting on your trusty deet).  

5. Lemon juice and a syringe.  If mosquitoes like sweet blood...

4. Sun screen.  If you're going to risk getting cancer with deet, put on some sunscreen and block those pesky UV rays.  Your extra protective measure here may in fact cancel out your over use of deet, making cancer a possibility of the past.  Doesn't that make your future brighter? Yes, I believe it does.  Brighter, and yet not sun burned. 

3.  A good, trusty, portable, UV light water filtration system.  Because sometimes, UV light can be your friend.  Without sunscreen it can kill you - so think about what it'll do to the cholera that's swimming in your drinking water.  

2.  Purell. Because really, you don't know where things have been.  (I have a bottle of this next to my bathroom sink, since that water isn't filtered.  And sometimes I think, "hmm... kills 99.9 percent of germs.  What about typhoid? Does it kill typhoid?)

1.  Eyes that see things the way Jesus does. (Cue Amy Grant's "My Father's Eyes" song here.)  You have to see people and things the way that Jesus does.  There's too much dirt and grime and poverty and pain when you see things with your own eyes.  Look at who the people are, not what they are, what they have, or what they don't have.  Prepare to be open, prepare to be challenged, prepare to be changed. 

The Saline

Saline is creole for "Salt Flat" and it is where the poorest of the poor live.  I went down there this morning with Beth and a couple of the guys from the NY team.  We brought with us many things for one lady that Beth knows down there, including toothbrushes, shoes, the leftover food from breakfast, a fleece blanket (yes, and she was most excited about that!), a ball for her kids, some clothes, and most importantly: antibiotic cream.  Beth had gone down to visit this lady before, and had met a man that lives with her who had terrible infections.  The woman's son and daughter also had terrible infections.  The cream, though not much, would help a little with that.  Beth said that this woman was among the poorest in the saline, and even other people in the saline will bring her food and things to help her.  

She invited us into her home; which was on a tiny plot of dirt surrounded by sticks stuck up in the ground.  Everyone here has fences; and those few sticks served as her fence.  Her house was built of stones and mud, and was maybe 7 feet by 9 feet.  The walls had many holes, and her roof was scraps of tin patched together, obviously needing lots of repair.  This house was on the very edge of the saline, closest to the ocean.  

There was an old double mattress in the corner, and the old man I mentioned before was lying on a wooden plank propped up by rocks.  The corners were piled with old clothes, mismatched shoes, and miscellaneous odds and ends.  Everything had flies.  There was a little girl in the home who was wearing filthy clothes, dirt streaked across her face, smiling ear to ear.  

I was so encouraged, yet heartbroken at the same time as we walked the dirt paths weaving in and around the saline.  Everyone I saw was full of smiles.  The woman we gave the food and items too was so happy to see us and to receive new things she hugged us many, many times, gave us each a kiss on the cheek, wanted a photo with us, etc.  She was very kind, and very thankful.  We would like to go down and visit her again.   

The saline was everything you see in the National Geographic pictures, where the quality of life is so poor you wonder how people live there.  It was overwhelming.