Editor's note: This is the final installment of a four-part series. To read other parts of this story, please click the links below.
High on the Mountaintop
Tucked away behind a winding streak of valleys and vegetation is a place that doesn't get shown on CNN. Here, craftsmen line the unpaved dirt roads, whittling away on slices of timber to the soundtrack of singing tropical birds.
All these things pay homage to the mountains. From its peaks, one can clearly see the scars of destruction that cut through the raw earth. These scars, however, are powerless to the sea and sky that form the horizon before Georges and Dumaine.
This, they realize, is a beautiful country.
In less than 24 hours, they, along with the others they came with, will board a plane and leave for a place far different than the one they have lived in for the previous days.
Dumaine, whom the children playfully referred to as "white boy," gained more than an understanding of his family's roots. He has gained a new family.
"It's a miracle to see how much people love you," he said.
After a final meal laden with stories of the characters met during the trip, Georges and Dumaine make their way outside for a moment of reflection. Standing across from their house, they noticed, was a group of neighborhood youth ranging from 6 to 25 years old.
"We will be here when you leave tomorrow," they told their American friends. "When you go back, please do not forget us."
They talk, mostly about light-hearted subjects. Dumaine excuses himself for a few minutes, only to reappear with a guitar.
The chords begin to form a rhythm, and the children begin to bob and sway back and forth.
Dumaine plucks the strings as a few voices begin to emerge, offering freestyle lyrics. The clapping becomes louder. And then the lyrics become one.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord (clap, clap) Open the eyes of my heart (clap, clap) I want to see you (clap, clap) I want to see you!
It was in those few seconds of reverent melody that Sky found what he had been seeking. Between those notes was a sense of acceptance from two different walks of life. The connection he had for so long desired was alive.
The music had finally come back to Haiti.
For the first part, click here.
For the second part, click here.
For the third part, click here.
