The morning’s wake-up call (our friend the rooster) was accompanied by what sounded like a semi-truck trying to turn around in a 2 car parking lot. This woke us all up and thus begun our day… well kinda, a few of us managed to catch a few more moments of sleep before finally rising for our last full day here. Bill and Tim were already over at Marie’s orphanage before most of the team had woken up and made a cross for the church using the remaining 2x4’s.
After eating our breakfast of coffee and assorted power bars/trail mixes, we began the task of replacing the large tarp that covers the main deck between the adjoining buildings within Marie’s compound. Marie has been sleeping on this deck since the team’s arrival and it has been affected by the weather and winds for some time now. It took some interesting engineering to get the new tarp in position, but once in place the tarp was a noticeable improvement and should be able to withstand the weather that Haiti is expecting. While securing the tarp on the roof, we took a look at the compound’s 200 gallon water reservoir and decided to add the extra reservoir to provide more water. This proved successful and now there is double the water to support the compound.
We then took off down the street to visit the girls at the orphanage and had a great time playing with them and practicing their version of “patty cake.” Most of the girls were sitting in one of the classrooms with Sophia (one of the teachers) singing songs and practicing their vocabulary. Although the Ministry of Education has been adamant that school will not begin again until April 5th, the children appear eager to return to their studies. When we arrived they were very happy to have more people to play with, particularly Trevor – the girls seem to enjoy braiding his hair and ripping out the hairs of the rest of the team… not sure why, but they get a kick out of the faces we make I suppose.
After visiting the girls, the team loaded up in the truck and drove to Pastor Wislet’s orphanage which supports more than 50 children. We spent some time adjusting the military-grade UN tent to provide more air flow and also distributed some supplies which included food, clothing, toys, and necklaces. The pastor’s wife, Jaqline, had their choir assemble and sing several songs for us which sounded great! They also expressed an interest in coming to the US and singing at various churches in the near future as well.
When we left Pastor Wislet’s compound, we stopped by the “Metal Worker’s” section of town. These artists mainly use 55 gallon steel drums and pound them with various sized hammers and chisels to create some very unique ornamental pieces. Although most of the team isn’t into the artsy stuff, let alone shopping around, we managed to walk around the area for almost an hour and even made a few small purchases.
When we returned to Marie’s house, a few of the guys took a look at the generator that supports Marie’s compound and determined that due to bad air flow and ventilation, the system has been overheating. This issue will need to be addressed in the near future to ensure adequate power supply. We’re looking at ways to fix this during our next trip here in April.
Later in the evening we visited Debbie over at the Hope House, and had dinner with her. Debbie prepared a great meal for us and even served a cake in celebration of both: Marie’s and Debbie’s birthdays which they both intended to celebrate in January. Afterwards we asked Debbie of her experiences here over the last 20+ years, in particular the events immediately following the earthquake. It is amazing to hear some of the stories that Marie and Debbie share, and to feel their overwhelming faith and support for the Haitian people. We ended up staying over at the Hope House for quite some time, until Marie gave us the “Ok, let’s go” signal. At times she reminds me of some of the Drill Sergeants I once worked for, which is awesome because sometimes that's exactly what's needed.
So here we are at 10:30 p.m. packing our clothing and equipment, and preparing for our departure tomorrow. Marie is already asleep, and most of the team is shooting the breeze and reflecting on the week’s events. The Haitians we’ve met have touched us more than words can begin to describe and we’ve seen the Lord at work throughout the week. Haiti will be in need of much support into the foreseeable future and I am confident that with the many efforts of the world community, the Haitian people will overcome.
3.24.2010
3.22.2010
Blog Update by Jay J
It is another beautiful sunny day, approx. 90 deg F. There was a nice breeze during the entire day that felt very good to everyone. We started the day with some breakfast. Bob made some scrambled eggs for those who were up early enough to catch him cooking on the stove. Bob got up very early so luckily I was one of the few.
After breakfast, we went to the girls orphanage to tie down the new roof so that it does not blow away during the hurricane season. The new roof (made only from tarp and wood) covers most of the orphans dining area and will now allow outdoor cooking and cleaning even during rainy days. Bill used his creativity skills to design a gutter system that will capture the rain water and allow anyone within the orphanage to route it to one of two different directions, either within the orphanage so that it can be used to clean dirty dishes, shower, store in a water tank, etc., or outside of the orphanage so that it does not cause any flooding. The person who does most of the cooking and cleaning for the orphans, whose name is Joceline, was extremely happy that we did this project because it will greatly improve her working conditions. She could not speak a word of English, but showed her appreciation by giving everyone a big smile and a hug when we were finished, which was about 9:00am.
The next activity on our agenda was to visit the clean water manufacturing facility and pick up the 497 bags of water that we had left over from last week, and distribute them to those living in ‘tent cities’. When we reached the manufacturing facility, the man in charge said he would not have any drivers until noon because they were distributing water and ice, so we decided to load 97 bags in our truck and give them to Marie. The remaining 400 bags stayed in the cold storage facility until we came back to pick them up. Each bag of water contained 60 pouches, each with approx 8 oz of water, so we had 24,000 pouches that we wanted to distribute in the tent city that Marie’s half sister lives.
To give you some background, Jim, Bob, and me (Jay) went to visit Marie’s half-sister on Saturday to discuss how we would distribute all the water to the ~2000 families living in tents. The living conditions in this tent city was probably the worse I have seen in my life. It happened to rain night before, so this place was completely muddy, hot, humid, and smelly, especially near the outdoor toilets (which were holes in the ground surrounded by flies). Each tent was only 2-3 feet from the next, and I could honestly say that I had never seen any worse living conditions in my entire life. Everything looked dirty and many people did not have shoes so their feet were completely covered in mud. I was not sure why Marie’s half sister was not staying with Marie in her relatively nice place. Nonetheless, we agreed to come back to give them the water on Monday, and she was going to have a few guys help us.
We loaded up the refrigerated truck and drove to tent city. Since it had not rained in a couple of days, the ground was completely dry. We setup an assembly line to drop off all 400 bags of water in the church tent so that they can distribute the bags to each family. See pics below.
After we finished dropping off the water, we walked around the area, and everyone was very nice to us. The kids were very excited to see us, so there must have been at least 25 kids trying to hold our hands/arms. The parents were very trusting and did not mind if their kids followed us throughout the camp. A very cute two-year old boy wanted to follow me around everywhere so I carried him with one arm while holding the hand of another two kids. All the other guys also had at least 2 or 3 kids with them. It is amazing how friendly these people were to us even though they lived in the worse conditions imaginable. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces made me want to do more for all the people living in the camp. Although we gave them clean water, they probably would have appreciated food more. I pray that these people won’t have to live in these conditions for too long, and that God will provide them the food that they desperately need.
When we got back to Marie’s place, we cleaned up and had dinner. Josh cooked delicious spaghetti for all of us, and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other’s company.
After breakfast, we went to the girls orphanage to tie down the new roof so that it does not blow away during the hurricane season. The new roof (made only from tarp and wood) covers most of the orphans dining area and will now allow outdoor cooking and cleaning even during rainy days. Bill used his creativity skills to design a gutter system that will capture the rain water and allow anyone within the orphanage to route it to one of two different directions, either within the orphanage so that it can be used to clean dirty dishes, shower, store in a water tank, etc., or outside of the orphanage so that it does not cause any flooding. The person who does most of the cooking and cleaning for the orphans, whose name is Joceline, was extremely happy that we did this project because it will greatly improve her working conditions. She could not speak a word of English, but showed her appreciation by giving everyone a big smile and a hug when we were finished, which was about 9:00am.
The next activity on our agenda was to visit the clean water manufacturing facility and pick up the 497 bags of water that we had left over from last week, and distribute them to those living in ‘tent cities’. When we reached the manufacturing facility, the man in charge said he would not have any drivers until noon because they were distributing water and ice, so we decided to load 97 bags in our truck and give them to Marie. The remaining 400 bags stayed in the cold storage facility until we came back to pick them up. Each bag of water contained 60 pouches, each with approx 8 oz of water, so we had 24,000 pouches that we wanted to distribute in the tent city that Marie’s half sister lives.
To give you some background, Jim, Bob, and me (Jay) went to visit Marie’s half-sister on Saturday to discuss how we would distribute all the water to the ~2000 families living in tents. The living conditions in this tent city was probably the worse I have seen in my life. It happened to rain night before, so this place was completely muddy, hot, humid, and smelly, especially near the outdoor toilets (which were holes in the ground surrounded by flies). Each tent was only 2-3 feet from the next, and I could honestly say that I had never seen any worse living conditions in my entire life. Everything looked dirty and many people did not have shoes so their feet were completely covered in mud. I was not sure why Marie’s half sister was not staying with Marie in her relatively nice place. Nonetheless, we agreed to come back to give them the water on Monday, and she was going to have a few guys help us.
We loaded up the refrigerated truck and drove to tent city. Since it had not rained in a couple of days, the ground was completely dry. We setup an assembly line to drop off all 400 bags of water in the church tent so that they can distribute the bags to each family. See pics below.
After we finished dropping off the water, we walked around the area, and everyone was very nice to us. The kids were very excited to see us, so there must have been at least 25 kids trying to hold our hands/arms. The parents were very trusting and did not mind if their kids followed us throughout the camp. A very cute two-year old boy wanted to follow me around everywhere so I carried him with one arm while holding the hand of another two kids. All the other guys also had at least 2 or 3 kids with them. It is amazing how friendly these people were to us even though they lived in the worse conditions imaginable. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces made me want to do more for all the people living in the camp. Although we gave them clean water, they probably would have appreciated food more. I pray that these people won’t have to live in these conditions for too long, and that God will provide them the food that they desperately need.
When we got back to Marie’s place, we cleaned up and had dinner. Josh cooked delicious spaghetti for all of us, and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying each other’s company.
3.21.2010
Where to start!
Where to start!
First of all this is my first blog to the world, so go easy on me. Most of you who have kept up on the blog (if that’s the right term) have read about some of the prior events we have all experienced, so I won’t start from the beginning. Today was a very special day for me and also for the others I’m sure. Today was church day. It started with the rooster alarm clock which goes off every morning about 5:30, breakfast, a little sit and talk time and then off to church. We arrived at about 9:00 (a guess) in our Sunday best and I soon realized I was under dressed. I sat in the back row as to not bring attention to myself and listened to the Sunday school lesson. Had somewhat of a difficult time keeping up with the hour lesson due to a slight language barrier, others were coming forth with answers and I really didn’t want to start any heated arguments, so I kept quiet. Praise and worship started next and I recognized the first song but couldn’t remember the words, so again I kept quiet. The beautiful singing continued for about 30 minutes. It’s kind of cool that praising God can be understood in any language. (Don’t tell my wife that I was moving with the music and raising my hands above my head, kind of embarrasses her I think.) Marie brought all of us up front and Pastor Bob gave a beautiful moving message translated by Marie. The moving part was Marie’s translation, sorry Bob. We all introduced ourselves and when it came to me I had somewhat of a tough time. With all the new friends I have made and knowing that they have helped me more than the reverse I became a little choked up. We all returned to our seats and came time for more music and the collection. I have an inexpensive necklace hanging from my rear view mirror which I picked up some time ago. It’s a cord with a small copper coin attached (remember Ethan) which reminds me every day of the woman who gave everything she had while others gave of their excess. That’s exactly how I felt today during the collection. We finished the day by enclosing the temporary shelter that housed Marie and the girls shortly after the quake and that now houses (as I found out after the service) the Deacon and his wife. Wow, small world. Wish we could do something about the dirt floor; at least it’s not mud, yet. The other half of the crew, the better half (sorry Bob) finished the shelter over the small courtyard at the orphanage. The woman who cooks for the girls, which is an all day event, praised God and move the charcoal cook stove as soon as we were done. What great faith. Finally I was able to spend some quality time with the girls, the part that I have been patiently waiting for and a little scared of. The girls are so loving, inquisitive, and upbeat that it washed away all my preconceived anxiety immediately. I felt like a tree the way they were all hanging on me, and loved it. Toni you will also. Well, I really don’t want to wear out this blog thing out so I think I will give it up and get on with the adventure, I mean work. (Brothers at RIFD, believe me your money is changing lives, one at a time, mine included.) Thanks all. Not Bob- Tim
First of all this is my first blog to the world, so go easy on me. Most of you who have kept up on the blog (if that’s the right term) have read about some of the prior events we have all experienced, so I won’t start from the beginning. Today was a very special day for me and also for the others I’m sure. Today was church day. It started with the rooster alarm clock which goes off every morning about 5:30, breakfast, a little sit and talk time and then off to church. We arrived at about 9:00 (a guess) in our Sunday best and I soon realized I was under dressed. I sat in the back row as to not bring attention to myself and listened to the Sunday school lesson. Had somewhat of a difficult time keeping up with the hour lesson due to a slight language barrier, others were coming forth with answers and I really didn’t want to start any heated arguments, so I kept quiet. Praise and worship started next and I recognized the first song but couldn’t remember the words, so again I kept quiet. The beautiful singing continued for about 30 minutes. It’s kind of cool that praising God can be understood in any language. (Don’t tell my wife that I was moving with the music and raising my hands above my head, kind of embarrasses her I think.) Marie brought all of us up front and Pastor Bob gave a beautiful moving message translated by Marie. The moving part was Marie’s translation, sorry Bob. We all introduced ourselves and when it came to me I had somewhat of a tough time. With all the new friends I have made and knowing that they have helped me more than the reverse I became a little choked up. We all returned to our seats and came time for more music and the collection. I have an inexpensive necklace hanging from my rear view mirror which I picked up some time ago. It’s a cord with a small copper coin attached (remember Ethan) which reminds me every day of the woman who gave everything she had while others gave of their excess. That’s exactly how I felt today during the collection. We finished the day by enclosing the temporary shelter that housed Marie and the girls shortly after the quake and that now houses (as I found out after the service) the Deacon and his wife. Wow, small world. Wish we could do something about the dirt floor; at least it’s not mud, yet. The other half of the crew, the better half (sorry Bob) finished the shelter over the small courtyard at the orphanage. The woman who cooks for the girls, which is an all day event, praised God and move the charcoal cook stove as soon as we were done. What great faith. Finally I was able to spend some quality time with the girls, the part that I have been patiently waiting for and a little scared of. The girls are so loving, inquisitive, and upbeat that it washed away all my preconceived anxiety immediately. I felt like a tree the way they were all hanging on me, and loved it. Toni you will also. Well, I really don’t want to wear out this blog thing out so I think I will give it up and get on with the adventure, I mean work. (Brothers at RIFD, believe me your money is changing lives, one at a time, mine included.) Thanks all. Not Bob- Tim
3.20.2010
My day in Haiti, By JJP
A day in the life of a White man in Haiti!
So my morning began with a bunch of roosters crowing at 4:45..or so I think. I don’t get a cell phone signal and have put my watch away because everywhere I go people like it and want it, so losing track of time is the norm around here, and I can't say that I mind. There’s no real running water except for the tank on the roof that is restocked with water from the rain or by hand from the well. I took a shower, which was cold, but with it being 78 degrees and humid last night it felt good. The guys were all up early and made pancakes, which by the way we have been able to eat really well since we’ve been here(and I thought I was gonna lose all this weight from sweating and eating nothing but beef jerky!). Anywho, after breakfast we packed up and headed over to the orphanage to get started on building the temporary church. A few of the guys went shopping at a place called Eco-Depot, the Haitian version of Home Depot, only about a 16th of the size and less materials. While mon frère(that’s my father in French) got started on getting the wall started, I helped a couple of the local construction men raise and mount the cross on the ceiling of the school. For the life of me I can’t remember their names, but they have to be the hardest working men around. There were a handful of men that showed up for work today, however we had nowhere near the work for them, so they ended up sitting around the vast majority of the day and making fun of all of us, and me for my sporadic and somewhat incorrect French/Creole.
I thought the heat wouldn’t be such a problem here considering I used to live in Houston, and work at Caterpillar for 3 years, but it sucks the life outta you. The heat itself isn’t so bad, but the sun reflecting off the concrete gives you the feeling of being in a weber charcoal grill. After getting more than 75% of the church built I came back to our compound to take some Aleve and restock on the sunblock. After I got all set I went to head back and everyone decided to take a break, I suppose I might have been the ring leader on that one, oops! So after a nice recharging of the batteries, both literally (power tools), and figuratively we went back to the orphanage to finish the construction of the temporary church for tomorrow.
So we’re using the power tools in the heat, which seems to deplete the batteries twice as fast, so dad sent me back to the compound to cool them off and charge them. I ended up helping an elderly woman that was on the corner trying to sell some good with a wheel barrow full of stuff back to where we stay, she was more than grateful. When I got back, Marie was reading a book and I decided it was my time to sit down w/her and discuss life. We had a wonderful heart to heart and I wish that she were able to be cloned, all would be right with the world. I won’t say exactly what we talked about, but I came away from it with an even better perspective on life then what I went in to it with having seen and lived what I have for the last 3 days. Our talk seemed to last forever, but in reality it was only an hour, I probably should have paid her a psychiatrist’s salary, but I promised instead to go home and talk to the people of Caterpillar to see if they would sponsor the school so the girls can learn and grow up to do something better for the people of Haiti.
All in all, it was another great day, the church got finished, I made more friends for life, and I learned that the life down here has shown that we as Americans live way to structured, and take way too many things for granted. I’ve learned so much in the short time I’ve been here and hope to learn all that and more in the days to come, and not just how to play Spades ;)!
Until I write again, God Bless!
Jacob J.
So my morning began with a bunch of roosters crowing at 4:45..or so I think. I don’t get a cell phone signal and have put my watch away because everywhere I go people like it and want it, so losing track of time is the norm around here, and I can't say that I mind. There’s no real running water except for the tank on the roof that is restocked with water from the rain or by hand from the well. I took a shower, which was cold, but with it being 78 degrees and humid last night it felt good. The guys were all up early and made pancakes, which by the way we have been able to eat really well since we’ve been here(and I thought I was gonna lose all this weight from sweating and eating nothing but beef jerky!). Anywho, after breakfast we packed up and headed over to the orphanage to get started on building the temporary church. A few of the guys went shopping at a place called Eco-Depot, the Haitian version of Home Depot, only about a 16th of the size and less materials. While mon frère(that’s my father in French) got started on getting the wall started, I helped a couple of the local construction men raise and mount the cross on the ceiling of the school. For the life of me I can’t remember their names, but they have to be the hardest working men around. There were a handful of men that showed up for work today, however we had nowhere near the work for them, so they ended up sitting around the vast majority of the day and making fun of all of us, and me for my sporadic and somewhat incorrect French/Creole.
I thought the heat wouldn’t be such a problem here considering I used to live in Houston, and work at Caterpillar for 3 years, but it sucks the life outta you. The heat itself isn’t so bad, but the sun reflecting off the concrete gives you the feeling of being in a weber charcoal grill. After getting more than 75% of the church built I came back to our compound to take some Aleve and restock on the sunblock. After I got all set I went to head back and everyone decided to take a break, I suppose I might have been the ring leader on that one, oops! So after a nice recharging of the batteries, both literally (power tools), and figuratively we went back to the orphanage to finish the construction of the temporary church for tomorrow.
So we’re using the power tools in the heat, which seems to deplete the batteries twice as fast, so dad sent me back to the compound to cool them off and charge them. I ended up helping an elderly woman that was on the corner trying to sell some good with a wheel barrow full of stuff back to where we stay, she was more than grateful. When I got back, Marie was reading a book and I decided it was my time to sit down w/her and discuss life. We had a wonderful heart to heart and I wish that she were able to be cloned, all would be right with the world. I won’t say exactly what we talked about, but I came away from it with an even better perspective on life then what I went in to it with having seen and lived what I have for the last 3 days. Our talk seemed to last forever, but in reality it was only an hour, I probably should have paid her a psychiatrist’s salary, but I promised instead to go home and talk to the people of Caterpillar to see if they would sponsor the school so the girls can learn and grow up to do something better for the people of Haiti.
All in all, it was another great day, the church got finished, I made more friends for life, and I learned that the life down here has shown that we as Americans live way to structured, and take way too many things for granted. I’ve learned so much in the short time I’ve been here and hope to learn all that and more in the days to come, and not just how to play Spades ;)!
Until I write again, God Bless!
Jacob J.
Temporary Church/Shelter Up!
Greetings from Bon Repos, Haiti!
This will be a short post by Josh as will be posting about our day later. However, we have a few pictures that we'd love to share with you all. We had a successful day culminating with the completion of the Church & shelter for the children. Everyone was pleased as we will be able to utilize it for Church service tomorrow. We also mounted the cross salvaged from the previous Church/orphanage and it is now firmly cemented in place on the corner of the existing school building next to the shelter we constructed. Enough with the typing, on with the pictures!
This first picture shows the process of building the trusses. We demonstrated to the Haitian workers and then let them at it!
Raising the support posts to mount the trusses to:
Hammering away:
Viola! Completed. The salvaged cross can be seen in the upper left in its new home!
This will be a short post by Josh as will be posting about our day later. However, we have a few pictures that we'd love to share with you all. We had a successful day culminating with the completion of the Church & shelter for the children. Everyone was pleased as we will be able to utilize it for Church service tomorrow. We also mounted the cross salvaged from the previous Church/orphanage and it is now firmly cemented in place on the corner of the existing school building next to the shelter we constructed. Enough with the typing, on with the pictures!
This first picture shows the process of building the trusses. We demonstrated to the Haitian workers and then let them at it!
Raising the support posts to mount the trusses to:
Hammering away:
Viola! Completed. The salvaged cross can be seen in the upper left in its new home!
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