Slideshow #2

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Trip Slideshow - Shown in Service on January 16th

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Introducing Jenny Jenkins

It's nice to be settled back home and with our families again. I must admit I keep thinking of our friends back in Haiti. During the trip, the blog was updated via an email created on a blackberry. It was a bit of a challenge, so you'll have to forgive the grammatical errors. One person I'd like to mention by name is Jenny Jenkins. She is a CBF field personnel nurse in the Grand Goave area. She traveled to remote areas during our stay to give medical support to people that have no access to medical professionals. She also runs a medical clinic right by the school. We were blessed to share some meals with her, and one night she stayed at the house with us and slept on the roof. She is one brave lady! I love her adventurous attitude and her sweet demeanor. Haiti is a better place because of her. For more information, you can find her at www.thefellowship.info/jenkins or follow her on facebook at Jenny's Haiti Days.

Mike and Brenda's Viewpoint

We teased our hosts all week that we were their best volunteer group in 2011. That's an easy accomplishment since we came on January 5th. Check out their blog at http://mchbjh.blogspot.com/ and continue to pray for their ministry in Haiti. We are so thankful for their leadership.

Heading Home

The local alarm, the rooster population, got our team up and out by 5am. Mike, Brenda and Jenni were gracious enough to come over and say goodbye with a prayer for safe travels. We hope to see them again one day.

We enjoyed a chilly ride under the early morning stars back to Port-au-Prince. I don't think you can ever get use to the smells here. Burning trash and plastic is not pleasant. Even in the early morning hours people are out and about. We passed large memorial services along the way as they remember the quarter of a million people that passed away a year ago today.

We arrived at the airport safely and ahead of schedule. We said goodbye to Jeanson. We will miss him dearly. We enjoyed the Reno Express coffee shop at the terminal while sitting in air conditioning. Putting on makeup this morning was a real treat!

Boarding soon for Miami. Bon Voyage Haiti...you will always be a part of our hearts. We will keep you in our prayers.

Last Day in Haiti

We are one tired group. While Texas is enjoying real winter conditions, we enjoyed the sun and working in 90 degree weather. It was hard work, but worth the effort. We were a lucky group since we didn't have to do that type of work everyday.

I took a picture of the tent community outside our house. It is still hard to grasp that they live in these tents. In Port-au-Prince, they seem to go on forever.

Tomorrow is the year anniversary of the earthquake. While many news articles will talk about the lack of progress in Haiti, we will remember all the lives that were lost in reverence. We will think of our friends here that work everyday to rebuild Haiti. Yes, it's slow and overwhelming. Haiti has a long way to go and the cards are stacked against them right now. But they are resilient and hard working. They have unshakable faith in God.

We know for sure that in Grand Goave at Siloe school, progress is being made and they have hope in a better tomorrow. We have faith in them and will continue to keep them in our prayers. God is working here in Haiti regardless of what you hear. We had a special good-bye with our Haitian team tonight. We learned more from them than they will ever know.

We have so much to share with you on January 19th during Wednesday night bible study. Different people will speak and we would love for you to join us. This blog was just a glimpse of our experience. Thank you for joining us on our journey. We look forward to seeing our families Wednesday night! We miss you all!

Ba aaa.....

That's the sound that our dinner made before he was our dinner. Goats are everywhere, but they don't drink goats milk. Some people thought it tasted like beef jerky. Most of us could go for some Tex-Mex right now. None of us have gone hungry. They are very generous in the portions they serve our team.

Remember Pig Pen on Charlie Brown and the cloud of continuous dust? That's us. I feel sorry for the people that have to sit near us on the plane from Miami. We had a hard day of work and the shower at the job site (see previous posts) was almost comparable to a Westin Heavenly shower by the end of the day.

School was suppose to start today, but they delayed until tomorrow. We finished all the benches and new chalk boards. Then the fun began. We started digging a foundation. We took turns using a sledge hammer, a pick ax and shovels. We broke a few handles, but made some progress. The Haitian workers didn't like the girls helping at first with this project. After we proved ourselves by moving rocks for them, they enjoyed some good laughs when I used the sledge hammer.

That's all we are going to do all day tomorrow...dig and break up old concrete and rock. Maybe we can loose a pound since we all think we have gained weight in Haiti.

Haitian people love to ask your name and practice saying it over again. We realize that Haiti gets a lot of bad press, but I don't know if I have ever met nicer strangers. They are hard workers and eager to learn. They sit by the street lamps to read and study at night because most of them do not have electricity or running water.

We have a new appreciation for government in the US. To have utilities and sewer systems and nice roads is something we take for granted. Too often all we do is complain. I am thankful for trash pickup companies and cities that provide that service. I wish the Haitians were so lucky. Trash disposal here is either burning the trash or throwing it down the river.

We look forward to our last day of work and seeing our families soon. We will miss our new friends in Haiti.

The Beach

Before I tell you about our beach trip, I will mention our house so you don't think we have it all easy. The house is incredible though considering that earlier groups had to stay in tents.

12 of us plus Jeanson stay in 1 house. The rooms have bunkbeds with air mattresses. We share 2 toilets and 2 showers. It is a bit of a challenge when the water runs low. We use a generator, but it gets turned off at night. We have used a lot of batteries in the small camping fans we brought.

The beach was a nice treat. Mike and Brenda took us to a private beach away from town where the water was safe. It was beautiful and we got to eat spiny lobster (a welcome change from beans and rice). I must say though that the food has been good. A family from Canada came to volunteer for a week in an orphanage. They brought 80 kids to the beach while we were there. I took a picture, but then realized a baby boy had no clothes on, so I can't post that picture.

When they arrived, they were so excited. It was sweet to watch them splash and play in the shallow water. Then I quickly remembered we were in Haiti and these kids are just a handful of the orphans here. I admit I broke down for a moment. I couldn't hold back tears as I sat on the sand watching them. Things have affected each of us at different points. We also saw UN soldiers at the beach in uniform-another reminder of our location. Jeanson said he had never seen them there before.

As we end day 5, it gets harder to be away from our families. A hot shower is starting to sound nice. Tonight we are having to conserve water at our house since our tank is low, so only a few enjoyed a cold shower. We still are enjoying each other and know it is worth it. The kids start school tomorrow and we get to work on a foundation for the next classroom. Two good days of hard work ahead and then we return home on Wednesday.

Please continue to pray for strength and health as our trip nears the end. Please pray that what we have learned here is not soon forgotten.

Worship in Haiti

Today we got to worship in Creole at Temple Baptiste. This church owns the school Siloe that we have been working on. I am attaching a picture the original church. Now they worship in tents since the earthquake.

Jeanson, prounced Johnson, is our local translator and project coordinator. He lives in the house where we stay. He is kind, gentle and smart. He speaks multiple languages. He also leads in worship at church. He is 25 and teaches at the school. He is wearing the orange shirt with a tie in the picture of the church under the tent. I left my phone during church, so I missed a picture during worship.

Worship was wonderful. They love to sing and every word is sincere. They sang "Showers of Blessings" in Creole. We recognized the tune. It seems surreal that they can be so thankful for "blessings" when we consider our blessings at home to be material things. I wish I could have that type of faith and gratitude. This is one thing I would like to take home from the Haitians.

Meet Our Hosts

Mike and Brenda Harwood are our CBF field coordinators. They are very gracious and patient hosts. Originally from the UK, they lived in Florida before committing to 3 years to work in Haiti. We enjoy visiting with them and asking tons of cultural questions. They are inspirational and strong in their faith. They treated us with a hamburger cookout Sat night at the volunteer house. We all have a deep appreciation for them.

Editorial correction: John is also known as Robocop. Apparently the Haitian workers were watching this movie on their phones during a lunch break and they think he looks like Robocop.

Saturday in Grand Goave

It has been an eventful day. We worked to get rooms ready for school to start on Monday. We cleaned trash, moved benches, hauled concrete bags and helped weld the windows and doors. We are lucky to have a group with various mechanical skills. I am not referring to myself :).

A few of us have learned patience. Trash is a big problem here. It gets burned or thrown in the river. While cleaning it up today, I struggled with why some problems can't be more easily solved. Mike and Brenda are patient with all our questions and help us understand the culture. We met a man that is starting a recycling center. This is great news to us!

We met other people today volunteering in Haiti. There are over 15,000 NGO's in this country. So many agencies trying to rebuild. We met a group building rubble houses. Really incredible process. Pictures are attached. We got multiple tours of houses in different stages. Along the way, we met a group of kids that yelled "Photo photo!" We quickly picked up the kids and they warmed up to big blanco John.

Please keep Jenny in your prayers. She hit her head when we were driving through town. She is the resident nurse for CBF. She is fine after some stitches at the local Cuban hospital.

A New Game

Friday evening the guys decided to create a baseball with duct tape and found a stick for a bat. I guess they didn't want to get beat again in soccer. So they started teaching Sam and quickly he smiled and laughed. Soon lots of other kids came to learn and play. Sports can bridge a communication gap quickly.

In the mornings and late evenings you can find our team on the house roof. I will send pics of our house later so you can see where we have been living. At night the sky is clear and full of stars. On Sat morning, a game of toss started with some neighbor children with us from the roof. You should be able to see the tent city behind them.

We are learning a few Creole words. The kids and adults alike are quick to teach us and correct our pronunciation. They love to ask our names.

Our team gets along so well. I could not have asked for a better group. You should be proud of them. To see 12 people live in one house and actually enjoy it is a miracle in itself. I am a better person for being around them this week. I would consider it a privilege.

We did have to face the reality today as we have grown closer to Sam that we can't just fix his life. It is heartbreaking to think that we won't see him again when we leave. The only way for me to reconcile is to think of Phillippians 4:8. I have to think on the things that are lovely and true and praiseworthy, or I will not be able to get past the sadness of the circumstances. I have to be thankful that we have these moments to share joy with him and that he got to eat a good meal since he worked with us. They are trying to avoid handouts here as they strive to teach principles for being self sufficient. When we have so much it is a hard pill to swallow. At least Sam gets to go to school on scholarship. That is praiseworthy.

Friday Update, Day 3

The boy that helped us yesterday that we mentioned came back and has worked with us all day. His name is Sam. He won't let us take his picture but I snapped one of him painting a chalkboard today when he wasn't looking. He gets to eat today. He saw us on the roof and figured out how to get there. He has decided it's a nice napping spot. Sam is warming up to us. Occasionally the girls can get him to smile. He has stolen our hearts.

The guys had some hard work shoveling sand and rock for the roof. It was interesting to watch how they build roofs. It took a few minutes for the Haitians to let them help, then in no time they were communicating as best they could. We were thankful for clouds that provided shade all morning.

We have glass bottle coke to drink here. No diet version, so Jeff would have a hard time in these conditions. Ken brought Starbucks ice coffee mix. He gets the superstar award today. We also award an idiot award daily. We share a lot of laughs!

We finished all the benches that were planned early! Mike G. has been cutting away and now our students can build them themselves. They love powertools. Mike H., our resident coordinator, asked if we wanted to do more. He sent them to the local hardware store and I quickly agreed we could afford to get materials to make more benches. Luke and Cole got to venture with our translator to purchase materials and enjoyed more soccer with a little girl not old enough to talk.

Today has been a great day of progress. Everyone is healthy so far. Your prayers are felt.

One Day of Work and a Game

We had a productive day on Thurs. We built enough school benches for a classroom which holds 53 students and is half the size of my daughter's class. We taught the Haitian workers and students how to use power tools. Only a couple speak English. They were eager to learn. We also taught them to put the benches together. It was a great experience.
We took a picture of the shower and bathroom facilities. The toilet is in the shower space. The tanks on top filter the water.

A group of kids came in the afternoon. They were eager for us to take their picture. The girls started grabbing our ponytails and braiding our hair. It was kind of painful but they were having fun. Then they started arguing with each other and Pam said "wow-a mom knows sassy in any language."

A sweet boy who has no father and is the oldest child in his family frequents the site. Brooke taught him how to use a wrench. He worked so hard all afternoon putting bolts on the benches. No English. He worked for food but he was proud to learn a new skill.

At the end of the day the guys picked up a game of soccer in the street with local kids. It was fun watching the kids beat them. Lots of laughter and some funny moves.

More later but best of luck to the Aggies today! 4 alums on this trip and 1 is a former Aggie football player. We all tivo'd the game so please refrain from telling us. Enjoy your day! We are off to work...

Group Picture

Day 1 Wrap Up

We are all settled in Grand Goave and ready for rest. The school job site is very interesting and impressive considering what we saw in the capital. Our job here is to serve along side the church here in Haiti. It's not a handout or us trying to change people. We are guests in their country and they have remarkable pride. It's difficult to grasp for us because it seems so desolate compared to our way of life back home.

They are very faithful people. When it seemed hard to see God amongst the extreme poverty, we can see it now in this area as they slowly rebuild this school which provides work for local people.

Many people lived in tents before the earthquake. We heard an estimate of 80%. Our house is surrounded by two tent cities that did emerge after the quake. It sounds like a tailgate party with live chickens. We had a pig family right outside our gate.

With all the anxiety of coming on this trip, we felt such a sense of peace today. We know your prayers were an important part of that.

Please pray for:
Rest and safety on the job site as we do construction projects.

That there be no barriers between us and the local workers as we try to understand each other.

Since the roosters crow at 4am, we are heading to bed early. Good night!