(Recorded in Haiti by Diane –  March 25-April 1)

I’m struck by just how friendly people are here – the Haitians  – I was very surprised by that. I think we were coming here mostly to do projects like painting and construction, stuff like that, but I like that we’ve been out meeting people, seeing how they live. That’s probably been the most rewarding part. Probably the thing I was dreading the most coming here was just not knowing what we were going to be doing. But that part has been easy to do stuff, easy to get involved, talking to people.  I wish the language barrier wasn’t as big, but it’s still been better than I thought.

Food has been excellent. I haven’t had anything I didn’t like.

I like the transportation. I think we’re still getting away easy compared to what they have to do most of the time with the taptaps. More challenging, more scary. It’s still definitely not how we get around in California. I haven’t been afraid, and I probably should be,  maybe because I’m not driving. Maybe I’m too trusting of the driver.

I went and bought propane. Dropped off two strangers at the cyber café (laughs). Got ice cream. Went up and saw Jean Claude’s school. Has a lot of promise. The school they have now is really in poor shape. It’s just jury-rigged together . It’s kind of impressive. You can tell the kids study there. You can see handwriting and stuff.  Man, our Sunday School rooms back at Memorial are actually pretty good.

I’m so impressed that they can live in the poverty that they live in and still be so happy and so pleasant to people from outside. I haven’t met anyone who’s been aggressive at all. They may look aggressive when you first look at them, but I think that is just one of their natural facial features. But once you say hello to them and extend a hand of friendship, they are right there with a big smile and to say hello, how are you and welcome.

And then, the issue of this particular church and being in the situation where they still need help and the hope that there will be others who will come behind us and work the little bit  that  they can to improve this church.

Other than that, I’m not too surprised about the living conditions. I fully expected to see a poverty situation. These people are resilient. With the help of their government I think they could enrich the life of help these people immensely.  One would be to start to get food back on the table. But that’s going to be rough row to hoe. This country has had a very volatile history. It’s been taken advantage of. I’m glad I’m here, glad I came and hopefully looking forward to coming again.

I’m surprised how industrious they are. They’re really hustling trying to make a living. I talked to one motorcycle cab driver. He works five days a week and puts in at least 10 hours a day. Goes to church on Sunday. He said he supports his family. I asked him how many kids he has. He said he doesn’t have any kids. He isn’t married. He supports his extended family. I guess that’s how it is. Whoever has a job puts money in to support his extended family. I’ve seen a couple just like the homeless we have in a big city, filthy clothes, grungy, whatnot, but most of the people, even though they live in hovels, little shacks, they have clean clothes. It’s quite an eye-opener.

Early impressions from the Newark airport en route to Haiti:

How has the trip been so far?

Teri: Exhausting.

Janette: The team gets along really well so it’s promising that we’ll have a great week together. Good attitudes. I think we’ll have a really good week together.

Corrie: I am excited. In the meetings we are doing business, but now we are actually doing work and it’s fun to be with everybody.

Rob: I’m tired. I’m not quite excited yet, but I’m getting there.

Andy: One thing I’ve noticed is I keep wondering why other passengers in the airport keep staring at me. Then I realize we’re all wearing the same red shirt. Everything has gone smooth. Hopefully that will be a sign of what the rest of the trip will be like.

What are you anticipating for the rest of the day?

Teri: Another long trip. Looking forward to getting to Haiti and seeing what I’ve been looking forward to for months and months.

Janette: Mostly I think it will be an adventure to get where we are actually going to be working. If we do anything beyond that it will be a huge blessing and a surprise. Get to our location and get settled and get comfortable.

Corrie: I’m really tired so I anticipate being grumpy but I’m trying not to. A lot of heat and a lot of sweat. And just a huge world we never knew.

Rob: I’m going to be very tired. Hopefully we won’t have a lot of activities today other than getting to the school. And hopefully, we’ll be able to rest the rest of the day.

Andy: I think to be a little bit shocked by the heat when we come out of the airplane. I think just all the people that will be in Haiti. That’ll be a little bit of a shock, too. Just how many of them there are. Hopefully, we won’t do a lot but get back to the place and prepare for tomorrow and get going then.

As with many Christians in the US, folks in Haiti rest on this day.

Broke fast with oatmeal. Most of the team headed into the market to look for a dress &/or to get ingredients for the meal we will prepare for the staff on Sunday. It is challenging to try to cook a “typical” USA meal in Haiti because they don’t have many of our “typical” kinds of foods

Returned to the compound to drop off food then headed to Moulin Sur Mer – a resort up the coast. Each team member paid for ourselves and one guest to go – so we didn’t use money for Haitian relief for our day off. We rode in two “tap taps” we hired for the day – about 14 people in each – some in the cab, most in the fancied-up bed of the truck, and a few on the roof.

We stopped to visit the museum. As we waited for the fees to be paid we wondered about a bit and took pictures of the stautes and the plentiful peacocks & peahens which were on the grounds of the resort. The museum had information about pre-Columbian life, about the oppression enforced by the Catholic Church, the revolution which won their independence, and various artifacts from Colonial times.

Next, we- staff & families and the team – enjoyed a large buffet, swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, played ping pong, did synchronized swimming, floated on noodles, played mini golf, played a dice game, slept, showered, shaved, washed hair… Was a wonderfully relaxing day.

Got back to the compound. We did some prep work for the Easter lunch we would make the next day. Using knifes we peeled carrots and potatoes. We washed them in bleach water then left them in saltwater over night. We washed beets. We boiled eggs.
We had team devotions while the beets boiled.
Some went to bed, and others worked together to pickle the beets and set the boiled eggs to marble in the beet juice (except about a dozen set aside to color and hide with kids tomorrow).

We left everything soaking and headed to bed about 11:30 pm.

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March 29, 2013Good Friday

Got everything together and headed up the hill to the irrigation ditch to test the idea of making clean water for free for the people there.

Arrived at the site, told the folks there what our plan was. They immediately began to gather
Took a while to get the generator working.
The water is truly gross – small dead animals might float by – mosses, plant debris, garbage, dish soap, laundry detergent… This they drink when they don’t have anything else.
Pump wasn’t receiving power, even though the battery is new! Turned out to be a blown fuse. Fortunately Jilson, our driver, had on in his charger we could use.

Got the pump working. Had a great time making water for the folks. They had to work out some details like how to make the line – where, whose first, what to do while we wait. We were able to get local people to help run the equipment and try to keep the equipment clear of debris.
People sang, flew kites, did flips, compared pedicures, stacked rocks, played hand games, washed clothes, washed themselves, combed hair, stood by the buckets, swapped stories, learned to ride a motorcycle,

About 1:30 we headed back to the compound to have a special Haitian traditional Good Friday. (Here they call it Easter Friday,) The meal is dried fish that has been stewed in a special sauce, rice with white bean sauce and salad. This is the only time in the year they have white bean sauce. EVERYONE in Haiti has this meal – even non-Christians. They buy the fish several days in advance because the markets sometimes run out before friday, or jack up the prices.
After lunch EVERYONE fasts until Saturday morning’s breakfast. We spent dinner time sharing about Easter traditions in our families and what Easter means to us. We joined with the staff of the compound for this conversation.

Later our team had team devotions while the Haitian gathered for worship. They sang and spoke until well after midnight! I was tired enough to fall asleep any way

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