Haiti Trip 2014 Sunday

The morning started much more relaxed than the previous days as we slowly awoke and had breakfast before heading to church. Aubrey, Art, and I worked through a couple of simple song arrangements to do for the service and I was finally going to get to do the sermon that I had written (and rewritten and rewritten some more). We took the familiar walk down the road but didn't have to go quite as far as the church we attended last year. I was thankful to not have to climb that hill again given how sweaty I had been after that climb so that I could avoid appearing like a stereotypical, sweaty preacher on this particular occasion.

We were ushered to the front and filled the first two rows where we observed the service and participated as best as we were able in the singing. They had a small band with electric guitar and drums and the guitar player was particularly interesting as he played in the background of almost everything. Since he was behind the worship leader and main speakers, time and tempo were fairly relative throughout.

Patchuoko translating during my sermon

Gretchen got to do a brief introduction of our team and then invited Aubrey, Art, and I up. Art played guitar and I played djembe while Aubrey led us in worship. We sang "Oceans" and "10,000 Reasons" with the chorus in Creole since Aubrey had been learning it from Darline. When we finished, it was time for me to speak with Patchuoko as my translator. I spoke from John 4 and landed on the promise and hope of Jesus offering us living water. Writing the message was a challenge as I tried to keep things somewhat concise for time and kept language simple and consistent for Patchuoko's sake as a translator. I figured if I ran into a key word that Patchuoko didn't know, I wanted to be able to find an alternative word and plug it in easily throughout the rest of the message. While I would have written the message completely different had I been giving it at Embrace, I felt like it suited the congregation in Haiti well.

After church, we headed back to the compound for a little lunch and hangout time I also took a little time to work on the bikes for Liza again that had been done the previous day because both had flat tires by the time Liza was ready to give them to the girls. I only had one tube left, but Mike had a patch kid that I was able to use as well. My only fear was that I wouldn't be able to patch either tube and while I couldn't locate the leak in the first tube, the second was easily located and patched so we were able to get them up and running.

The boats arrive

The only thing on the agenda for the afternoon was an excursion out to the island. We all suited up and walked down to Robert's house where three boats would haul the team and several of the youth out to the island for a little playtime. I rode in Robert's boat with Kristen, Jenna, Julie, Tom, and Elysee while Robert and another gentleman rowed us out there. It was a fairly breezy, but pleasant day to wander the sandy/trashy beach and wander out on the reef to the drop off. We saw urchins, sand dollars, starfish, and a hermit crab that some of the guys let crawl around on them. I also watched an osprey diving for fish and a white crane for awhile while the rest of the group was on the other side of the island.

Art becoming one w/ the island

I wandered back to the group where a few of the youth were doing a musical performance with some of the trash from the island serving as a microphone and some instruments. They were also beginning to bury Donald in the sand. He was flashing his huge smile until he was pretty much buried, but he was less excited when one of the guys put the hermit crab on his face. He scrambled to get out and some of his friends grabbed him by the hands and feet to help toss him in the water to clean off. Next, it was Art's turn. He was a pretty eager participant until he was covered and guys kept putting more sand on him without keeping in mind where they were touching him.

Finally, we climbed back into the boats for the return trip. Because the wind was up, the sails went up and we cruised back toward Robert's house. Our boat was fairly far ahead until we hit a shallow spot and felt the boat lurch and halt. Immediately Robert was climbing to the back of the boat because the rudder had come off and he scrambled to retrieve it before it got away. We were still hung up on the rocks and the wind was filling the sail to the point where we watched it slowly bend the bamboo boom on the main sail. When it snapped, part of it hit Jenna's thigh, the other sail began to turn us, and I thought for sure we were going swimming. Somehow, we all stayed in the boat and were able to gather everything in so that Robert and his friend could row us in. The other boats had easily passed us, but we managed to get in with Jenna's leg and Robert's boat being the only casualties.

Robert, Elysee, Kristen & me

I was glad to have been in Robert's boat because he is a highly entertaining, talkative guy and the girls on the boat only served to amplify that. He talked about anything and everything and, through it all, showed his great love of his home. It was plain that he had all he needed and a paradise to enjoy it in. It was truly an honor and a blessing to get to see Haiti through his eyes, if only for a little while.

We got back to the compound and hung out until dinner. There was another movie planned for that night and most of the team decided to go down for it, but I stayed back with a few others for conversation. Once the rest of the team came back, we did high/lows and hung out a little more. Liza shared that she was finally able to give the girls their bikes and they were thrilled. I was so glad to have been able to help get those ready and to help make her high point of the day happen.

We settled in for what would be the last night at the compound for most of us and began to consider what and how to pack as well as what we might leave behind that might be a blessing that the mission could pass on for us to meet a need someone might have.

Haiti Trip 2014 Saturday

Our final morning in Jabouin had us running right away. We needed to get things set up for the festival for the kids and there was a lot to do. We had several carnival games (though we couldn't call them that as Carnival has a completely different, darker connotation in Haiti) and each team member was going to be in charge of a game while the youth were responsible for taking groups of kids to each of the games. I was responsible game where the kids try to knock down a pyramid of cans by throwing a bean bag. It seemed simple enough, so I set up my station and had my buckets of prizes (candy, bouncy balls, and necklaces) ready while kids started filling the school yard.

Our little green friend

As we were still setting up, we watched a small, bright green lizard climbing one of the poles in the big tent that helped support one of the peaks of the tent. Someone had said they would need to keep an eye on it so that it wouldn't drop down on them, so a little while later when Jenna was standing under the spot it had been climbing earlier, it was too tempting an opportunity to pass up. I talked Art into making her think it had jumped onto her shoulder. Worked like a charm.

Also as we were setting up in one of the other classroom areas under the same tent, I caught sight of a small scorpion. I stepped on it, but the thought of the preschoolers that had been sitting right there the last few days, some without shoes, made me even more thankful for the classrooms that were being built.

photo courtesy of Gretchen Shafer

We got into position as the groups ranging in age from probably 3 to 12 (or so) started coming around. I had underestimated how involved my game would be as every kid there knocked down the cans. I had to reset the cans, locate where the bean bags had gone, and grab a prize for each kid which meant I was constantly on the move. For most kinds, it wasn't much of a challenge, but some of the youngest kids couldn't hit the cans on any of their three throws (from just a few feet away). When that would happen, I'd reach over, sweep the cans off of the table with my forearm and give the kids a prize anyway. By the time I was done, I was sweating more than I had on the hike to Jabouin on Thursday.

To my left was Aubrey's station where they had to pick a rubber duck from a small pool to win a prize. Aubrey had her game usurped by Joshua (Patchuoko's son) who was giving the instructions and directing the activities so that all Aubrey had to do was hand out prizes. It was fun to watch this four year old kid owning that game and telling everyone what to do.

Joshua and his helper Aubrey

There were a couple of great moments near the end of the festival. Darline had found the girl from the road on the home visit day (Thursday) and her hair was done up in a bunch of hairbands. The smile on Darline's face was a delight as she picked the girl up for Aubrey to take her picture.

The other moment was after nearly all of the kids had been through the games. There was a grandmother and grandson (about 3 years old) who obviously had a developmental issue and they had been standing off to the side watching the other kids play the games. The grandson didn't have a goodie bag of his own which meant that he hadn't been a part of the festival and hadn't received any of the candy, necklaces, bouncy balls, or other treats like the other kids. Julie obviously noticed as well as I caught her approach the grandmother to see if she could give him some bubbles. She was very grateful for the kindness shown and I was blessed again by the hearts of the people I was serving with.

Things wrapped up pretty quickly and we were soon headed back down the mountain to Ti-Riviere with the intention of returning for one more day of VBS with the kids in Jabouin on Monday. It was much easier going headed down the mountain and there was more conversation since we weren't having to work as hard to catch our breath. Art even got to kill a small tarantula on the road with Lucy egging him on. "You do not want it to grow to be big or it will bite you." she said, very matter of factly.

We made it back to the compound and had a little bite to eat before hitting the showers. I hadn't showered since Thursday, opting instead for baby wipes, Gold Bond, and a lot of deoderant. It had made the last few days a little uncomfortable (with all the activity we had going on), but at least I didn't have Art terrorizing me while I took a bucket shower in a tent while tin sheeting rained from the school roof.

There wasn't a lot of downtime for me as Pam had arranged for a bike clinic at the coffeehouse at 3:00. I worked on a few bikes at the compound that Liza had picked up for her sponsored girls prior to leaving (with a little help from some of the youth) and assessed what we had for parts. After finishing Liza's bikes, we had a few tires and tubes, two chains, two sets of brake pads, and some break cables and housing. I packed these up with a few tools and hopped on a motorcycle with Patchuoko and Joshua to head to the coffeehouse. Several team members decided to come down as well, but were stuck walking with a few of the youth. When we got there on the moto, I had to laugh a little at the 25 or so "bikes" that were there and decided that they probably needed a faith healer more than a bike mechanic. I knew we'd be pretty limited in what we could do, but we would take it one bike at a time.

A quick tutorial before we started tearing into the bikes

We started with a little tutorial on changing a tube and chain with Patchuoko translating and then we launched into fixing what we could. Patchuoko was helping some, one of the youth who had come along had proven helpful with Liza's bikes and took charge of helping another group, and I was hopping from bike to bike trying to fix bikes without the right parts or tools. There was a lot of improvisation going on which meant that there really wasn't a lot I could have the team help with when they arrived. I felt bad about that, but at least I provided them with a little entertainment not only by scrambling from bike to bike, but through displays of clumsiness as well. I had left my bag of supplies with the team so that I wouldn't have a ton of people grabbing parts and tools. At one point, I went to fetch something from the bag and was climbing the poured concrete seating up to the team when I missed a step that was poured at a different height and went down. I caught myself with my left hand, but thankfully didn't hurt myself. Ten minutes later, I did the exact same thing, only this time, I felt and heard a pop in my wrist. I froze for a second fearing I had broken it, but I was able to move it. I knew it would hurt later, but I got back to business and kept working on the bikes while the adrenaline kept the pain at bay.

Some bikes had more hope than others

All told, we worked on bikes for three and a half hours without a break. One of the bikes that I got to do was one of the bikes that we had given away last year at Millenium after the classes I had done with some of the students there. It had definitely been ridden. A lot. Hard. I replaced one of the brake cables and a set of brake pads that I had replaced a year earlier. The bike was also missing the rear derailleur that I know had been on the bike (and working) when I had seen it last.

I had to tell a lot of folks that I didn't have parts to take care of some of the issues the bikes had. I hated to turn them away, but they are so used to doing without that instead of being upset or expressing any frustration, there was acceptance. One team member told me that they didn't see anyone that left mad. I think that if we did something similar in the US  and had to send people away empty handed, the response would be much different. There is definitely something to be learned there.

As we wrapped up the bikes, the screen and projector were being set up for movie night. Pam asked if I'd be willing to give a short message before the movie since we'd be watching "Mr. Bean's Holiday" and she wanted to make sure there was something of a spiritual nature that happened that night. I gve the same message as I had given in Jabouin, only with Patchuoko's translation and a few less details for the sake of brevity and clarity.

The movie was a big hit with so much physical comedy and it was a great night to spend in the company of the youth of Ti-Riviere. When it was over, we headed back to the compound for highs/lows and I was finally able to take some ibuprofen for my wrist and put a brace on that I had brought with me.

As we prepared for bed, some were making preparations for the next day's activities which would include a trip out to the island for a little recreation. Art managed to get his hands on some flippers and a scuba mask and was walking around the mission house talking about how he was going to wear his "Scuba Steves" out to the island. As usual, he had everyone rolling. I was laying on my bunk listing to his antics in the store room which also doubles as the entrance to the mission house. He was mid sentence when Mike walked in. Without missing a beat, Art stopped what he was saying and said, "So, what happened was..." which was Art's battle cry throughout the week anytime he had to explain his antics or was caught doing something questionable. It became easily one of the most quotable lines of the whole trip because we heard it from him so often.

It was a great way to cap a very busy day and I had no trouble at all falling asleep that night.

Haiti Trip 2013: Monday & Tuesday

Here's the final post from last year's Haiti trip. I'll be posting about the 2014 trip shortly.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Seth on the kitchen roof

Our final morning in Ti-Rivier was going to be one of dividing & conquering. I had another bike class at Millenium, a group was going to do school photos, Julie was going to get a tour and spend some time helping at the clinic, and Seth, Brent, and Taylor were working on putting a new roof on the mission kitchen.

For the clinic, we covered brake cables and brake pads. The cables and housing allowed the students a good opportunity to participate for those that were interested, but presented a bit of a challenge for me as I was dealing with three different brake types between the two bikes and the pads that I had were V-brake pads which would simply have to do for the cantilever and center pull brakes that were on one of the bikes. My biggest concern was that I would have to go over the brake work myself before I would trust the students to ride them. Somehow we managed to get through all of it and they were in good enough shape for us to do a drawing among the students to give the bikes away. The clinics were a definite highlight for me and I hoped that I had done enough to equip a few students to do some of their own work.

We headed back to the mission house where the guys were still hard at work laying new tin on the small roof of the kitchen, did some chores, packed some bags, ate some lunch and said our goodbyes.

We left just after lunch and planned to spend the night at Ronald's house with is usually less than an hour's drive to the airport. The house is one that Mission Haiti built to house teams in transit and to give Ronald a base of operations closer to Port au Prince and shipping ports in the north of Haiti. The ride itself was fairly uneventful with the exception of Taylor feeling absolutely miserable. All of us had dealt with digestive issues to one extent or another given the drastic change to our diet over the previous week. I had been bound, bloated, and miserable for a few days, but Taylor had self medicated a bit and things had kicked in with a vengeance, so I guess our team experienced some gostrointestinal extremes.

Ronald's house was down a narrow side road with a tall wall and large gate enclosing it. The front yard had a large area to congregated and there were showers and a toilet along one side of the house. Inside was a main living area & kitchen with a few rooms for Ronald's family on one side and two bunk rooms on the other where team members could stay when in transit.

Taylor has the look of a man committed to his art

We gathered in front of the house for a time of worship and sharing. The worship time was especially sweet as Aubrey shared "Your Ways" with us which was a song she had recently written. Taylor also shared a song which was especially cool as I had no idea that he even played. We ended our worship time with Revelation Song and the Spirit's presence was especially strong as we dwelled in an attitude of adoration and moved into a time of prayer.

I felt especially urged to speak some words of encouragement to both Aubrey and Julie. I told Aubrey just how proud I was of her and the growth I had seen in her life. We have known Aubrey since she was a student of Amy's in high school and she is definitely dear to the Morrison family. Watching her grow in her faith, calling, and artistry has been an absolute joy. With Julie, I shared how much I appreciated her heart, both for Haiti and for her friends grieving at home. I knew she was still struggling with not being able to be there for them and encouraged her to trust that God was working in her absence to minister to those that she was burdened for and that she did not need to feel the weight of that burden anymore.

We hung out, enjoying each others' company and Pam shared with us the story of the guy who had ridden with us for security. When Mission Haiti had bought the new bus, they bought it in the US and shipped it to Haiti. When it arrived in Port, they sold the old bus and went to get their papers for the new bus as they had a team coming in. Without these papers, if the bus was stopped, they would be subject to having it taken away from them. When they arrived for the papers, there was no power to have them printed and they were told to come back the next day. They arrived first thing the next morning and ran into the same problem and were told to come back again the following day. Because they had a team coming in, they absolutely needed it that day. They were in a tight spot and decided to see if the police would write up temporary papers for them so they could travel that day. They were told no and left dejected.

Shortly after they left, Pam received a call from a gentleman claiming to be with the police who could get them papers. It sounded a little iffy, but they really had no other options. When they picked up the papers, the officer asked to ride along. Pam was reluctant, but decided they would need to do so in order to secure the papers. They eventually found out that this was one of the highest ranking police officials in the country and one of the most famous faces in all of Haiti. He was better than any papers that they could carry and would keep the team from any roadside delays where the authorities were concerned.

He told Pam that he was more than happy to ride along anytime she had teams traveling from Port to Ti-Rivier and this was the same man that had ridden security for us the entire time we had been on the bus in Haiti. We were absolutely floored by this story and felt even more secure after hearing it.

One final incident sums up my journaling of the trip pretty well. I had been writing constantly at any opportunity that I could and was many pages, but only a few days, in by the time we reached Ronald's house. Seth needed to relieve himself and the facilities were occupied. He decided to pee by the bus and as he did so, he said, "Put that in your novel." Pretty much sums it up.

Tuesday, February 26, 2003

Public transit on our way to the airport.

We got up fairly early and were on our way in the bus by 6:30 for what should have been a 45-60 minute drive to the airport. For whatever reason, traffic in Port was especially slow. There were places where it took us ten minutes to travel a city block and we began to believe that we might miss our flight. Traffic was so tight that Ronald actually made contact with another truck as wheat had been four lanes, merged into three. They did little more than yell at each other as we kept crawling along.

We arrived about 25 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave and I'm sure they had already begun to board. We gathered everything quickly and headed to check in. I was the first to arrive and the lady at the counter said in a very amused voice, "You are late." I told her, "I know." and gave her a smile as I gave her my passport. Thankfully, things moved quickly and we were able to board. We took off for Fort Lauderdale thankful beyond words that we had made it.

This tap tap pretty much sums up our trip

The only other thing of note from the travel home was that I got hit on by a drunk, deaf guy at the airport in Fort Lauderdale. An interesting experience, but I only mention it to remember how funny it was, not to etch it into my memory. ;-)

We arrived back in Sioux Falls at about 10:30pm to a welcoming party of family and friends. We were much relieved to be home, but much changed by those we had met and by the start of a beautiful new mission for us in

Haiti Trip 2013: Sunday

Here's another post from last year's trip with Mission Haiti. I'll begin posting more from the trip in February of this year once I have finished last year's posts.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

The path to the church

We woke on Sunday anticipating going to one of the local churches. Aubrey had volunteered to make pancakes for breakfast and we enjoyed a pretty relaxing morning before heading out.

We dressed for church (polos & Khakis for the guys, dresses for the girls) and started the hike down the road. Aubrey and I planned to do You're Beautiful by Phil Wickham and Troy was preaching, so Aubs and I made plans along the way. We arrived at Antoine's house and took a left off the road and headed up the path to the church. After a fairly lengthy climb on a warm morning we arrived at a pink building inside the skeleton of a larger building where worship was already well under way. I'm not sure if the larger building was something being built or was the remains of something falling down, but we stepped over the cinder block threshold into what seemed more of a courtyard at this point.

We were guided around the side of the church and brought in a side door where we could fill the first few rows and a good number of seats on the platform. I was soaked in sweat from the walk and was glad for the slight breeze coming in the door while Aubrey and I finished our planning. The Haitian worship was spirited and incredibly loud with songs usually lasting close to ten minutes. One gentleman was playing a tambourine that was missing several of its bells and looked like it could fall apart any time he would strike it.

The time came for Aubrey and I to do our thing. I played guitar while she sang and one of the reasons that our planning took so long for such a simple song was that we had originally planned to trade verses, but decided that it would be best to put it in a key that worked well for Aubrey's voice. Of course, she sang beautifully with me adding harmonies. The congregation quickly caught on to the interlude of "oohs" and joined in after each verse. It was absolutely gorgeous to hear them carry those parts and when we reached the end of the song, we let them sing those out as an expression of their worship.

Troy & Patchuoko working through a translation issue

At that point, Pam did a short lesson followed by Troy's sermon, both with Patchuoko translating. After church, there were many hugs and kisses from the Haitians before we made our way back down the hill and back to the mission.

Our only activity for the afternoon was to head out to the island for a little play time. We headed down to Robert's house where three boats with blue tarps for sails were to carry us to the island. We loaded 5-6 of us in each boat and did all we could to stay out of the pilot's way. The boats rode incredibly low and watching the other boats, there were times we worried that they'd take on water. The boat ride was about 20 minutes long and took us to a small island that was mostly sand with a little bit of brush, a few trees, and a whole lot of trash.

We made our way around the island to scope things out and found a jellyfish that had washed up. The jelly was a deep purple and was moved to the brush where it would be out of the way as we began to explore the waters. The water was only knee to waist deep for at least 100 meters before a large drop off that you could see the waves break against. We were on the lookout for more jellies and also urchins which we had been told we might encounter. I wandered out with Aubrey and eventually we did find an urchin. I took a shoe off, scooped it up and we got a closer look. We enjoyed the sunshine, the breeze, and the surf in the background as we hung out near the drop off for awhile before heading back to the island.

We all began to congregate on the landward side of the island where some boys were diving and bringing up starfish for us. They were a red/orange mix and were mostly 8-10 inches across and before long we had a collection of ten or so on the beach. Aubrey proceeded to get down on the sand with them for pictures and was absolutely in heaven. We took a group pic in the water in front of one of the boats before piling back in and heading back to the mission.

Once back to shore, we were walking back to the mission when one of the youth invited us to see his home. We proceeded to go through the gate and, before we knew it, we realized that his mother was just outside the house doing laundry. Completely naked. We stayed for an uncomfortable minute or two while she did her best to cover up and we did our best to respectfully avert our eyes.

Once we got back to the mission, we played a little more basketball with the kids before stopping for dinner. It was shortly after that when we received word from back home about a family from Sioux Falls Christian that had died in a car accident back home. We had two people on the team who knew the family well. Julie worked with the mom at Sanford and Brent's son was in one of their son's class at school. It hit them both very hard and it was a long, sobering night where we all processed loss and helplessness as we thought of friends and family back in South Dakota.

Haiti Trip 2013: Saturday

I'm continuing to recap last year's Embrace Church trip to serve with Mission Haiti. After I've finished with the 2013 trip, I'll get back to posting from the 2014 trip. This one is also much shorter than the previous post as it was the first of the journal entries that I finished in Haiti this year. ;-)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The first event of the day was the 5K we were hosting. The course had already been mapped out and the hope was to get going before it got hot. My job was to stick with Pam in case she was needed for anything. This proved much harder than it sounds as there were multiple times that I turned my back for a second only to find Pam 50 yards away walking quickly in the other direction.

Taylor nearly ran down Elisee 

The race course had been measured out and an ATV was to go out to serve as the turn around for the runners. We had several members of our team running and most of the rest of us were either taking pictures or cheering runners on. Seth was doing balloon animals for the kids which was fun to watch as kids would just light up when he gave them the balloons.

The race started and they were off like a shot. We began to relax a bit and wondered how long it would be before they would be back. It turned out to not be very long as the first runner came back around the corner after about two minutes. We obviously knew that they hadn't done a full 5K, but we scrambled to be ready for them at the finish line anyway. It turned out that the ATV hadn't gone out as far as planned, but since everybody played by the rules and ran the same distance, we decided it was as official as the results were going to get.

Julie & Rachael were good running partners

After the race, we had a little downtime before heading to Antoine's house for a prayer visit. Antoine runs the coffee shop where we would host a movie night later that day and also has a daughter (Melanita) who had suddenly become unresponsive several months earlier. She had been taken to the doctor a few times, but they were unable to find anything medically wrong with her. They were either dealing with a condition unfamiliar to the local doctors or there was a spiritual element to it. Pam wondered if it was a matter of a voodoo curse that had been placed on Antoine's family. That may seem strange to our enlightened, educated, American minds, but there is a reality to spiritual battle that we have become numb to that is very present and much more out in the open in Haiti and it is more than simple superstition.

Jeff had been teaching on voodoo and spiritual warfare and took us through a time of prayer for Melanita. We left fairly certain that we were dealing with a curse of some kind and were unsure of how or when God would answer our prayers for this sweet little girl.

From Antoine's house, we walked back toward the mission, passed the turnoff, and went to a piece of property that Pam had acquired to build a new school for Ti Rivier. Jeff again gave us some instruction and we began to walk the grounds, praying for the work that God would do there.

Me and Totes, my goat

When we arrived back at the compound, we found that the prizes for the 5K had arrived in the form of 8 or 9 goats and a handful (almost literally) of chickens. The goats were tied around the yard eating any vegetation in their reach and the chickens were tied and hanging by their feet. The plan was to bring them all to the coffee house (about a two mile walk) and give them out before the movie started.

We had a little downtime before we headed out, but before we left, we all staked our claim to livestock and made sure to get plenty of photos with our new friends. When it was time to go, we started the herding process and paraded our goats down the road. I can only imagine what was going through the minds of the Haitians as all of the crazy white people took their goats for a walk.

Brent & the boys

Adam & Gretchen in the Coffee House

We got to the cafe and found places to tie up the goats while we made final preparations for the movie and hung out with the kids. The movie would be projected onto a bed sheet and we would all sit either on plastic lawn chairs in a few rows in front or on the poured concrete seats of the amphitheater overlooking the hillside that led down to the water. Before the movie started, the prizes were distributed to the race winners and the seats filled for a showing of Courageous dubbed in Creole. The place was packed and it was fun seeing the Haitians laugh at the Americans in the movie, especially during any of the police chase scenes.

Once the movie was over, we helped clean things up and Adam finally had a chance to give away the glow sticks he'd brought with. We then headed back to the mission house in the dark to grab another night's sleep to the sweet serenade of the rooster chorus.

Haiti Trip 2013: Friday

No, I did not make a mistake on the title of this post. I got a little sidetracked (what, with Amy's cancer and all) and never quite got around to writing or posting most of my journal from last year's trip. I was finally able to revisit it on this year's trip and finished it while I was in Haiti in February. The combination of good notes and being in that environment again brought things back with a surprising amount of clarity. So, the next few posts that I do will be from my 2013 trip.

You might ask, "Why bother to post them after so much time has passed?" Well, partly to share them with other team members as well as the family and friends that helped to send me there, partly because there are lessons that I'm still learning from that trip, and partly because some of the settings I described in last year's journal showed up in this year's journal as well, only with less description.

So, revisit the first two entries from last year's journal here and here and then follow the next few posts to wrap up last year's trip. This year's journal has been finished and will resume here sometime in the next few weeks, so no worries, I won't make you wait until 2015 to share in this year's experience.

Friday, February 22, 2013

We were up early because we needed to get the team on their way to hike the mountains to visit a few of the more remote mountain schools that Mission Haiti sponsors kids at. The hike was definitely one of the more hyped parts of the trip as it would be several hours of climbing mountain trails that promised to be exhausting. I, however, would not be going.

One of the projects that I had been working on was providing a few basic bike maintenance classes with one of the schools close to the mission. Day one of classes was scheduled for today and, while I was bummed to miss the hike and the experience with the team, this was the project that was uniquely mine and that I had been getting more and more excited for as the trip got closer. If it meant missing the hike, I'd have to be okay with that.

Thankfully, it had not rained that morning which would make the hike for the team a little less arduous and the team set off at 7:00 leaving me and Scott (who had agreed to help me) to prepare to go to Millenium school at 8:30. The game plan was to wrap up by 10:00 with the class so that Scott and Patchuoko could take a motorcycle part way up the mountain and catch up with the team in time for their second school of the day.

Over the last month, I had been working to put together a wish list of items for the bike class that I wanted to take with and secured a few donations of tools from Scheels and my friend Chad Pickard at Spoke-n-Sport. Additional parts were purchased with funds from the team and Embrace's Missions fund. My wish list was whittled own quite a bit, but we had tubes, tires, brake cables & housing, brake pads, chains, master links, lubes, multi-tools, tire levers, chain breakers, spoke wrenches, two pumps, and some pedals. Anything we didn't use for the bike classes would stay at the mission where people would have access to come to use them and where they could be used for future trips by bike mechanics for continued training and other repairs.

At 8:30, Scott, Patchuoko, and I took the two bikes, a few bags with tools and parts, and my mechanic's stand that I had brought with me. In fact, when Adam went to check the bag that it was in before we left Sioux Falls, they asked him what it was and he had to admit that he had no idea.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, Patchuoko hopped on the bike we was herding to ride it the rest of the way (less than a quarter mile). Half way there was a small section of the road that was washed out and had water running over the road the entire time we were there. Patchuoko went to grab the brakes before hitting the water and it was at that point that I remembered that I discovered the brakes didn't work during my brief examination of the bike the night before. At all. Not even slightly. I wasn't concerne about it at that point because I knew we would be working on the brakes for Monday's session. I realized the brakes wouldn't work at almost the exact moment Patchuoko did. He quickly put his feet up and did his best to keep out of the spray he kicked up as he coasted through the water.

When we arrived at the school, the director of the school came out and we discussed our plans for the morning, Monday's schedule, and where to set up. The school had one small classroom visible that we knew probably was not going to cut it, so we considered going across the road to the director's home where he had a small porch with a little yard to work in. He decided fairly quickly that his place was his place was not going to be ideal either, so we crossed the road again and headed around the side of the school to a spot that he thought would suffice.

Photo courtesy of Scott Johnson

As we came around the corner, we saw a cement pad with a tin roof and a makeshift partition made of curtains and chalkboards that served as two outdoor classrooms. There were 20 or so students on either side of the partition sitting at tables, just a stone's throw from the water of the Caribbean Sea. I proceeded to set up fro the class on the north side of the partition while the director gathered the last few students that would be joining us.

The plan was to cover tires, tubes, an chains for the first class and brake cables and pads on Monday. I started with a few words of introduction while Patchuoko translated and told them what we would be covering. I went through some basics with tires and tubes by showing the students how to remove the wheel, tire, and tube and how to check the tire for anything that might be causing a flat so that it can be removed. I then told them to partially inflate the tube, put on a new tire, put the tube in, finish putting on the tire, and replace the wheel.

Bike clinic photo courtesy of Scott Johnson

Once I had done the full process, it was time for the students to get their hands dirty. I had enough tire levers that had been donated to give each of the students three of them to keep. The students took their new tools, grouped in threes and fours and set about removing wheels. Both Scott and Patchuoko helped students as they worked to put brand new tires and tubes on these bikes that would only be good for parts back home. We were going to do the best we could to recondition them with the parts available so that they could be safely ridden by the time we were done.

As I had been doing my demo, the director (who stayed for the entirety of the class) suddenly stopped me saying, "Stop! Look! Dolphins! Dolphins!" Sure enough, I looked out just in time to see the next one make an appearance only about 50 yards out. Judging by the director's reaction, this probably isn't a very common sight. In fact, when I mentioned it that night during our team time, Pam exclaimed, "Dolphins?! You got to see dolphins? I have always wanted to see dolphins here, but I never have!"

As the students worked,  took a bit of a mental inventory of things these bikes still needed to have done that I would need to do on my own. The only issue was that a lot of what I was seeing would require some creativity and I didn't exactly know what I had to deal with back at the mission by way of tools and parts.

The students were fun to watch as they were more than eager to have a part in the action. Some would furiously tackle wheel removal while others stood a the ready with tire levers ready to take the old tire off and still more unboxed a fresh tube and pre-inflated it so it would be ready when their time came. Thankfully, things rolled on without a hitch and Scott, Patchuoko, and I simply got to help by directing the efforts when needed.

Once things wrapped up with the tires, I showed the class how to remove and replace a chain. I explained why a chain might need to be removed, showed them how to use a chain breaker to remove the old chain, how to use the old chain to measure the correct length for the new chain, and how to install the new chain using a master link. I then spread out the chain tools among the students and gave hem a chance to remove pins from the old chain to get a feel for the tools. I opted to only do one chain partly due to time and partly due to the fact that I wouldn't be able to give equal time to the students if I let one or two help with the second bike.

All told, I felt like it was a good session and I had ideas already about what we would do for the next session on Monday. The students seemed to enjoy it, were respectful, and did a great job of diving in and getting their hands dirty.

The only challenge we really had was getting everything back. We had given the students the tire levers to keep, but had to track down a few of the other tools. We mentioned to the director that we were short a few things and while we looked around and students took turns riding the bikes, the director managed to "re-acquire" the missing tools saying that one of the students had been taking them to the office." I had been noticing this student pocketing pretty much anything scrap that he could get his hands on (I think he even wound up with one of the old tires and an old tube) so I wasn't surprised. I was glad to get everything back and get back to the compound.

Once we got back, Scott and Patchuoko set to work on getting what they needed to get out to the rest of the team. They planned to take a motorcycle part way up the mountain and hike the rest. They were underway in about 10 minutes and I was left on my own to continue working to make the bikes rideable. I set up my work stand on the far end of the porch where I would be out of the way of traffic and could keep my mess contained.

I realized very early that I would be improvising a lot of the repairs as I didn't have the right parts or tools for some of the issues I encountered. The only one issue that really gave me much trouble was that the rims were in pretty rough shape and the beads of the tires would not stay seated on the rims under very much pressure. That wasn't completely a surprise as cheap steel wheels can have that problem, but I couldn't even push the pressure of the tires (rated for 40-65 psi) over 30 psi or the bead would slip, the tube would bulge under side wall, and the tube would blow if I didn't catch it soon enough. The first time I did it, I wasn't expecting it and the tube blew about a foot away from my face with a loud blast that caused my ears to ring and lose hearing for about 15 seconds. After that, I exercised more caution and found I needed to keep the pressure extremely low (20-25 psi) to prevent it from happening again. They would ride soft, but since none of the students were anywhere near my size, they would be sufficient for getting from point A to point B.

I kept working on the bikes but left the brakes & housing unfinished on one of the bikes for Monday's class. I cleaned up, packed a small tool bag with what we would need for Monday and called it quits for the bikes for the day.

It was now approaching 2:00 and some of the other team members began trickling in from their long hike. Most (if not all) caught a ride on a tap-tap once they hit a main road and all were physically exhausted. As tey arrived, most congregated around the picnic tables or began considering when to hit the showers and almost all reached for a bottle of pop since they were the only cold drinks available.

Digging the well at Jabouin photo courtesy of Rachael Weiland

They hit two of the mountain schools (Jabouin & Toussaint) for photos, but I heard mostly tales about the hike which included some fairly steep trail climbs as well as a few chance encounters. The encounter that seemed to leave the greatest impression was with three gentlemen who were digging a well part way up the mountain. There were two guys at the top and one guy working 40 feet down to dig the well (by hand) with the dirt being brought up in a bucket that also served as their means of transport in and out of the hole. The hole was only about three feet wide (large enough for them to fit in) and they had been digging for four weeks at a rate of about ten feet per week. They were expecting the well to eventually reach a depth of 120 feet which would equate to roughly three months of digging for the three of them.

It also sounded like the mountain schools presented some unique challenges for the team, although I didn't hear too much about the details until we had our team time later that night.

The reset of the afternoon passed with showers, naps, and conversation while we waited for youth to start. Tonight's youth meeting would be a little different as it would also involve some preparation for the next day's 5K race. Last year, Gretchen had put the groundwork together for a team triathlon in Ti-Rivier complete with training programs along with other detailed plans to help athletes prepare and to help the event run smoothly only to watch those plans change at the last minute because of the sheer number of people that showed up to participate. They were forced at the last minute to scrap the tri and do a 5K to accommodate all that wanted to participate and it turned out to be a great event. So, this year, the 5K was the plan from the start and we were game to help out in any way that we could.

The evening started as we watched people begin to arrive. We knew we'd have a pretty good sized group, but the 80+ youth that showed up was a group buzzing with anticipation for the race and the evening ahead. Patchuoko again led worship and the number of voices raised in Creole was electrifying. Aubrey then followed with the second part of her lesson on Esther. It was a blessing to see Aubrey get to serve in this way and the hear the word that God had laid on her heart for this community that she knows and loves.

After Aubrey was finished, Gretchen laid down the ground rules for the 5K and let the runners know about the goodie bags they were going to get. The bags consisted of cinch sacks with a 2013 Mission Haiti 5K shirt, a few energy bars, and a water bottle for the older runners while the younger runners received a shirt, toothpaste and tooth brushes.

Gretchen, Taylor, & Seth feeding the crowd

Before we gave out the bags, we had a meal together. Feeding everybody that was there was crazy fun as we did our best to serve the Haitian spaghetti (pasta w/ peppers) in as orderly a fashion as we could manage with such a large group. The team members made their way through with plates, forks, and the huge serving bowls full of food. Youth were sitting on benches, standing, or even sitting on the ground to eat and some were sharing a single plate between them or sharing any extra they had so that everybody had enough to eat. It was quite a night that we capped off by giving out the race bags and made some other race preparations before highs/lows as a team.

It was at that point that I heard more about some of what had taken place at the schools with the rest of the team. The team was taking pictures for sponsorship packets and had taken bracelets with to give out to the kids after their pictures had been taken. Unfortunately, there were a lot of kids that were pushed and punched while older kids took their bracelets from them and team members had a hard time keeping order at times. It left several team members shaken and disheartened, but gave us a better understanding of some of the need in the mountain villages.

It had been a huge day with some definite challenges, some fun, and a lot that left an impression on us for the days ahead.

Haiti Trip 2014 Friday

Bonjou. Wakey, wakey.

It had been quite some time since I had slept in a tent (Amy and I are not really camping people), so I was pleasantly surprised to wake up having had a good night's sleep with little trouble from the roosters. The earplugs definitely helped, but I do that that I had acclimated to their crowing during last year's trip and now they were just a familiar part of the atmosphere for me.

I went about the morning routine as best as I could given that I hadn't had any coffee yet as more of the team emerged from their tents. The morning started quietly as we had a little bit of breakfast. We then started to get ourselves organized for the day's events. We would use part of the team to carry out day two of VBS covering the story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. The rest of the team would tackle our primary construction job for the trip and help put a roof on the school.

Tom & Shawn getting their man cards stamped

This was definitely Tom's time to shine and he quickly took charge of things. A makeshift ladder was quickly built that would span the gap between the building's walls so that the guys could walk across from one side to the other as they positioned trusses and nailed boards into place to hold the trusses and support the tin.

In what seemed like no time at all, we had five Americans and about a dozen Haitian youth on top of the school helping to get trusses in place. Tom was a great field general helping direct traffic and make sure that the project kept moving forward. It was great seeing Tom, Nelson, Jeff, Scott, & Shawn mix it up with so many of the youth and help them make a contribution to the efforts. I felt a little less than helpful, but managed to carry some boards and trusses to make something of a contribution. Mostly, I just hung out, had conversations and stayed out of the way knowing that my gifts would be better used on other days. Things kept progressing through the morning and eventually we had the skeleton of the roof pretty much in place. A Haitian crew was going to put the tin on, so after half a day of work, the heavy lifting was done.

Aubrey Dale shows her strength. #crossfit

Of course, it wasn't all work & no play. At one point mid-morning while everybody took a break, guys started showing off how many pull-ups they could do. This escalated to Nelson showing off his core strength by displaying some gymnastic prowess. Of course, the Haitians decided they needed to try to show up the old man to (usually) unsuccessful ends. The coup-de-tat was Aubrey who had bragged that she was able to do five pull-ups and then had to prove it. #crossfit

There were also plenty of indicators that it had been another successful morning for VBS as well. The most visible sign was all of the glitter on the faces of the kids after their craft for the day. The glitter was gold in color and was absolutely impossible to miss on the faces of the kids. At the end of the morning I was talking to Aubrey when a girl walked past. Aubrey stopped her and tried to help her wipe some of the glitter from her face with Aubrey's skirt, but the effort proved fruitless.

A little bit of glitter w/ a side of unintentional photo bomb

We took a break for lunch and the early part of the afternoon was spent tying up loose ends on the morning projects, prepping for Saturday's festival to wrap up our time with the kids in Jabouin, and plotting to figure out showers. A small tent had been brought and set up that we could take bucket showers in with water drawn from a nearby pool. The only option to a bucket shower at this point was baby wipes and most of the team members were looking for something to make them feel a little fresher.

The best was when, later in the afternoon, Aubrey decided to hit the shower tent. Once she was in the tent, a group of us were standing 20 yards or so away having a conversation. I was standing next to Art and picked up a small rock to throw at the tent knowing that Aubrey would blame Art for throwing it. I threw it and, sure enough, Aubrey yelled, "Art! Stop it!" We sat back and laughed, but also saw that the gentleman "trimming" the tin work was trying to get our attention. They had finished laying the tin on both sides of the roof and he was hacking back the tin sheets where they met at the peak with a machete. He was needing to drop the first sheet to the ground and wanted to know if the coast was clear.

Hacking away the tin. The shower tent is on the left.

The shower tent was near the end of the building that he was working on and we indicated that he should toss the tin off to his left so that it wouldn't land near the tent. He did so, but it landed on the cement of the portico which made enough noise to startle Aubrey. We, of course, found this hilarious and Art seized on the opportunity to terrorize Aubrey by yelling things like, "Look out, Dale! Here comes another one!" each time a piece was dropped. The worker was being very careful to miss her and obviously knew that we were having fun at Aubrey's expense, so he simply continued doing his job while laughing at the crazy Americans.

There was one sheet that caught a little wind and hit the side of the cement and landed just a few feet from Aubrey. Art took advantage of the near miss to escalate things by grabbing a softball sized rock and yelling, "Oh no, here comes another one!" and then throwing the rock at the tin on the ground. By this point, we were all in tears from laughing so hard, but the boss that was doing the job was less than thrilled with Art beating up the tin scraps with a rock since he intended to use it to finish the job. Art picked up on this pretty quickly and tossed the rock to the side and walked away like a seven year old caught doing something he shouldn't. He said, "I think he's mad at you, Dale." as he left the tent for the safety of the rest of the team.

Gretchen w/ a crew of kids in their Ambrase Lekol shirts

We spent the time right before dinner getting chairs set up for a showing of The Jesus Movie that night. The plan was for Julie to give a message while popcorn was being prepared under the big tent for us to serve to the folks that came out for the movie. Mike set up a portable screen that was hung from some rebar on what will be the portico for the first school building. We had a little something to eat while people began to fill the school yard. Julie did a great job with her message. The night before, she had shared what a stretch it was for her to speak and to lead stories for VBS. I was super proud of her for putting herself out there like that and for doing such a great job.

After Julie was done, it was time for the movie. They were able to get the projector and DVD working after a few mis-starts, but the biggest issue was sound. They tried a couple of different things out, but they just weren't able to kick out much volume. They also had to compete with our team hanging out in the compound and the youth having conversations even closer to the movie while they made popcorn. I wound up in our tent for a little while just to pray. I prayed against distractions and that even if the sound continued to be an issue that those that needed to hear the Gospel would hear it and respond.

I came out of the tent for popcorn and a little conversation until the movie ended. After the movie, an invitation was offered, but I honestly can't remember if it was the pastor or Pam that gave it, but two young men responded to receive Christ.

After things had cleared out a bit, we gathered as a team in the corner of the compound for high/lows and a time of worship. Aubrey led us in several songs and even after we adjourned for the night, the songs kept coming. I was pretty beat, so I called it a night and climbed into the tent, but I could hear Aubrey and Shawn taking turns sharing some songs. It had been another long day, but Saturday would be our last day in Jabouin and we had a festival to put on for the kids, so rest was definitely needed.

Haiti Trip 2014 Thursday

After sleeping relatively well on our first night in Haiti, I woke up at about 5:15 and forced myself to stay in bed until 5:30 before grabbing a shower. A new shower system had been installed the week after we left last year with a large tank on top of the shower house and I decided to take advantage of it instead of treating myself to a more traditional bucket shower.

I had also brought my French press with me which wound up being a good thing since we couldn't find the Mission's press that first morning. The compound gradually came to life and the team had breakfast before hopping on the Mission's Mitsubishi for transport to the market at the base of the climb that started our real journey to Jabouin.

Our plan was to camp at the school in Jabouin Thursday-Saturday but there was a little bit of doubt as to whether we would be able to stay the first night or have to hike back down to the Mission. The rain made it harder to get a truck all the way to the school and unless it made it, we wouldn't have tents or any of our other supplies. We packed our backpacks for the truck and carried only what we would need for the day in case we would have to come back.

We arrived at the market and climbed out of the truck. Things were bustling at the market as we made our way past tables of produce and bread as well as a few mules and other livestock. We crossed a small creek and began what would prove to be a slippery, somewhat muddy climb.

We met several of these guys on the hike up the mountain

The path up the mountain was fairly clear, but initially resembled more of a rain gully than anything else. We made our way up, occasionally passing people headed down to the market. It wasn't a big deal until we encountered our first mule being led down. We did our best to make our way past, but the footing wasn't great and we found ourselves doing our best to stay upright.

We finally reached a point where the path met up with the road and the going got significantly easier, although we were still walking uphill more often than not. I was a sweaty mess by the time we reached the school, but the walk hadn't been nearly as bad as I had feared.

The sign at the school in Jabouin

We could see the tents the team had set up in September from the road as we approached the school. The foundation that had been laid for the first set of classrooms now had cement walls and the kids were already in class. The pastor from Jabouin greeted us and helped us get our things settled while we prepped to get day one of VBS underway. The theme for the day was Daniel & the lion's den. We broke the team down to three tasks and sent Tom and Jeff up the road a little farther to get some beams for the next day's construction project.

I wound up as a part of the storytelling crew where Julie shared the story for the day while Art (playing King Darius), Pam or Jeff (playing the lion) and I (Daniel) acted the story out. We wound up acting it out seven or eight times as we went to each of the classes. We learned after the first few classes that most of the kids had no idea what a lion was. We (i.e. Julie) worked that into the story as well. We had another crew that was doing a craft with the kids and another doing a game on the road where kids ran past members of our team who pretended to be lions trying to catch them.

Aubrey the Lioness ready to catch a kid

The older kids were in the classrooms which had tarps for covers that we planned to replace on Friday with a tin roof. The younger kids were under the tents with tables, chairs, and chalkboards to separate the classes. It was great to finally see the kids we were building the school for and to have a better sense of what the layout will ultimately look like. We could see the footprint for the second building and some rebar was already in place to allow for construction to continue.

One year ago, all that was on this piece of ground were three guys digging a well. This was the same place the team had encountered the well being dug. Unfortunately, they never did hit water and by the time the team showed up in September, it was being used as one of the deepest toilets in Haiti.

As the morning continued, Tom and Jeff eventually returned. Tom was carrying two 16 foot 2x4's and looked completely shelled. He said he had started with three boards, but just couldn't do it. It had been a long, hard walk and his shoulders were killing him. Jeff tag teamed his boards with one of the youth and they carried them in tandem. Jeff said the kid was half his age, so no matter how badly he wanted to put them down, he wasn't going to let the kid outdo him.

Art and John

The morning went well with only one exception. Pam had brought John, a deaf boy from the mountains, with her and even though she tried to tell kids to treat him well, he was punched by one of the boys. His cries brought a huge reaction from the other kids and some of the girls, in particular, continued to mimic and make fun of him for quite awhile after.

John was a kid that had just wandered the mountains without a real home when Pam first came across him. Those with defects like deafness are often mistreated and viewed as less than human in Haiti, but despite his poor treatment, John was always quick with a smile and generally joyful. Pam had tracked down a living grandmother after learning that John's parents were dead and she arranged so that John would go home to her at night no matter where he might have spent the day. Pam had also arranged for private tutoring for him in the hope of giving him a better life. Seeing John hit and mocked was definitely a low point in the day for all of us.

The younger kids were let out at about noon and the older kids at about 1:00, but with us visiting, there were always extra people hanging around. During a little break in the action I also got to try my first coconut in the mountains. One of the school's neighbors (who would help with the roofing the next day) offered them to a bunch of us. He would hack a part of the coconut off until he exposed a hole you could drink the milk through. I'll readily admit that the mustache/goatee combo was not exactly ideal for the task, but it was well worth it. Once all of it was gone, he chipped a little piece of the shell off and then split it in half. You could then use the small piece to help dig out the meat. The coconut was wet and warm, unlike any I'd ever had before. It made a good late morning snack as we waited for Mike to arrive with the truck.

When Mike arrived, he had Nelson, our bags, tents, food, and the trusses for the school. We unloaded and went about setting up tents. I was staying with Art, Jeff, and Scott in a fairly sizable tent. We each had a mattress and sheets and the tents were put up in the middle of the school compound.

One of the homes we visited in Jabouin

Once things were somewhat settled, a group of us went to do some home visits. Pam wanted to get as much info about the families of Jabouin as we could, so we went from door to door asking to know a little about who lived there, primarily so that we knew if there were any kids that we should know about for the school. During each visit Pam would ask if the family was Christian, if we could pray for them, and then we would leave a hygiene kit for the family.

We were welcomed warmly most places we went and it was an honor to be welcomed into their homes. I even saw the only hummingbird in my two trips to Haiti on these visits.

Near the end of our visits, we encountered a girl with very short hair along the road. Pam asked if any of us had hair bands or anything of that nature that we might be able to give to her so that she wouldn't be made fun of. Barline (Aubrey's Haitian sister) was particularly burdened for this girl and Pam and Aubrey had to console her because she felt so sad for her. It was beautiful to see her heart for this child.

The final house visit was one of the strangest encounters that I have had so far. We entered a yard where a couple of men were pouring something in a bowl with two large sticks. A third man (older, very thin, and shirtless) was talking very excitedly to Jeff when I got into the yard and was very animated throughout our visit. At different times, he would lock in on different team members and talk to us. It was unsettling since we didn't know if he was drunk, crazy, possessed, violent, or all of the above. We managed to finish the visit and got out of the yard. Pam said he was making no sense and that she had seen him before but had never had a chance to speak to him.

We made our way back to the school for some lunch (prepared by Kehno) and made some plans for youth group which was supposed to start around 4:00. Pam had been asked to go to a meeting in Ti-Riviere at 3:00, so we were on our own to carry the meeting.

Haiti Trip 2014 Wednesday

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

We arrived in Port au Prince at about 9:00 and did the scramble to grab luggage carts for our checked bags which all had a familiar, spray painted orange X on them. The bags were filled with supplies for Mission Haiti and we only had a backpack and carryon bag each for our own items. It took eight carts to grab all of the bags and any team members who were not pushing a cart also had one or two carry on bags in addition to their backpacks.

Once we had everything and cleared customs, we started the parade out of the airport and to the trusty Mission Haiti bus for our 135 mile, four+ hour ride to Ti-Riviere. Mike & Ronald were there to meet us and it was great to see a few familiar youth with them as well.

Things looked improved as we drove through Port compared to a year ago. There were less tents & tin shacks than last year and traffic seemed a little better due to less blockages and some road repairs. I took in sights recalled from last year with Art sitting with me in the back of the bus as we began to leave the crowded roads of Port for the countryside.

One of the many valley scenes from the bus

Other than the sights and a bit of conversation, not a lot was notable about the drive. We were encouraged to see some work crews that are currently running fiberoptic cables to bring internet access all the way from Port au Prince to Ti-Riviere. As the drive continued, we began to see kids getting out of school and more people out and about by the roadway. I think the highest number of people confirmed on a single motorcycle was six as kids were picked up and driven home. No helmets, of course.

We arrived in Ti-Riviere and the more familiar sights of our main stomping grounds from a year ago. Most things appeared little changed with the exception of the basketball court that had been much more visible from the road a year ago.

We arrived at the Mission compound and began to unload and say our hellos to many of our friends including youth, staff, and Pam's kids. Our sleeping arrangements were different than last year with the men's & women's rooms reversed. I grabbed a bottom bunk in the corner farthest from the windows and got a few things settled before finally joining everybody else outside.

There were a few other folks that had arrived before us that I knew as well. Liza (from last year's trip) was there doing sponsorship photos with Grace and Tate. Tate looked familiar and it turned out that I had met him at the Tea Campus info night. Grace is from the Worthington, MN area and works for a vet clinic doing ordering. Grace had been down several times before and we hit it off well as she also rides bikes. The other familiar face was Nelson Van Den Hoek who I know from LifeLight. I really hadn't expected to see Nelson in that setting, so it was a nice surprise.

Photo courtesy of Julie Babb

We had our first (of many) dinners of beans, rice, chicken & plantains along with some tomatoes & cucumbers which we hadn't had at all last year. I had also brought a good number of fiber bars to supplement the diet and to make sure that I didn't suffer some of the same intestinal distress as last year.

After dinner, we settled in for youth and saw many more of the young men we had connected with last year. Surprisingly, I only had one of the kids making fun of my mustache throughout the night (that I was aware of, anyway). I caught him laughing and pointing me out to his friend a few times. I made sure to sit by him during youth. Patchuoko led us in worship with Junior playing djembe. We worshipped in both english & creole before Pam gave a message followed by more singing. I'll readily admit that I was pretty tired from only sleeping for two hours on the trip to that point, so while I enjoyed the time together with our Haitian brothers & sisters, it was somewhat of a blur to me.

Afterwards, we met and discussed the plans for the next morning and settled in to sleep. I slept well compared to last year. The earplugs definitely helped, but I think I was more accustomed to the sound of the roosters and other noises of Haiti. The one sound that wasn't as welcome was the rain that came. Pam said it's been a particularly rainy February and since the area needs the rain so badly, it was hard to get too upset. It didn't last a long time, but we knew it would make the climb planned for morning a much messier affair.

Haiti Trip 2014 Tuesday (Departure)

I recently returned from my second trip to Haiti. On last year's trip, I journaled extensively. So extensively, that I didn't finish the journal of that trip until the midway point of this year's trip. I am hoping to post some of those journal entries here in the weeks to come in a "Throwback Thursday" style post so that I can finally finish telling that story, but I'm getting enough questions about this year's trip that I'm wanting to begin to tell that story even though I haven't finished writing about it yet. I'm hoping that by starting to post this year's journal entries that it will encourage me to wrap up the journaling process in less than 12 months. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, here's the first entry from this year's trip.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

So, here we go again. This trip was a little more last minute for me than last year's as Travis Waltner was slated to go, but as things with the Embrace Tea Campus started to gain some traction, it looked like he would need to bow out. Amy was alright with me going again and it happened to fall immediately after a family vacation to Arizona, so although the turnaround would be fast, it was totally doable.

The team was a mix of folks from our trip last year (Gretchen, Aubrey, Scott, Julie & me), people from the September team (Jenna & Jeff), friends that had been with Mission Haiti before but not with Embrace (Art), and first timers (Tom, Kristen, Cara, Gina, Shawn, & Kayla). Some of these folks I knew well going in and others I was really looking forward to getting to spend some time with so that I could get to know them better. While I was really happy for each person on the team, I was especially happy that Art was able to make it the first week as he was originally supposed to come the next week with a few other guys. Art is a good friend, a bandmate both at Embrace and with Rachelle Hope's band and is also one of the funniest, least predictable, otter personalities I have ever met and he's always a joy to be around. You can always rely on him to inject a good deal of humor into any situation.

When we left Sioux Falls, the weather was nice at about 40 degrees. Since my bags were already packed to overflowing (everyone packs their French press for a missions trip, right?), I opted to leave my jacket home, trusting that Amy would come through with a jacket for me on the other end of the trip if it was needed (and with this year's weather, it would almost certainly be needed).

Flights were fairly uneventful with good conversations all the way through to Miami. Conversation with Shawn was particularly fun since we discovered that we had a lot of favorite bands in common. I knew that he was a musician from the few conversations we had been able to have prior to the trip, but I definitely picked up on some new artists from him and had fun thinking of music that I needed to share with him as well.

Really the only issue we had in Tuesday's travel was when Aubrey wound up in a little bit of a bind because she had been asked to check a bag through from Dallas to Miami. When she went to baggage claim to get the bag and then came back through security, they wouldn't let her through because her bag was too large. I was walking beside Gretchen as the team searched for a gate to camp out at for the night when she received a text from Aubrey telling her about her predicament.

When we found a place to camp out, I immediately unloaded about half of what I had in my backpack in the hope that we could transfer some of her things to my bag and get her through security. We weren't sure whether it would work or not, so I kept only the things I would need if I wound up sleeping on the cold tile floor near the check in counters with Aubs until they opened for ticketing the next morning since there was no way I was letting her stay out there by herself all night. Thankfully, we were allowed through and were able to rejoin the team where the carpeted floor of Gate 25B awaited.

I was able to get about two hours of sleep with the help of my sleep mask, ear plugs, and the blanket I borrowed from my friend Aaron (acquired on a previous trip through Delta airlines). Other than CNN blaring at 100 dBs and a visit from the vacuum brigade of the MIA cleaning corps there was little else to disrupt our sleep. We were at a gate right across from a security checkpoint, so when the TSA shift changed at 4:30 there was enough activity to keep us up for the day.

I grabbed a little breakfast and a lot of coffee as we prepared to board our flight to go on our way.