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.