On the ground - Day1
Published
STJ Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday,
Jan. 29, 2010, 8:30 a.m. Okay.
We're headed to Fort pierce out of Orlando, Fla., this morning to MFI
(Missionary Flights International). We should be flying out sometime around
10am today for a direct flight into Port au prince. We stayed with some
Christians last night who housed us, fed us. The last good meal, good shower,
good bed, and good restroom facilities for the next 10 days. The team (see
picture attached) consists of John Stinson, John Thomas, Malachi Mills, Jay
Patton, Faison Cochrane and myself. The trip is through CSI (Christian Services
International). Oh yes, the name of the orphanage we'll be working on is called
the "Hope Orphanage" and it is about 15 miles south of Port Au
Prince" in a town called Crouix de Boquet. We'll be flying into the
devastated capital or Port au Prince. We'll be flying to Haiti on one of Joe
Gibbs airplanes.
Friday,
Jan. 29, 2010, 8:39 p.m.
Arrived safely at the Port au Prince airport. We are now at the CSI (Christian
Services International) Hope Orphanage. The building itself is still standing,
but major structural damage. We are actually staying in the clinic next door
and the orphans are temporarily staying in a building next to us at Nurse
Nancy's apartment. It's wall to wall mattresses, but at least there is a
bathroom and CSI has an 85 feet deep well here on site that is still in great
condition with fresh water. CSI has contracted with a security company who will
start providing 24/7 armed protection on Monday as the situation is expected to
get worse the hungrier people get. The hungrier they are the more desperate they
may get and that's the reason for the protection. There are walls with barbed
wire all the way around us, but they felt that may not be enough. Correction,
"Mostly" all the way around us as part of the wall has fallen down
from the earthquake
Day 2
Published STJ Sunday, January 31, 2010Haiti – Day 2 – Saturday, January 30, 2010
Hope. What a great name for an Orphanage in Haiti before the earthquake, but most definitely afterwards. Yesterday when we were driving from the Haitian airport of Port au Prince and I was taking pictures, my thoughts are still being reflected on. I saw so much in such a short amount of time. What is Hope for this place? What was the Hope before the earthquake? I saw so many sad people, and I don’t remember a single smile after leaving the airport until this evening when I had an opportunity to see the little orphans here that are temporarily staying next door until the Hope Orphanage is safe to move back in. Tim and Toby Banks run the Orphanage through Christian Services International (CSI) which, believe it or not, in Haiti is actually called Service International Foundation (SIF) because in Haiti, it is law that the word “Christian” cannot be included in the name of a company.
There were so many people walking aimlessly on the streets yesterday, many of them carrying their possessions. There was one young gentleman I saw in an alley who was completely distraught, depressed and hopeless looking. I just knew he had lost his whole family and was having trouble dealing with the sadness from the loss.
Last night I slept on the roof of the clinic under the Haitian sky with a full moon. All of the other guys slept inside the clinic under the concrete roof. I had actually already told my children Christian and Autumn that I would be sleeping outside in order to help calm their fears. You know the minds of 12 and 14 year olds watching the news and seeing so much devastation and hearing about aftershocks. I definitely didn’t want them worrying about me. Actually Malachi is sitting beside me now and he said “No, we slept inside because of the big rats and the tarantulas on the roof”. I was told not to sleep up their tonight, so I am sleeping on the second level porch outside, but he was joking about the tarantulas on the roof because they actually are on the ground outside hiding under the rocks along the border compound fence waiting for dark to come out and find food. The rats are for real however. It was a nice night. The weather here is around 95 degrees during the day, but there has been a breeze, and it dropped to around 50 last night. I slept under a beautiful full moon and woke up to a beautiful Haitian sunset. I want you to get a clear picture of Haiti, so I’ll try to describe some things in more detail. Roosters crow all night long here in Haiti, not just at night. Dogs bark all night. The voodoo witch doctors play their drums all night long. Every time I woke up through the night the roosters were crowing and the drums were beating. But that’s just part of the experience and exactly why I wanted to sleep on the roof. Well, just part of the reason, but I’ve explained the rest already.
The orphanage was in pretty bad shape. It’s interesting how the buildings in this area which ran east/west took the brunt of the damage. The clinic where we’re staying which is almost within a rock’s throw of the orphanage runs north/south along it’s long axis and had very little damage. However, some of the other CSI buildings in the area followed the same pattern. The ones running east/west had lots of damage and the ones running north/south did not. That being said, the construction of CSI’s buildings was superior to many of the typical constructed buildings in this area. Most of the buildings here in Haiti were not built to codes and many don’t even have reinforcing in them, so those walls and roofs crumbled in.
Looking at the pictures I took today, you can see along of the cracked walls and sheared columns in the orphanage. An engineer from Ohio came buy and designed some load bearing columns that he said needed to be built to make the orphanage safe to inhabit again, so that’s just one of our missions for the week is to build these columns, tear out some of the damaged interior walls, replace them, rebuild the masonry wall around the orphanage, clinic, etc. There was extensive damage to the plumbing in the orphanage. I will be replacing all the damaged water/sewer piping this week. Also, there was a lot of damage to the electrical system which I will be working on also. This is an interesting plumbing system and electrical system as the buildings here are completely “off-grid”. There are battery banks, generators, wind turbines, inverters. There are water storage tanks on the roof, solar hot water heaters, dc pumps with photovoltaic modules running the pumps. Anyway, it’s a little challenge for me, but that’s okay. We all have a good challenge this week, but best I can tell, all of our goals will be accomplished and then some.
The highlight of the day was getting back to the clinic and watching the little girls playing outside with some of the missionaries today. Especially after seeing so many sad people in the area since getting off of the airplane yesterday. The word “Hope” has been on my mind a whole lot today. I do know that after seeing these girls smiling and laughing here at the orphanage this evening, it makes me feel that in Haiti, those girls have some hope when so many here have none.
Tomorrow, we’ll be going to church in town, so I’ll be taking more pictures and reflecting on what I see. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be working (as the old saying goes “the ox is in the ditch”) around the clinic itself repairing the walls that fell down.
Goodnight
Mission to Haiti: Day 3
Published STJ Monday, February 1, 2010I woke up today to another beautiful day here in Haiti. Today we drove through Port au Prince and then southwest into Petionville to attend church service at Tim and Cheryl Heath’s ( CSI missionaries) house. Across the street from Tim and Cheryl is the guest house, and behind it is Greg Benson’s apartment. Although Bert and Roberta Anderson are the CSI administrators here in Haiti, Greg pretty much runs things on the ground around here and I heard early on that the newbie’s (Faison and I) had better eat everything off of our plates or Greg would ask us if we knew how many people were hungry in Haiti. Church was great and after church we walked across the street to review the damage on the guest house. It was significant. There was minor damage to Greg’s apartment behind the guest house however and also minor damage to Tim and Cheryl’s house across the street. Tim and Cheryl live at the top of a very clustered group of houses called “the Ravine”. The Ravine is actually a huge valley that actually is pretty steep in places, and the houses are back to back. There was so much damage and the pictures I took of the Ravine were actually taken from on top of Tim’s house.
Greg met us behind the guest house and showed us the big tarp they set up for a temporary office right after the quake so that people who needed to call relatives in Haiti or the states could call. There were a couple of hundred that came by in the days after the earthquake. Many people are living under makeshift tarps along both sides of the street near the guest house. The damage is significant, but according the Haitian engineer, new columns and supports can be built inside to salvage the building. I did walk in the first floor and take pictures, but this time not without butterflies and the ready knowledge of where the doors were.
Bert took us through a different route on the way home and we saw more and more destruction, but we also saw people getting back to business, although I can’t exactly say it was business as normal. Bert told me there were actually less vendors and less people on the street than before the earthquake. One thing that stood out was there were so many Haitians dressed in nice Sunday clothes on their way to church, many walking alone and many walking as family units. The well dressed Haitians walking through rubble and debris from an earthquake torn Port au Prince was a good sight. I learned today that it’s quite possible the reason I didn’t see as many smiles yesterday as I had seen today is because the Haitians have been raised to wait to speak until spoken to. I waved, smiled, and received many waves and smiles back today. It was very pleasant to see how quickly the Haitian people would go from a somber face to breaking out in a great big smile when you smiled at them, particularly the children.
There was tent city after tent city. I broke them into three categories. There were the tent cities that I’d actually call a tent city because they were actually “tents” in them and also there seemed to be an organized fashion of placement. There were the tent cities I’d rather call “tarp cities” where there were stakes/limbs holding up tarps, and everyone was still sleeping on the ground. There were the tent cities I’d prefer to call “slum cities” which consisted of tree limbs driven in the ground and old sheets and/or blankets tied in different fashions around them. Some of these tent cities were actually located in areas you would think were garbage dumps.
I took pictures all the way back to the clinic. Once back, we worked on replacing the fallen razor wire around the clinic compound which is also the compound where the Hope orphan girls are staying. We helped Tim and Toby set up some temporary tents for school tomorrow for the first time since the earthquake. All of the teachers have been off the last couple of weeks to take care of whatever they needed to.
Today was kind of a down day, although we did work a few hours in the afternoon. The highlight of the day was spending some time with the orphan girls. They really liked my camera and one after one wanted to sit in my lap and look through the lens and rotate the zoom. I can tell you now; they refer to Toby as “mom”. As I sat, they’d take turns wearing my sunglasses, but not breaking them. I had a compass attached to my belt loop and they’d take it off (asking first if they could), only to return it just a few minutes later just as they’d gotten it. Faison, Malachi and I learned quickly if you swing one of the girls in the air, you’d have to spin them all, which actually had us sweating more than the work we had accomplished today. It was nice hearing the girls sing this evening outside of the clinic and I’m excited to meet the teachers tomorrow and also the clinic opens tomorrow through Friday so we’ll get to meet the medical team.
I took over a gigabyte of pictures today and its past midnight here so for now… Goodnight.
Mission to Haiti: Day 4
Published STJ Monday, February 1, 2010This morning started off around 6:15am for breakfast. Every meal since I’ve been here consisted of everyone making a big ring, holding hands and saying the blessing. For me today was corn flakes and milk. Usually it has been eggs, bacon and bread. We’re not lacking for food as I thought we would be. They told me the clinic was back open today and that I should go down for a look… there were about 30 people hanging out taking numbers and waiting their turn to see the doctors or the nurses. There are two doctors and two nurses here at the clinic, which operates Monday through Friday (except for emergencies on weekends). Most of the Haitians are very receptive to you taking a picture of them, a few will ask for a dollar in order to get a picture, and then there are a small minority that don’t want their picture taken at all. I walked into the clinic and looked around. The lab work room was in back so I went there and found one young man ready to have his lab work done. I decided not to take my camera with me on my walk to the orphanage this morning as I was planning on just bringing it around lunch time, but two very precious girls were standing in a field beside the road smiling and trying to communicate to me, so I walked back to the clinic and got my camera. It reminded me of the time I was deer hunting and just scouting for deer scrapes and decided not to take my gun and the prettiest 8 point ran within 25 feet of me, stopping broadside. All I could do was stand there in awe and think “I wished I had my gun” back then and I was thinking now with those cute little girls smiling and waving was “I sure do with I had my camera.” So I walked back and got the camera and have taken several good pictures throughout. I tell you, I’ve never wanted to speak French Creole so bad in my entire life. I so wish that I could talk to the people here so that I could understand more what their problems were. Today we were at the Hope Orphanage working inside and out until around 5pm this evening. The front right column was poured and the steel put together on the left front column. I hate to keep talking about the same old, same old, but we did get a good bit accomplished. I worked on the plumbing a good bit of the day. Both the orphanage and the clinic run are set up very similar to each other in that they both don’t have air conditioners; however they both have generators and ways to collect the rainwater. You’ll also notice a good sized battery bank and solar panels connected in the system somewhere. I worked all over the place today. The carpenters were working on forming off the columns. Around five o’clock we started locking things up so I started working with them. I’m falling asleep as I type this, drifting off, so please ignore an ramblings (not that it’s out of the ordinary for me to ruminate a little ;o). As I was walking down the road back to the clinic I noticed a couple of boys flying a makeshift kite and having a blast, so I walked across a field to take a picture, but I really was wanting to try that kite, so I asked them if it was ok if it was okay if we live in a city. I have to admit, I was having a blast and the young boy and his friends were as well. Toby asked us over to listen to the girls sing around bedtime tonight and I thought that would be awesome. I’ve never seen so much enthusiasm in my life. The girls sounded great and in between songs the four Haitians that work there were singing out prayers to God. Now that was an experience. After visiting with the girls, Malachi, Faison and myself got our tarantula searching clothes on and headed out with flashlights, a cup and a five-gallon budget. Talk about some adrenaline when we found our first tarantula. It was fun really fun. Well, I’m going to say goodnight everyone.
Mission to Haiti: Day 5
Published Wednesday, February 3, 2010Haiti – Day 5
Sore is the word for the day, yesterday also. Not from work, but from kneeling in the back of the truck trying to take pictures and hang on while driving to church. You would think that driving on the back of the truck in Port au Prince and not having a seat belt would be dangerous, but it’s actually the safest place because if someone’s about to hit you, you get the chance to jump bail. People like their horns here and don’t mind a scratch or dent or three on their vehicles. I don’t believe American tires would hold up here. The roads are rough. They have stones the size of concrete blocks. Actually, in the earthquake damaged areas around here the roads are getting re-paved….. with low spots in the road being filled with large pieces of broken concrete block.
I woke up this morning around 6:30 am to the sound of the local Haitians waiting outside the walls of the clinic for the doors to open. You never know around here when the girls or some of the other families in the area will break out in song, usually at night. Breakfast consisted of delicious French toast, syrup and koolaid (no, not the Selma variety). After breakfast we headed out for the orphanage for another day of work.
We are making a lot of progress here. Greg Benson of C.S.I. has hired some local Haitians (thus stimulating the local economy) and I’ve heard a Haitian nearby here has started a huge block making operation, making around 10,000 concrete block a day. The six of us have been mainly focused on demolishing walls that are dangerous of falling on someone and the haitian’s replace the block and then cement plaster behind us. We’ve been installing steel and building forms for new columns on the first and second floor. We’ve been replacing the razor wire around the compound fences, cleaning up, chiseling out loose chunks of debris from the busted up cement plastered walls, redoing the plumbing and also some on the electrical lines. PVC water lines do not stretch and neither does electrical lines or concrete. Today after I turned the well breaker and valves back on for the cold water supply, I walked around looking for leaks in the walls, and finding none, went downstairs to report the good news to Greg. He looked at me with a very serious face and said “Well, what do you say?” Everyone looked to me for an answer and I quickly replied “Thank God”, Greg quickly replied “Amen” and everyone had a chuckle. Instead of “Dewayne”, Greg’s been calling me “L.A.” (stands for Lower Alabama – I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m from central Alabama ;o). He’s originally from Ohio, but he’s been here in Haiti for fourteen years now working with C.S.I. I’ve been working on the roof with my shirt off some the last couple of days, so I’ve decided to wear shorts tomorrow so that my legs won’t look like one of those guys from “L.O.” (Lower Ohio) ;o)
After peanut butter sandwiches for lunch today, FanFan (pronounced Fawn Fawn), a local Haitian took me into town to get my second long list of plumbing fittings for completing the plumbing work on the roof where the pump and 300 gallon reserve water tank was. I was actually looking forward to a little break and a trip back into town and seeing some Haitian shopping in the works. Even when I’m in “Lower Alabama” I love a good hardware store and the first hardware store we stopped like was like a scaled down model of Home Depot with the orange signs, scan able bar codes, the works. We were even greeted at the entrance door by a friendly greeter just like at Walmart back home. Just kidding. Actually a non-smiling Haitian with a 12-guage shotgun was waiting for us at the door. If you look at the picture I’m sending tonight, I couldn’t even get him to say “cheese” and smile at the camera for me ;o) We then had to go to another popular hardware store to get some things that “Haitian Depot” didn’t have, but guess what? Still not everything I needed. FanFan is supposed to bring what I need from his house tomorrow.
I wanted to go into a little of some of the things I’ve been seeing over the last few days. Obviously you are aware (since it’s all over the news) about the destruction. There’s a video on the internet somewhere (I’ll have to look that up for you and give you the link soon) that shows the start of the earthquake, showing a guy riding his bicycle which started wobbling and also the top gable of a building falling off across from the U.S. Embassy. I’ve drove by the U.S. Embassy several times while here and the building is shown in one of the first videos. It says “Ashley” on the side of the building (in case you’re interested). I’ve also drove by the U.N. several times. It’s a huge operation over here. You seen the U.N. everywhere you go in and around Port au Prince. You also see American troops and I saw five or six Canadian military vehicles transporting huge monster bull dozers and clearing equipment into Port au Prince. There’s a big Red Cross presence here as well. There are a lot of Christian groups here also, not to mention the local police and their temporary police station (the main police station was destroyed). I have pictures of where it (the police station) used to be, but there’s nothing there except police vehicles now, best I can tell.
I forgot to mention that before lunch today the Haitian boy that was letting me fly his kite yesterday came into the compound through the cracked door with a couple of his buddies and wanted me to go with them and fly the kite some more. It’s hard enough to tell a kid you don’t have time for them, but it’s really hard if you don’t speak French Creole. I tried to find someone who spoke English and Creole with no success and I didn’t want to just send him out without explaining to him I had to work and may stop by for a few minutes this evening if there was time. Finally I got one of the workers to understand me and tell him I didn’t have time because I was working. When I was walking back to the clinic compound with the guys this evening he ran across the field and grabbed me, putting his arm around me, giving me a big hug, so I told the guys I’d be right with them and went to see what was going on in the kite world. One of his buddies was building a new kite and I’ve included a picture of his progress tonight. He introduced me to his mother who was pregnant. They asked for a dollar. Now, let me give you some advice if you ever visit Haiti. Be careful. Giving a kid or adult money while walking along a road can result in you being surrounded by a bunch of people out of the bushes you didn’t see wanting money within a few minutes. Also, take my advice. They can’t keep a secret, they tell their friends quickly. Anyway, I gave her a dollar only to have 6 kids follow me back to the compound wanting more dollars. Five older kids nearby also were after me for money. You could run out of money very quickly around here. Let me tell you another quick story. Saturday before last after the quake a missionary organization asked Bert and Roberta Anderson, the Administrators here at the clinic, if they had room to store food and water here within the compound until they got a distribution point nailed down. They agreed and a big truck showed up with the food and drove through the gates, which probably wouldn’t have been as big as deal as what happened next. He gave a box to someone and word got out and within minutes there were close to one hundred people outside the compound wanting to get in and get the food. Bert and Roberta got really scared and called to have the people come and get the food and take it off their property. You see, here at the clinic, there’s no help within easy reach if there’s a problem.
A little history about Haiti and the clinic; The population density of Port au Prince is massive, estimates ranging from 2 to 3 million. It’s estimated that over 200,000 were killed and 150,000 of them accounted for. Bert told me they bought this land the clinic sits on was nothing but cane fields back in 2004, so the clinic was the only thing here. Let me tell you, there’re a lot of people around here now, although there’re still some farmers around. It makes you wonder if since the population of Port au Prince was so dense. I know it’s convenient for the people nearby to have the clinic here. I wonder if the clinic being here had anything to do with the people building all around it. Several schools are also in the area now. I’ve been told that lots start off at $1000 for a 10 meter x 10 meter area (32.8 feet x 32.8 feet).
After supper tonight I went up on the roof to reflect a little on the events this week. I know recently I said I wished I could speak their language to hear their problems, and it was arrogant of me to think a newcomer to the area could even comprehend what would fix this place. It’s actually more arrogant than a nut moving from the western United States to Selma and in less than two years considering running for mayor so that he could “fix” us and unite our city.
But regardless, sitting on the roof tonight, overlooking a very poor people which probably has one of the largest separation of social classes in the world (basically hardly a middle class at all), I saw that a big part of “fixing” Haiti, in my opinion, is education mixed with equal parts of application of what was learned. Instead of giving them a dollar like I did the boy’s mother this evening, give them an education and an opportunity for its application, but also teach them how to give an education to themselves. By the way, remember FanFan? Well, since working with CSI he bought some land and within two years opened his own school. He told me today he has over two hundred children attending.
And while we’re “fixing” all the world’s problems, I’d suggest, give those in charge of our national deficit a required prerequisite of a recent college class in economics.
Bonne Nuit Amis
Mission to Haiti: Day 6
Published Thursday, February 4, 2010Se pa lè yon moun ap neye pon ou montre li naje. When a person is drowning is not the time to teach him how to swim (help now, lecture later). Quoted from “Hidden Meanings – Truth and Secret in Haiti’s Creole Proverbs” by Wally R. Turnbull.
Haiti. Sunshine and no rain since we’ve been here. That’s a little different from Lower Alabama (L.A.) where I’m from. We get rain there and we get it abundantly, at least this year. I forgot my razor. It was checked off my list but somehow got left behind. I’m not borrowing one either. I’ve never borrowed razors before and I’m definitely not looking for one in a third world country. There are things down here that you can get besides souvenirs and malaria that will go with you all the days of your life and I’m not talking about “goodness and mercy [following me all the days of my life]”. I had a technis shot, a hepatitis a shot, a hepatitis b shot, a typhoid fever shot, a flue h1n1 shot and I’m taking two anti-malarial Chloroquine every Sunday for the next seven weeks, however all of that was very worth it for this trip.
I woke up this morning to the sound of the John Stinson talking and the Haitian’s outside waiting to get inside the clinic. I pretty sure I’m always the last one awake (could it be I’m the last one asleep?) even though I get up at 6:30 am. Eggs and buttered bread for breakfast and I was dragging somewhat this morning. I grabbed my things and left for the orphanage for another day of work.
The word voyeurism means nothing here in Haiti unless you count bath time, but they just call that day to day survival around here. As I was walking down the rocky road in the crisp cool morning there was a young Haitian woman standing while taking a bath just off the path. She lifted the water above her head and it splashed off and down her brown silhouette, sunlight glistening through it falling across her nakedness to the ground. That’s just a way of life here in a place where most can only afford a piece of land 32 feet wide square and build a house almost the size of that piece of land, without water, without a toilet and definitely without an indoor shower. It’s easier to take a shower out of a bowl or with a bottle around here than to walk to the river. No big deal, it’s just life.
I want you to hold that image for a moment because I’m about to destroy it. Greg told me the other day he witnessed a mother giving her two children a bath in Port au Prince. As he was walking there was a Haitian woman who had her children urinate into a plastic bottle. She took the fresh warm urine, poured it on a rag and commenced to bathe them. Ironically, fresh kidney filtered urine is more bacteria free than most of the water around these parts. What? Did I mess up your image of bath time? I didn’t say everything was pretty around here, I’m just telling it as I’m seeing it. The infrastructure and land area of Port au Prince was only designed for around 300,000 or so people and it’s estimated that over 2 million live there. It wasn’t good before the earthquake and it’s certainly much worse now.
If you’ve never read up about Haiti, then I’d suggest you take a look into it. I’m from Selma, Alabama, the civil rights capital of the world, but Haiti has had its own civil rights struggles, first from the white French who were all killed during the slave rebellion in 1804. Even after that were the mixed race Haitians who had the right to vote and most of the money. It wasn’t until a dictator nicknamed Papa Doc came into the picture that the people here were able to vote because he abolished all the laws preventing them from voting, becoming doctors or nurses or being in other professions which make better money. There really wasn’t much of a plan here before the earthquake and there’s not much of one now which reminds me of another Haitian proverb from “Wally Turnbull’s book, “Degaje pa peche (To make do is not a sin)”.
Remember yesterday I mentioned education and application being a key to success here in Haiti? Well Fanfan is a great example of a local Haitian succeeding. Fanfan (pronounced Fawn fawn) Harryson Janvier is a native born Haitian who started to work with C.S.I. in the year 2000. He had a dream to build a school here in Haiti and even though he didn’t know where the money to build the school would come from to realize his dream but he saved his money for the land anyway. In 2002 he bought a piece of land about five minutes southeast of the C.S.I. Clinic and Hope Orphanage, and only a couple of years later he had a school. You’ve got to understand, Fanfan didn’t build a school so that he could compete with the other schools in the area. He built a school so that children in the area would have the opportunity to go to school because there just aren’t enough schools to support the population here. The name of Fanfan’s school is Leferonney Academie de La Foi (Faith Academy of Laferonney). He is up to two hundred and forty eight students at this point. That’s not too shabby if you ask me. Fanfan drove Faison and me to his school for a tour today. Fanfan and I are becoming friends. We’ve made several trips into town this week for supplies. His school is impressive and he’s working on a second floor now which will include a library, computer room, the sixth grade class and a couple of more rooms. The school was very impressive although kids were not in attendance today. The government still wants the schools to be closed down until the end of the month, they say so that they can be sure the buildings are safe and everything’s in order and they do not wanting one school opening before the others. We stopped along the way to buy some fresh local miniature banana’s from a rural street side vender. They were delicious.
We got a lot done today. We tore out two more walls, poured a footing, cleaned up and I got into the electrical panels pretty good trying to figure out what wire went where and the exact configuration of how two generators and invertors run one of the electrical panels. We welded and reconnected the front screened door as well before locking up and heading back around five pm this evening.
The houses here are designed as to not have heating and cooling.. No need for ever heating and as far as cooling is concerned all the doors are wrought iron with mosquito screen. All windows have screen.
Since I’ve already mentioned malaria tonight once, I should mention that around five people every day have been coming into the clinic with malaria. This is a high rate compared to pre-earthquake cases. More people are getting bitten by these pesky mosquitoes here because they are sleeping outside and being exposed more. One of the girls in the orphanage named Chasely was feeling bad a couple of days back and now they got the report today that she has malaria. Please pray for her and the others. Malaria is one of those diseases I was talking about that sticks with you for life. I’ll be taking the rest of my Chloroquine just like Doc Jana ordered.
Anyway, after getting back today I passed out on the bed for about a fifteen minute power nap, we ate supper, got a shower and got to work on putting pictures together for the day. Malachi and I went next door to sit and listen to the girls sing and pray. I had some internet connection problems tonight getting the 40 megabyte worth of photos online, but finally got it worked out before midnight. Here it is 1:30am (the beginning of Day 7, but very quickly it will be the end of Day 6 for me because I’m headed to sleep.
I thought it appropriate to quote another Haitian proverb from Wally R. Turnbull’s book, “Hope gives life (hope gives one strength to carry on”.
Here’s a toast to Hope!
Mission to Haiti: Day 7
Published STJ Friday, February 5, 2010Bon Swa Selma. Kouman ou ye (How are you)?
C.S.I. Clinic plaque that hangs on the entrance door: “Psalm 124:8 - Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Contrary to my wanting, I’ve learned very little Haitian Creole since arriving. I know Bon Jour (good morning), Bon Swa (good evening), and mèsi (thank-you). Just because I don’t understand it or speak it, doesn’t mean I don’t love the language. It sounds so much like French and I’ve been told by a couple of ladies over the years that French is the language of love. I believe that too because the words flow easily off the tongue as a sweet melody drifting through the air awaiting to be embraced by a well tuned ear.
This morning as we walked the path to the orphanage, I crossed paths with a couple who looked as though they were walking to market some goods, although it’s quite possible they had already walked into town and the items she was carrying on her head were things she had already bought that morning. That would make more sense because she was headed away from town into the countryside. It amazes me how the Haitians carry things on their head as they do. When Fanfan and I were driving to see his school yesterday I witnessed a young girl about the age of 14 years old carrying one of those 5 gallon water bottles on top of her head. She was walking at a fast pace. The bottle was the same kind they have in office buildings and it had to weigh at least 40 pounds. Her neck is amazing to hold that and keep it balanced. I told that story at breakfast this morning and John Stinson told me about one of the Haitians working at the orphanage carried 4 bags of cement on his head the other day. I can’t even imagine how they do it. The other day on the same path to the orphanage I got behind a tall Haitian woman who was carrying a large container on her head. I was amazed as I walked behind her, how graceful she walked, her hips swaying side to side, her back as straight as an arrow and yet her head perfectly balanced. I’ve never witnessed such form. It was mesmerizing.
Today the Haitians laid more block inside the orphanage and we tore out another damaged wall for them to replace. I worked mostly on the electrical today, rewiring the panels, bypassing the invertors and battery banks, and checking every plug and switch in the orphanage and re-wiring if required. I’m going to be honest, I don’t like doing electrical work. It’s boring to me and I felt like what I did was unproductive. I know why I felt that way; it was because I wasn’t building something or tearing something down. Evening with plumbing, you at least see what you’ve accomplished. If it were not for me helping demolish part of that wall late in the afternoon with the sledge hammer, it would have been a down day for me.
Tomorrow will be our last work day. We will relocate a door, finish demolishing the wall and remove another short wall and clean up as usual. The goal is to get the girls back sleeping in their beds instead of on mats on the floor where they’re at now. That’s our main objective. Saturday we’ll be driving across the country of Haiti and over the mountains into the Dominican Republic, spending the night there and then flying back to the states on Sunday. I’ll be riding in the back bed of a truck and I’ll be taking lots of pictures to share I’m sure. It will be a rough ride, but enjoyable nonetheless.
The orphanage’s broken blocks paved the way under our feet as we made our way back to the clinic this evening. As soon as the gate keeper opened the gate, some of the orphan girls headed our way to great us. Christella was the first to great us, and then others followed wanting to be picked up. They LOVE my camera and all want to take turns looking through the lens and zooming in and out. Malachi Mills, John Benson and I spend about thirty minutes with the girls this evening and it was really fun. A few of the older girls stood up with their make believe microphone leading the younger girls in prayer, bible verses, and song. I was really wanting to go over around 8pm and listen to them singing and praying again, but unfortunately I laid down around 7pm and didn’t awake until around 8:45pm. I’ve mentioned loving the French/Creole language and I really love listening to the girls sing and pray at night. I tell you, it’s very moving and there’s not been a single night I went over that my eyes didn’t welt up with a few tears knowing things would be very different for those girls if it weren’t for Hope Orphanage.
I went for my habitual evening bottle of Haitian Coca-Cola and sat down at the computer to compress photos I’d taken earlier in the day. I also grabbed a couple of shots I took of Velnor the other day at the C.S.I. guesthouse. You’ll see in one picture a painting of Vilnor. You’ll also notice the picture in his front shirt pocket when he’s standing beside John Stenson. Vilnor is staying on C.S.I.’s property and so is his son and one daughter. His other daughter was in the picture in his shirt pocket. You see, when we first arrive there, Vilnor introduced us to his son, his daughter and his wife. Later, we were standing around back and he came around to visit us. He pulled the picture out of his pocket and was showing us with a sad look on his face. The picture was of Vilnor’s daughter who he lost when his whole house collapsed. The painting was the only thing left in his house when he returned to try and salvage his possessions. His house had been almost completely looted.
Well, I’m getting tired again. Several nights ago I made a scientific discovery. I can type complete sentences while I’m asleep. The problem is I start typing whatever I am dreaming about. That night I’d wake up and realize the last two or three sentences were about things that had nothing to do with Haiti, so I’d hit backspace and write a few more sentences before falling asleep again. If there’re any doctors or scientists out there wanting to experiment on me, I’m available for a small fee ;o) But for now I’m going to make sure this gets out before breakfast tomorrow.
Remember Hope; the reason we’re here this week, for the girls. Hope is for all of us, waiting on the very things that we are yet to know even exist until one day we look back at our lives and reflect on how bad existence could have been, and at that time we'll all say a prayer of thanks. Every time I hear these girls sing, my eyes wet up and I think about how they've been given a chance. We all want to be given a chance.
Mission to Haiti: Day 8
Published STJ Saturday, February 6, 2010I’ve gotten in the habit of drinking a Coca-Cola every night while downloading and editing pictures. It’s easy to keep up with how much I owe that way. Roberta told us the first day to just keep up with how many we get out of the fridge and give them seventy-five cents before we leave. Well, tonight’s a two-coker. Yesterday I pulled up Dianne Sawyer’s story and watched in awe as she played with the same orphan girls I’ve been hanging out with all week. Things down here in Haiti sure make it easy to put things in perspective. It’s a small world after all. Here’s the link to that video: ABC NEWS I also didn’t realize that the girls were being filmed inside the orphanage with some missionary’s right when the earthquake started. You actually see the girls playing and smiling and then hear a noise and see the walls crack. I thought you’d enjoy seeing this extra little video of the orphanage filmed at the time of the quake. Here’s the link for the video for that also:ABC NEWS Again, it’s a small world. Guess who contacted Hope Orphanage a few weeks back saying she had the paperwork for 100 orphaned Haitian children? Yes, the very same Laura Silsby who was arrested for trying to take children out of Haiti. I guess she didn’t have that paperwork after all. The people she was in contact with here with C.S.I. sent her on her way without giving her any leads. Hope does not find homes for its children; Hope loves them, educates them, feeds them, and nurtures them. Basically Hope is buying stock in Haiti’s future. Toby and Tim Banks are the girl’s parents. If you don’t believe me, just watch the way the girls smile at them and listen how they call them momma and poppa. You see, Hope raises these girls in a Christian environment, protecting them and teaching them how to become productive members in their society so that they can better serve their country and hopefully (no pun intended) make it a better place to live. The clinic is another story. Around sixty people came through the clinic today. They get here early. The staff here gives out numbers to the patients so that they would know what order they are in. Sometimes the husbands show up early to get a number which they take to their wives who come back later. I was reflecting earlier on how well people dress around here compared to their houses. If they are working its one thing, but when they go to church or come to the clinic, they really put some color on. I thought to myself, “If I lived the poor life of these people, I’d want to dress up on occasion also. It’s been a full week for me and before long (time travels so fast) I’ll be headed back to “Lower Alabama”. The last two days Greg has been calling me “C.A.” (for Central Alabama). Someone must have put him onto the blog ;o). Well, Greg can call me anything he wants. He’s earned my respect for what he does here in Haiti. I really like the guy and I loved the story about how an ex-employee poured the roof on the orphanage wrong even after Greg showed him exactly which way the water needed to flow. That story alone was well worth the trip over here. To hear it, you have to visit for yourselves because I’m sure not going to put it on any blog…. Besides, I’ve still got to find a ride to the Dominican Republic tomorrow afternoon and I sure don’t want to get the boss man angry at me. I mean, I love Haiti, and I love Greg, but not enough to stay for good. I’m pushing my luck mentioning Greg’s name again as it is ;o) Greg was talking the other day about how sometimes things just show up at the airport with his name on them. Someone from the airport will call him up and say “Greg, you have something else here at the airport.” Well, it would be nice if five hundred tents showed up there and I’ll tell you why. Remember the new church that Greg and C.S.I. are building (Premier Eglise Chrètiènne de Noueile)? Well, the church holds up to 800 people inside. They have a preacher there named Pasture Fritz who lives on site. There is a deep well there. Greg told me the other day he wished about 500 tents would just magically show up at the airport for him so that he could establish a tent city all around the church and the Pasture Fritz. I asked him about supplying water to them and he said no need because there was a well at the church. I asked him about feeding them food and giving them water. Obviously the water’s not a problem, but he said he didn’t want to just hand food out, and instead he wants a fund started and give each of the tent settlers an allowance to go purchase food from the venders. He said the local farmers are getting very little business because everyone’s getting free food right now. What a wonderful way to spread Christianity over here in Haiti, by sending a bunch or tents right into the middle of a church that can hold them? There’s a new tent city people are discussing that will take care of a few thousand people. It’s at the base of a mountain called Mr. Cabrit. They’re wanting to move 100,000 people there…Haven’t heard about how they’re going to eat, but not about food, water, dental yet. It sure would be nice if a soccer goal, and two tri-cycle bikes also. I’ll talk more about this tomorrow. Well, goodnight!! Dewayne
Mission to Haiti: Day 9
Published STJ Sunday, February 7, 2010Bon jou Selma. I hope things are going well for you. I wish I could say that in Creole (Kreyol), but like me, you wouldn’t understand what I was saying anyway ;o) I did a wonderful job of butchering the kings English last night. I was so tired that I kept drifting off to sleep and typing nonsense. It gets to a point when no matter how hard you try to stay away, your body says “enough, you’re going to sleep whether you like it or not!
This morning we work up to French toast for breakfast. The clinic was closed this morning, so no noises outside except the sound of the girls next door, and an occasional cow mooing. We’re packing our bags now and getting ready to meet up with someone who drove over from the Dominican Republic yesterday evening so that we’d have a ride. We said we’d leave around 10 am, but right now it’s 10:45 am and we’re still here.
Bert took us around the corner this morning to visit some of the local metal works art stores. Metal art and machetes are two things Haiti are known for when it comes to souvenirs. They make good machetes and good metal art. If you ever come to Haiti and you’re driving around the rural landscape and notice steel barrels stacked in someone’s yard, just know that there’s a talented Haitian artist somewhere in close proximity.
We just got back from visiting the stores about an hour ago and I worked on repairing a leaking sink drain next door for the girls. Yesterday evening when getting off work, someone accidently broke a hose bibb off the side of the clinic and I repaired that too. Speaking of the girls, they are coloring a C.S.I. sign next door as I type this and they’re having a blast doing it. I thought they would have fun coloring it, and I knew some of you may want C.S.I.’s address in case you’d like to make a donation to the Hope Orphanage or the health center (clinic), the building fund, pennies for the poor (this is a great fundraiser to do in your children’s Sunday school class and the money pays for medicine and care for the very poorest of the poor here at the clinic) or just put in the memo for the check to go into the C.S.I. Haiti General fund and the money will go to whichever fund is needed. I can tell you that C.S.I. is very real, they’re overhead is small, and any support you are willing to share will have a direct benefit to the people of Haiti.
I’ve got to scoot because our ride will be here any minute now and I wanted to at least get this off and a picture of the girls holding their artwork and C.S.I.’s address for you, but I want to leave you with one more Creole proverb before I set off for the D.R. “Tout venn touché ké” (“All veins touch the heart.”).
Bondye bene ou! (God bless you)
Mission to Haiti: Day 9 ½ - Day 10
Subject: Day 10 blog finished "finally"
I'll start this entry off with the second half of day nine.
Tim, a native of the Dominican Republic arrived to carry us on our seven hour ride across the border into Santo Domingo so we could catch our flights back into the U.S. tomorrow. We filled up the back and top of the SUV with luggage except a small spot for 2 people at the back tailgate. John Stinson and Faison Cochrane volunteered to ride in the back sitting on two pillows for the bumpy ride. It wasn't long before they had the back glass open and had their bare feet hanging out the back while we honked and weaved our way around huge potholes, vehicles and motorcycles. Let me tell you something. I wouldn't drive a motorcycle in either of these two countries if you gave me five thousand dollars, 100,000 goude or 200,000 pesos and if I drove a truck, it would have one big honking horn and a thick metal grill on the front and the back.
The countryside is beautiful with great mountain views everywhere along the trip. When we got near the Dominican border my cell phone for the first time since arriving got a signal evidenced by the 25 or so beeps from emails, txts and Facebook messages. Jay told me I might want to cut it off because he got stuck with a huge bill one time but I told him, I thought my global package I'd bought from Verizon before leaving would cover it.
One thing I noticed after crossing the border was the military checkpoint (Dominican soldiers with machine guns) every few miles. Tim told us they were looking for Haitians in our vehicles. As it turns out the majority of Dominicans are very prejudiced against the Haitians. I took a couple of pictures at one of the check points before one of the soldiers noticed my camera and machine gun in hand started waving his arms and hollering at me while walking towards me. Tim said "Put the camera away. Put the camera away. Put the camera away". Well, he only needed to tell me once, but the other times were for added emphasis. I put it down and the soldier came up to my window with an angry look (and a machine gun for added emphasis).
Needless to say I needed a little dose of adrenaline for the day, but I did come to my senses at the next checkpoint and asked Jay if he'd take a picture with his camera but I couldn't talk him into it.
We arrived to the hotel around 7pm and Tim arranged for us a taxi to take us to a nice restaurant by the sea named Adrian Tropical. The scenery was beautiful there. If you don't believe me, just ask John Stinson. The food was delicious. I had a soup called Sabrococho that I highly recommend. We got back to the hotel and everyone went to their rooms but I hung out to listen to some music for about 30 minutes or so until one of the local women looked me over from head to toe, liking her lips in the process. I said "No gracious" and walked briskly back to my room where John Stinson was waiting up for me with the light on. As I mentioned before I was determined to not bring any luggage back to the states with me except for what I had brought with me and a few pieces of Haitian metal art.
My flight was leaving before everyone else’s Sunday morning so I awoke this morning to my alarm clock AND a wakeup call (alarm clock for added emphasis) so that I could catch my flight back to the U.S. My trust sidekick Malachi was waiting for me in the hallway to see me off on my lonely journey to the airport in a strange country. Did I mention I was by myself in a strange country? Well, from that point on I was and I was a tad bit nervous because my taxi driver in his unmarked car complete with cracked windshield could not speak a lick of English. Well, we made it to the airport safely but unknowingly my ticket fell out of my pocket at the first baggage check. It was just getting daylight as I searched for my way out of the country. I found it on the ground and let out a sigh of relief.
Everything went smooth until I was going through my last baggage check and the two security guards who could not speak English were telling me I couldn't take my metal art because of the sharp edges. I collect my things; put my belt and shoes back on and quietly walked back to the check-in counter. There I caught the eye of a tall Dominican woman who could speak a little English and explained to her my situation. She told me I'd have to leave the Haitian metal art behind. I realized at that point that
We obviously weren't speaking the same language so I looked deep into those big brown Dominican eyes and told her "These are gifts for my two kids. I've already told them about them. Please help me get them on that plane; I just can't leave them behind.". Immediately I saw her eyes go from a hard "no" to a soft "yes" and she smiled. I knew we were talking the same language now. Not only did she help me, she went with me, skipping me in front of everyone else in the bag check line. I ran all of my things through the x-ray machine for the second time and listened to her arguing with the two security guards on the other side en Espanola as I quickly put my shoes and belt back on. Carrying my metal art in her hands, she walked me all the way to the airplane and gave it to a stewardess on the plane for safekeeping until I arrived back in Orlando Florida.
I arrived safely with my backpack and my metal art around 10:30 and Butch with C.S.I. Arrived a few hours later and asked me to eat supper and spend the night with them before heading back to Selma. I did and now it's the 11th day and I'm on the way home about to hit "send" from my blackberry and hoping I've become a better person from my experiences in Haiti.
I know one thing’s for certain, next time the line is a little long at Wal-Mart I won't complain because I know things could be a lot worse. I have Hope.
