Greg's birthday. I wish I could be there to wish Togo happy birthday in person. We had cereal for breakfast, and coffee of course. We've had coffee every day! The coffee is so good! I guess it's a good thing that we don't drink coffee at home, or I'd probably drink too much when I get back. Oh, we went on a walk at 6:15 again. It was the same group except we traded Logan for Bethany. On the way back a guy named Donald joined us and walked with us most of the way through town. He talked with Marty quite a bit, and he told us that he knew the Campbell's and the other missionaries in town. I guess he did, because he was in the send off group at the airport that afternoon! The morning we spent in a bit of packing and then mostly with the kids. Jesse and Logan went to town to get machetes and vanilla for everyone. (people place 'orders' before they leave!) Jimmy became especially attached to me. He wouldn't hardly leave my side all morning. Otenel, on the other hand, kept running away and being ornery. A lot of the girls got really moody. Benji just sat around, but Galaan and Rosie wanted me to hold them. Mariilyn stayed with Hannah much of the time. Most of the middle aged boys were kinda teasing or held back. Wesley sat off to the side of the porch, Ronald sat with the much on the porch but wouldn't say much, and Davenel just sat off under a tree. He drew me a picture though. It was a big beetle and flowers (the beetle he draw from a rubber one the kids had played with all week). He's a pretty good artist. Hilary had the kids sign a shirt for her and Davenel drew flowers on the front. For lunch we had macaroni and cheese, fresh mango, and citron/orange juice. It was my last taste of the fresh Haitian juice. (that I keep raving about!) After lunch we loaded the truck and said good-bye. I gave all the nurses hugs and they seemed sad to see me go, I'd had such a good time singing with them. I gave hugs to the older girls too. Lulu, Rosie, Dauline, Francois, Galeen, Galaan and the other little girls let me hug them, but the middle aged girls held back. We went over to the boys' dorm to say good-bye too. Jimmy, Jackinson and Otenel were climbing trees and didn't want to say good-bye. Wesley and Friko came over to see us but you could tell they were sad. Davenel said good-bye and then left, Ronald was really reluctant to say anything. Jennifer, Bill, Jesse and Benji went with us to the airport. The kids waved good-bye but they were subdued as we left. The saddest thing to see though was that Davenel was sitting by the boys' dorm wiping his eyes... Both the working MFI planes came into Pignon that day. The first, the one on which we had arrived, dropped off another team associated with the seven who came with us, and then left. The second one came about twenty minutes later and took us and the team that came with us on board. I got to hold Benji for awhile while at the airport and I didn't want to let her go. Good-byes were hard for me. I didn't actually cry, but I did tear up two or three times. Our team had to hurry boarding so that we could take off in time to reach Ft. Pierce before customs closed. We landed in Cape Haitian to clear customs leaving Haiti. Leaving there we were supposed to have 18 people. Somehow, whether the guy didn't show up or the pilots just forgot him, we left a guy behind! It was a Haitian guy in a group going to FL. I slept quite a lot going home. I was feeling sad and suddenly more tired than I had been (probably because everything was over and there was no extra adrenaline) We did play cards part of the way too, just sat in a circle on the floor of the plane! There was some glorious sand marbling in and around the Exuma Cays and Nassau. I took some pictures with Hannah's camera and I'm hoping they came out nicely. We made it to Ft. Pierce about 10-15 minutes before customs closed. Walking into the airport was kind of a shocker....because there was A/C! It was cold in there. It was pretty to see the reactions to all the bags with machetes and vanilla in them...there was no surprise! Apparently those are the two most popular items brought back. It was really cool watching the scanners when all our bags went rhough. There were different colors for different types of materials. Our Hertz cars were Nissan Altimas. They were quite comfortable. It was a funny mix of new and old though. There was a key, but just the fob, no metal part. If you had it near the car then you pushed a button on the dashboard and that started the car. There was no key hole! But at the same time the seats were all manual adjustment, no buttons. The first thing that struck me as really being home and not in Haiti anymore, besides the A/C, was driving by a field with two horses in it. I said, "horses," and in my mind I thought, "wow, I just saw real horses." Then it struck me what an odd thought that was. The horses in Haiti were real, just not like the ones I was used to seeing. The drive to West Palm Beach was fun. I was Marty's navigator and Hannah was also with us. We listen to the radio and I heard some songs that were new to me. (Quite amusing to Hannah and Marty who knew them well) Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got, Don't Stop Believing, Calling All Angels, and maybe another one. We stayed at a Best Western. After arriving at the motel we took off to get gas and find a place to eat dinner. At the gas station the guy inside suggested the Mexican restaurant across the way. We got there just at closing, but they told us to come in anyway. It was authentic! The sings were all in Spanish, the menu was in Spanish (w/ English on the side :P) and to Logan, Hannah and Hilary's great amusement there was a soap opera on TV...in Spanish! I got a BBQ goat torta. (I'm telling you, I love goat) It was a really big sandwich though. We all had plenty to eat (but Logan and Hannah had to go next door and try the homemade ice cream) After that Marty, Dorene and I scouted out our route to Hertz for the next morning. Turns out it was just three or four miles down the same road we were on...so that was cool. Back at the hotel most of the girls decided to take long showers. Having taken one that morning I went straight to bed! =)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
I got up at 6:30 and hung out at the table talking to Jennifer, Chris, Bailey and Dorene. (I don't remember if I mentioned Chris and Bailey already. They came with their dads and were going to stay for about a month. The cool thing was that they came from James River Baptist Church. It's a church in Mo about two hours from us! How ironic is that? We travel part way across the world to another country and meet there some people who live just a couple hours from us!) Marty made us pancakes for breakfast. (Jodi mixed them from scratch) Then we set up for clinic and our craft. We put our craft table by the boys dorm on the cement pad. Chris and his dad had put up a basketball hoop the night before, but Jesse accidentally pulled it down! Oops. After clinic Jennifer said we would feed the people: mothers, kids, siblings, some men, all told would be between 150-200 people. The people came about 8:00 and sat on benches by the clinic building. We washed everyone's feet. That was so cool! We used basins and actually washed with soap and then dried them. The guys were done by Logan and Marty. The callouses on some of the women's feet were unbelievably thick! A lot of them were so thick and dry that they were cracked at the heels. It was such a humbling and honoring experience. I can't explain why it was, but I was so blessed in such an amazing way by doing it. We loved doing the kids feet too. They babies' feet were soooo little and so soft. We had to dump the water after each set of feet 'cause they were so dirty. We used between 60-70 gallons of water. Pastor Clebert also did a devotion with our Haitian tracts and explained the foot washing. After the women had been through the clinic then they came to the craft table where we gave them a bag with two strips of cloth and them them weave the cloth through holes in the bag. I ended up with Friko's ballcap at one point so I just wore it at a cocked angle over my bandana. The kids found that amusing. After clinic we fed everybody. It was rice and beans with sauce and kool-aid to drink. Our team, the interns and Christ and Bailey handed out the food. Wesley joined us too. We probably almost wore a path from the kitchen to the benches by clinic, we walked it so many times! Jennifer was very pleased because we got all done with clinic and everything by noon. Apparently that is a record for them! After lunch, which was Haitian spaghetti w/ fried hot dogs, avocados, and juice, we spent the the early afternoon trying to hang out with as many kids as we could. I might have forgotten to mention earlier that Davenel made me a bracelet w/ my name on it. Only he accidentally left out the second 'h'. (because they usually said my name 'heder') It's big for a bracelet on me though, so I just wear it as an anklet. Wesley made me a black and green lanyard out of some thin plastic string stuff (I've seen kids weave it into different stuff back in the states too). Come afternoon Wesley, Davenel, Ronald, Chris, Jesse and some of the others went to watch a soccer game in Pignon. Logan got to play in the soccer game! The girls weren't allowed to go, but it was pretty easy to pick him out in the pictures! He really enjoyed it he said, but he did get a small black eye and got accidentally punched in the head or something. While the guys were gone Jennifer had scheduled for some of the workers to come with market goods so we could buy stuff. I got a necklace (w/ a dolphin on it), a grass woven pad and a stained wooden box. On each of the items I got I worked the guy down to half of what he first asked (which was, of course, still more expensive than they would spend, but that's ok) It was $5 for the necklace, $4 box, $4 mat. I didn't mind supporting the folks though. The boys got back some time after five and they said Pignon won the game. The one we had watched previously they lost 0-6. We hung out more and then ate sandwiches early for dinner. Then we got ready to go to a special evening service at Pastor Francois' church. Some of our team and the kids rode in the truck but I walked with the rest of the kids. We did have a large entourage tramping down the road. Once again we sat at the front of church, but it was the front pews so we didn't see everyone staring at us! His church was a big building, at least for Pignon. There was a bass guitar and the guy who played the keyboard at Pastor Clebert's on Sunday also played it there. There were four choirs there, three female and one male. I'd say my favorite was the male choir and then one of the female choirs where on one song they had a bunch of motions and then they danced back to their seats still singing! Pastor Francois preached, and I could pick out a word here or there but I have no idea what the sermon was about! Jimmy and Christiana fell asleep on Jodi's lap and Francois fell asleep on mine. Several of the other little kids fell asleep on the pews! They usually go to bed about 6:30. After the service was over I held Jimmy until he was awake enough to walk. It was dark heading back (the service went from 7:00-9:30, and it gets dark way earlier in Haiti than back home. It was dusk when we first set out from the orphanage.) It was fun walking back because everybody was kinda subdued, the weather was beautiful, the starts were out, and the moon was just coming over the mountain. It truly was glorious!!! I know a lot of people to whom it is just boring, but even something as simple as that night just thrills me! I love God's creation. I stood outside for awhile just staring into the sky and watching the moon come over the mountain. After coming back, instead of our regular devotion we did one with all the blanc (white =D) gang and the older kids. Hannah and Jesse both played the guitar, but it was hard to find songs that both we and the Haitians knew w/ music. Then Logan did the devotion. Afterward the girls played Lago Lago (hide-n-seek) but their version is very different from the boys'. Instead of staying out and hiding, waiting to be found, they come racing back to the patio as soon as the 'it' person moves away. While they played some of us girls put together the leftover craft bags so that Jennifer could use them in the clinic when she needs. Some of the gang ate leftover Haitian spaghetti when we got back from church...but I just ate fresh mango pieces!!!
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
I got up at 5:30 so I went outside to sit under a tree and write. It was so cool that I had to get my hoodie, I had goosebumps! I honestly didn't make much progress on writing though before the little boys came to join me. Jimmy flip-flop was broken again so while I fixed it the boys colored in the back of my notebook. Breakfast was baked oatmeal (yum!) and passion fruit/citron juice. After breakfast we set up for our Olympics. The first events was the obstacle course (with the dizzy bat being my favorite part) We split the kids into four different age groups, sub-divided into boys and girls. That was a lot of fun. After we got all through with that we did three-legged races. The boys had a blast, but all the older girls were moping and poking around. We did manage to get the younger girls excited though, and they are so cute! Especially Benji and Rosie. Those two events took us up till the kids' shower and lunch time. Lunch was pumpkin soup! Totally delicious! (pumpkin, noodles, carrots, potatoes, goat) w/ crackers. After lunch we did a Frisbee toss and then the girls did jump rope while the boys bounced a soccer ball on their feet. Then we played Steal the Bacon. When we finished the Olympics we just played with the kids for the afternoon. Dinner was leftovers. After the devotions we watched Nacho Libre. I was pretty disappointed actually. I talked with Hannah a bit about why I didn't like the movie, but I won't go into that here. (that's not what the trip was about!) Oh, I forgot! Jennifer got a call from Jesse during lunch that he was getting ready to leave Port-au-Prince and would be in Pignon in about 20 minutes (instead of arriving tomorrow). After lunch we had to wait for Jennifer and when they did return of course Jesse was quite a distraction for awhile. And he and Benji are first time best friends! It makes me think of Robert with my younger siblings. It was so sweet to watch them together. Jesse is 18 and Benji is 7, and they'd never met before, but you would never have known!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Monday, July 26th, 2010
Hilary's b-day today. Eggs and passion fruit juice for breakfast. The girls and Dorene spent awhile planning crafts for today. After Wesley and Davenel got back from soccer practice they took Marty, Logan and some of the other boys to climb Mt. Pignon. I really wanted to go, but none of the other girls wanted to. And we were here to spend time with the orphans, so I stayed with work with the girls. We took blocks of foam and I wrote Jezu renmen (Creole for Jesus loves) in fancy fonts on them. Then we brought groups of five girls at a time into the house and Hannah and Bethany and I helped them add their names and then color or decorate the foam with beads and stickers. Each piece had a string attached to it so the girls could hang them on their beds. Hilary and Dorene played with the girls outside and then played with foam letters. When I was done helping I went to the girls' house to play with some of the little girls there. Galeen, Galaan, Rosie, Dauline, David, Lisi, and others were out there. I started out singing to them, then with them...and then the Haitian workers joined in. It was so cool! It was beautiful. A lot of the kids and workers act shy, and won't usually sing if you just ask, but if you sing for them then they will. The ladies brought out a Haitian hymnal and I pulled out the words for our devotion time songs. We sang back and forth. And then they would hum or sing in Creole and if I recognized it I would sing along in English. One of the younger workers brought me paper and pen and asked me to write down some of the songs! We sang Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount, Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, My Jesus My Comfort, Lord I Lift Your Name On High, Here I Am to Worship, This Is the Air I Breathe, Open Our Eyes Lord, Worthy, etc. I really, really enjoyed that time. There were three separate times through the day that I specifically got to go sing with them for awhile. The third time I sang Mercy Is Falling, Father Abraham (w/ motions, they laughed at that one!!), and I'm In the Lord's Army. The kids thought those were pretty funny. Even the boys hung around the edges listening...except Otenel who came to beside me. Bethany, Hannah and I tried to play the Dead Fish game with some of the girls, but it didn't work too well. Jodi and Mia worked on teaching the kids Double Dutch. I helped too when I learned how to swing the ropes! I must say that was the only jump rope I've seen them try that they couldn't do. But some of them were getting the hang of it after fifteen or twenty minutes. Then Otenel decided he wanted to run on the path around to the rock pile, as fast as we could! Jimmy joined us. So I'd hold their hands and take off running as fast as I could. They had to run pretty fast too to keep up with me, but it didn't seem to phase them a bit...I was worn out! After lunch we brought all the older kids into the house w/ Pastor Clebert and showed them the movie, Pilgrim's Progress. We'd watch for awhile and then stop to answer any questions or explain confusing parts. Unfortunately the film wasn't in Creole so that made some of it tricky. I think that was a really good way to share the gospel with them though, and I think they really understood it pretty well. For dinner that night we had leftover soup, pasta, sandwiches, etc. It made for a lot of dishes, but I didn't mind because I'm used to lots of dishes!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, July 25th, 2010
I fell asleep and slept late, so Hannah set my alarm clock to wake me up! For breakfast we had cereal, toast and passion fruit juice. Dorene and I did the dishes and then everyone got ready for church. The family, three interns, Lesefee (it was her 15th birthday), and our group went to Pastor Clebert's church. They usually go to Pastor Francois' church but Pastor Clebert was doing special services this weekend. We had church outside under a makeshift tent. The sides were lined with the most beautiful embroidered curtains! I was amazed at how well the people dressed. Despite the poverty level over there they were actually dressed in a nicer way than I dress for church. Most of the men in slacks, dress shirts and ties, some in full suits. The women were well dressed with nice shoes as well. There was a keyboard and two electric guitars. The singing was so cool! There were three different choirs there because of the special service. They each sang at least a couple different times. One of them was even divided into four part harmony. it was beautiful. There was LOTS and LOTS of singing. Jennifer sat beside me and I sorta mouthed (attempted) along with the Creole words in the hymnal. Then Pastor Clebert and his wife dedicated their baby. They were sitting up front and then the baby (well, toddler technically) started crying. Pastor Clebert's wife just started nursing her. It was a bit surprising at first but they have a different culture over there. After more singing Marty preached with Pastor Clebert translating. After more singing (I'm telling you they do a lot and it's such a joy to hear it!!) they had an altar call and five people came forward. It was a very moving service for me, despite the fact that I couldn't understand most of it. Afterward we ate lunch there. There was salad, rice and beans, pasta w/ ham and peppers, huddleoni-like pasta with spicy ketchupy stuff (huddleoni is meat, pasta, spaghetti sauce and cheese), fried potatoes, fried plantain, onion soup, and corn bread-like cake. After getting home from church we just had fun and played. I held Benji for a long time. I just loved getting to hold all the little kids. The group from the hospital (that flew down with us) came over for awhile. Ronald, Wesley, Davenel, and Logan went to watch a soccer game in town. Hilary, Hannah and I got permission to go join them. We walked into town but upon arriving at the soccer field the guys at the gate said we had to pay to get in. We didn't have any money on us of course, so we were going to go home, but then they said we could come in anyway! There is a wall built around the field for the purpose of making people pay to see the games. But apparently it didn't work so well. There were people watching through holes, sitting on the wall, and some people standing on the above ground graves in the cemetery across the street! Being there was quite an interesting peek into another aspect of Haitian culture. Back at the orphanage Otenel apparently decided that I was his temporary jungle gym. Then I played jump rope with Sabine, Galaan, Francois, Otenel and Hilary. The part of the time I jumped while holding Galaan on my back. That was quite difficult, but she laughed hysterically every time I did it! We had to be careful though because Danielle, Hannah and Logan were playing soccer with the older kids and sometimes the game came right over to us. After the kids went to bed we had dinner. It was potato soup w/ ham, corn and carrots and there was corn bread with it. It was delicious. We discussed climbing the mountain in the morning, but we would need a guide. The older boys had soccer practice and Jesse wasn't home, so that didn't work. We had Bible study and singing, and Benji joined us for that. It was so cute listening to her sing. I must say it has gotten a little uncomfortable to sleep at night because of one of the support bars in the mattress frame right across the middle of my back. But I honestly shouldn't complain, I at least had a bed. But since I'm journaling I decided to include that tidbit. I haven't been visited by any cockroaches, tarantulas or mosquitoes while in bed...so that's very good!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
At 6:15 Marty, Logan, Hilary, Hannah and I went walking. We walked through Pignon and to the bridge over the river. It was definitely an adventure walking through the ruts, around puddles, over trash and dodging dozens of honking motorcycles and a few trucks. But honestly I have never felt so conspicuous in my life. EVERYONE stared at us, many you could tell were talking about us. It was early morning, we were walking just because, and we were white. Five white people in the midst of hundreds of black ones. I've been different or stuck out before, but this was different than anything else I've ever experienced. At the bridge we saw two UN vehicles in the middle of the river getting washed. There were people bathing, swimming, washing clothes or bikes or wheelbarrows. The water is all muddy brown. There was corn planted up the side of almost cliff like banks along the river. The dirt banks are pretty amazing to look at. They look like cliff walls, but they are made entirely of orangish dirt! Coming back the gate was locked so we climbed over it! For breakfast we had cereal and toast. We spent the morning playing and hanging out. I took Jimmy to the swing and he sat on my lap while we swung really high. It's really fun swinging with them! Then Hilary played checkers with Wesley and lost. I played with him and I won, very surprising. He wasn't sure what to think of that, but Davenel thought it was funny. Otenel came and sat in my lap for awhile when we were outside. He just loves being held or being near you. He's one of those little guys who thrives on love. Lunch was rice w/ veggies and tuna patties w/ ketchup. After lunch Bill and I spent a long time talking about the home, Haiti, missions, government, the U.S., living your faith, etc. It was very enjoyable. After that I took a nap! That afternoon Bill took Logan, Hilary, Bethany, Dorene, Hannah and I to the market. Ronald and the cook rode in with us. The market was crowded, loud, and muddy. People cooking food, booths of canned goods, bullion, salts and seasonings. People sat on the ground with big bowls of rice and corn and other grains. There were rows and rows of sandals and flip-flops, some dress shoes too. There were shoes in many different places, some just laid out on a cloth in the mud. There was a booth full of raw meat chunks, I saw at least one whole goat head too. On the other side of the row from that were tubs of smelly, strange looking stuff. I could tell some were intestines but the other piles or slabs of stuff I didn't even want to guess at. There were tables and booths with clothing and all sorts of stuff. After we walked through, Bill took Logan back to get some chairs and such, so the girls stayed in the truck. While there some little boys stopped to watch us. The were really funny. They rapped a song in Creole (no idea what it was, of course) and then they were making all sorts of funny poses so Hannah would take pictures of them. Some teenage boys came over too, so Hannah asked them to go away. Back at the orphanage we sat around talking again. Davenel was holding a French/English dictionary and it gave me an idea. I asked the boys if the had a Creole/English dictionary. They did and brought it to me. So then I spent much of the afternoon trying to put together simple sentences and phrases in Creole. It was a lot of fun, plus it drove Hilary crazy not knowing what I was saying!!! Whenever I had trouble I just asked the kids and they told me what a word was or how to say it. I said stuff like: I like goat, I don't like oatmeal, sing for me, I like you (to 5 yr. Otenel), I said nothing, what should I say?, etc. The kids got a really big kick out of the fact that I was trying to do it. For dinner that night we had pizza casserole, garlic bread, and avocados!! We had our Bible study time, showers, and bed!
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
I woke up about 6:00 but decided to fall asleep again. When I got up I went out to find the others and the first thing I heard that morning was a very sobering fact. Bill was sitting out front with Hilary and Dorene and as I walked up to the door he was telling them that the Haitian government only graduates the top 5% of students. That is the only amount they consider they have graduate worthy jobs for, or some such thing. The other 95% literally cannot graduate. That was tough to hear. Anyway, for breakfast we had eggs with seasonings and more juice. The intern girls told us that there was a donkey that went off every morning that sounded like it was dying. Logan and Marty said it did! After breakfast we went to the dorms to kinda break ice with the kids. How many names can I remember? Anyway I picked up Francee, 1 1/2 years old, and carried him around while meeting some girls. I took him with me to the Port girls' room where I met Betsy, Malcolm (yes, a girl), and Sabine. Sabine sang Jesus Loves Me, then This Little Light of Mine in English and Creole. I started teaching her Create In Me A Clean Heart with the motions. Then we went over to the porch where a bunch of the others were gathered. We played jump rope and talked and teased. Francee fell asleep in my lap, and the girls kept trying to wake him up but he was out... While we were sitting there Otenel, Willie and Jimmy were playing with Hilary's hair and headband, and Betsy reverse French braided mine. Davenel, Wesley (said 'Wisley'), Ronald ('wanel') and Jackinson stood by the garage watching us. But they kept acting shy. After I took Francee to his bed I played cards with one of the girls. Apparently there is almost no system to their card games! You make up the rules as you go. We went back to the porch and hung out until gradually all the children disappeared except Ronald (Wesley and Davenel had gone to soccer practice). We came to learn that all the kids had headed for a fruit tree growing between the girls' dorm and the kitchen. It was called a kenep tree (officially Mamoncillo). Some of the boys were climbing it and dropping fruit down. One of the girls held a tub up and they just dropped fruit into it. The fruit is between the size of a shooter marble and a ping pong ball. It has a thin, leathery green skin that you crack with your teeth. The flesh is an orange color with a big seed in the middle. The flesh is sweet and a bit sour, but more just different. The texture is crazy! It's kinda like jelly, but then a bit more like gelatin and grapes too. It has fibers like you find in apples though. It tastes good. You can't chew them though, you have to suck the fruit off the seed. For lunch we had Haitian spaghetti with fried hot dogs, rice w/ beans, avocados and pineapple. The fruit here is amazing! There are citron, coconut, pineapple, mango, papaya, kenep and other trees that grow there naturally. The avocados here are beyond belief! They are soft and soooo juicy, and they're almost sweet. So fresh... After lunch I took a nap. When I got up the girls were using washable paints and doing face painting. Davenel draw birds for a couple of them, he's a pretty good artist. The kids also love teasing us by taking in Creole and not telling us what they said. Jennifer gave the kids some candy and then they were trying to put the trash in our pockets so they didn't have to throw it away. Some of the kids were having foot races just because and Hannah joined them. She's really fast!! I think one of my favorite things to do was just when we all sit around with the kids on our laps, tickling them, talking, laughing. That afternoon Jennifer went to the store and Benji, Dorene, Hilary, Danielle and I went along. Danielle and I sat in the truck bed, but you have to hold on pretty good 'cause it's a rough ride! The streets around are rough and muddy, ruts, rocks and puddles everywhere. The store was really small, and it was the best store in Pignon. One wall was about 10 ft. and the other maybe 14ft. They had a variety of things though...chips, syrup, spaghetti sauce, crackers, soaps, shampoo, salt, ketchup, canned goods. There were hardly any kitchen staples. We looked for coffee creamer but we couldn't find it at any of the three stores we went to. We headed for a fourth but got stopped by construction in the road. A big pit with rebar gridding went all the way across so we couldn't get over! There are between 30,000 and 40,000 people in and around Pignon. But the buildings are small and rugged, my mind can't comprehend how there are that many people in those conditions and space. For dinner we had leftovers. I learned that the big green citrus fruit are not limes as I thought, but oranges! Hannah, Hilary and I did the dishes, we had a our devotion time, took showers and then some of us headed to bed. We were laying in bed when Hannah came racing into the room and jumped onto her bed! She was worried about the cockroaches and tarantulas. It was really funny. Then Hilary thought she was feeling a cockroach in her sheets. After that we got into the randomest, silliest conversation. It began with Hilary's boyfriend's job (he works construction and Bridges Over Missouri). Hannah thought Bridges Over Missouri was restoring old red covered bridges around the state, and I thought it meant to road bridge repairs. We laughed so hard when Hilary corrected us to say that it was actually working with brain injury patients! Boy, were we confused. From there it went on to a guy who fell off scaffolding, cracked his head, and his brain landed in a bucket of paint...but the dude is still alive! After that craziness we came to the conclusion that cracking your skull is nothing like splitting a kenep! (inside joke) and then after trail mix at 10:30 we went to sleep!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
At 4:15 a.m. Florida time, 3:15 in Mo, we woke up to the phone ringing. (We'd asked the night before that we receive a wake up call) After groggily getting ready and eating breakfast we headed for the MFI airport. Arriving at 6:00 we weighed our luggage and waited with two other groups of people for departure. The MFI has three planes. We flew in a DC-3, which was a WWII cargo plane. Our pilots were named Joe and Ray. The plane was, of course, smaller, louder and hotter than the commercial jets on which we'd flown...but the seats were more comfortable and reclined farther back. There were 14 passengers on the plane. The fun thing was that the other group was seven people, five girls and two guys, and they were going to Pignon too. But not only that, they would visit the orphanage on Sunday were we were staying! We taxied out the the runway and sat for awhile with the pilots running the engines at different speeds. Then, to our surprise, we taxied back to the hanger! We were unloaded from the plane and waited. One of the motors was running roughly due to moisture or something and they had to fix that. Turns out both planes taking off that morning had to come back for that. We did watch the sunrise in Florida though. It was beautiful. Back in the plane I loved the take-off! It was just so thrilling! I was sitting by a window and being a smaller plane I could see the propeller on my side AND the ground below. The first part of the flight was amazing! I know I've seen pictures but you always wonderf if they've been edited. But with my own eyes I watched us going over the brightest, clearest blue and green water I have EVER seen! Most of the rest of the gang slept much of the time, I couldn't though I tried. It was so cool though because I got to go up in the cockpit and sit directly behind the pilots. You got a headset and microphone so you could talk with the pilots or listen to the people in control towers in the islands we flew over! Ray told me about a lot of the different gauges, etc. and their instruments that show their direction in degrees. Up front you could see far out to the side and ahead of you in a big panorama. Most of the way it was clouds around and above. But I was up front when we flew over Paradise Island, where I saw a cruise ship in port, and Nassau...where I saw the airport and listened to the control tower guys! Then we flew over the Exuma Cays. We landed in Exuma for a short refueling and we unloaded and went into a shop. I can actually say I've been to the Bahamas...for about 20-30 minutes. The water around the Bahamas and Haiti was the most magnificent I've ever seen. It was colors of blue, green, teal and turquoise that I could never describe. The sand was pure white and the water was crystal clear. But the bad part about Exuma was the landing. I had no trouble on the commercial flights, but from when we began our descent to when we landed I got the worst motion sickness I've ever had. My stomach felt twisted and ready to heave, and it was terrible. It was cool to get off in Exuma but I didn't feel well...light-headed and queasy. It was a total of probably five hours between Florida and Haiti. From Exuma...which Hannah nicknamed Excelsior Springs because she forgot the name, we went to Port-au-Prince. We were supposed to go to Cape Haitian but due to circumstances had to refuel in Port instead. This was a God-send though because we wouldn't have been able to unload our boxes of sports stuff in Cape. It was rough landing at Port too, but I ate as we descended and wrote furiously, some of which random scribblings I may include here, and that helped, but oh it was still bad. At Port we had to go into the hot, stuffy airport and get our passports checked and then waited around under the wing for awhile while the refueled the plane. The breeze was nice there. While we were embarking an Italian plane came in. There was a fleet of UN vehicles that came around it and two or three soldiers at least with weapons. I'm not sure what it was, but the person(s) mush have been important! Port was on the other side of the airport but from what I could see there were houses on top of each other (literally) and all smashed up against each other. The didn't look like our kind of houses either. Oh, I forgot to tell you. The flight between Exuma and Haiti was really fun. We spent the first part of it playing hangman, random phrases like auxiliary exit, smoking is prohibited, Haiti or bust, keep feet off walls, etc. The rest of it we spent much of sitting or standing on the floor and looking out the windows. The islands were beautiful as we flew over them. The mountains were covered in trees and the landscape was amazing. Some of the water around Haiti was a rich deep blue. Back to flying... when we got into the plane in Port it was pretty hot. We started sweating right away. I was weary and tired so I decided to make another attempt at sleeping, though all my past attempts on the trip had failed. Well, I was successful and was blissfully unaware of the fact that we were coming down into Pignon until the wheels hit the runway. It was bumpy but not anything like the other landings as earlier. I wasn't sick at all! I was quite surprised that I got to sleep (that part of the flight was only 15 minutes) but quite glad I did! We unloaded and there was a group of Haitians and several white people waiting. The other group headed for the hospital and then Bill and Jennifer Campbell and Pastor Francois took us to the orphanage in their trucks. The windows were open and the seat I sat on had been in the sun and was so hot that I burned myself! I had to sit on the very edge until it cooled down. Behind the airport, which was one small building, there were several donkeys and horses wandering by trailing long straps behind them. A girl was leading two and one of them had its rope caught in the other's legs. The road through Pignon was a mess. It was huge mud puddles in some places and hard and rutted in others. There were huge rocks sticking up all over. There was a barrel in the road one place and a truck broken down on the side. In the U.S. driver yield to pedestrians. But in Haiti animals, people and motorcycles yield to trucks! There were scrawny dogs everywhere and people rode by on heavily loaded donkeys and horses, goats everywhere, and a couple oxen. There were people everywhere. Some were working, others were playing or just sitting around doing nothing. They had a great variety of clothes, a lot of them dirty. There was at least one baby that I saw sitting on a chair and it didn't have clothes on. The buildings were unlike any houses I know in the states. They were small and a variety of colors. Browns, tans, reds, blues, yellows. They were squarish buildings all close together. Some had solid doors, others were just sorta open. There were some with screens or patterns of iron over the windows. There are hardly any wooden fences, they just grow cactus hedges. They plant the cactus in rows and then trim them to make a fenceline. I sure wouldn't try to get through one of THOSE! It was strange though, riding in the truck we pasted just feet from these people and they were watching us. But even though I know I was there it didn't seem real. I knew it was happening but seeing something like that was so different and yet it was more real and personal that other things I've seen. The orphanage compound has a cactus hedge and trees around it, with a locked gate. Mt. Pignon stands behind it. The orphanage has several buildings, and a work crew is working on a new kitchen for the kids. The workers make the cinder blocks themselves. There is actually quite a bit of grass in the orphanage...and fruit! There are fruit trees all around. The kids were standing around watching us as we arrived but they kinda hung back. The girls in our team stayed in the Campbells' house and the guys stayed above the old library, which is currently doubling as temporary housing for some Port orphan girls. We washed up and had lunch. It was rice, beans, cashew and onion sauce, fresh avocados, mango and pineapple! There was citron (lemon-lime) juice to drink. After lunch Hilary and I went out to see the kids. Wesley came over to say hello and so did Maudeline. The others played and watched us. We had a tour of part of the compound and then went back to the house. We had a praise time after awhile (Hannah had her guitar) and then talked about the first chapter of The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney. I was so tired that I was falling asleep. The others had of course slept a ton while in the air, but I'd only gotten those fifteen minutes. After that we talked with the three interns (Jodi, Danielle and Mia) and played with Lina, Chrissy and Benji. They are the Campbells' girls. All three of them are 7 years old, but Benji looks about 5. (Due to her conditions before coming to the orphanage) The Campbells are in the process of adopting Chrissy and Lina. Lina they've had since she was a baby...the funny thing being that she was the first orphan and what they had planned as an "all boys-no babies" orphanage! That changed! Benji they've only had about 6 months. I spent a long time catching up on journaling and then we had PB'Js for dinner. We went to bed about nine.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Mom woke me up at two ‘til 4:00 a.m. She said Dad’s alarm clock had gone off and she was afraid I’d missed the meeting time for the team at the church. When more awake I came to understand that Dad usually sets his alarm for 5:30 but he set it for 4:00 so he and Mom could tell me good-bye before I left! My family was so good to me. Monica had stayed for dinner the night before, and Robert had called to wish me well and let me know he was praying. I gave Mom and Dad hugs and headed for the church. I arrived at o’dark-thirty (4:40) to find Hilary and her family, and Dorene already there. Stan Inman, Ross Hall and David DeMasters were also there because they had come to see us off. Pam Holdeman came with Marty as well. Hannah and Bethany arrived with their dad and Josiah who would be our chauffeurs to the airport. After a prayer we left at 5:00. On the drive to the airport a few people slept, but I couldn’t. Someone asked me if I was excited. I think I was, but I wasn’t feeling it like I normally do. Mostly I felt ready and like I was beginning a journey and was just waiting for what would come. In a way I was, and not just physically. When we arrived at KCI we had a long wait so we got Starbucks for breakfast. And as a side note I got a Café Latte, but wasn’t big on it. When we checked our carry-on luggage Marty got stopped. His suntan lotion got taken away- not sure what he was trying to bring in =) The first flight was a thrill for me because I haven’t flown in about ten years. It was so cool to watch the take-off and watch the land go by underneath us. We flew over
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