Thoughts From the Bar

What did I take from this? I ask myself as i sit here in a booth at the Wilde Rover. Its so loud in here i can barely hear myself think. I have a familiar but completely different take on what's important in life. As I look around and see everyone worried about who they're going home with tonight or how they can impress the guy/girl they came with. Conversations about how they can make more money or gain "financial freedom." I can't help but think about the people of Haiti and how happy they are with how little they have. Community and friendship, that's what is most important in life. Material things seems so pointless. You'll gain what you want eventually then you'll move on to the next thing. Seeking new things to make you "happy" when these people find just as much happiness, no, more, when they have so much less. I guess I've always known this in the back of my mind, it just took a trip to another countrt to realize it was true.

Thoughts from Eric

Wow, thoughts from the trip. I went into this trip not knowing what to expect, having everyone around me question the decision to go into a country with so much political unrest and the recent cholera outbreak. But despite all of this I had no fears, no doubts that what I had signed up to do, what I had paid for was the right thing despite all that said no around me.

This was by far the most life changing, eye opening experience of my life. Two things that stick out was watching the community in Kajouwan pour dirty water through a strainer to then drink and looking over at KC and saying this is why we are here. And then being able to pump clean clear water from the pump watching the pure excitement in the communities face as they drank fervently from the pump. Those two images will forever be burnt into my mind and still bring a tear to my eye. I will also never forget Lulu who was my little leach at the orphanage.

It was interesting coming back, maybe three days later I found myself in a very familiar place; in a small concert venue smack dab in the middle of a crazy mosh pit. It had been a dream of mine to see Underoath live and here I was, experiencing it first hand. It was weird though, I couldn't get into it for the life of me, it was almost a miserable experience. Here we were praising these musicians while being sprayed with bottle after bottle of water while there are people all over the world that do not have access to clean water. It was a very surreal experience.

A collection of some of our favorite pics from the trip...

Team Haiti 2011 Liked Pics

Team Haiti 2011! Liked Pics

Thoughts from team member, Nicole...

It is mind boggling the effect one week can have on your life.  I just got home from picking up Taco Time (my favorite fast food restaurant)! A woman that ordered after me started freaking out and yelling at the staff that their service was horrible. They apparently were not getting her food out to her fast enough. She started yelling at the staff a second time… “I am corporate!  This is the worst service ever!  Do you see my number 46? Where is my food?!” Lady, do you realize the world does not revolve around you? Who are you to treat someone like that?  You should be personally thanking the staff because those are the people who contribute to your salary.

 

In early fall I planned on going on this Haiti mission trip because I had heard so many great stories from other people’s experiences.  I wanted that! As time went along, Cholera outbreaks and political restlessness starting concerning my family, friends and eventually myself.  I was ready to pull out of this trip at any point of time.  I felt confused and stressed about the whole thing. Getting closer to the trip, Baby Doc decided to return to Haiti. Are you kidding me?! I became even more uneasy, but finally came to a point where I said, “Lord, I trust you and your plan for me.”  I stopped trying to be a control freak and put my faith in him.  I walked into the airport, got on the airplane and was out of control. It actually was a refreshing feeling.  Arriving in Port Au Prince made me a little bit nervous, but still felt at peace.  Once I got onto the small airplane headed to Pignon, every worry in my body had completely left. I was ready to experience this adventure to the full extent and it was not about ME anymore.

 

I am so glad that I put my trust in God and pushed my worries aside because it was the most amazing experience.  Meeting people who have such pride in the little they have was definitely humbling. The kids themselves had a huge impact on me.  They all were filled with such joy and excitement.  The people were honored to have us present, when in reality it was more an honor to be in their presence. When walking in the orphanage all the children would immediately climb all over you.  Nobody wants to be left out…everyone wants to be loved.  Before you know it, you are carrying 3+ kids! Clean water is so essential to these precious lives and we take it all for granted.  We get upset when we have to park far away and walk to a local bar.  We can’t stand waiting on other people to “serve” us. There are women and children that walk miles and MILES just to get clean water and then carry the 5 gallon bucket on their head.  I ask how can they physically do it?  Because they NEED to. Life can no longer be about what makes ME comfortable, but how God wants to use me.

Link to team member Tim's trip blog

http://timhellinghaiti.blogspot.com/

insight

What was the most important thing I learned?
Easy. IT IS EVERY TO REFRESH 15 HOURS IN 10~IN TIME

Our First Full Day in Haiti

After a long day of packing, we all boarded the red eye flight to Miami. I generally can't sleep on a plane, so I guess I can't complain about being seated next to the only baby on the plane. Once we arrived in Haiti, we transferred over to a different plane. All of our luggage was carry on, so I was really glad that the x-ray machine operator cut me a break on having a machete in my luggage.

Some of the previous posts already talk about all that we did today, so I thought I might share some pictures. In the morning, we started off in the local market. They had all kinds of food, clothing, fuel, raw meat, etc.

As always seems to be the case, the kids love having their picture taken. Nicole & Emily made a lot of friends with their cameras today...

Good news. Nicole found Jesus...

We moved a few hundred cement blocks into position.

And yes, the rumors are true. Emily shoveled out the truck while we watched.

By the end of the day, the well house walls were about half way done (a little higher than shown here).


For everyone who went on the EastLake Honduras mission two years ago, you will be happy to know that Bones is alive and well. Somehow, he made it over to Haiti...

First Post

The space bar does not work well on this computer, so I apologize in advance for any hard reading, not to mention I am dogged tired a bit between the red-eye on which I could not decline my seat being in the very last row against the bathroom and today being our first day helping to build the housing around the well where, Aronce (sp?), a local here, works for Haiti Outreach, who seems to have a crush on Nicole in our group, yet would call on me first to start doing the hard work while the rest of the guys in my group stood around and watched....jk, sorta....they eventually helped out ;) I really enjoyed helping out today by shoveling all of the dirt and rocks out of the bed of the truck, carrying cinder blocks, and sifting the rocks out of the sand to make it nice to mix with the concrete. What an ab workout! This was mixed in with getting to mingle with the kids who gathered around to watch. They love our cameras and video and are mesmerized by it. I only wish I knew at least more French, since Creole is so close to it, so that I could communicate better. They taught us a song, and all I know is"Cassay Cassay Cassey...Cassey My Uhl Jumblay (phonetic of course!). It apparently says something about break dancing, which we do a little dance to it as well. I think we'll have to show 'em how it's done tmrw by breaking out the Hokey Pokey. I think most of us definitely got some sort of sunburn already. The weather, though, is amazing right now despite the heat. The wind felt amazing on my burned skin riding in the back of the truck on the long trek home. We have to stand up holding metal bars welded to the truck. No easy task being the main "highway" is ridiculously bumpy over the dirt and many rocks and ruts. It's a workout holding yourself upright the whole way, which takes at least 30 mins. one way. We have mixed reviews as we drive along. Most wave and seem glad to have us, others ask for money, some scream bla bla bla, which is short for blanc (white). One little boy even went so far as to wave at us in a very special way. Everyone for the most part though seems to have a good disposition. The children are so joyous. There are these crazy cactus fences everywhere here!!! They are perfect for barriers as they are super sharp, too! I've never seen anything like it. Our digs are super nice and I guess I am almost (almost being the key word here) disappointed we don't have to live more like the locals. It's a downright posh hotel here with delicious food to boot! Their peanut butter is spiced with pepper, among other things. Delish! I am so pleased to be here in this country. We were the guests of honor at a community meeting yesterday, although in my reality I was super honored to be able to witness it. The only word I could understand was "caca" the whole time. They are trying to spread the word on why clean water is so important. I still can't comprehend why this is not common knowledge and the knowledge doesn't spread like wildfire once people know, but looking to gain more insight and understanding as the trip progresses so as to be able to help in any way. Please be praying for our group this week and, always, the people of Ayiti.

Day 1/2

We left Seattle around10:30 pm Thursday night. The flight was pretty smooth and we arrived around 6:30am EST in Miami. Once in Miami, we met up with Dale who is the director for Haiti Outreach. From there we boarded the plane for Port au Prince. As we approached the runway you could really see the damage and poverty that the people lived in; lots of bright blue tarp tents. After going through immigration and collecting out bags, we headed out into the city to get a ride to the second terminal for our second flight. There were so many people trying to help us with our bags, but you really had to be stern and say no, otherwise they expected to be paid. Upon arriving to the second airport, the cars were bombarded with people who basically ripped the bags off the cars and took them into the terminal for us. We waited in the second terminal for about 1-1.5 hours before we boarded the 15 passenger propeller driven plane that would take us to Pignon. It was awesome to be able to see the country side below and to see how remote and separated some of the communities really were. The flight itself was only about 30 min in length and ended with us landing on a grass runway in Pignon.

Upon arriving, we got settled into the guest house where we would be staying. The house is an 8 room building completely powered by solar power that overlooks the runway. After getting settled into rooms we enjoyed a traditional Haitian meal of goat, corn and dirty rice; it was fantastic. We then headed off the visit the community in which we would be working at. To get to the community, we take a 45 min truck ride where those of us that cant fit into the cab ride standing up in the back holding onto a custom metal rack that was made. The road to get to the community is National Highway 3 and is almost completely dirt and large rocks. Needless to say, it is a very rough ride. As we drive through the different parts of town, most of the little kids will start screaming and yelling "blanc! blanc!" (pronounced b-long-k) meaning white. When we got to the site, we got to sit in on the community meeting where we were greeted with applause and were sat at the front of the group which is reserved as a place of honor. The meeting was an incredible cultural experience, watching and listening to the group discuss and answer questions regarding the well. The meeting lasted a few hours and ended just as the sun was setting. We then walked to the site where the well had already been drilled. On the way back to the guest house, we stopped at a local shop and enjoyed met some of the team that works and interns at Haiti Outreach. The night ended pretty early as we had been up for the better part of 24 hours.

Today, day 2, started very early. We awoke to the sound of the rooster crowing, which we were kind of annoyed with. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of eggs with meat, bread and fruit. After breakfast we went to the local street market where the people set up shop to sell goods. It was another cool experience, even though the market was not fully set up for the day yet. Further down the road was the animal market, where as you can guess, animals are sold and traded. While heading back to the truck, we noticed a local Clarin, or rum, distillery. They let us come in and see how they make the Clarin, which reminded me a lot of an over sized moonshine still. We were about to leave when they brought us to a back room where they store the final product before it is sold to be made into the rum that you can find in the store. Clarin is made from sugarcane so it is sweet, but it kicks like a mule and feels like you are drinking turpentine. This was potent stuff. We then headed back to the work site where the concrete slab was just poured. We moved all the cinder blocks over to the job site before headed back for lunch. The food here is absolutely delicious, and again we were served a delicious meal. After lunch, we headed back to the job site where the walls was already being built. We helped out by sifting the large rocks from the sand and helped mix concrete. During the times where the work was slow, we got to interact and play with the kids, who love having their picture taken. Most of the actual building is done by contracted masons. We got the wall about half built for the day before calling it a night. We returned to the house and relaxed before dinner. The sun here really takes a lot of energy out you. Dinner was a fantastic beef stew with fried plantains and popcorn. After dinner, we sat down as a team and shared our experiences so far. It has been an incredible trip so far and we cant wait to share more as it happens.