Look at that sunset!!!
Mission of hope.....the orphanage/church
building houses.....this is what they looked like
this is how we rode to our worksite....everyday!
Monday, June 28, 2010
more pictures
Look at that sunset!!!
Mission of hope.....the orphanage/church
building houses.....this is what they looked like
this is how we rode to our worksite....everyday!
Saturday June 12th
So today was our official "off" day that we just spent relaxing....well kinda. We went to this part of Haiti called Jacmel, more of a tourist part of Haiti because there were really really nice hotels and beaches. The ride to Jacmel was quite interesting.....awesommmmme, but interesting. lol lets just say we all had bruises the next day....from the two hour drive through the twisty turny mountains with 15 of us piled into the back of a small dump truck. Haha I remember sitting at the office while we were waiting for our ride, because nobody knew how exactly we were getting to Jacmel. Lol mode of transportation was always a surprise....although it ususally was standing in the back of a pick up truck. But theres no way that would have been safe driving through the mountains. Anyway, I asked Pastor Lex how we were getting to Jacmel and he said in his haitian accent, "you all gonna go in back of truck, hows that?" lol I sort of just laughed because I couldn't really tell if he was joking or not....he wasn't.
So in my mind I'm thinking, oh my word, we are going to fryyy in the sun. lol which we did, but riding in the back of that truck through the mountains is another experience that I will never forget.....it was SO fun.! The view was just breathtaking, I've never seen anything like it. And once we got to the ocean, it was even more phenomenal, the ocean was clear blue, (I swear I have a picture on a calander just like one of the ones I took). So pretty.
And for lunch, we went to this little place on the beach. I wouldn't call it a restaurant, there were only like 4 tables. It was like we sat down, and they brought out food. And they just kept bringing out food. I'm talkin fried conch and plantanes, followed by a plate of two fish, followed by a huggeee lobster, followed by rice and beans. lol lots of food!! And it was quite an overwhelming experience since I had never really had seafood before......never thought I would ever eat anything that still had eyeballs either! But, while in Haiti......once again, its all part of the experience! And it was actually really really good!!! I didn't eat too much, because I wasn't sure how my stomach would handle seafood so I didn't want to overdo it.....but I was satisfied, and proud of myself for eating something I would have never tried before. lol
After that we all jumped in the ocean, and the waves were so strong! We were the crazy Americans who kept trying to bodysurf the waves, lol. It was cool too, because we got to meet some of the kids from another orphanage called Hands and Feet (run by members of Audio Adrenaline I'm pretty sure).
The ride home was quite eventful as well. We stopped at this hotel so that Lex and Renee could meet with the manager to talk about a wedding that was going to take place later that week. Meanwhile, we sat in the bed of the dumptruck, and some of us got out and did yoga. Haha....not me personally....lol, but those who did got some stares. After about an hour, we headed back to Grand Goave, another 2 hour ride all squished in the back of that truck, but it was fun. The sun was setting too, and since we were in the mountains, it got kinda chilly. But I loved it, because it was a nice break from sweating!! lol. On the way home we stopped and Lex and Renee had bought us ice cream.....and this was THE BEST ice cream I have ever had!! SO good!
We were all really uncomfortable on the ride home lol, because we were all sandy and wet, and our bodys were sore from the ride into Jacmel earlier that day. So even though most of us couldn't feel atleast one of our limbs, we passed the time by singing. Since I was sitting by my friend Stephanie, and Alexis, Lex and Renee's daughter, (both whom are obsessed with High school musical), we passed the time by singing High School Musical songs. lol
When we got back we were all pretty whipped!!! By the sun, by the ride, so we were all pretty much ready for bed!!!
I had moved my stuff into a different tent by myself because since the day before, my stuff had become infested with ants. And I'm all about new experiences and roughin it in a tent, but I had one too many bug bites already, and I wasn't really up for laying in my bed full of ants and getting bit all night. So i shook out all my stuff and moved to a different tent, and this tent had an air mattress!! SCORE! I felt bad for leaving my friends, but they were able to spread out a little more and blow up their air mattresses. That night was glorious......until the next morning, that is.....that story to come later......
So in my mind I'm thinking, oh my word, we are going to fryyy in the sun. lol which we did, but riding in the back of that truck through the mountains is another experience that I will never forget.....it was SO fun.! The view was just breathtaking, I've never seen anything like it. And once we got to the ocean, it was even more phenomenal, the ocean was clear blue, (I swear I have a picture on a calander just like one of the ones I took). So pretty.
And for lunch, we went to this little place on the beach. I wouldn't call it a restaurant, there were only like 4 tables. It was like we sat down, and they brought out food. And they just kept bringing out food. I'm talkin fried conch and plantanes, followed by a plate of two fish, followed by a huggeee lobster, followed by rice and beans. lol lots of food!! And it was quite an overwhelming experience since I had never really had seafood before......never thought I would ever eat anything that still had eyeballs either! But, while in Haiti......once again, its all part of the experience! And it was actually really really good!!! I didn't eat too much, because I wasn't sure how my stomach would handle seafood so I didn't want to overdo it.....but I was satisfied, and proud of myself for eating something I would have never tried before. lol
After that we all jumped in the ocean, and the waves were so strong! We were the crazy Americans who kept trying to bodysurf the waves, lol. It was cool too, because we got to meet some of the kids from another orphanage called Hands and Feet (run by members of Audio Adrenaline I'm pretty sure).
The ride home was quite eventful as well. We stopped at this hotel so that Lex and Renee could meet with the manager to talk about a wedding that was going to take place later that week. Meanwhile, we sat in the bed of the dumptruck, and some of us got out and did yoga. Haha....not me personally....lol, but those who did got some stares. After about an hour, we headed back to Grand Goave, another 2 hour ride all squished in the back of that truck, but it was fun. The sun was setting too, and since we were in the mountains, it got kinda chilly. But I loved it, because it was a nice break from sweating!! lol. On the way home we stopped and Lex and Renee had bought us ice cream.....and this was THE BEST ice cream I have ever had!! SO good!
We were all really uncomfortable on the ride home lol, because we were all sandy and wet, and our bodys were sore from the ride into Jacmel earlier that day. So even though most of us couldn't feel atleast one of our limbs, we passed the time by singing. Since I was sitting by my friend Stephanie, and Alexis, Lex and Renee's daughter, (both whom are obsessed with High school musical), we passed the time by singing High School Musical songs. lol
When we got back we were all pretty whipped!!! By the sun, by the ride, so we were all pretty much ready for bed!!!
I had moved my stuff into a different tent by myself because since the day before, my stuff had become infested with ants. And I'm all about new experiences and roughin it in a tent, but I had one too many bug bites already, and I wasn't really up for laying in my bed full of ants and getting bit all night. So i shook out all my stuff and moved to a different tent, and this tent had an air mattress!! SCORE! I felt bad for leaving my friends, but they were able to spread out a little more and blow up their air mattresses. That night was glorious......until the next morning, that is.....that story to come later......
Wednesday June 9th- Friday June 11th
The next few days were pretty similar, so I decided to include them all in one post. I think it was Tuesday night before church when our team sat down and really talked about how we could be better at making everyone feel useful and being more productive while we were out in "the field" building houses. The general consensus was to split up into teams of about 5 people....that way we could cover more ground and each person could have at least one specific job they were responsible for, and it was a more organized way to make sure everyone had a part. So starting on Wednesday we put this new idea to the test. It went a lot smoother than the previous two days. We worked faster and more efficient, and it was good for team bonding too because we could actually have a conversation while we were working.
One thing I will never forget is working with some of the haitian kids. They are such hard little workers!!! This one kid, I think you would pronounce his name Roe-bay....he always wore a hat and gloves while he was working, and he was always sweating, but he never stopped working. It was funny because if I was struggling to hammer the nail into the wood, he would want to try, and of course, he would get it no problem. lol. He even walked to the market to get us all cokes....and of course we gave him one too!
By the end of this day I felt so much better about building these houses. I was actually really excited for the next day.
It was actually a really nice night to sleep that night because it wasn't as hot. Either that or I had just gotten used to it. Whatever it was, that was the first night that I slept great! Which made the next day of work even better!
On thursday the group I was in tarped a house for a family with a little boy named Steven. He was such a good little singer and dancer, so he kept us pretty entertained while we worked. One thing I think is really funny is that they are like obsessed with Akon down there. They would keep singing his songs and then point to you to sing with them. They don't even know what they're singing because it's in english, which made it even funnier. Haha. Also, since the World Cup was starting the next day, they kept singing the Wavin Flag and Oh Africa song....which we all learned rather quickly....
What was cool about this day was when we were done, this woman and her sister who were going to be living in the house we had just finished tarping, gave us each a huge hug and kept saying Merci, Merci, Thank you so much, God Bless you. It was the first time that I could tangibly see what we had given to the families. Because I think it was really easy to fall into this mindset of working on one house, finish, move to the next, finish, move to the next....but you don't realize that you are changing these families' lives after every house you complete because now, they will actually have a legitimate roof to sleep under, some of them for the first time since the earthquake.
Honestly, that is what got me through those times when I was just too hot or too tired to continue. I think it gave all of us an extra kick of motivation because we all saw at least one example of how thankful these people were to us and to God, and it was really cool to be a part of something that helped changed someone's life.
On Friday we continued tarping houses.....the World Cup started this day so what made this day different than previous days was that the game was being broadcasted all over radios and random tv's that you would see inside these little tents. Some haitians were even charging goudes (haitian dollars) for their neighbors to come watch the game if they had a tv. Of course, the game was all in Creole so we couldn't understand it. But.....when the Oh Africa or Wavin Flag song came on the radio, which was probably once every 20 minutes....we all got super excited. They were catchy songs, and they were loud so you couldn't help but dance....and the haitian kids loved it too so it just made me smile! haha....now whenever I miss Haiti, I just listen to those songs and I get sort of a homesickness for Haiti. lol
The sunset that night was phenomenal.....boy I am going to miss those sunsets too!! The colors of the sky were so vibrant....and the sun fell right into the ocean. And almost immediately it would get dark!
One thing I will never forget is working with some of the haitian kids. They are such hard little workers!!! This one kid, I think you would pronounce his name Roe-bay....he always wore a hat and gloves while he was working, and he was always sweating, but he never stopped working. It was funny because if I was struggling to hammer the nail into the wood, he would want to try, and of course, he would get it no problem. lol. He even walked to the market to get us all cokes....and of course we gave him one too!
By the end of this day I felt so much better about building these houses. I was actually really excited for the next day.
It was actually a really nice night to sleep that night because it wasn't as hot. Either that or I had just gotten used to it. Whatever it was, that was the first night that I slept great! Which made the next day of work even better!
On thursday the group I was in tarped a house for a family with a little boy named Steven. He was such a good little singer and dancer, so he kept us pretty entertained while we worked. One thing I think is really funny is that they are like obsessed with Akon down there. They would keep singing his songs and then point to you to sing with them. They don't even know what they're singing because it's in english, which made it even funnier. Haha. Also, since the World Cup was starting the next day, they kept singing the Wavin Flag and Oh Africa song....which we all learned rather quickly....
What was cool about this day was when we were done, this woman and her sister who were going to be living in the house we had just finished tarping, gave us each a huge hug and kept saying Merci, Merci, Thank you so much, God Bless you. It was the first time that I could tangibly see what we had given to the families. Because I think it was really easy to fall into this mindset of working on one house, finish, move to the next, finish, move to the next....but you don't realize that you are changing these families' lives after every house you complete because now, they will actually have a legitimate roof to sleep under, some of them for the first time since the earthquake.
Honestly, that is what got me through those times when I was just too hot or too tired to continue. I think it gave all of us an extra kick of motivation because we all saw at least one example of how thankful these people were to us and to God, and it was really cool to be a part of something that helped changed someone's life.
On Friday we continued tarping houses.....the World Cup started this day so what made this day different than previous days was that the game was being broadcasted all over radios and random tv's that you would see inside these little tents. Some haitians were even charging goudes (haitian dollars) for their neighbors to come watch the game if they had a tv. Of course, the game was all in Creole so we couldn't understand it. But.....when the Oh Africa or Wavin Flag song came on the radio, which was probably once every 20 minutes....we all got super excited. They were catchy songs, and they were loud so you couldn't help but dance....and the haitian kids loved it too so it just made me smile! haha....now whenever I miss Haiti, I just listen to those songs and I get sort of a homesickness for Haiti. lol
The sunset that night was phenomenal.....boy I am going to miss those sunsets too!! The colors of the sky were so vibrant....and the sun fell right into the ocean. And almost immediately it would get dark!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday June 8th
It was our second full day in Grand Goave.....it was very much like the first. We woke up at the crack of dawn at around 5:15am and ate breakfast and got ready to go to work!! We got to the worksite and everything was just a bit chaotic and frustrating.......nobody really knew what was going on or what we weres supposed to be doing. We couldn't ask any of the Haitian workers either because of the language barrier. And it almost felt rude to just jump in and take over what they were doing because it is just like us to want to do it our way as Americans, and here they are doing things the way they know how and probably don't really want Americans taking over. So with these thoughts running through my head, I wasn't exactly motivated to jump in and try and help. That plus I hadn't had the first clue on how to build a house, so I was completely out of my element.
So we spent the whole day just kind of doing odd and ends kind of jobs. I was kind of exhausted, and felt kind of suffocated. Not only because it was 110 degrees outside but because there were 26 of us Americans and probably 8 or 9 Haitian workers al in the same area all trying to work on the same two houses. Those of us who weren't really good at anything yet were just kind of floating around watching the others of us who actually knew what they were doing. Not gonna lie, this was probably my least favorite work day.......thank goodness it got better from here!! lol
I wasn't angry, I figured it would take a few days to kind of find our niche and figure out what was going on. Plus I kept thinking, gosh, it is so American of me to want this whole thing to be organized and structured and efficient.....I need to just stop stressing while I'm here and be more like the haitians. lol
For lunch we had Humanitarian meals ready to eat (MRE's)....they were made for people to eat and stay full for the whole day. And boy, did it fill me up. The consitency was more like baby food, and if you were given the opportunity to eat one in the states you would probably be like no thanks, but when you're hungry after working really hard, anything tastes good. The only thing about MRE's, is that they sit pretty hard in your stomach, so you kind of regret it later. lol.
After lunch it was back to work. We were all really tired, but kept going. One girl on our team had to sit down and she started feeling really light headed and dizzy. So a group of about 4 of us decided to go back to camp and kind of help her feel better. I wasn't feeling so hot either, I think it was a mix of the sun, heat, lack of sleep, and the MRE....lol. So when we got back to camp we helped the girl who was feeling sick into a nice cold shower and she immediately started to feel better.
That afternoon we just sort of hung around until the rest of the group got back. My friend Steph, Lauren, and myself used my phone to call our friend Haley, and then I let Steph call her parents and then I called mine. I didn't even know that I could call internationally, but I was in my tent and my phone started ringing and I was like, oh I guess my phone works! But I only used it once....due to an incident that happened later in the week.....
That night before dinner I got into conversation with Warren, one of the guys from the World Race team. He had just gotten back from his 11 countries in 11 months mission trip through World Race, a branch of the organization Adventures in Missions....I was really curious about World Race, since that sounds like something I might want to do someday. And after talking to him about it, I got even more excited about it.....we will see what the future brings!!!
Tuesday night was our first church experience. Girls had to wear skirts, and guys had to wear khakis. It was super hot even though it was dark.....but I have never experienced worship like this. Children were singing at the top of their lungs and raising their hands, it was so ironic. Once again, I was surprised to see the amount of joy that was coming from these people!! They sang the song "How great is our God", and it was really cool because the whole church was singing the same tune, and even though some were singing in Creole, and others in English, and others in German, we were all praising the same God. It gave me goosebumps :)
So we spent the whole day just kind of doing odd and ends kind of jobs. I was kind of exhausted, and felt kind of suffocated. Not only because it was 110 degrees outside but because there were 26 of us Americans and probably 8 or 9 Haitian workers al in the same area all trying to work on the same two houses. Those of us who weren't really good at anything yet were just kind of floating around watching the others of us who actually knew what they were doing. Not gonna lie, this was probably my least favorite work day.......thank goodness it got better from here!! lol
I wasn't angry, I figured it would take a few days to kind of find our niche and figure out what was going on. Plus I kept thinking, gosh, it is so American of me to want this whole thing to be organized and structured and efficient.....I need to just stop stressing while I'm here and be more like the haitians. lol
For lunch we had Humanitarian meals ready to eat (MRE's)....they were made for people to eat and stay full for the whole day. And boy, did it fill me up. The consitency was more like baby food, and if you were given the opportunity to eat one in the states you would probably be like no thanks, but when you're hungry after working really hard, anything tastes good. The only thing about MRE's, is that they sit pretty hard in your stomach, so you kind of regret it later. lol.
After lunch it was back to work. We were all really tired, but kept going. One girl on our team had to sit down and she started feeling really light headed and dizzy. So a group of about 4 of us decided to go back to camp and kind of help her feel better. I wasn't feeling so hot either, I think it was a mix of the sun, heat, lack of sleep, and the MRE....lol. So when we got back to camp we helped the girl who was feeling sick into a nice cold shower and she immediately started to feel better.
That afternoon we just sort of hung around until the rest of the group got back. My friend Steph, Lauren, and myself used my phone to call our friend Haley, and then I let Steph call her parents and then I called mine. I didn't even know that I could call internationally, but I was in my tent and my phone started ringing and I was like, oh I guess my phone works! But I only used it once....due to an incident that happened later in the week.....
That night before dinner I got into conversation with Warren, one of the guys from the World Race team. He had just gotten back from his 11 countries in 11 months mission trip through World Race, a branch of the organization Adventures in Missions....I was really curious about World Race, since that sounds like something I might want to do someday. And after talking to him about it, I got even more excited about it.....we will see what the future brings!!!
Tuesday night was our first church experience. Girls had to wear skirts, and guys had to wear khakis. It was super hot even though it was dark.....but I have never experienced worship like this. Children were singing at the top of their lungs and raising their hands, it was so ironic. Once again, I was surprised to see the amount of joy that was coming from these people!! They sang the song "How great is our God", and it was really cool because the whole church was singing the same tune, and even though some were singing in Creole, and others in English, and others in German, we were all praising the same God. It gave me goosebumps :)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
.......continued from previous post....
so getting to our beach property camp site which was our home for two weeks took roughly around two-ish hours. We were all sweating like crazy on the bus because there was little ventilation through the tiny windows......it got crazy dark shortly after we started driving so we didn't get to see much of Port au Prince. After the initial chattyness of the excitement after everyone got on the bus, it was pretty quiet. We were all just really tired and all probably had a million thoughts racing through our minds.
Once we got to our camp, Mary Yve, the lady that cooked all of our meals while we were there, had made us a lovely meal. Shortly after, members from another team that were staying at the camp (from World Race/ Adventures in Missions) had just returned from church that evening. We had a short little meet and greet, and most of us just went to bed.
I remember laying in the tent that night... I shared a North face tent with my friends, Lauren and Steph....but anyway, I remember being so ridiculously hot that I was like what the heck was I thinking?? Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night, nor the first couple of nights because of the heat.
Monday, June 7,
Kim woke us up around 5:15am.......and the sun had already risen!! I was really tired because I hadnt slept at all the night before, and I'm not much of a morning person anyway. We had our first meal in the daylight, so we could actually see what we were eating, lol. Rice pudding and bread. Mmmm so good!! And I'm not being sarcastic either......the food there is actually really really good!! I held an open mind the entire time i was there.....I never ate anything I didn't like! After breakfast, we all piled onto the bus that had brought us to the camp the night before, except this time there were 26 of us (our team plus the World Race team plus two other girls from Germany). I was already sweating like crazy, there was no escaping the heat. It was only like 6:30 am and already it was scorchingly hot!!! I remember TJ from the World Race team had come up with a good motto for the week......"Choose it". Meaning, you may find yourself it a crappy situation, but ultimately you can choose how to react to it. Are you going to be testy about it, or are you just going to let it slide off your back and be ok with it. That phrase stuck with me the whole week.....actually kept my spirits up!! I told myself, I'm not going to let petty things like being so hot and sweaty and gross or being dirty bother me. This is all part of the experience, so I'm just going to embrace the heat, and be thankful for the cold showers :)
So we got to the orphanage around 7am and Renee, one of the missionaries at Mission of Hope (her and her husband, Lex who was also the pastor of the church WERE Mission of hope basically), started telling us what we would be doing each day, building houses in the village across the highway from the orphanage. A few of us chose to stay at the orphanage with the kids in the morning. There were three of us from our team, one from the World Race team, and Kristina, one of the girls from Germany who stayed at the orphanage. It was pretty low key, which was good for me for the first day. We just kinda hung out with the kids, played hand games (which they love) and got to know each other, as well as a couple of the older women who could speak some english who were there taking care of the babies.
Mid morning, the kids had to go to school so there wasn't really much for us to do at the orphanage. So we crossed the highway and headed into the jungle to the village where houses were being built. I was surprised at how hard the other teams were working! I almost felt bad for having to be able to take it easy in the morning.....don't get me wrong, hanging with the kids was still pretty exhausting! Since mostly everybody who was working on the houses already had jobs, we didn't really have anything to do except observe really, or play with some of the kids that were hanging around the houses in the village.
We ended the day at about 4pm, everyone was so tired!! We went back to camp and had to organize all of our stuff we brought down (including supplies, donated clothes and shoes, gifts for the kids, food,, etc. into piles. So that took probably about a half hour, and then we all could do whatever until dinner. I chose to take advantage of the shower.....I have never appreciated a cold shower so much in my life. The whole time I was in the shower i was thanking God that He provided us with such amazing accomodations at the camp. We had two toilets and two showers for each gender. And we could even flush our toilet paper!!! (lol we weren't allowed to flush our toilet paper in Honduras, so I was expecting it to be the same in Haiti).
So cold showers and regular toilets were a saving grace for sure.
That night we had chicken pot pie, and by dinnertime everybody was so hungry!!! It was probably the best meal I have had in a long time, no joke. Food tastes so much better after you've had a hard day's work! After dinner we all sat around and talked about things we've learned and reactions to the day and such, and then Caleb, one of the guys from our team played his guitar as we sang worship songs. It was really cool, singing always brings a group together :) After that it was about 9:00....and we were all ready for bed. But again, i did not sleep well. I'm a picky sleeper I guess, my body just can't sleep if its not at a certain comfort level. It must have taken me like 4 hours to fall asleep......and even then, once someone started snoring, or a rooster crowed, or a donkey squeeled I would wake up. lol and trust me, that happened a lot. Haha I look back on it now and laugh.....
....well thats all for now.....Tuesday June 8 will come next!!!
Sarah C.
so getting to our beach property camp site which was our home for two weeks took roughly around two-ish hours. We were all sweating like crazy on the bus because there was little ventilation through the tiny windows......it got crazy dark shortly after we started driving so we didn't get to see much of Port au Prince. After the initial chattyness of the excitement after everyone got on the bus, it was pretty quiet. We were all just really tired and all probably had a million thoughts racing through our minds.
Once we got to our camp, Mary Yve, the lady that cooked all of our meals while we were there, had made us a lovely meal. Shortly after, members from another team that were staying at the camp (from World Race/ Adventures in Missions) had just returned from church that evening. We had a short little meet and greet, and most of us just went to bed.
I remember laying in the tent that night... I shared a North face tent with my friends, Lauren and Steph....but anyway, I remember being so ridiculously hot that I was like what the heck was I thinking?? Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night, nor the first couple of nights because of the heat.
Monday, June 7,
Kim woke us up around 5:15am.......and the sun had already risen!! I was really tired because I hadnt slept at all the night before, and I'm not much of a morning person anyway. We had our first meal in the daylight, so we could actually see what we were eating, lol. Rice pudding and bread. Mmmm so good!! And I'm not being sarcastic either......the food there is actually really really good!! I held an open mind the entire time i was there.....I never ate anything I didn't like! After breakfast, we all piled onto the bus that had brought us to the camp the night before, except this time there were 26 of us (our team plus the World Race team plus two other girls from Germany). I was already sweating like crazy, there was no escaping the heat. It was only like 6:30 am and already it was scorchingly hot!!! I remember TJ from the World Race team had come up with a good motto for the week......"Choose it". Meaning, you may find yourself it a crappy situation, but ultimately you can choose how to react to it. Are you going to be testy about it, or are you just going to let it slide off your back and be ok with it. That phrase stuck with me the whole week.....actually kept my spirits up!! I told myself, I'm not going to let petty things like being so hot and sweaty and gross or being dirty bother me. This is all part of the experience, so I'm just going to embrace the heat, and be thankful for the cold showers :)
So we got to the orphanage around 7am and Renee, one of the missionaries at Mission of Hope (her and her husband, Lex who was also the pastor of the church WERE Mission of hope basically), started telling us what we would be doing each day, building houses in the village across the highway from the orphanage. A few of us chose to stay at the orphanage with the kids in the morning. There were three of us from our team, one from the World Race team, and Kristina, one of the girls from Germany who stayed at the orphanage. It was pretty low key, which was good for me for the first day. We just kinda hung out with the kids, played hand games (which they love) and got to know each other, as well as a couple of the older women who could speak some english who were there taking care of the babies.
Mid morning, the kids had to go to school so there wasn't really much for us to do at the orphanage. So we crossed the highway and headed into the jungle to the village where houses were being built. I was surprised at how hard the other teams were working! I almost felt bad for having to be able to take it easy in the morning.....don't get me wrong, hanging with the kids was still pretty exhausting! Since mostly everybody who was working on the houses already had jobs, we didn't really have anything to do except observe really, or play with some of the kids that were hanging around the houses in the village.
We ended the day at about 4pm, everyone was so tired!! We went back to camp and had to organize all of our stuff we brought down (including supplies, donated clothes and shoes, gifts for the kids, food,, etc. into piles. So that took probably about a half hour, and then we all could do whatever until dinner. I chose to take advantage of the shower.....I have never appreciated a cold shower so much in my life. The whole time I was in the shower i was thanking God that He provided us with such amazing accomodations at the camp. We had two toilets and two showers for each gender. And we could even flush our toilet paper!!! (lol we weren't allowed to flush our toilet paper in Honduras, so I was expecting it to be the same in Haiti).
So cold showers and regular toilets were a saving grace for sure.
That night we had chicken pot pie, and by dinnertime everybody was so hungry!!! It was probably the best meal I have had in a long time, no joke. Food tastes so much better after you've had a hard day's work! After dinner we all sat around and talked about things we've learned and reactions to the day and such, and then Caleb, one of the guys from our team played his guitar as we sang worship songs. It was really cool, singing always brings a group together :) After that it was about 9:00....and we were all ready for bed. But again, i did not sleep well. I'm a picky sleeper I guess, my body just can't sleep if its not at a certain comfort level. It must have taken me like 4 hours to fall asleep......and even then, once someone started snoring, or a rooster crowed, or a donkey squeeled I would wake up. lol and trust me, that happened a lot. Haha I look back on it now and laugh.....
....well thats all for now.....Tuesday June 8 will come next!!!
Sarah C.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Home!
Bonswa friends and family! We are home! With so many stories to share......I'm not even sure where to even begin. I guess at the beginning right?? haha. Well let's see, it was such a long time ago but I'll try to do my best to capture everything.....
June 5th/ 6th
We met at the Chapel at around 2am to head to Detroit airport. We were all so pumped! On our way it started raining pretty hard, actually we found out that earlier there had been a tornado in Toledo, so we were driving through the remainder of it. It was kind of nerve wracking but we made it through :) We got to Detroit around 5am and immediately got in line to get our boarding passes. After that we went through customs and security and all that good stuff. By the time we got to our gate to sit and wait for our plane and grab a bite to eat it was probably around 6:15 am. Our flight to Miami took off around 7:45am......and landing in Miami was so cool! We saw the weee little island that in January we were riding scooters down those Miami streets on our Campus Focus Florida trip......haha who woulda thought I would be in Miami 5 months later en route to Haiti??
Miami airport was so hugeee and there was so many little shops and restaurants......it was like a gigantic mall. It felt like we walked forever to get from the terminal where we landed to where our gate for our next plane was. Once we got there we put all of our carryon stuff in one area. At that point, many of us were hungry, and some just wanted to sleep. So some of us stayed with our stuff while others went to find food. The next four hours were filled with sleeping, journaling, talking, eating, playing cards, and of course, anticipation!!!
Our flight to Port au Prince got delayed about an hour and a half....so by the time we boarded we were just ready to be there already. But once we got on the plane, we sat on the runway for probably a good half hour. That put us into Port au Prince probably two hours behind. Landing in Port was so cool though!! There were mountains everywhere and if you looked out the window you could see just all of the destruction from the earthquake. It was like looking at a picture from Google maps......it just didn't seem real yet. I wasn't able to get any pictures because I actually wasn't sitting by a window, but from where I was sitting I could still get a bit of a view.
When we walked off the plane through the terminal you could immediately feel the heat. We had to walk to another sort of warehouse building to claim our luggage. We were all kind of nervous, because we heards stories about how crazy the airport was from those of our friends from Campus Focus who had been there before. But actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was crazy hot, and a bit chaotic, but overall everything went rather smoothly. Baggage claim was a bit crazy too.....they throw all of the luggage in a massive pile, and you have to get a cart and try and pull your luggage out quickly. It sort of reminded me of that scene in Disney's Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan where she tries to get her luggage out of the heap.
Haha anyway, so once we all got our luggage we had to make our way outside the airport to find our ride. While we were walking, Haitians would try to come up to you and help you carry your bags so that you would give them money, but we were instructed to say "no, no" if they tried to grab it from us. When we walked outside there were people everywhere. I can't imagine being by myself, it would be kinda scary. But Kim and Stephanie and Caleb knew who to look for since they had been there before, so we all just followed them. Once we found our guy, "Big" was his name, he yelled in Creole at all the haitians who were tryin to help us, and so they all left us alone after that. Haha. Next task.....crossing the street.
In Haiti, you have to be super careful when crossing the street, because I guess the rule is, if you hit someone when you're driving, you're supposed to just drive away. Cars apparently have the right of way, and nobody is shy when they drive. People just sort of push there way through, so theres a good chance of accidents occuring, but its every man for himself. There is constantly honking going on and traffic everywhere.....its madness, sheer madness. I would never be able to drive there.
We all safely were able to cross the street with all of our luggage and we made our way to this giant white bus that would be our transport to our camp to Grand Goave. It was a nice bus....I think it was donated to Mission of Hope. We all loaded our stuff and got on the bus. First impression.....SOO HOT. We were all dripping with sweat. It was starting to get dark as we were driving to Grand Goave. It was only like 545pm but it gets dark around 6pm there. So we really didn't get to see all that much of Port au Prince from the ground since we had gotten in pretty late and it was getting dark. But we saw enough.
It was hard for me not to drop my jaw at what we saw.......there were some parts where it was like you couldn't tell where the rubble stopped and the tent shelters began. Everything was just so packed in, like sardines. It was hard not to feel sad at what we were seeing. There were so many thoughts running through my head.......how did this country get like this....so impovershed...even before the earthquake? How in the world is this going to be cleaned up?? And what the heck am I doing here? How in the world are we supposed to help this??? Where do we even start? So many thoughts, and emotions. I was mostly sad, but angry too....I don't understand how the rest of the world could let this country get as bad as it has.
And I couldn't help but feel hopeless for this country. I remember thinking how could anyone live like this??? But after living there for two weeks, there's still just something about Haiti, it's the joy of the people, that make it possible. I've never experienced so much joy from people as I did from Haitians. It makes you think.......here in America we have everything we need, and are packed full to the brim of just stuff. And yet it seems like we are never happy, like weare always wanting something more than what we have. In Haiti life is so much simpler. People aren't even fully dressed, and some don't even know where their next meal is coming from and still you see so many toothless grins and laughing children. Every haitian you pass greets you with a friendly "Bon jou" or "Bon swa" depending on the time of day.....ha. you would look like an idiot if you said "Hi" to every person you passed here in the United States.
Well thats all for now......more to come later!! By the way.....our team leader, Kim Conrad mainatained a blog while we were in Haiti and brought her laptop so she could update frequently......its kimconrad.blogspot.com........she did a good job at giving the details of our days......her and four others of our team are still down there until July 5th.....so please keep them in your prayers!!!
Peace and Love
Sarah
June 5th/ 6th
We met at the Chapel at around 2am to head to Detroit airport. We were all so pumped! On our way it started raining pretty hard, actually we found out that earlier there had been a tornado in Toledo, so we were driving through the remainder of it. It was kind of nerve wracking but we made it through :) We got to Detroit around 5am and immediately got in line to get our boarding passes. After that we went through customs and security and all that good stuff. By the time we got to our gate to sit and wait for our plane and grab a bite to eat it was probably around 6:15 am. Our flight to Miami took off around 7:45am......and landing in Miami was so cool! We saw the weee little island that in January we were riding scooters down those Miami streets on our Campus Focus Florida trip......haha who woulda thought I would be in Miami 5 months later en route to Haiti??
Miami airport was so hugeee and there was so many little shops and restaurants......it was like a gigantic mall. It felt like we walked forever to get from the terminal where we landed to where our gate for our next plane was. Once we got there we put all of our carryon stuff in one area. At that point, many of us were hungry, and some just wanted to sleep. So some of us stayed with our stuff while others went to find food. The next four hours were filled with sleeping, journaling, talking, eating, playing cards, and of course, anticipation!!!
Our flight to Port au Prince got delayed about an hour and a half....so by the time we boarded we were just ready to be there already. But once we got on the plane, we sat on the runway for probably a good half hour. That put us into Port au Prince probably two hours behind. Landing in Port was so cool though!! There were mountains everywhere and if you looked out the window you could see just all of the destruction from the earthquake. It was like looking at a picture from Google maps......it just didn't seem real yet. I wasn't able to get any pictures because I actually wasn't sitting by a window, but from where I was sitting I could still get a bit of a view.
When we walked off the plane through the terminal you could immediately feel the heat. We had to walk to another sort of warehouse building to claim our luggage. We were all kind of nervous, because we heards stories about how crazy the airport was from those of our friends from Campus Focus who had been there before. But actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was crazy hot, and a bit chaotic, but overall everything went rather smoothly. Baggage claim was a bit crazy too.....they throw all of the luggage in a massive pile, and you have to get a cart and try and pull your luggage out quickly. It sort of reminded me of that scene in Disney's Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan where she tries to get her luggage out of the heap.
Haha anyway, so once we all got our luggage we had to make our way outside the airport to find our ride. While we were walking, Haitians would try to come up to you and help you carry your bags so that you would give them money, but we were instructed to say "no, no" if they tried to grab it from us. When we walked outside there were people everywhere. I can't imagine being by myself, it would be kinda scary. But Kim and Stephanie and Caleb knew who to look for since they had been there before, so we all just followed them. Once we found our guy, "Big" was his name, he yelled in Creole at all the haitians who were tryin to help us, and so they all left us alone after that. Haha. Next task.....crossing the street.
In Haiti, you have to be super careful when crossing the street, because I guess the rule is, if you hit someone when you're driving, you're supposed to just drive away. Cars apparently have the right of way, and nobody is shy when they drive. People just sort of push there way through, so theres a good chance of accidents occuring, but its every man for himself. There is constantly honking going on and traffic everywhere.....its madness, sheer madness. I would never be able to drive there.
We all safely were able to cross the street with all of our luggage and we made our way to this giant white bus that would be our transport to our camp to Grand Goave. It was a nice bus....I think it was donated to Mission of Hope. We all loaded our stuff and got on the bus. First impression.....SOO HOT. We were all dripping with sweat. It was starting to get dark as we were driving to Grand Goave. It was only like 545pm but it gets dark around 6pm there. So we really didn't get to see all that much of Port au Prince from the ground since we had gotten in pretty late and it was getting dark. But we saw enough.
It was hard for me not to drop my jaw at what we saw.......there were some parts where it was like you couldn't tell where the rubble stopped and the tent shelters began. Everything was just so packed in, like sardines. It was hard not to feel sad at what we were seeing. There were so many thoughts running through my head.......how did this country get like this....so impovershed...even before the earthquake? How in the world is this going to be cleaned up?? And what the heck am I doing here? How in the world are we supposed to help this??? Where do we even start? So many thoughts, and emotions. I was mostly sad, but angry too....I don't understand how the rest of the world could let this country get as bad as it has.
And I couldn't help but feel hopeless for this country. I remember thinking how could anyone live like this??? But after living there for two weeks, there's still just something about Haiti, it's the joy of the people, that make it possible. I've never experienced so much joy from people as I did from Haitians. It makes you think.......here in America we have everything we need, and are packed full to the brim of just stuff. And yet it seems like we are never happy, like weare always wanting something more than what we have. In Haiti life is so much simpler. People aren't even fully dressed, and some don't even know where their next meal is coming from and still you see so many toothless grins and laughing children. Every haitian you pass greets you with a friendly "Bon jou" or "Bon swa" depending on the time of day.....ha. you would look like an idiot if you said "Hi" to every person you passed here in the United States.
Well thats all for now......more to come later!! By the way.....our team leader, Kim Conrad mainatained a blog while we were in Haiti and brought her laptop so she could update frequently......its kimconrad.blogspot.com........she did a good job at giving the details of our days......her and four others of our team are still down there until July 5th.....so please keep them in your prayers!!!
Peace and Love
Sarah
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Haiti, here we come!
Ok, so we leave in approximatey 62 (ish) hours for detroit......(yes i actually took the time to count in my head the number of hours) lol. I'm way excited!! People keep asking me if I'm nervous, and surprisingly the answer is no. Atleast not yet anyway. I remember getting ready for Honduras and like up until the day before I didn't feel nervous either. It's cool how God can give you a peace about these things.
Yesterday we had sort of a "team hangout day" at my friend Steph's house. She has a pool :). It was great to just sort of chill before our big adventure, kinda casually get to know each other better. Although not all of us were present, I still got a good vibe from everybody. I think our team will mesh pretty well. We also put together little goodie bags for the kids that are at the orphanage in Grand Goave. Actually it was Steph's idea. She went down as part of the team over spring break and she said that most of the kids at the orphanage have no idea how old they are or even when their birthdays are. So she had a great idea of throwing the kids a birthday party!! So we are making them a cake and decorating with balloons and ribbons and giving them candy, glowsticks, noisemakers, sunglasses, and waterbottles. Steph said the kids absolutely LOVE sunglasses, so I'm sure they will be thrilled. Also, she said that when she was down there most of the kids had no way of carrying around water with them. So they would soak a rag and suck on it, or find anything they could use as a cup, like an old medicine bottle. So I can't wait to see their faces when we whip out water bottles for all of the kids!! Just goes to show you how much we take for granted......
Tonight is going to be fun/ interesting. Tonight is our first campus focus of the summer.....and afterwards our team has to bring all of our luggage to the chapel and pretty much open everyone's suitcases and shove in as much as we can into all our bags that will weigh no more than 50 lbs. This includes all of our own stuff we are bringing down, but also everyone's sleeping bags, donated clothes, toys, medical supplies, and tools such as shovels, pickaxes, hammers, drills, etc, not to mention the 60 water bottles that we are giving the kids. So needless to say it's gonna be like a giant puzzle, haha......i love puzzles!!
So after tonite our responsiblity is to not get sick or get ourselves into any life-threatening or health-threatening situations and get lots of sleep. lol......I should probably just lock myself in my room....haha just kidding. So prayers for health/ safety would be much appreciated :)
Well that's basically all for now. This is probably my last post seeing as how I probably won't have time before we leave to post again. I probably won't be able to post again until I return from Haiti, so this blog will probably start exploding with blogs and pictures soon after I return....
But thanks again for all of your prayers and support :) I can't wait to share my experience....
Until next time...
N'a wè pi ta (that's see you later in Creole)
Sarah C.
Yesterday we had sort of a "team hangout day" at my friend Steph's house. She has a pool :). It was great to just sort of chill before our big adventure, kinda casually get to know each other better. Although not all of us were present, I still got a good vibe from everybody. I think our team will mesh pretty well. We also put together little goodie bags for the kids that are at the orphanage in Grand Goave. Actually it was Steph's idea. She went down as part of the team over spring break and she said that most of the kids at the orphanage have no idea how old they are or even when their birthdays are. So she had a great idea of throwing the kids a birthday party!! So we are making them a cake and decorating with balloons and ribbons and giving them candy, glowsticks, noisemakers, sunglasses, and waterbottles. Steph said the kids absolutely LOVE sunglasses, so I'm sure they will be thrilled. Also, she said that when she was down there most of the kids had no way of carrying around water with them. So they would soak a rag and suck on it, or find anything they could use as a cup, like an old medicine bottle. So I can't wait to see their faces when we whip out water bottles for all of the kids!! Just goes to show you how much we take for granted......
Tonight is going to be fun/ interesting. Tonight is our first campus focus of the summer.....and afterwards our team has to bring all of our luggage to the chapel and pretty much open everyone's suitcases and shove in as much as we can into all our bags that will weigh no more than 50 lbs. This includes all of our own stuff we are bringing down, but also everyone's sleeping bags, donated clothes, toys, medical supplies, and tools such as shovels, pickaxes, hammers, drills, etc, not to mention the 60 water bottles that we are giving the kids. So needless to say it's gonna be like a giant puzzle, haha......i love puzzles!!
So after tonite our responsiblity is to not get sick or get ourselves into any life-threatening or health-threatening situations and get lots of sleep. lol......I should probably just lock myself in my room....haha just kidding. So prayers for health/ safety would be much appreciated :)
Well that's basically all for now. This is probably my last post seeing as how I probably won't have time before we leave to post again. I probably won't be able to post again until I return from Haiti, so this blog will probably start exploding with blogs and pictures soon after I return....
But thanks again for all of your prayers and support :) I can't wait to share my experience....
Until next time...
N'a wè pi ta (that's see you later in Creole)
Sarah C.
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