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 :)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
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.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Songs for Haiti...
Here are some more links for videos by various artists for Haiti
Come Together Now: A Song for Haiti from some of today's top christian artists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7v4_YHBSPc&feature=related
Young Artists for Haiti- Wavin' Flag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc
Somos el mundo por Haiti (We are the world in spanish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc
"Far Away" Music Video| Lecrae| (Haiti Relief) [OFFICIAL]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rerU_NYwD8
Tyler Ward- Tribute (A Song For Haiti)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Icfh1JxjRc
....these are all really really good :)
Peace,
Sarah
Come Together Now: A Song for Haiti from some of today's top christian artists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7v4_YHBSPc&feature=related
Young Artists for Haiti- Wavin' Flag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc
Somos el mundo por Haiti (We are the world in spanish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB7L1BIDELc
"Far Away" Music Video| Lecrae| (Haiti Relief) [OFFICIAL]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rerU_NYwD8
Tyler Ward- Tribute (A Song For Haiti)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Icfh1JxjRc
....these are all really really good :)
Peace,
Sarah
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A Mission of Hope...
Hello friends!! Thanks for checking out my blog!! As most of you know, I'll be leaving for Haiti in exactly 12 days! I can't believe it's actually happening......and how quickly it came up!
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined myself traveling to two different third world countries in a year! If you would have asked me a year ago what I thought about traveling to another country for missions I would have told you, "I'm not interested", point blank, no hesitation. But it's funny how God can change your heart if you let Him. I could go on forever about how God has set a change in me this past year, but I'll spare the novel. lol......just let me say, don't doubt God's capabilities, because anything is possible. Anything.
I first experienced a taste of missions when I traveled to Honduras for 10 days in December 2009, with a group of friends from the college ministry I am involved in called Campus Focus. This was the first time I had ever set foot outside the country, and first time I experienced a whole world different from my own. I remember seeing pictures of third world countries in geography textbooks throughout my years of school, but actually being in a third world country is totally different. It gave me an appreciation for what I had, and truly opened my eyes to how much we as Americans take what we have for granted. I was angry at first, angry at how truly selfish and ignorant our culture has become. In Honduras, time wasn't defined by schedules and clocks and appointments, or what have you. Time was defined by people. You didn't have to worry about having to end a conversation with someone because you were worried about getting an important text message or phone call, or missing a TV show. Not once in the 10 days I was in Honduras did I look at my cell phone. That's something that I miss, and can't wait to experience again in Haiti.
When I returned from Honduras, my life was completely changed. The way that I viewed my life, my outlook on life, my purpose in life, etc. Something else in me changed too. My whole life I felt like I belonged in little ole' Ohio. I was quite content in just staying in Hartville, Akron, wherever, and figured that would be where I would remain my entire life. When I got back from Honduras, I knew that my heart belonged elsewhere. Whether that be Honduras or some other country, I'm not sure. All I know is, while in Honduras, I felt so much more accomplished in the sense that I felt like I was actually DOING something to help the world. I knew that my purpose in life was to help people, not sit behind a desk staring into a computer, and definately NOT retail (lol). I feel like I belong somewhere where life is simple, and people matter, relationships matter, showing people God is what matters.
So, when the earthquake in Haiti happened, I felt God tugging on my heart once again. I didn't necessarily feel like I was supposed to get up and go to Haiti right away. I knew that if I were to go down there, I would be completely helpless and probably useless. There was just so much chaos going on, I figured it was best if I just waited and see if God opened another door, like He did for Honduras. And sure enough......
There were several students from Campus Focus who felt like they were being called to go down to Haiti shortly after the earthquake. Over our spring break, a group of about 12 students, led by one of the interns of Campus Focus, traveled to Grand Goave, Haiti (about an hour and a half drive from Port au Prince), at a Mission of Hope base. They had sent out several emails to several different organizations around Haiti, searching for an opportunity where their skills could be of use. Mission of Hope was one of the first to get back to them, and so they planned their trip and headed down. While they were down there, they helped rebuild part of the orphanage that was destroyed by the earthquake, as well as hung out with the kids at the orphanage. They also did a good job of making it possible for other Campus Focus teams to return to the site in the future. I had several friends that traveled on this trip, and so when they returned, I couldn't get enough of their pictures and their stories. I had been praying, and felt assured that if another opportunity to travel back to Haiti were to arise, I was going to take it.
Shortly after the team got back, Kim, the intern who took the first team down to Haiti, started making plans to take another team down during the summer. I was so excited, because I felt like this was the door being opened for me to go to Haiti. I had several conversations with Kim about this trip, so she knew I was for sure interested in being part of the team this summer. So as the end of the semester started coming to an end, more people had expressed interest, until about 14 of us committed to going to Haiti this summer. Out of those 14, four of those people are from the spring break team, and will be returning to Grand Goave for the second time. While those four will be staying in Haiti for a month, the rest of us will be there for two weeks.
So there you go. That's basically a short version of how the whole trip came about. I just want to thank all of those who have supported me financially and prayerfully for this trip. Thank you for being a part of this trip with me. I'm not sure exactly if I will be able to post on this blog while I'm in Haiti, but I plan on journaling every day and then posting on this blog on a day by day basis when I return with pictures and what I experienced while in Haiti!!
Meanwhile.....here's a link of a video of some of the Haitian workers at the Mission of Hope site in Grand Goave and their families singing the "We are The World' song that was first released by popular artists for Haiti back in January. Enjoy!!!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=426414507322&ref=nf
(hopefully the link works)
Peace,
Sarah C
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined myself traveling to two different third world countries in a year! If you would have asked me a year ago what I thought about traveling to another country for missions I would have told you, "I'm not interested", point blank, no hesitation. But it's funny how God can change your heart if you let Him. I could go on forever about how God has set a change in me this past year, but I'll spare the novel. lol......just let me say, don't doubt God's capabilities, because anything is possible. Anything.
I first experienced a taste of missions when I traveled to Honduras for 10 days in December 2009, with a group of friends from the college ministry I am involved in called Campus Focus. This was the first time I had ever set foot outside the country, and first time I experienced a whole world different from my own. I remember seeing pictures of third world countries in geography textbooks throughout my years of school, but actually being in a third world country is totally different. It gave me an appreciation for what I had, and truly opened my eyes to how much we as Americans take what we have for granted. I was angry at first, angry at how truly selfish and ignorant our culture has become. In Honduras, time wasn't defined by schedules and clocks and appointments, or what have you. Time was defined by people. You didn't have to worry about having to end a conversation with someone because you were worried about getting an important text message or phone call, or missing a TV show. Not once in the 10 days I was in Honduras did I look at my cell phone. That's something that I miss, and can't wait to experience again in Haiti.
When I returned from Honduras, my life was completely changed. The way that I viewed my life, my outlook on life, my purpose in life, etc. Something else in me changed too. My whole life I felt like I belonged in little ole' Ohio. I was quite content in just staying in Hartville, Akron, wherever, and figured that would be where I would remain my entire life. When I got back from Honduras, I knew that my heart belonged elsewhere. Whether that be Honduras or some other country, I'm not sure. All I know is, while in Honduras, I felt so much more accomplished in the sense that I felt like I was actually DOING something to help the world. I knew that my purpose in life was to help people, not sit behind a desk staring into a computer, and definately NOT retail (lol). I feel like I belong somewhere where life is simple, and people matter, relationships matter, showing people God is what matters.
So, when the earthquake in Haiti happened, I felt God tugging on my heart once again. I didn't necessarily feel like I was supposed to get up and go to Haiti right away. I knew that if I were to go down there, I would be completely helpless and probably useless. There was just so much chaos going on, I figured it was best if I just waited and see if God opened another door, like He did for Honduras. And sure enough......
There were several students from Campus Focus who felt like they were being called to go down to Haiti shortly after the earthquake. Over our spring break, a group of about 12 students, led by one of the interns of Campus Focus, traveled to Grand Goave, Haiti (about an hour and a half drive from Port au Prince), at a Mission of Hope base. They had sent out several emails to several different organizations around Haiti, searching for an opportunity where their skills could be of use. Mission of Hope was one of the first to get back to them, and so they planned their trip and headed down. While they were down there, they helped rebuild part of the orphanage that was destroyed by the earthquake, as well as hung out with the kids at the orphanage. They also did a good job of making it possible for other Campus Focus teams to return to the site in the future. I had several friends that traveled on this trip, and so when they returned, I couldn't get enough of their pictures and their stories. I had been praying, and felt assured that if another opportunity to travel back to Haiti were to arise, I was going to take it.
Shortly after the team got back, Kim, the intern who took the first team down to Haiti, started making plans to take another team down during the summer. I was so excited, because I felt like this was the door being opened for me to go to Haiti. I had several conversations with Kim about this trip, so she knew I was for sure interested in being part of the team this summer. So as the end of the semester started coming to an end, more people had expressed interest, until about 14 of us committed to going to Haiti this summer. Out of those 14, four of those people are from the spring break team, and will be returning to Grand Goave for the second time. While those four will be staying in Haiti for a month, the rest of us will be there for two weeks.
So there you go. That's basically a short version of how the whole trip came about. I just want to thank all of those who have supported me financially and prayerfully for this trip. Thank you for being a part of this trip with me. I'm not sure exactly if I will be able to post on this blog while I'm in Haiti, but I plan on journaling every day and then posting on this blog on a day by day basis when I return with pictures and what I experienced while in Haiti!!
Meanwhile.....here's a link of a video of some of the Haitian workers at the Mission of Hope site in Grand Goave and their families singing the "We are The World' song that was first released by popular artists for Haiti back in January. Enjoy!!!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=426414507322&ref=nf
(hopefully the link works)
Peace,
Sarah C
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