Last time I wrote a blog, I thought it would be my last. Little did I know that we were in for another day of memories. We left the island of la gonave with all of "our guys" waving goodbye, and yelling "blanc, blanc,blanc!" We laughed and kept yelling back "haitian, haitian". Jim Lang have DaDa his Michigan state hat, we all exchanged email addresses, hugged the boys a lot and got on the boat. This boat was not the same one we came in on....this boat was chartered, it was a private boat from world missions. When Freddy told me we were getting a private boat, I thought "sweet, its going to be nice". It was a larger version of what we came in on, wooden but this time it was a sail boat along with motors. One of the guys was steering it with a wooden rudder. But it was all built from things that they had on the boat. It was pretty cool, until it stopped in the middle of the ocean. It started back up but for a minute I tjoughy we would end up in guantameno bay. It was sad to day goodbye to the island.
We got to the resort and it was beautiful. We got a room got two, air conditioned, hot water for showers and a magnification view. We set out stuff down and before we could gather and get instructions from Freddy, wendell had grabbed his towel and was heading to the pool. Our instructions were easy.....relax, eat and drink. Something we all know how to do. Immediately we headed to the bar and let me tell you, those beers were the best beers I have ever tasted. We all sat around the bar laughed, talked about the trip and our new friendships and did just what Freddy told us to do....relax. we got hungry so we asked for a menu. Apparently, when we ask for the menu and had lunch we should've ordered dinner too because it took forever to get our lunch. I ordered some conch, or seveche. According to Paul it was like chewing on a bathing cap. After lunch we headed down to the beach, Susan and I stuck together while others read books or took a nap by the ocean. Our lounge chairs faced the ocean. I kept thinking we just came from an island that was suffering with no clean water but yet there was a whole ocean in front of us. Haitians don't bathe or go in the water because they are afraid of the water. A group of young haitian boys were at the resort with older white Canadian men. It was an orphanage, and it was so nice to see the smiles on these young boys. They seemed to just forget all their troubles and just enjoy the afternoon. We decided to meet for dinner at six. Steve and I sat outside and watched the sun set behind the island of la gonave. We looked at steves watch and it was close to six. He rushed to get a shower and I met him and the others for dinner. Little did we know that there was no need to rush, dinner did not come out for 2 1/2 hours!!! Yes you read that correctly.....2 1/2 hours....and wendell ordered spaghetti....not sure what took so long, but we chatted and laughed so hard!!! Wendell told us a story that he read that someone paid for a first class ticket for a pig, for some reason it hit us all hard and we all had tears coming down our eyes, especially wendell and Lang. After the long dinner, we went back to the room where really none of us slept....too anxious to begin our day of travel I guess. This morning we were all up at 5:15 or earlier depending on whether or not you slept, packed the pick up truck and headed to the airport....an hour and a half away. Paul, Wes, Jim Lang and Steve rode in the bed of the pickup with the luggage and the rest of us rode in the cab of the truck. Again haitians and Freddy drive crazy!!!! It's like playing chicken with motorcycles weaving in and out. We saw a school bus filled with haitians and three people on top of the roof of the bus!!! Freddy said the driver will get paid per person so they try to fit as many as they can. It is a lawless society. We saw kids dressed for school. Oh that was another interesting fact, school starts at 7, if you aren't there on time, they lock the gate. It's after a couple hours they will let the kids in, and the kids hang outside until they let them in. In the states that would never happen, kids would just skip school, but haitians understand the value of a good education.
We headed out on the plane, through customs Haiti to ft. Lauderdale on to Chicago. We knew the weather was not good and we have had very lengthy layovers but at 10:30pm we finally boarded our last leg of our flight to gr. We started at 9:30am ...we were 200 feet from landing and the pilot pulls up, white out conditions in grand rapids. He circles around a couple of time and still no visibility, they route us back to Chicago because now they are closing gr airport. It is 3:05am right now and we have rented a vehicle and the six of us are driving home. Thank god for Paul and his quick wit, he continues to make us laugh....although at this point all of have contributed to the laughter. Almost home....
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Planes, autos, and tap taps
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Haiti Lost and Found
Well, we are at the end of our week now....the end of the blogs. I may do one more as a wrap up and if anyone is interested in pictures they will be posted on facebook or we may have a picasa site too. So I will let everyone know. Today was another amazing day!! Before I forget to get this down, I have come down with a touch of some "issues"....without getting too graphic, stomach was not feeling the best. We have come with three doctors and I started an antibiotic yesterday and it worked like a charm. I took some amnodium AD but that just takes care of symptoms, the antibiotic that we got was to help kill the bacteria. So anyway, I am doing much better. I think someone else had a touch of something but otherwise we did great.
Yesterday Susan, along our travels had dropped her camera. She was on the 4-wheeler and it slipped out of her pocket. She was so bummed about it. Dada (pronounced Day day) told everyone that he knew (which is pretty much the whole island - everyone knows him) that there was a $50 reward for a green camera. He would drive by people - "$50, green camera". Susan thought for sure that it was gone for good, all of her pictures and some video gone. Today when we got to the church to install a few more filters, a young man came up to us and said that he had it. Freddy stepped in to interpret and the young man wanted the money then he was going to get the camera....Freddy said that aint happening. The man had said that he needed to pay the 2 kids that found it in order to get it...he was playing the middle man!! CLASSIC!!! He showed up with the camera finally and Susan gave him the money. She went through her pictures and they had only taken a picture of someone on the side street and a picture of their flip flops. So cool how this little island help spread the word of a lost camera. If it would have been dropped in Grand Rapids or even Lowell, it would have been gone forever.
Gauthier and I went to one of the first houses, along with Wes and installed a couple of them no problems. Others had to go to other houses and fix some of the ones that were not working properly. We came to find out that the aggregate was just not measured correctly and the sand was a little too fine. We walked up to the first house and who do we see.....Sporty and Buzz from the previous day! How cool that we are starting to recognize the kids, identified others that have received the filters, and strengthened these friendships. It was so hard to say goodbye to these people. We took a great group picture at the end that has everyone in it that helped us throughout the week. Dada, Aldo, Peter, Wesley, Michael, JeanMarie, and Jeantini. When we went in one of the houses, people are so passionate and excited about receiving the water that they were arguing with me and there was alot of yelling back and forth in french while I was in the middle. They werent necessarily angry with me, they just wanted their filters. They understand that this will change their lives. While I was trying to calm them down, explain to the woman of the house...I had a posse of about 5 kids holding my hands, it was awesome. Finally, Aldo stepped in to help me. They are very protective of us.
Last night we got to visit Dada's bakery that he owns and it was a steep incline and Aldo hung on to my arm and made sure that I didnt fall.
After the installations, me, wes and Freddy went up in the mountains to install a water filter for a missionary that was living up there. WHAT A CRAZY RIDE!!!! we went on the 4-wheeler. I was behind Freddy (who is 65 years old) and Wes was on another 4 wheeler. Laura and her husband (the missionaries - she is american and he is haitian) were on a motorcycle. Think of the roads that i have been explaining and make them 4x's the vision that is in your head...that is what I road on. I am sure that I will be sore in teh morning, but what a view that I experienced from the mountains. Again we passed by villages, similiard to what we have gone through on a daily basis, but much more sparce. We passed many animals and as we continued to move up the mountain there was tons adn tons of dust from the dryness. We were absolutely covered in dust. As we drove by, it looked like it had snowed thats how covered in dust everything is. Rainy season begins at the end of the month. Much needed. As Freddy and I began the 18 mile drive up the mountain, he explained things, we laughed and for much of the time we just spent taking in the beauty of the ocean and the scenery. It was hot, 90's plus, but we had sunscreen, hats and a lot of water with us. Yes I am darker than when I came here! LOL. When we finally got up there - it took us an hour and a half to go 18 miles, we saw Laura's house and installed the water filter. She was so thankful!! It will give her much needed health. Her house was very nice - they were in the process of building it and we saw a haitian scaffold - 2 mohaganey sticks and 2 sticking out of the wall - thats it. crazy!!! When Freddy got off the 4 wheeler we were laughing at how much dust was on him. He said that the only thing that didnt have any dust on his was 2 circles on his back, I was leaning up against him. Again we have had many laughs. and he is a pastor!!!! this group of people were great!!! LIFE LONG Friendships!!! We went and saw the school that Laura and her husband were building. And I use building very loosely. It was a school that had 9 rooms in it and teachers will make $90 a month and that is considered a very good wage. This was a building made from palm tree leaves woven together. The whole things was built like that. and it was SMALL, but they were proud of it and it will provide kids with a learning arena.
They had a crop area that was primed and ready for seeds to grow for fresh vegetables and they even had a 3 stall latrine. I believe they will be ready by fall.
We headed back down the mountain and did i mention that I really think I will be sore tomorrow. It was a rough ride, but again Freddy helped me pass the time with great stories about times in Haiti and all of his adventures. He first came to Haiti in '75, I wish I could take him home with me in a bottle, he has amazing stories, he should really write a book.
As we wind down our amazing experience, I cant even put into words what this trip has meant to me. I have told steve that he can count on me to help him with some administrative needs or really whatever he wants me to do. I feel good about what I did here knowing that these filters can change lives forever. We met a familiy today that the baby was 3 months old and she was suffering from dehydration because she had diarehea, we brought her to the church and one of the doctors went to the hospital to give her some medicine. When she came to the church, the baby was swaddled in a blanket, mom sat down and unwrapped her and put her hand up to the babies nose.....she was checking to see if she was breathing. This is a daily occurance here. Susan had someone offer her her baby to take home wiht her. These people are struggling but hopefully some will struggle less. They want more, they just have no opportunities here.
Love hugs and kisses to all!
Yesterday Susan, along our travels had dropped her camera. She was on the 4-wheeler and it slipped out of her pocket. She was so bummed about it. Dada (pronounced Day day) told everyone that he knew (which is pretty much the whole island - everyone knows him) that there was a $50 reward for a green camera. He would drive by people - "$50, green camera". Susan thought for sure that it was gone for good, all of her pictures and some video gone. Today when we got to the church to install a few more filters, a young man came up to us and said that he had it. Freddy stepped in to interpret and the young man wanted the money then he was going to get the camera....Freddy said that aint happening. The man had said that he needed to pay the 2 kids that found it in order to get it...he was playing the middle man!! CLASSIC!!! He showed up with the camera finally and Susan gave him the money. She went through her pictures and they had only taken a picture of someone on the side street and a picture of their flip flops. So cool how this little island help spread the word of a lost camera. If it would have been dropped in Grand Rapids or even Lowell, it would have been gone forever.
Gauthier and I went to one of the first houses, along with Wes and installed a couple of them no problems. Others had to go to other houses and fix some of the ones that were not working properly. We came to find out that the aggregate was just not measured correctly and the sand was a little too fine. We walked up to the first house and who do we see.....Sporty and Buzz from the previous day! How cool that we are starting to recognize the kids, identified others that have received the filters, and strengthened these friendships. It was so hard to say goodbye to these people. We took a great group picture at the end that has everyone in it that helped us throughout the week. Dada, Aldo, Peter, Wesley, Michael, JeanMarie, and Jeantini. When we went in one of the houses, people are so passionate and excited about receiving the water that they were arguing with me and there was alot of yelling back and forth in french while I was in the middle. They werent necessarily angry with me, they just wanted their filters. They understand that this will change their lives. While I was trying to calm them down, explain to the woman of the house...I had a posse of about 5 kids holding my hands, it was awesome. Finally, Aldo stepped in to help me. They are very protective of us.
Last night we got to visit Dada's bakery that he owns and it was a steep incline and Aldo hung on to my arm and made sure that I didnt fall.
After the installations, me, wes and Freddy went up in the mountains to install a water filter for a missionary that was living up there. WHAT A CRAZY RIDE!!!! we went on the 4-wheeler. I was behind Freddy (who is 65 years old) and Wes was on another 4 wheeler. Laura and her husband (the missionaries - she is american and he is haitian) were on a motorcycle. Think of the roads that i have been explaining and make them 4x's the vision that is in your head...that is what I road on. I am sure that I will be sore in teh morning, but what a view that I experienced from the mountains. Again we passed by villages, similiard to what we have gone through on a daily basis, but much more sparce. We passed many animals and as we continued to move up the mountain there was tons adn tons of dust from the dryness. We were absolutely covered in dust. As we drove by, it looked like it had snowed thats how covered in dust everything is. Rainy season begins at the end of the month. Much needed. As Freddy and I began the 18 mile drive up the mountain, he explained things, we laughed and for much of the time we just spent taking in the beauty of the ocean and the scenery. It was hot, 90's plus, but we had sunscreen, hats and a lot of water with us. Yes I am darker than when I came here! LOL. When we finally got up there - it took us an hour and a half to go 18 miles, we saw Laura's house and installed the water filter. She was so thankful!! It will give her much needed health. Her house was very nice - they were in the process of building it and we saw a haitian scaffold - 2 mohaganey sticks and 2 sticking out of the wall - thats it. crazy!!! When Freddy got off the 4 wheeler we were laughing at how much dust was on him. He said that the only thing that didnt have any dust on his was 2 circles on his back, I was leaning up against him. Again we have had many laughs. and he is a pastor!!!! this group of people were great!!! LIFE LONG Friendships!!! We went and saw the school that Laura and her husband were building. And I use building very loosely. It was a school that had 9 rooms in it and teachers will make $90 a month and that is considered a very good wage. This was a building made from palm tree leaves woven together. The whole things was built like that. and it was SMALL, but they were proud of it and it will provide kids with a learning arena.
They had a crop area that was primed and ready for seeds to grow for fresh vegetables and they even had a 3 stall latrine. I believe they will be ready by fall.
We headed back down the mountain and did i mention that I really think I will be sore tomorrow. It was a rough ride, but again Freddy helped me pass the time with great stories about times in Haiti and all of his adventures. He first came to Haiti in '75, I wish I could take him home with me in a bottle, he has amazing stories, he should really write a book.
As we wind down our amazing experience, I cant even put into words what this trip has meant to me. I have told steve that he can count on me to help him with some administrative needs or really whatever he wants me to do. I feel good about what I did here knowing that these filters can change lives forever. We met a familiy today that the baby was 3 months old and she was suffering from dehydration because she had diarehea, we brought her to the church and one of the doctors went to the hospital to give her some medicine. When she came to the church, the baby was swaddled in a blanket, mom sat down and unwrapped her and put her hand up to the babies nose.....she was checking to see if she was breathing. This is a daily occurance here. Susan had someone offer her her baby to take home wiht her. These people are struggling but hopefully some will struggle less. They want more, they just have no opportunities here.
Love hugs and kisses to all!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Buzz and Sporty
So last night we were all sitting around chit chatting and Susan had told me that she had done some research on Haiti and read something about witch doctors and voodoo. Steve started the conversation and I , as were the others completely enthralled in learning more. Steve had said that when he was here after the earthquake that he had this one girl come in with a broken arm. Her family had splinted the break with tree bark wrapped up to secure her arm. When steve had taken it off to take a look at the arm, he noticed that there was leaf paste painted on her arm indicating that she had already seen a witch doctor for a cure. CRAZY!!! So then Freddy came in and gave us the low down on the history. Freddy is our go-to guy....I cant remember if I already talked about him or not (I have yet to read any of my blogs, I am just basically barfing out information and then letting others get on the computer) but Freddy has been coming here I believe since the 80's or early 90's as a missionary. He is from Alabama and pastors a church there. He spends a great deal of time here and among the Haitians and has even lived here for a few years with his wife. He is an amazing man!!!! Hilarious and full of stories - he has even played football for university of alabama under Bear Bryant....very cool!!! So he began in his very southern accent. He told us stories of people around the island that are considered witch doctors, he said at night you can sometimes hear the drums beating from the mountains and he even told us about some hexes that are put on people. I literally hung on every word, I was fascinated by his words.....and totally freaked out!! LOL...He told us "How to make a zombie"....here's the recipe....Tim you will love this one....take a puffer fish (because they have poisen in their system), they (witch doctors) dry the fish out, when it is dry they crush it up into a powder and sprinkle it on someones food or drink....apparently your heart rate drops to the point of death (a real doctor will in fact pronounce you dead). Cemetaries are above ground here (I have pictures), they bury tthe dead in the cemetary and then they come back alive out of the tombstone.... CRAZY!!!!!!! Freddy said these people just walk around like they are drugged up or dazed... He told us about how if you drive by certain houses (witch doctor houses) you will see personal items hanging up - those are hexes on those people that the belongings belong to. NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES ALL THIS.... but they do believe that voodoo occurs and that if you are practising voodoo you are worshipping the devil. This is a very religious island and they all have strong beliefs, I cant even articulate it all.
Ok so now today....my team consisted of me, Wes, and Steve.....GREAT TEAM GREAT DAY!!!! our interpretor was again Aldo - I wish I could pack him away in my suitcase - I have already friended him on facebook and do I dare say I will again see him.....picture Cuba Gooding Junior...Aldo is just so much fun. Our "runner" to go back and get the supplies was Michael - he is the one that walks around wiht a CD player that he traded for a time when he worked. If these "kids" (they are 24 and 23 respectively) come home with money in their pocket, they have family members waiting for their share and they have a difficult time saying no. They want to help their families but they also want to better themselves....its a very fine line. So off we went. I should say that after yesterday, we have discovered that many of the filter and aggregate are not working the way that they should. We are having success but some we are having to dump out and start again (I think I said that in a previous blog...sorry). Our group from yesterday was 5 for 5. So with the switching of the groups, the pressure was on to succeed. We went to the first house - I kept picking on Wes and Steve and kept saying "ok if you guys dont put it in correctly, dont blame me....I had perfect success". The minute we walked out of the church (where we begin every day - you saw the picture on facebook) and around the corner, 2 children walked with us and held my hand.....too sweet!!! One had a shirt on that said "sporty" and one had a buzz lightyear sweatshirt on. Sporty had shorts on, Buzz had nothing on the bottom. These 2 little boys were so stinking cute!!! We took tons of pictures of them. While I was laughing and taking pictures of the boys Wes and Steve installed the water filter....NO FLOW came out. Seriously....they didnt have any water coming out. Failure :( We laughed a little bit about how i wasnt involved in it, and tried together to come up with a solution. We decided that we needed to come back later. The family had to go and get more water so we could try it again and that would take them time. Each family had to start out with 15 gallons of water. So we went to the next house with our kid posse in tow (sporty and buzz hand in hand while we walked)....wes and Steve both said that I should install it..... Steve was busy doing.....well.....playing with the kids, narrating a video for you tube and taking pictures, Wes was just handing me stuff....I installed the water filter... BAM good solid water flow. Lets just say i installed the next 3 and yes they all worked. I brag about it but it was honestly just luck. It was a scorcher of a day too - by the time we were leaving in the morning it was already 85 degrees at 7:30am. After lunch we headed back out. We often have many kids following us, Aldo tells us that they like to hear the english language. We got to the first house....music was blaring...Aldo just looked at me and said that it was voodoo music. I installed the water filter, why wreak a good thing....LOL... it didnt work no water flow...it was the voodoo not me :) After that we installed another 4 filters and came back to this house and fixed the one. Total for today 9 from our team. It was a GREAT day!!! Wes and Steve got to feel success as well installing their share while I played and joked around with the kids and moms.
Tonight we had fresh lobster bisque (lobsters snagged out of the ocean) and got to see Dada's (pronounced Day day) bakery. This is an awesome bakery that sits about 10 minutes from where we are at. Steve and starfysh inversted in Dada (micro business) and now dada sells fresh baked bread to locals. That is the premise behind starfysh....an amazing organization that wants to help the people of Lagonave. That is their passion and their mission. What is great is that they arent just putting a bandaid on the problems here, they arent just coming in and giving things to these people. They are changin the culture, they are teaching them about health and water and disease, they are investing in the people so that they can sustain this project. These filters will be around for years and years and I am so proud to say that I helped with Starfysh. I have already told Steve that this is not the last time he is hearing from me, I want to continue to help. I am not sure what kind of level that will be and I dont know if I will make it back here again but I do know that this organization is in the infantile stages but it is ready to explode impacting GREAT PEOPLE.
All for now - love and hugs and kisses!!
Ok so now today....my team consisted of me, Wes, and Steve.....GREAT TEAM GREAT DAY!!!! our interpretor was again Aldo - I wish I could pack him away in my suitcase - I have already friended him on facebook and do I dare say I will again see him.....picture Cuba Gooding Junior...Aldo is just so much fun. Our "runner" to go back and get the supplies was Michael - he is the one that walks around wiht a CD player that he traded for a time when he worked. If these "kids" (they are 24 and 23 respectively) come home with money in their pocket, they have family members waiting for their share and they have a difficult time saying no. They want to help their families but they also want to better themselves....its a very fine line. So off we went. I should say that after yesterday, we have discovered that many of the filter and aggregate are not working the way that they should. We are having success but some we are having to dump out and start again (I think I said that in a previous blog...sorry). Our group from yesterday was 5 for 5. So with the switching of the groups, the pressure was on to succeed. We went to the first house - I kept picking on Wes and Steve and kept saying "ok if you guys dont put it in correctly, dont blame me....I had perfect success". The minute we walked out of the church (where we begin every day - you saw the picture on facebook) and around the corner, 2 children walked with us and held my hand.....too sweet!!! One had a shirt on that said "sporty" and one had a buzz lightyear sweatshirt on. Sporty had shorts on, Buzz had nothing on the bottom. These 2 little boys were so stinking cute!!! We took tons of pictures of them. While I was laughing and taking pictures of the boys Wes and Steve installed the water filter....NO FLOW came out. Seriously....they didnt have any water coming out. Failure :( We laughed a little bit about how i wasnt involved in it, and tried together to come up with a solution. We decided that we needed to come back later. The family had to go and get more water so we could try it again and that would take them time. Each family had to start out with 15 gallons of water. So we went to the next house with our kid posse in tow (sporty and buzz hand in hand while we walked)....wes and Steve both said that I should install it..... Steve was busy doing.....well.....playing with the kids, narrating a video for you tube and taking pictures, Wes was just handing me stuff....I installed the water filter... BAM good solid water flow. Lets just say i installed the next 3 and yes they all worked. I brag about it but it was honestly just luck. It was a scorcher of a day too - by the time we were leaving in the morning it was already 85 degrees at 7:30am. After lunch we headed back out. We often have many kids following us, Aldo tells us that they like to hear the english language. We got to the first house....music was blaring...Aldo just looked at me and said that it was voodoo music. I installed the water filter, why wreak a good thing....LOL... it didnt work no water flow...it was the voodoo not me :) After that we installed another 4 filters and came back to this house and fixed the one. Total for today 9 from our team. It was a GREAT day!!! Wes and Steve got to feel success as well installing their share while I played and joked around with the kids and moms.
Tonight we had fresh lobster bisque (lobsters snagged out of the ocean) and got to see Dada's (pronounced Day day) bakery. This is an awesome bakery that sits about 10 minutes from where we are at. Steve and starfysh inversted in Dada (micro business) and now dada sells fresh baked bread to locals. That is the premise behind starfysh....an amazing organization that wants to help the people of Lagonave. That is their passion and their mission. What is great is that they arent just putting a bandaid on the problems here, they arent just coming in and giving things to these people. They are changin the culture, they are teaching them about health and water and disease, they are investing in the people so that they can sustain this project. These filters will be around for years and years and I am so proud to say that I helped with Starfysh. I have already told Steve that this is not the last time he is hearing from me, I want to continue to help. I am not sure what kind of level that will be and I dont know if I will make it back here again but I do know that this organization is in the infantile stages but it is ready to explode impacting GREAT PEOPLE.
All for now - love and hugs and kisses!!
Monday, February 20, 2012
We installed the filters
We split into 3 groups
this morning and off we went to head down to the church. Jeantini was the person that has been trained and when we are long gone, will go back into the homes and answer any questions, help with the filters if there are problems and just be there for them to explain things. The process was that the pastor distributed a number of "tickets" to the homeowners. Not sure how he picked certain people but you had to produce a ticket in order to receive a filter. When we got to the church, about 70 women were there listening. WOMEN....they were the ones that make the decisions and will follow through with the procedures. There were lots of questions, it was kind of chaotic but at least they were curious. I had Jim White and John Gruizenga in my group along with Aldo (who we realized that his real name was Jean Baptiste Aldo - pronounced John) Again great english and a lot of fun. With each group we had a translator and a "runner" to go back and forth getting us supplies as we needed them. One of my fears was the smell that I would encounter in these homes. I didnt want to offend anyone by having to excuse myself. My heart started to race slightly but we headed off to our first home. The woman of the house was ready for us, presented the card, and I took down information about the family. I asked how many kids - in various houses it ranged from two kids to 10 kids in one house. Most of these houses - average 12 x 12....and that is the average! Amazing what people can live with when they dont know any different. Some of their homes were VERY CLEAN and I wanted to make sure that they knew that "bell api" (not sure how to spell it) but it means very beautiful. I made sure that I said that many times, when I took their picture, when I saw their house and when they smiled and laughed. We began the installation - fascinating process. The filter goes in on a flat surface, which at times will take some manuvering. Then there is some recording - Steve wanted to know about the family - has anyone suffered from Cholera, anyone have diarehea? I took some of the information and then the other two did. We switched off jobs and taking pictures with the family so that everyone could experience it all. 5 gallons of water was poured in first, then the larger gravel, then the smaller gravel, then we had to make sure that the gravel was level so we had to reach our hand in and move it around (we have interesting pictures from this - very funny), then 2 more gallons of water would go in, then the sand poured slowly (80 pounds of fine sand), then more water...at that point the water will begin to trickle out and pour into a "pwop" bucket (clean) We had to write that on the side of the bucket. I just have pictures of all the families and the genuine appreciation that these people felt. We got hugged, heard lots of "praise God" and many "merci" (thank you's) Such a good feeling to know that we were helping them. We stressed that this water will make the diarehea go away and make them feel better. The other groups had some issues with their filters but overall we installed between 20-25 filters. Our last one of the day, was a beautiful home!!! It had a dining room table and she was so proud of herself - she had 5 kids and father was not around. But the house was really nice!!! We walked out and noticed that 2 cell phones were on the porch being charged by a lawnmower battery, we wanted to know how that was being charged....we walked around the corner and saw a solar panel charging the battery....amazing!!!
You know its really funny - I am around a great group of people - again I feel completely safe, from the great group of people that I already knew from the states to the many haitians that I have made friends with, and when we pray before meals, pray before we headed out this morning there was an overwhelming feeling that I was a part of something much larger. I get choked up several times throughout the day, but it still feels great that we are here.
Overall great day!!!
Love - hugs and kisses to all!!!
this morning and off we went to head down to the church. Jeantini was the person that has been trained and when we are long gone, will go back into the homes and answer any questions, help with the filters if there are problems and just be there for them to explain things. The process was that the pastor distributed a number of "tickets" to the homeowners. Not sure how he picked certain people but you had to produce a ticket in order to receive a filter. When we got to the church, about 70 women were there listening. WOMEN....they were the ones that make the decisions and will follow through with the procedures. There were lots of questions, it was kind of chaotic but at least they were curious. I had Jim White and John Gruizenga in my group along with Aldo (who we realized that his real name was Jean Baptiste Aldo - pronounced John) Again great english and a lot of fun. With each group we had a translator and a "runner" to go back and forth getting us supplies as we needed them. One of my fears was the smell that I would encounter in these homes. I didnt want to offend anyone by having to excuse myself. My heart started to race slightly but we headed off to our first home. The woman of the house was ready for us, presented the card, and I took down information about the family. I asked how many kids - in various houses it ranged from two kids to 10 kids in one house. Most of these houses - average 12 x 12....and that is the average! Amazing what people can live with when they dont know any different. Some of their homes were VERY CLEAN and I wanted to make sure that they knew that "bell api" (not sure how to spell it) but it means very beautiful. I made sure that I said that many times, when I took their picture, when I saw their house and when they smiled and laughed. We began the installation - fascinating process. The filter goes in on a flat surface, which at times will take some manuvering. Then there is some recording - Steve wanted to know about the family - has anyone suffered from Cholera, anyone have diarehea? I took some of the information and then the other two did. We switched off jobs and taking pictures with the family so that everyone could experience it all. 5 gallons of water was poured in first, then the larger gravel, then the smaller gravel, then we had to make sure that the gravel was level so we had to reach our hand in and move it around (we have interesting pictures from this - very funny), then 2 more gallons of water would go in, then the sand poured slowly (80 pounds of fine sand), then more water...at that point the water will begin to trickle out and pour into a "pwop" bucket (clean) We had to write that on the side of the bucket. I just have pictures of all the families and the genuine appreciation that these people felt. We got hugged, heard lots of "praise God" and many "merci" (thank you's) Such a good feeling to know that we were helping them. We stressed that this water will make the diarehea go away and make them feel better. The other groups had some issues with their filters but overall we installed between 20-25 filters. Our last one of the day, was a beautiful home!!! It had a dining room table and she was so proud of herself - she had 5 kids and father was not around. But the house was really nice!!! We walked out and noticed that 2 cell phones were on the porch being charged by a lawnmower battery, we wanted to know how that was being charged....we walked around the corner and saw a solar panel charging the battery....amazing!!!
You know its really funny - I am around a great group of people - again I feel completely safe, from the great group of people that I already knew from the states to the many haitians that I have made friends with, and when we pray before meals, pray before we headed out this morning there was an overwhelming feeling that I was a part of something much larger. I get choked up several times throughout the day, but it still feels great that we are here.
Overall great day!!!
Love - hugs and kisses to all!!!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The jewish girl goes to Church!! LOL
I am sure everyone is amazed that each day can continue to push my boundaries and make me say "oh my gosh, I really cant believe we are here. But today was one of those days, and its only 4:30pm. I cant even explain how much emotion was wrapped up in this day but I will try. I certainly dont want you to think that we are not having fun because we are certainly laughing ALOT and enjoying the new friendships that are building. Last night Steve even brought a pretend rat and planted it in my bed - yes freaked me out!! and then of course we had to plant it in Susan's way to make her have slight heart palpitations (good thing we have 3 doctors with us). And of course, Gauthier always has some comment to make, although Jim White is making a strong showing in the inappropriate comments. I have to make a shout out (because there are so many reading this blog) that Jim Lang became a grandpa while we were down here - welcome to the world Caden Nicholas!!! Very exciting!!
So this morning we got up and went to Church. We walked along the rocked infested roads in the heat and went to 7:30am service.
We had 3 interpreters with us - Aldo, Jean Marie, and Peter...
It was amazing - same struggles that parents have in church getting their children to sit in the pews, kids squirming around, parents bribing their children with candy (blowpops) in order to stay quiet. I played peek-a-boo (completely universal) with a little girl two rows ahead of me...they are the same as us. A little boy in front of me ate a blow pop and was playing with his fingers that were stuck together....they are the same as us. A girl that about 12 was in front of me and I took pictures of her and showed her - "bell" means beautiful...I kept calling her. She just smiled. everyone likes to be complimented....they are the same as us. Peter's phone actually went off during service (he is about 16)....they are the same as us. Yes they have phones down here - and they use them. Not all have the ability to have phones, it is more for the affluent or if they can work for phones. But we saw someone on a motorcycle today....on the phone....they are the same as us. They are just living in a much harder life!! The service was very nice - lots of singing and the children overall were VERY good. Three of our people from our group got up and spoke, with a translator. I was extremely proud to call those three part of my team. We stuck out like a sore thumb.
On the way back, I walked with Aldo. He is 23 and we bonded immediately, laughing and ribbing each other all the way back. His english was very good. I asked him how old he was - "23 is that old or young?" I said "young" he said "how old are you?" I said "41 is that old or young?" and as I was elbowing him I said "at this point Aldo, you should say young!!" we laughed so hard. He just loved it. He lives alone and wants to become a pastor. I asked him about a wife or a girlfriend - he just laughed...."no no no wife pastor is my calling". I have met yet another friend here.
Sunday on Lagonave is a day of rest so no water filter installation today - we just assembled them so they are ready to go tomorrow.
Lunch was uneventful - steve wanted to show us around the island, show us the landing strip, show us Jeantini's garden, and show us the hospital. So we hopped again on the 4 wheelers and off we went. We added a couple more people to our group - Michael and Peter - 2 young men that were different translators.
Our first stop was the landing strip - all along we are on a 4 wheelers (three on each and one on a motorcycle). The landing strip was just a dirt road along the water...
We tooled around some more - we went to Jeantini's garden where he showed us how he grew moringa - a tree that produces leaves that Jeantini then turns into a powder form that he gives to the hospitals or he will give to people as a spice. The process was amazing. He picks the leaves, lets them dry for 3 days and then placed them in a morter and pestal where he would grind them up into a powder mix. While we were looking at the garden, a gentlemen from somewhere(not sure where he came from) told us that there had been an accident in the mountains and there were many injured. Our three doctors jumped right to help. We finished our tour and headed over to the hospital. Michael continued to talk to me and tell me bits and pieces of what he thought was going on. When we got to the hospital (and I use that term loosely) there were many haitians around, some waiting to hear anything about the accident. After many rumors of it being 23 people injured, it came to find out there were 11 - 4 of them pretty serious. They were up in the mountains, they were a mission group from Boston and with the roads being worse up in the hills their truck rolled pinning a couple under the truck. It was very surreal and emotional for me. I just kept thinking, "this could have been us" I really struggled today to see these people that were just trying to do good for this country have an accident like this and have to be airlifted home. My heart broke for them and still does. Not sure if we will ever find out if they are ok. The doctors have since told us that there were a couple with possible internal injuries. They were airlifted out of haiti to Florida by the United Nations...if that gives you any indication as to how serious it was. Steve said in all his years he has never seen the helicopter from the United Nations help. Its amazing what happens when americans are involved. Makes you think. We took a tour of the hospital when things settled down. I cant even explain it. We saw conditions you wouldnt wish upon your worst enemy or anyone walking on this planet. We saw the Cholera area - thank god it was empty, no one is suffering from Cholera at this time, well no one is being treated for it I should say. Only the pictures will tell the true story of this adventure. It was truly an emotional day for me. Thank god I live where I live with the facilities and the amenities. Until tomorrow - installation and going into the home....WE ARE READY!!!
Love
Hugs and kisses to the kids and my husband!!!
So this morning we got up and went to Church. We walked along the rocked infested roads in the heat and went to 7:30am service.
We had 3 interpreters with us - Aldo, Jean Marie, and Peter...
It was amazing - same struggles that parents have in church getting their children to sit in the pews, kids squirming around, parents bribing their children with candy (blowpops) in order to stay quiet. I played peek-a-boo (completely universal) with a little girl two rows ahead of me...they are the same as us. A little boy in front of me ate a blow pop and was playing with his fingers that were stuck together....they are the same as us. A girl that about 12 was in front of me and I took pictures of her and showed her - "bell" means beautiful...I kept calling her. She just smiled. everyone likes to be complimented....they are the same as us. Peter's phone actually went off during service (he is about 16)....they are the same as us. Yes they have phones down here - and they use them. Not all have the ability to have phones, it is more for the affluent or if they can work for phones. But we saw someone on a motorcycle today....on the phone....they are the same as us. They are just living in a much harder life!! The service was very nice - lots of singing and the children overall were VERY good. Three of our people from our group got up and spoke, with a translator. I was extremely proud to call those three part of my team. We stuck out like a sore thumb.
On the way back, I walked with Aldo. He is 23 and we bonded immediately, laughing and ribbing each other all the way back. His english was very good. I asked him how old he was - "23 is that old or young?" I said "young" he said "how old are you?" I said "41 is that old or young?" and as I was elbowing him I said "at this point Aldo, you should say young!!" we laughed so hard. He just loved it. He lives alone and wants to become a pastor. I asked him about a wife or a girlfriend - he just laughed...."no no no wife pastor is my calling". I have met yet another friend here.
Sunday on Lagonave is a day of rest so no water filter installation today - we just assembled them so they are ready to go tomorrow.
Lunch was uneventful - steve wanted to show us around the island, show us the landing strip, show us Jeantini's garden, and show us the hospital. So we hopped again on the 4 wheelers and off we went. We added a couple more people to our group - Michael and Peter - 2 young men that were different translators.
Our first stop was the landing strip - all along we are on a 4 wheelers (three on each and one on a motorcycle). The landing strip was just a dirt road along the water...
We tooled around some more - we went to Jeantini's garden where he showed us how he grew moringa - a tree that produces leaves that Jeantini then turns into a powder form that he gives to the hospitals or he will give to people as a spice. The process was amazing. He picks the leaves, lets them dry for 3 days and then placed them in a morter and pestal where he would grind them up into a powder mix. While we were looking at the garden, a gentlemen from somewhere(not sure where he came from) told us that there had been an accident in the mountains and there were many injured. Our three doctors jumped right to help. We finished our tour and headed over to the hospital. Michael continued to talk to me and tell me bits and pieces of what he thought was going on. When we got to the hospital (and I use that term loosely) there were many haitians around, some waiting to hear anything about the accident. After many rumors of it being 23 people injured, it came to find out there were 11 - 4 of them pretty serious. They were up in the mountains, they were a mission group from Boston and with the roads being worse up in the hills their truck rolled pinning a couple under the truck. It was very surreal and emotional for me. I just kept thinking, "this could have been us" I really struggled today to see these people that were just trying to do good for this country have an accident like this and have to be airlifted home. My heart broke for them and still does. Not sure if we will ever find out if they are ok. The doctors have since told us that there were a couple with possible internal injuries. They were airlifted out of haiti to Florida by the United Nations...if that gives you any indication as to how serious it was. Steve said in all his years he has never seen the helicopter from the United Nations help. Its amazing what happens when americans are involved. Makes you think. We took a tour of the hospital when things settled down. I cant even explain it. We saw conditions you wouldnt wish upon your worst enemy or anyone walking on this planet. We saw the Cholera area - thank god it was empty, no one is suffering from Cholera at this time, well no one is being treated for it I should say. Only the pictures will tell the true story of this adventure. It was truly an emotional day for me. Thank god I live where I live with the facilities and the amenities. Until tomorrow - installation and going into the home....WE ARE READY!!!
Love
Hugs and kisses to the kids and my husband!!!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Day 2
Oh what a night!!! after I left you last, I hopped in a cold shower to get some of the traveling "yuck" off of me. Not too bad. It got dark around 6:30 so bed ended up being about 9 last night. So let me explain the sleeping last night. Me, susan, and 2 other women that were in the guest house with us were in one bedroom (I was on the top bunk). The other two rooms conisisted of the men. Yup, it was tight quarters, but we made it work. We had a generator at the house so the fans were going strong...lights were out and I knew rigth then and there it was going to be a long night!!! At the guest house we were about a spit throw from the busy "artery" and apparently everyone loves to honk their horn and just drive wherever they want, because that is all we heard. I must have dozed off because at around 2am, I started to get really hot and sweaty....yup the generator shut down....perfect!! I cooled down slightly because againg I dozed off and then at 3:30am the ROOSTER woke me up and continued to wake us all up until it was time to get up for good. And to think, I was worried about an alarm clock!!
Breakfast consisted of fresh mangos, oatmeal, watermelon and toast. Then it was time to take a look at the boat that was going to take us from the guest house to La Gonave. I walked with Jim White around the corner and apparently my face was something undescribable....because the words that I said, "Shut the front door, I am not getting in that!!" I cant even explain the vessal that we were about to get on, but I will try. It was an OLD 25 foot WOODEN sail boat that was at least 25 years old with 2 small motors in back. The "crew" (of 2) began to put all of our baggage, 100 water filters, the aggregate for the water filters, the sand for the water filters and 2 barrels of gasoline, oh yeah and I think they had enough life jackets but they were all tied together so even if we needed them, I dont think they would hold me up. I turned to Steve, who knows I am a little apprehensive, and all I could do was just look at him. He reassured me that it was safe and that this is the way that we needed to go. So....we piles on to this boat and headed across the ocean 13 miles to La Gonave. It took us 2HOURS!!!! we were literally sitting on the front of the boat. I continued to get splashed by some of the waves. I was laying against the lifejackets that sat upon the barrel of the gasoline. very comforting.... but as I looked around, I couldnt help but think that this is so surreal. We were surrounded by mountains and beauty and believe it or not we were safe. This was going to be my world for 7 days. As I looked to the back of the boat, I saw Steve videotaping a message about the history of La Gonave (hopefully he puts it on You Tube at some point) and I saw Freddy (who is a missionairy from Alabama and Steve's right hand man) bailing water out of the boat (apparently we were getting too much in) again very comforting!!
We arrived on the island and was greeted by a great group of young and old men that have earned the trust from Steve and Starfysh. Of course, the young 14 year old boy took to me right away, smiling and exchanging high 5's. His name is Tiga - and yes I got a picture taken with him. As soon as someone had taken the picture he immediately wanted to see what he looked like....I would soon come to discover that they all love to see what they look like and they love the camera. So we all piled into a pick up truck - yes we were in the bed of the truck and we headed to Starfysh's compound. Along the way, it wasnt as crowded as port-a-prince nor was it as scary. There was a playfulness about the people. Freddy is very fluent in French (the spoken language here) and when people would yell we asked him what they were saying "Whites Whites" they would shout. Motorcycles everywhere but not many, if at all, cars. There are actually some street signs.
We arrived at the Starfysh place and was again pleasantly surprised! Tile floors, gated, guarded and locked property but still very nice. Fans all over the place so it was nice and cool - 90plus degrees outside so however cool you can get that is what we were. We sat down for lunch (sandwiches and pringles) and talked about the schedule for the upcoming week. We also talked about the currency used here - it is called Gourds. About 8 to 1 exchange rate. Tomorrow we will get up and go to church but today we felt like we needed a refresher in how to install the filters. The local church will house all of the filters and it has been left up to the pastor on who will receive the filters in their house. Each family has received a card and when we go, they will have to present that card and give it to us in order for us to install the filter. Steve and Freddy and Jeantini suggested that we go to the church, take a look at one and possible install one in a home today. 4 wheelers are the way to travel with Starfysh, so Susan jumped on the back of Jeantini's motorcycle, Jim White and I got on the 4 wheeler that Jim Lang was driving and a couple other people got on the other 4 wheeler. The others had to wait until the 4 wheeler came back - obvioulsy we could only transport a few at a time and there are 11 of us. Jeantini is a local guy and a wonderful addition to Starfysh. He has been trained in the installation of the filters and will assist the families after we are gone, to ensure that things are being properly cleaned and maintained.
Jim Lang drops us off at the church to the pastor and we walk into the church where the filters are. Another truck comes up because with the rest of the equipment and who walks out of the truck, now my buddy Tiga!! Immediately we exchange smiles and high 5's. The guys hang out with us and we muddle through some french and discover that Jeantini has 7 kids - 4 boys and 3 girls and that his son is among us. He was a great kid. We took lots of pictures - I convinced Tiga to smile real big and Jim showed him how to do a high 5, elbow bump and we have a video of it. Tiga grabbed my camera and took a couple pictures - in his own way he asked me for money for the pictures (nice try junior) we were told not to give money otherwise they would expect it all the time.
Now it was time to get into the homes and install a water filter. We walked through the "street" and into the home. I am telling you right now - I cant explain how small this place was. 7 members of the family stayed in this home. There were 2 younger children that were absolutely adorable. when we walked in Steve had shown us this younger boy - my assumption was that he was about 3 and showed us his belly. He said that his belly sticking out means that he is malnourished and that his sister was too. He could tell that she was because the ends of her hair had an orange tint to it. They didnt have enough protein in their system. We walked in the house and I continued to take pictures of the kids - they loved it!!!! I kept showing them the pictures and they just laughed!! The water installation was successful and they now have clean water in their house. We had them gather around the filter and you could tell they were very proud.
After another 4 wheelers ride - it was time for dinner. Another group went out with a man named Dada (pronounced Day day). I and a couple others had already taken showers and didnt want to get dusty again. But Dada owns his own bakery on the island. He actually is a man who seems to know everyone on the island and every knows him. He wants more for his family. He has been working with Steve and assisting him on various things throughout the years that Starfysh has now re-invested in Dada. He bakes breads and employs about 20-25 people, distibuting the bread around the area.
Tomorrow church - another great experience awaits us!!
Breakfast consisted of fresh mangos, oatmeal, watermelon and toast. Then it was time to take a look at the boat that was going to take us from the guest house to La Gonave. I walked with Jim White around the corner and apparently my face was something undescribable....because the words that I said, "Shut the front door, I am not getting in that!!" I cant even explain the vessal that we were about to get on, but I will try. It was an OLD 25 foot WOODEN sail boat that was at least 25 years old with 2 small motors in back. The "crew" (of 2) began to put all of our baggage, 100 water filters, the aggregate for the water filters, the sand for the water filters and 2 barrels of gasoline, oh yeah and I think they had enough life jackets but they were all tied together so even if we needed them, I dont think they would hold me up. I turned to Steve, who knows I am a little apprehensive, and all I could do was just look at him. He reassured me that it was safe and that this is the way that we needed to go. So....we piles on to this boat and headed across the ocean 13 miles to La Gonave. It took us 2HOURS!!!! we were literally sitting on the front of the boat. I continued to get splashed by some of the waves. I was laying against the lifejackets that sat upon the barrel of the gasoline. very comforting.... but as I looked around, I couldnt help but think that this is so surreal. We were surrounded by mountains and beauty and believe it or not we were safe. This was going to be my world for 7 days. As I looked to the back of the boat, I saw Steve videotaping a message about the history of La Gonave (hopefully he puts it on You Tube at some point) and I saw Freddy (who is a missionairy from Alabama and Steve's right hand man) bailing water out of the boat (apparently we were getting too much in) again very comforting!!
We arrived on the island and was greeted by a great group of young and old men that have earned the trust from Steve and Starfysh. Of course, the young 14 year old boy took to me right away, smiling and exchanging high 5's. His name is Tiga - and yes I got a picture taken with him. As soon as someone had taken the picture he immediately wanted to see what he looked like....I would soon come to discover that they all love to see what they look like and they love the camera. So we all piled into a pick up truck - yes we were in the bed of the truck and we headed to Starfysh's compound. Along the way, it wasnt as crowded as port-a-prince nor was it as scary. There was a playfulness about the people. Freddy is very fluent in French (the spoken language here) and when people would yell we asked him what they were saying "Whites Whites" they would shout. Motorcycles everywhere but not many, if at all, cars. There are actually some street signs.
We arrived at the Starfysh place and was again pleasantly surprised! Tile floors, gated, guarded and locked property but still very nice. Fans all over the place so it was nice and cool - 90plus degrees outside so however cool you can get that is what we were. We sat down for lunch (sandwiches and pringles) and talked about the schedule for the upcoming week. We also talked about the currency used here - it is called Gourds. About 8 to 1 exchange rate. Tomorrow we will get up and go to church but today we felt like we needed a refresher in how to install the filters. The local church will house all of the filters and it has been left up to the pastor on who will receive the filters in their house. Each family has received a card and when we go, they will have to present that card and give it to us in order for us to install the filter. Steve and Freddy and Jeantini suggested that we go to the church, take a look at one and possible install one in a home today. 4 wheelers are the way to travel with Starfysh, so Susan jumped on the back of Jeantini's motorcycle, Jim White and I got on the 4 wheeler that Jim Lang was driving and a couple other people got on the other 4 wheeler. The others had to wait until the 4 wheeler came back - obvioulsy we could only transport a few at a time and there are 11 of us. Jeantini is a local guy and a wonderful addition to Starfysh. He has been trained in the installation of the filters and will assist the families after we are gone, to ensure that things are being properly cleaned and maintained.
Jim Lang drops us off at the church to the pastor and we walk into the church where the filters are. Another truck comes up because with the rest of the equipment and who walks out of the truck, now my buddy Tiga!! Immediately we exchange smiles and high 5's. The guys hang out with us and we muddle through some french and discover that Jeantini has 7 kids - 4 boys and 3 girls and that his son is among us. He was a great kid. We took lots of pictures - I convinced Tiga to smile real big and Jim showed him how to do a high 5, elbow bump and we have a video of it. Tiga grabbed my camera and took a couple pictures - in his own way he asked me for money for the pictures (nice try junior) we were told not to give money otherwise they would expect it all the time.
Now it was time to get into the homes and install a water filter. We walked through the "street" and into the home. I am telling you right now - I cant explain how small this place was. 7 members of the family stayed in this home. There were 2 younger children that were absolutely adorable. when we walked in Steve had shown us this younger boy - my assumption was that he was about 3 and showed us his belly. He said that his belly sticking out means that he is malnourished and that his sister was too. He could tell that she was because the ends of her hair had an orange tint to it. They didnt have enough protein in their system. We walked in the house and I continued to take pictures of the kids - they loved it!!!! I kept showing them the pictures and they just laughed!! The water installation was successful and they now have clean water in their house. We had them gather around the filter and you could tell they were very proud.
After another 4 wheelers ride - it was time for dinner. Another group went out with a man named Dada (pronounced Day day). I and a couple others had already taken showers and didnt want to get dusty again. But Dada owns his own bakery on the island. He actually is a man who seems to know everyone on the island and every knows him. He wants more for his family. He has been working with Steve and assisting him on various things throughout the years that Starfysh has now re-invested in Dada. He bakes breads and employs about 20-25 people, distibuting the bread around the area.
Tomorrow church - another great experience awaits us!!
Friday, February 17, 2012
We are here and safe
Well what an adventure so far!! We have a great team here and we are currently at a very nice house that is "owned" by Church Wesleyn folks and Steve, founder of Starfysh, is partners with them so they were gracious enough to let us stay here until tomorrow when we hop on the boat and go to La Gonave. But lets back up a little bit - flights were pretty uneventful getting to Haiti. There were 2 notable observations - one being that many of the folks from Milwaukee to Florida were all excited about getting on cruises while the 8 of us were awaiting a new adventure with the people of Haiti. Very surreal!! On the flight from Florida to Haiti, I did sat next to a lady from Haiti that told me about her life. Very interesting, she kept telling me "you will love Haiti - its beautiful" She told me about different classes and she said the only thing that she didnt like was that it was "not safe at all".....great honey thanks for the inspiring words!! When we got off the plane, I stuck pretty close to Jim Lang (who could miss him with his Captain Adirondack backpack - he is packed like he is going to the jungle in Africa) We got through customs pretty easy, got carts, found our luggage and Steve told us to stay pretty close to each other and just continue to say "no" very sternly to make sure that Haitians would not try to grab our carts and try to get money as being "helpful". As we were walking through, Haitians surrounded us constantly trying to take over our carts. I just stayed close and took pictures (as I normally do - its all about the pictures). I only wish that I would truly express how crazy it was at the airport.
Once we got in the vehicle - steve had told us that we were changing plans and driving to the guesthouse today so that we could get out of Port-a- Prince.
NOW THE CAR RIDE - holy moly!!!! what a ride!!! 6 of us were in one vehicle and Wes and one of Steve's partners were in another truck. side note - their truck got a flat tire and they had to pull over....not a good thing to pull over on side of the road. Words cannot express what we saw during this car ride - yes Kelsey we saw ladies with water buckets on their heads, the "shops" on the side of the road, bulls, chickens, pigs on the side of the road just wandering around. As the 6 of us were in the vehicle, we had to try to make light of the madness that was surrounding us. We laughed alot!! The driving was INSANE!!!! there are no rules, no speed limits no stop signs....motorcycles weaving in and out. People crossing the street. The sights around - poor upon poor. "Tent Cities" were still prevalent around the area - meaning you would look to one side and see a large area with tents put up and that is what people are living in. I cant even explain what I have seen already. The car ride took approximately almost 2 hours to go 40 miles - the roads were not your typical roads. AND MOUNTAINS ALL AROUND US!!
Once we got here (at the current house that we are at) it is like paradise - truly!!! we are right on the water and I cant wait until it gets light out so we can enjoy the scenery. The house is very nice. We walked in to a house smelling delicious with dinner waiting for us, fresh clean water, and a nice COLD shower...there is no hot water from now until I return. Dinner was great - fried chicken, rice and beans, fried plantain (delicious), piklis (spicy coleslaw), and of course we had to have some birthday cake for our birthday girl that is with us - Susan!!
According to Dan and Joy, owners of the house, the trucks and such driving by will wake us up bright and early tomorrow.
Sorry if this blog is kind of all over the place - just trying to get my thoughts down.
I know there are many reading this blog - rotarians, family members and friends. We are all safe and sound, well fed and we are all feeling great about the next 6 days!! Susan is sitting right next to me and we just laughed saying that we feel like we have already had the experience of a lifetime!!
Love you all!!
Once we got in the vehicle - steve had told us that we were changing plans and driving to the guesthouse today so that we could get out of Port-a- Prince.
NOW THE CAR RIDE - holy moly!!!! what a ride!!! 6 of us were in one vehicle and Wes and one of Steve's partners were in another truck. side note - their truck got a flat tire and they had to pull over....not a good thing to pull over on side of the road. Words cannot express what we saw during this car ride - yes Kelsey we saw ladies with water buckets on their heads, the "shops" on the side of the road, bulls, chickens, pigs on the side of the road just wandering around. As the 6 of us were in the vehicle, we had to try to make light of the madness that was surrounding us. We laughed alot!! The driving was INSANE!!!! there are no rules, no speed limits no stop signs....motorcycles weaving in and out. People crossing the street. The sights around - poor upon poor. "Tent Cities" were still prevalent around the area - meaning you would look to one side and see a large area with tents put up and that is what people are living in. I cant even explain what I have seen already. The car ride took approximately almost 2 hours to go 40 miles - the roads were not your typical roads. AND MOUNTAINS ALL AROUND US!!
Once we got here (at the current house that we are at) it is like paradise - truly!!! we are right on the water and I cant wait until it gets light out so we can enjoy the scenery. The house is very nice. We walked in to a house smelling delicious with dinner waiting for us, fresh clean water, and a nice COLD shower...there is no hot water from now until I return. Dinner was great - fried chicken, rice and beans, fried plantain (delicious), piklis (spicy coleslaw), and of course we had to have some birthday cake for our birthday girl that is with us - Susan!!
According to Dan and Joy, owners of the house, the trucks and such driving by will wake us up bright and early tomorrow.
Sorry if this blog is kind of all over the place - just trying to get my thoughts down.
I know there are many reading this blog - rotarians, family members and friends. We are all safe and sound, well fed and we are all feeling great about the next 6 days!! Susan is sitting right next to me and we just laughed saying that we feel like we have already had the experience of a lifetime!!
Love you all!!
Update
Wow...well we are in Florida right now waiting to get on the plane to Haiti. It was very surreal, others were talking about going on cruises and here we are going to one of the poorest areas on the planet. It's crazy. Plans have also changed to where we will fly into port-a-prince, take a truck about an hour and a half away to get out of port and then stay at a "guesthouse" right on the ocean. Then tomorrow morning we are 100 feet from the boat dock to go to la gonave . Ok phone is turning off, but I will blog!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
This week
So many things running through my head...we leave Friday. I can't believe its here already and that I am really going. We had a meeting last night and we talked about various things that we will need to bring and what to watch out for....one being pick pocketers....who would want tp reach in my pockets, well except my husband of course...lol. I am excited and nervous. Nervous for the unknown...not knowing what to expect or how I will react makes my heart beat a little faster than normal. I'm nervous on how I will sleep, the people I will encounter, the food, the water, going into the homes. But yet I am so excited about those things too, how it will change my outlook on life and the world around me. My phone won't work at all while I am there (not sure how I will function without words with friends for a week) but it will be good to "unplug" for a week and not be tied to Facebook and texting (yes I have a small addiction). It will be hard not to talk to the kids, Tim or my mom whom I all talk to daily. I will be able to hop on a laptop that they have there and add my thoughts daily on the blog. Prayers are always welcomed and I know I have the support of my family and friends even if they can't express it..
Monday, February 6, 2012
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