Throughout the day we see lots of dogs, goats, donkeys, cows, chickens, turkeys, roosters, some skinny skinny horses, a few birds (not many), and a few cats. The dogs seem to be VERY quiet during the day often times laying down and milling around and then as soon as our lights go out and our heads hit the pillows the DOGS BARK like crazy!!! We wake up to the roosters doing their roostering thing, and the Starfysh employees getting things organized and breakfast cooked for all of us to start our day. Needless to say, we haven't needed an alarm clock at all this week. 5:15 the workers come in the door and this morning we woke up to someone screaming at someone else in Creole at 5:15am. I cant complain, I cant complain really about anything. We are all very fortunate to have three square meals. The routine has been that we all make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and throw it in the cooler with our names on it for lunch. Theresa has been in charge of making extra sandwiches for the workers, translators and drivers. Today, Kelseys group was last to get to the church for their sandwich and hers was gone. She didn't get lunch, but she didn't complain. "the workers need it more than I do, I'm fine". We moan and groan about the 2 and a half hour bumpy ride but yet we are still extremely fortunate that we have vehicle to go up the mountain and don't have to travel by donkey or by foot like many of the locals do. We cant complain about the wet shoes that we had to put on yesterday after getting drenched in the truck, at least we had matching shoes with soles on the bottom that didn't allow dirt to come through. Our showers here are cold, but they allow us to get clean after a long hard day. We cant complain though. We will all go back to our lives on Saturday, actually we will start to get "back to normal" tomorrow when we go to the mainland and have wifi. We will be back to texting, emails, facebooking and we will feel different. We will feel like we should continue to do the work that we started. Our circle of people will not change around us. If you have even thought about a mission / service trip I urge you to try it. Call Starfysh and experience what we have. Drive through the streets here and wonder "what do they do all day long", "can 24 dominoes and 4 teenagers really have that much fun for that long?" "they really have fun with a stick and metal bicycle hoop". I will do my very best to not complain, to slow my life down, to appreciate the food that I eat and the clean water that I drink. I hope to come back, I hope to have more opportunities to continue to share my laughter with others, I feel like it is my little gift. Theresa and I were doing the hokey pokey with a bunch of school kids today - I am sure they thought we were crazy. I really didn't care, we knew we were at least making some of hem smile and to me that was more important than giving them clean water.
Each installation team (today it was me, Kelsey and John - each family was together today), consisted of three people. One person asked questions to the woman of the house - Family Name, How many people in the house (this ranged from 1 person to 11 people in one house but the average was about 6), how many children were under the age of 5, did they have a working latrine (most did not), did they do anything to the water to make it safe, where do they store their water, and if anyone had diarrhea in the last three days. The other two make sure the installation is properly done. I love the part where we talk to the woman of the house and educating them about what they are receiving. The joy that is felt in the words that they say, even though I cant understand them I still feel the complete appreciation they have in what we are doing. They are a very religious culture, so after the installation a prayer is offered from our interpreter. We all have different religions and different beliefs but we all have agreed that this is where we are supposed to be and we have made a difference with this small Starfysh. We are fortunate to be involved with Rotary. Rotary does amazing things, look them up it provides you with amazing opportunities.
There are many more stories from today - a former mayor of La Gonave was our interpreter today, we laughed a lot today, 40 filters were installed, we gave out 6 soccer balls, took tons of pictures, went to a bakery, went to a grocery store, Kelsey bought her first pint of alcohol, Miriam got her hair braided, a great day!
Love to all and thanks for reading...
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Wendell is here!
We are happy to report that Wendell made it to the island safe and sound. I forgot to report that Wendell had been stuck on the mainland because Haiti instilled an increase in the transportation tax that the locals are not happy with and they are protesting. The roads are blocked, they are burning tires, and no one is moving in or out of the city, so Wendell was stuck. He finally got here today.
We went up to Plen Mapou today. Wonderful truck ride - it only took us three hours to get up there, still roads beyond anything we have ever seen, not sure of the miles. I want to enlighten everyone of the Haitian culture a little bit. They are an extremely giving community, they are resilient and they help anyone that is in need of help. We never knew who's child belonged to which family / house / mother because everyone is there for all. As we were driving up the mountain, Dede would speak to so many people as we drove. He seems to know every one of the 100,000 people that occupy the land. We kept laughing as he spoke and had conversations with his wife's uncle on the side of the road (who was probably waiting all day for us to drive by), he spoke to a lady that was probably 100 yards away and spoke no more than a normal tone of voice (where some of us continually say "huh, what did you say" when we are right next to someone) and as we were waiting for the other truck on the side of the mountain a group of ladies came up to him and asked him if they could "share a white with them". Nice we were almost sold! We laughed so hard when Dede told us that they wanted him to share us. Makes ya think though...
Yesterday, as I was walking through a long path, Loner (pronounced Loonaire) was behind me and when I slipped slightly the first thing he said was "Staci, I am here...I will protect you". This group of people whether they are working for Starfysh or we are meeting them in the schools or churches, they are willing to accept help but they want to learn how to do things on their own. They would love to just take over and install the filters themselves (which we are teaching them but this trip is for us to do it). The translators that we have with us to tell the woman of the house how the filter works and the directions as to what needs to happen next, don't even need us to tell them anymore what to say, they have it down pat. It makes our job a lot easier as all we have to do is install and then interact with the families and play with the kids. With that said, they are still asking us for extra. They whisper to us that they "need to talk", they tell us that their wife is sick or they don't have any parents and usually that means that they would like some money to help them out. Even though some of them are employed by Starfysh and they are making money, they are still human. They are seeing americans come in for a week with clean clothes, iphones, cameras and they want more. So they ask. Starfysh has a rule that we are not supposed to give anything to them because they don't want to create an environment that promotes that kind of culture, they want Haitians to work for their money and they want to create an environment that puts money back into the local economy. To me, it is very hard to determine what they say is the truth or are they just wanting a buck.
Back to the village today, we installed 28 filters with a large amount of chaos and confusion at the beginning. With Haitians, they are excited about the filters. There was also two leaders that were pulling and pushing against each other for some power. The pastor of the church and the monitor that Starfysh had employed were both trying to dictate what was going to happen and they just were not on the same page. The filters were all at housed at a school / church. School was in session and apparently it was a recess because before you knew it me and Sam (Tamara's husband) were out on the playground playing soccer with the kids. Kelsey was continuing to wave to the kids and by the days end, she had a flock around her as she came back to the school. The village itself was full of great soil for lots of growth and vegetation, seemed cleaner and farther along than other villages that we have seen. It was a different feel than other villages, they seemed more loving, happier.
The other thing that is notable about this trip is this group of people - Kelsey and Samantha have instantly become friends, Mark continues to pick on Kelsey which ends in all of us laughing, John has a heart of gold and thinks that everyone deserves a "Hi, Good morning" and we laugh, Theresa says the quietest comment and hugs everyone that we give a filter too. Sam (Tamara's husband) is our group photographer - hes got amazing pictures!!! Tamara is our gullable one and cracks me up, always hungry and ready to sleep by 7pm. Miriam (Tamara's daughter) is the one that gives us facts about all kinds of stuff and its a joy to watch her enjoy herself interacting with Haitians. Jim continues to be our leader keeping everything lighthearted. This has been a great group of people.
We went up to Plen Mapou today. Wonderful truck ride - it only took us three hours to get up there, still roads beyond anything we have ever seen, not sure of the miles. I want to enlighten everyone of the Haitian culture a little bit. They are an extremely giving community, they are resilient and they help anyone that is in need of help. We never knew who's child belonged to which family / house / mother because everyone is there for all. As we were driving up the mountain, Dede would speak to so many people as we drove. He seems to know every one of the 100,000 people that occupy the land. We kept laughing as he spoke and had conversations with his wife's uncle on the side of the road (who was probably waiting all day for us to drive by), he spoke to a lady that was probably 100 yards away and spoke no more than a normal tone of voice (where some of us continually say "huh, what did you say" when we are right next to someone) and as we were waiting for the other truck on the side of the mountain a group of ladies came up to him and asked him if they could "share a white with them". Nice we were almost sold! We laughed so hard when Dede told us that they wanted him to share us. Makes ya think though...
Yesterday, as I was walking through a long path, Loner (pronounced Loonaire) was behind me and when I slipped slightly the first thing he said was "Staci, I am here...I will protect you". This group of people whether they are working for Starfysh or we are meeting them in the schools or churches, they are willing to accept help but they want to learn how to do things on their own. They would love to just take over and install the filters themselves (which we are teaching them but this trip is for us to do it). The translators that we have with us to tell the woman of the house how the filter works and the directions as to what needs to happen next, don't even need us to tell them anymore what to say, they have it down pat. It makes our job a lot easier as all we have to do is install and then interact with the families and play with the kids. With that said, they are still asking us for extra. They whisper to us that they "need to talk", they tell us that their wife is sick or they don't have any parents and usually that means that they would like some money to help them out. Even though some of them are employed by Starfysh and they are making money, they are still human. They are seeing americans come in for a week with clean clothes, iphones, cameras and they want more. So they ask. Starfysh has a rule that we are not supposed to give anything to them because they don't want to create an environment that promotes that kind of culture, they want Haitians to work for their money and they want to create an environment that puts money back into the local economy. To me, it is very hard to determine what they say is the truth or are they just wanting a buck.
Back to the village today, we installed 28 filters with a large amount of chaos and confusion at the beginning. With Haitians, they are excited about the filters. There was also two leaders that were pulling and pushing against each other for some power. The pastor of the church and the monitor that Starfysh had employed were both trying to dictate what was going to happen and they just were not on the same page. The filters were all at housed at a school / church. School was in session and apparently it was a recess because before you knew it me and Sam (Tamara's husband) were out on the playground playing soccer with the kids. Kelsey was continuing to wave to the kids and by the days end, she had a flock around her as she came back to the school. The village itself was full of great soil for lots of growth and vegetation, seemed cleaner and farther along than other villages that we have seen. It was a different feel than other villages, they seemed more loving, happier.
The other thing that is notable about this trip is this group of people - Kelsey and Samantha have instantly become friends, Mark continues to pick on Kelsey which ends in all of us laughing, John has a heart of gold and thinks that everyone deserves a "Hi, Good morning" and we laugh, Theresa says the quietest comment and hugs everyone that we give a filter too. Sam (Tamara's husband) is our group photographer - hes got amazing pictures!!! Tamara is our gullable one and cracks me up, always hungry and ready to sleep by 7pm. Miriam (Tamara's daughter) is the one that gives us facts about all kinds of stuff and its a joy to watch her enjoy herself interacting with Haitians. Jim continues to be our leader keeping everything lighthearted. This has been a great group of people.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Village completion
I know its going to sound redundant but it was another great day!! We had to get up extra early today because we wanted to get the village done and with the amount of time it took to get up to the village we decided that we wanted to be out the door by 7:00am. Of course 7 turned into 7:20 before we were actually out and about. We actually tracked it today and we went 9 miles in 2 hours!!!! that gives you an idea of the road situations. Jim decided that going with us was not the best decision so he made sure the guesthouse bathroom was monitored throughout the day (we missed him and he is feeling MUCH better now). Mark, Theresa, John, and Jim put backs on the side of the truck with a great donation of brackets from Tucker Town Forge and Elenbass Steel in Lowell. Its still amazing to me how when people hear about us going to Haiti, they are more than willing to help any way that can.
The ride up was full with just as much laughter as we have every time this group is together. Sam (Tamaras husband) enlightened us with a few goofy jokes and many trivia facts. It was actually quite amusing - hes not much of a talker so when he does talk we all intently listened. At one point, Tamara even turned to him "when did you get so funny". John of course had another hilarious comment after getting hit with another sticky tree as he felt his eye sight going "I do have one last request from you ladies". Apparently Tamara didn't understand because it took a couple minutes for her to get it and when she did, she must have laughed for a good five minutes. Our cheeks definitely hurt from all the laughter. Speaking of cheeks, did I mention that our butt cheeks are killing us!!! Holy cow we have bruises on our coccyx (Miriam enlightened us of what area really hurt), bruises on our backs, bruises in spots that we didn't know could bruise.
On the way up we see lots of people along the way, one that caught our eye was a couple each carrying a baby. All the woman in our truck did in unison "awe, we need to stop". Big John stopped the truck and we piled out. Through the translator, we discovered she just had twins, a boy and a girl. They were absolutely beautiful!!!! We took tons of pictures of them. The trip continued until we came upon a school that we wanted to stop at and give soccer balls too. We walked into the back courtyard with Dada as he translated John asking them if we can drop them off. As Mark said, "As soon as they saw a blond walk through the courtyard, the kids went crazy" (meaning Kelsey). The kids were off the hook excited to see us. John pumped up a couple balls for them and headed into the classroom to cause a small ruckus. Kelsey and I headed into the classroom too. I think we could've stayed there all day to play but we needed to move on.
The plan for the Land Cruiser going on the massive hill was going to be that they were going to drop off the people at the top of the hill and have them walk the rest of the way and the Land Cruiser was to stay at the top of the hill. Apparently, someone fixed the 4wheel drive or the transmission or whatever was wrong with it because before we knew it the Land Cruiser was continuing on. We installed 8 before lunch which the goal was each group had to get to 10. We had the honor of installing one in the school. The village is only 52 and we completed it.
The installation went totally smooth!!! We split up into three groups this time. I was with Mark and Miriam, Kelsey and Samantha were with Sam, Theresa, John and Tamara were together. This village was so spread out that the village was about a mile long and only housed 52 houses. The last one that the Theresa, John and Tamara installed was WAYYYY out there....like to the point where the woman of the house fetched her water from the ocean. We waited for that group at another home. We ended up getting together with Kelsey and Samantha. While we were waiting for them, Kelsey noticed the door to the house that we were standing outside of was a sheet hanging there that had crochet flowers on it. Within one of the flowers, Kelsey noticed a spider.... a TARANTULA!!!! Really it was a tarantula!!!!! Really I'm not lying. We all freaked a little - obviously we didn't want to offend anyone by screaming like our hair was on fire but we really wanted to. Kelsey actually took a picture of it and Dada caught one in a can. BLAH!
The other group came up after the long trek and the final installation. They were pretty whipped coming up the hills.
We got back to the truck, said our goodbyes and began our way back to the guesthouse. Before we left, we had a cooler full of water and Freddy gave the rest of the water to the local kids to fill any bottle they could find. It was a flock of kids just wanting some good clean water.
The truck ride was full of bouncing, laughter and at the end of the 2 hour ride, the skies opened up and it poured!!!!! We came off the truck absolutely soaked. Three of us had white shirts and dark bra's on which of course ended the day in even more laughter!!!
Dinner was again wonderful, we had some great conversation in regards to why we do what we do and our individual reasons. We all have very different views on religion and whether this is a mission or service job, but we all respect each other and know that we are making a difference here. Pastor Benny came by with his entire family and wanted to personally thank us for the work that we did in his home village.
Love and thanks for reading...
The ride up was full with just as much laughter as we have every time this group is together. Sam (Tamaras husband) enlightened us with a few goofy jokes and many trivia facts. It was actually quite amusing - hes not much of a talker so when he does talk we all intently listened. At one point, Tamara even turned to him "when did you get so funny". John of course had another hilarious comment after getting hit with another sticky tree as he felt his eye sight going "I do have one last request from you ladies". Apparently Tamara didn't understand because it took a couple minutes for her to get it and when she did, she must have laughed for a good five minutes. Our cheeks definitely hurt from all the laughter. Speaking of cheeks, did I mention that our butt cheeks are killing us!!! Holy cow we have bruises on our coccyx (Miriam enlightened us of what area really hurt), bruises on our backs, bruises in spots that we didn't know could bruise.
On the way up we see lots of people along the way, one that caught our eye was a couple each carrying a baby. All the woman in our truck did in unison "awe, we need to stop". Big John stopped the truck and we piled out. Through the translator, we discovered she just had twins, a boy and a girl. They were absolutely beautiful!!!! We took tons of pictures of them. The trip continued until we came upon a school that we wanted to stop at and give soccer balls too. We walked into the back courtyard with Dada as he translated John asking them if we can drop them off. As Mark said, "As soon as they saw a blond walk through the courtyard, the kids went crazy" (meaning Kelsey). The kids were off the hook excited to see us. John pumped up a couple balls for them and headed into the classroom to cause a small ruckus. Kelsey and I headed into the classroom too. I think we could've stayed there all day to play but we needed to move on.
The plan for the Land Cruiser going on the massive hill was going to be that they were going to drop off the people at the top of the hill and have them walk the rest of the way and the Land Cruiser was to stay at the top of the hill. Apparently, someone fixed the 4wheel drive or the transmission or whatever was wrong with it because before we knew it the Land Cruiser was continuing on. We installed 8 before lunch which the goal was each group had to get to 10. We had the honor of installing one in the school. The village is only 52 and we completed it.
The installation went totally smooth!!! We split up into three groups this time. I was with Mark and Miriam, Kelsey and Samantha were with Sam, Theresa, John and Tamara were together. This village was so spread out that the village was about a mile long and only housed 52 houses. The last one that the Theresa, John and Tamara installed was WAYYYY out there....like to the point where the woman of the house fetched her water from the ocean. We waited for that group at another home. We ended up getting together with Kelsey and Samantha. While we were waiting for them, Kelsey noticed the door to the house that we were standing outside of was a sheet hanging there that had crochet flowers on it. Within one of the flowers, Kelsey noticed a spider.... a TARANTULA!!!! Really it was a tarantula!!!!! Really I'm not lying. We all freaked a little - obviously we didn't want to offend anyone by screaming like our hair was on fire but we really wanted to. Kelsey actually took a picture of it and Dada caught one in a can. BLAH!
The other group came up after the long trek and the final installation. They were pretty whipped coming up the hills.
We got back to the truck, said our goodbyes and began our way back to the guesthouse. Before we left, we had a cooler full of water and Freddy gave the rest of the water to the local kids to fill any bottle they could find. It was a flock of kids just wanting some good clean water.
The truck ride was full of bouncing, laughter and at the end of the 2 hour ride, the skies opened up and it poured!!!!! We came off the truck absolutely soaked. Three of us had white shirts and dark bra's on which of course ended the day in even more laughter!!!
Dinner was again wonderful, we had some great conversation in regards to why we do what we do and our individual reasons. We all have very different views on religion and whether this is a mission or service job, but we all respect each other and know that we are making a difference here. Pastor Benny came by with his entire family and wanted to personally thank us for the work that we did in his home village.
Love and thanks for reading...
Monday, February 9, 2015
Mapou village - a day of laughter
What an absolutely incredible day!!! So many great stories, so many great people that we met, and 20 filters were installed. We woke up at 6:30, had a quick breakfast and got our butts in the truck. I literally cannot explain the road situation here, we went up to the mountains and village of Mapou. This trip was an hour and a half in the truck on winding "roads", full of volcanic lava formations, dusty, up hill both ways. We were in the back of the truck sitting on 2x8 - there were 10 of us in there. Needless to say we held on tightly to each other and enjoyed the time laughing and looking at the scenery around us. Every time we went by children or a different village the haitians called out "blanc" (white). There was one time in particular that we were about a mile away from the village, where Dada (pronounced Day day) suggested that we get out of the truck and walk because the road was really down hill and really rocky. The end of this story will answer the question "how many haitians does it take to get a Land Crusier up a hill?
When we got to the village many people were really excited to see us - they knew what we were bringing. We quickly split into two groups (tomorrow we are splitting into 3). Kelsey was with Mark, John Theresa and Sam. I was with the girl Sam, Jim, Tamara and her daughter Miriam. We headed down the hill and walked to a place where cars could not go, motorcycles could not go and we just had to walk. The helpers carried many of the aggregate, we carried filters to the homes and off we went to our first installation. We did 4 before lunch, we could've done more but the houses were so spread out and we had to walk far to get to the places. The second house that we went to Dada pointed out some Voodoo in the corner of the house. There were some bottles Dada said that they used it for lotions to keep the evil spirits away. I was amazed at it all. The process of the filter installation went smoothly, and at the end the practice was to pray for the family when we were finished. The lady of that particular house allowed us to pray and said that the items in the corner were her husbands. Im not sure we believed that.
We went to the next few houses and didn't see any children....I was needing my under 10 year old Haitian fix!! We trekked up back the steep hill through rocky terrain and had a quick lunch. I spoke to Steve and Pastor Benny and Benny told me about the fact that we had a voodoo leader amongst us and pointed out who he was. Fascinating!!
And then after lunch, we met the most amazing kid! Holding my hand, jumping up and down, just smiling with everything I said. He was hilarious!!!! I took many selfies with him that I will post and Sam gave him a tennis ball and we began playing with him and some of his friends (or brothers or cousins). I loved it, to bring a little bit of joy to these families with laughter and a little game is way better for me than anything else. Yes the families appreciated the filters, and understood everything we were telling them but the fun with the kids is what melts my heart. Every home we went into, no one had had diarrhea or cholera but all of them did experience someone in the house with a headache and a fever. The headaches are typically from dehydration and the water makes them sick, so our filters installation is that much more important. Where we were they collect rain water in a cistern but it is still not necessarily clean water.
We were done with our installation and headed back to the church to meet up with the other group (where Kelsey was). I was really excited to see her and here about her experience when she came up to the church door with Theresa. I looked at Kelsey who had the biggest smile on her face "This is Ricky" and the cutest boy was hanging on to her hand. Ricky pointed at kelsey and said "Kelsey" and smiled. Obviously a connection had been made. She loved it! We piled back in the truck (same seats) and began the 2 hour trek back to the guest house. A total of 20 filters were installed and we will go back there tomorrow to finish the village (about 30 more need to be installed).
We were in the Chevy truck and Jim, Mark and Sam (guy Sam) were in the Land Cruiser. We were coming down the BIG hill heading up the other BIG hill and the Land Cruiser was in front of us. We had Big John (who was our driver) stop and let us out so we could walk up the hill (it was too dangerous to let us stay in). The Land Cruiser gunned it to go up the hill....nothing..apparently the driver was shifting but the 4wheel did not engage. We video taped, we walked up the hill, we watched the land cruiser make at least 15 attempts and still that truck was never going to make it. And then the Haitians came literally from the hills to help. There were at least 15 Haitians that came to help. We sat on top of the mountain making bets to see how long it would take for the truck to get unstuck. Finally, 15 Haitians pushing, 10 Americans Cheering, one pastor driving one Land Cruiser up the hill. the video is classic!!
The drive back was FULL of laughter of us ducking from these trees that we were told if we touched them it was a sticky substance and we would go blind if we touched it. Without explaining too much, this explanation and John's comments made us laugh for many minutes.
Love to all and thanks for reading....
When we got to the village many people were really excited to see us - they knew what we were bringing. We quickly split into two groups (tomorrow we are splitting into 3). Kelsey was with Mark, John Theresa and Sam. I was with the girl Sam, Jim, Tamara and her daughter Miriam. We headed down the hill and walked to a place where cars could not go, motorcycles could not go and we just had to walk. The helpers carried many of the aggregate, we carried filters to the homes and off we went to our first installation. We did 4 before lunch, we could've done more but the houses were so spread out and we had to walk far to get to the places. The second house that we went to Dada pointed out some Voodoo in the corner of the house. There were some bottles Dada said that they used it for lotions to keep the evil spirits away. I was amazed at it all. The process of the filter installation went smoothly, and at the end the practice was to pray for the family when we were finished. The lady of that particular house allowed us to pray and said that the items in the corner were her husbands. Im not sure we believed that.
We went to the next few houses and didn't see any children....I was needing my under 10 year old Haitian fix!! We trekked up back the steep hill through rocky terrain and had a quick lunch. I spoke to Steve and Pastor Benny and Benny told me about the fact that we had a voodoo leader amongst us and pointed out who he was. Fascinating!!
And then after lunch, we met the most amazing kid! Holding my hand, jumping up and down, just smiling with everything I said. He was hilarious!!!! I took many selfies with him that I will post and Sam gave him a tennis ball and we began playing with him and some of his friends (or brothers or cousins). I loved it, to bring a little bit of joy to these families with laughter and a little game is way better for me than anything else. Yes the families appreciated the filters, and understood everything we were telling them but the fun with the kids is what melts my heart. Every home we went into, no one had had diarrhea or cholera but all of them did experience someone in the house with a headache and a fever. The headaches are typically from dehydration and the water makes them sick, so our filters installation is that much more important. Where we were they collect rain water in a cistern but it is still not necessarily clean water.
We were done with our installation and headed back to the church to meet up with the other group (where Kelsey was). I was really excited to see her and here about her experience when she came up to the church door with Theresa. I looked at Kelsey who had the biggest smile on her face "This is Ricky" and the cutest boy was hanging on to her hand. Ricky pointed at kelsey and said "Kelsey" and smiled. Obviously a connection had been made. She loved it! We piled back in the truck (same seats) and began the 2 hour trek back to the guest house. A total of 20 filters were installed and we will go back there tomorrow to finish the village (about 30 more need to be installed).
We were in the Chevy truck and Jim, Mark and Sam (guy Sam) were in the Land Cruiser. We were coming down the BIG hill heading up the other BIG hill and the Land Cruiser was in front of us. We had Big John (who was our driver) stop and let us out so we could walk up the hill (it was too dangerous to let us stay in). The Land Cruiser gunned it to go up the hill....nothing..apparently the driver was shifting but the 4wheel did not engage. We video taped, we walked up the hill, we watched the land cruiser make at least 15 attempts and still that truck was never going to make it. And then the Haitians came literally from the hills to help. There were at least 15 Haitians that came to help. We sat on top of the mountain making bets to see how long it would take for the truck to get unstuck. Finally, 15 Haitians pushing, 10 Americans Cheering, one pastor driving one Land Cruiser up the hill. the video is classic!!
The drive back was FULL of laughter of us ducking from these trees that we were told if we touched them it was a sticky substance and we would go blind if we touched it. Without explaining too much, this explanation and John's comments made us laugh for many minutes.
Love to all and thanks for reading....
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Day 1 - Ceremony day
What a great day!!!! We woke up to a beautiful sunrise on the ocean, had a wonderful breakfast with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, and waited for the boat to come over to the island. We needed to wait on the Delmas Aeroport rotary club to come and meet us. For those that don't know, when Freddy told them 8:30am Haitians are worse than southerners and that apparently meant 9:30 before they came over. :) The person who I was in communicating with was Dominique and it was nice to finally put a name with a face, we instantly hugged and felt like we were long lost friends. She was a classy lady and came with 6 other Rotarians. As soon as they saw the boat that we were going on, they decided to find another way over to the island. They actually ended up talking to someone they met at the resort who offered to take them over in their speedboat. They blew by us and ended up waiting for us.
Once we were all on the island, we were greeted by Dada and many happy smiling friendly faces. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and happy to see us all. Kelsey could not stop smiling, shaking hands and soaking it all in. We piled in the back of the pick up truck and headed to the Starfysh guest house. Roads were extremely dusty but since the last time coming here, I honestly can see a difference (roads are actually a little better, more life seemed to be all around us).
Once we got back to the guesthouse, we talked with the other rotarians, had lunch (a great lunch - fried chicken, fried plantains, and beans and rice) and started the ceremony of the completion of the grant. For those people that know, I must note that we STILL have not received the $100 from the Aeroport Rotary club. When I asked Dominique about it, she said she just couldn't figure it out, doesn't have her password for the website, and she left her checkbook at home...blah blah blah. It is extremely frustrating that we have done all this work for $83,800 and we are waiting on a measly $100 in order for rotary international to release the funds. I told her that we would connect this week and that I would once again contact RI and get directions on how she needs to do it. At one point, I was going to tell her she couldn't get on the boat until she gave me the $100, but I didn't think that would be very nice.
The ceremony was great - Starfysh has posted some pics from it. Steve spoke of collaboration and making a difference in a small island. He asked me to say a few words representing the Lowell Rotary club and Dominque spoke representing her club. Then the three of us "cut the ribbon" I couldn't be more proud to be here and to hopefully help "one starfysh at a time"
Rest of the day - we installed a filter with their group although I got distracted by a group of girls that were around 8. One of the girls was crying and the others were laughing. I can't stand to see anyone crying so I went over and tried to talk to them. Needless to say, by the end we were all laughing and somehow I got to dancing and being goofy with them and they all knew my name. John Gruizenga was absolutely hilarious by getting them to repeat anything he said "say, YO" they would reply "say YO" Kelsey came out and joined the fun.
they followed us to the guesthouse and were standing outside the gate waiting for us to play again. We taught them hand slapping chicken and we were all laughing once again.
The Haiti Rotary group went back to the mainland and we took a tour of the new hospital. Again, Kelsey and I got sucked into the maternity wing. Three babies had just been born and couldn't be more proud of their new babies. when we peaked in to look, a mom held up her baby like Mufasa held up Simba and wanted us to hold the baby. Absolutely a gorgeous baby that I held in my arms. Amazing in the states, a new mother barely takes their child out for fear of germs, and this mom wanted to share her joy with all of us. Again this is their giving culture.
Overall GREAT DAY!!!! oh and yes Kelsey is having a great time. Mark and Theresa's daughter Sam is 24 and they have already coined themselves as "buddies for the week". We all got plenty of sun today, 84 degrees and simply gorgeous! Tomorrow we travel to Mopou - Pastor Benny told Steve about this village and the need there so they are the chosen ones for this week. Its about an hour away and there are about 400 people in this village. Cant wait to get started.
Love to all and thanks for reading....
Once we were all on the island, we were greeted by Dada and many happy smiling friendly faces. Everyone was so incredibly friendly and happy to see us all. Kelsey could not stop smiling, shaking hands and soaking it all in. We piled in the back of the pick up truck and headed to the Starfysh guest house. Roads were extremely dusty but since the last time coming here, I honestly can see a difference (roads are actually a little better, more life seemed to be all around us).
Once we got back to the guesthouse, we talked with the other rotarians, had lunch (a great lunch - fried chicken, fried plantains, and beans and rice) and started the ceremony of the completion of the grant. For those people that know, I must note that we STILL have not received the $100 from the Aeroport Rotary club. When I asked Dominique about it, she said she just couldn't figure it out, doesn't have her password for the website, and she left her checkbook at home...blah blah blah. It is extremely frustrating that we have done all this work for $83,800 and we are waiting on a measly $100 in order for rotary international to release the funds. I told her that we would connect this week and that I would once again contact RI and get directions on how she needs to do it. At one point, I was going to tell her she couldn't get on the boat until she gave me the $100, but I didn't think that would be very nice.
The ceremony was great - Starfysh has posted some pics from it. Steve spoke of collaboration and making a difference in a small island. He asked me to say a few words representing the Lowell Rotary club and Dominque spoke representing her club. Then the three of us "cut the ribbon" I couldn't be more proud to be here and to hopefully help "one starfysh at a time"
Rest of the day - we installed a filter with their group although I got distracted by a group of girls that were around 8. One of the girls was crying and the others were laughing. I can't stand to see anyone crying so I went over and tried to talk to them. Needless to say, by the end we were all laughing and somehow I got to dancing and being goofy with them and they all knew my name. John Gruizenga was absolutely hilarious by getting them to repeat anything he said "say, YO" they would reply "say YO" Kelsey came out and joined the fun.
they followed us to the guesthouse and were standing outside the gate waiting for us to play again. We taught them hand slapping chicken and we were all laughing once again.
The Haiti Rotary group went back to the mainland and we took a tour of the new hospital. Again, Kelsey and I got sucked into the maternity wing. Three babies had just been born and couldn't be more proud of their new babies. when we peaked in to look, a mom held up her baby like Mufasa held up Simba and wanted us to hold the baby. Absolutely a gorgeous baby that I held in my arms. Amazing in the states, a new mother barely takes their child out for fear of germs, and this mom wanted to share her joy with all of us. Again this is their giving culture.
Overall GREAT DAY!!!! oh and yes Kelsey is having a great time. Mark and Theresa's daughter Sam is 24 and they have already coined themselves as "buddies for the week". We all got plenty of sun today, 84 degrees and simply gorgeous! Tomorrow we travel to Mopou - Pastor Benny told Steve about this village and the need there so they are the chosen ones for this week. Its about an hour away and there are about 400 people in this village. Cant wait to get started.
Love to all and thanks for reading....
Successfully on the island
after a long day of travel we arrived in haiti. We are still on the mainland, up for breakfast. It was pretty uneventful. When we got some amazing pictures on the airplane coming into ft lauderdale and finally into haiti. Kelseys reaction "oh my gosh look at that" Sam (Mundts daughter) was on her first flight since the age of 10 so she was a little nervous. We had the great opportunity to meet my dad and karen in Florida and have lunch with them since we had a three hour layover there.
When we got to haiti in the airport, it went smooth, met Freddy (an extremely friendly face).
We came out of the airport and it was many people asking us to take our luggage (so they could earn a buck) but Freddy already had people set up to help us. One man was extremely upset because he was not chosen to be our helper and make some money, lots of yelling in creole.
We all hopped in the van and the real adventure began. Apparently a factory had just gotten out and there were even more people on the roads than normal. The people that we saw were amazing, the traffic was insane (people everywhere) no rules on the roads , I guess they have three lane roads here no speed limits, all road rage. Kelsey was pretty quiet until she saw a lady walking "did you see that lady is carrying a chicken in a bag!!!" It was not like a processed chicken (head hanging out of a bag).
We got to Ouanga bay is where we stayed last night. Kelsey and I were in one room with two beds. Of course she wanted to sleep with me lol. The shower was pretty questionable- no shower curtain, no hot water.
We had a decent meal last night here and this morning we had fresh bananas fresh grapefruit juice and eggs. Breakfast was great!!!
Glad we are going to la gonave today, there are some protests scheduled for tomorrow and Tuesday because the price of gas. The price is set by the government and they want to add tax and the people are angry about it.
We are not sure of the Internet after Tuesday, no one brought a laptop so we aren't sure if we will have anything to hook up the Internet drive to,
Love to all, thanks for reading
When we got to haiti in the airport, it went smooth, met Freddy (an extremely friendly face).
We came out of the airport and it was many people asking us to take our luggage (so they could earn a buck) but Freddy already had people set up to help us. One man was extremely upset because he was not chosen to be our helper and make some money, lots of yelling in creole.
We all hopped in the van and the real adventure began. Apparently a factory had just gotten out and there were even more people on the roads than normal. The people that we saw were amazing, the traffic was insane (people everywhere) no rules on the roads , I guess they have three lane roads here no speed limits, all road rage. Kelsey was pretty quiet until she saw a lady walking "did you see that lady is carrying a chicken in a bag!!!" It was not like a processed chicken (head hanging out of a bag).
We got to Ouanga bay is where we stayed last night. Kelsey and I were in one room with two beds. Of course she wanted to sleep with me lol. The shower was pretty questionable- no shower curtain, no hot water.
We had a decent meal last night here and this morning we had fresh bananas fresh grapefruit juice and eggs. Breakfast was great!!!
Glad we are going to la gonave today, there are some protests scheduled for tomorrow and Tuesday because the price of gas. The price is set by the government and they want to add tax and the people are angry about it.
We are not sure of the Internet after Tuesday, no one brought a laptop so we aren't sure if we will have anything to hook up the Internet drive to,
Love to all, thanks for reading
Friday, February 6, 2015
T Minus 24 hours
We are really starting to get excited to go!! Kelsey is "nervous becuae I don't know what to expect" but geared up to learn and be exposed to a different life than what she is used to. We are packed with shorts, t-shirts, flip flops, scrubs and a few little snacks in case she has a hard time with the food.
Last night, Kelsey babysat and ate pizza for dinner. We believe we are at the point where she thinks she is lactose intolerant. Needless to say in the middle of the night - up came the pizza. She had to work at 6:00am this morning so off to work she went. I just talked to her and she is not feeling much better - pretty achy and just tired. I really really really hope that she isn't coming down with anything. I cant imagine starting off the trip like that.
The plans are set for the group from Haiti Rotary club to come and meet us at the resort on Sunday morning and travel with us on the boat, have a ceremony in regards to forming this partnership between the two clubs and then doing an inaugural water installation with their club. This is all part of the grant that we received. I have been in contact with Dominique who is the club president and it seems they are just as excited as we are to meet each other. Over the past 6 months (if not more) we have been corresponding back and forth over various issues as it pertains to the grant.
I will hopefully blog nightly and post it to facebook. thanks for all the friends and family who are thinking good thoughts of our travels. I couldn't be more proud of the work that we are going to be doing.
Last night, Kelsey babysat and ate pizza for dinner. We believe we are at the point where she thinks she is lactose intolerant. Needless to say in the middle of the night - up came the pizza. She had to work at 6:00am this morning so off to work she went. I just talked to her and she is not feeling much better - pretty achy and just tired. I really really really hope that she isn't coming down with anything. I cant imagine starting off the trip like that.
The plans are set for the group from Haiti Rotary club to come and meet us at the resort on Sunday morning and travel with us on the boat, have a ceremony in regards to forming this partnership between the two clubs and then doing an inaugural water installation with their club. This is all part of the grant that we received. I have been in contact with Dominique who is the club president and it seems they are just as excited as we are to meet each other. Over the past 6 months (if not more) we have been corresponding back and forth over various issues as it pertains to the grant.
I will hopefully blog nightly and post it to facebook. thanks for all the friends and family who are thinking good thoughts of our travels. I couldn't be more proud of the work that we are going to be doing.
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