Saturday, July 10, 2010

Getting Ready to Say Good-bye


As I sit down to write our final blog, I seem to be at a loss for words. Not because there are not stories to tell or songs to share, but because there are no words to adequately capture the hearts and lives of the people we have grown to love in Haiti. But I will do my best to share a glimpse of my heart as our team prepares to say goodbye and head back home.

Two weeks ago, our first team arrived in Haiti; filled with excitement and energy to love and serve the Haitian people. From our pre-trip training, we knew not to have any set expectations. Although we knew this, I think most of us had expectations in the back of our minds we hoped would be met. After only a day, however, any of our expectations were put to rest. When our plane landed in Port-u-Prince, we all piled into cars and began the 3-hour journey to Gonaives. Along the ride, we saw poverty beyond anything we could have imagined and immediately the questions of “Why does God allow this?” began. Yet this was only the beginning of our questions.

Once we arrived in Gonaives and began working in the neighborhood of Jubilee, no longer was the poverty just something we saw from the car window, but it was life for our new friends. And as we poured into the lives of those around us, we started to hear story after story of the suffering and pain which have been so deeply woven into their lives. We met a widow who is raising 5 kids on her own. We met orphaned children with only the clothes on their back and no place to rest their head. We met men aching for mentorship and women desiring to be treasured. Yet most importantly, we met God in each and every person, and each and every story. Although they are living amongst suffering and heartache, the people of Haiti persevere each day; overflowing with laughter and joy that can only be best described as contagious.

It was this laughter and joy that carried our team through the first week and met the second team when they arrived. Once again, the community of Jubilee welcomed us with open hearts. This week we shared in the joy of finishing the widow’s house by helping her family move and get settled. We sang at the top of our lungs in Creole as we led Vacation Bible School for the children of Jubilee. Many of us were stretched as we helped run a medical clinic acting as pharmacists and nurses’ assistants alongside the Pakistan Military. We loved seeing the English students grasp our teaching of the English language from days of the week to basic greetings. And we were blessed to share dinner with a local pastor and hear how God is working in Haiti.

But nothing will compare to the precious time we were able to spend building relationships with the people of Jubilee; people who will leave eternal imprints on our hearts. We will always remember how God provided ways to overcome our language barriers to build intentional relationships. We will never forget the smiles and outstretched arms of the children as they ran to us each morning or the desire in their eyes to just be held. These are the memories we can’t check off a list or say we built with our hands. But these are the memories we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.

So as we get ready to leave, we thank everyone for the prayers and support over these last two weeks. At some point during the trip, each of us have come to the end of ourselves and relied on God’s strength alone to get us through the day. For only when we come to the end of us, do we truly see God’s heart and his love for the people of Haiti.

Blessings,
Sarah

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Half-Way Point


Today was probably the most physically demanding day of our trip yet, and as I write this blog, I am the only one still up. However, it was just too good of a day to not blog about it, so here I am.

On a week-long trip, Wednesday can be the mid-week rut. So today was a little more relaxed, which was good as the heat hit everyone on the team pretty hard. The slower pace ended up giving us a better chance to have more time with fewer people, which was awesome. The day started out with soccer. We intended to have a match between Haitian young adults/teens and the Omaha team. However, only Mike was brave enough to take them on, and he only lasted about 20 minutes in the heat. The rest of us played soccer with the littler kids, who were a much better match for us skill-wise!

Not being much of a kid-person by nature, I’ve been amazed at how God is breaking my heart and letting them in. Today I met three girls. One I never did get the name of as she was really little and very hard to understand. However, she latched onto me first thing in the morning and was quite the cuddle bug! She left for a while but came back that afternoon, again glued to my side. It shocks me how much she likes me as she needs so much and I don’t have much to give her, but when she sighed, relaxed, and laid her head on my shoulder, the heat became less noticeable and I thought I could hold her all day.

The rest of the morning we spent time in the neighborhood – playing with kids and getting to know both children and adults. I also met Michelline and Cassagna. After playing with them for a while, I asked them if they would take me to their homes. Two GAMe people and Brian & Cody came with. We first went to MIchelline’s house, and the 10 people sitting in her front yard where shocked to see the “blanc’s” come around the corner. I learned Michelline lived with her older sister as her parents had both died. The sister was 22, taking care of 5 younger siblings, her own child, and was pregnant with another. The father died about a month after she became pregnant, so there was no income. I stood in amazement that 7 (soon to be 8) people lived in a house smaller than my bedroom. I was also amazed at how gracious the woman was and how happy she was to have us as visitors – even when she realized we weren’t there to give her anything. When we left, Michelline’s face was beaming with happiness that we came to visit her house.

Next was Cassagna’s house. She lived with 7 relatives in a two room house. They even had a yard with a full fence. Again, the family was slightly shocked when we strolled up, but they too were gracious, offering us a place to sit in the shade and quite willing to open up about their lives. The mother asked to have her picture taken with me and proudly laughed at her daughter when she excitedly asked if she could come back with us to play at the building. When we left, Cassagna’s face beamed too.

After lunch we went back to the building and hosted a VBS while a few team members went to work on the house ORR has been building. VBS was a touch chaotic and the kids didn’t always get the rules to the games we played, but they sure did have fun – especially with “Cow, Cow, Goat”…a substitution as the kids don’t know what a goose is.

The days can be long and hot. The kids can be overwhelming with their enthusiasm. Sometimes I focus on the dirt, strange smells or germs. And then I think, I’m tired – I don’t want to hold another child. I just want a shower, a cold Coke, and a nap. But, these kids and their families aren’t just nameless faces. I don’t totally why a little attention from me in the form of a piggyback ride, letting them wear my sunglasses, or visiting their homes means so much. However, as each of these kids finds their way into my heart, and as I start to get a slight grasp on how much God loves them (which, by the way, is far beyond anything I could comprehend), I find that all I can do is smile, bend down for yet another piggyback ride &/or photo, and keep going. I can only imagine that doing work in Haiti is painstakingly slow, especially when you approach people as individuals and not numbers. The patience of this organization is hard to believe, but I can see it in the faces of the people we meet that they trust the ORR people. That trust takes a long time to build, but it’s so important in both sharing God’s love and empowering people.

This trip is stretching me far outside of my comfort zone – but despite of some difficulties or discomforts, I am so glad I’m here.

Crystal

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Undignified - 7.6.10

Katilyn: Today was hot and bright. We had the medical clinic again in the morning. Inside it went smoother than yesterday. The nurses and the pharmacy “crew” fell into the routine pretty quickly. Our nurses were on their own for an hour or so, and then the Pakistanis arrived. About 20 minutes before they arrived, Crystal, Brian, and I went to the widow’s house and helped paint it inside and out. We worked by ourselves for about 20 minutes before the Haitians that were standing around decided that “the white people didn’t know how to paint” and took our brushes. After a while I was allowed to go back into the house and help them paint, but every two minutes they would take my brush and show me how, again. I’m apparently not a fast study in white-washing a house. After we finished with the house we made our slow way back to the clinic (due to all of the children hanging on our various appendages.). We got there just in time for lunch with our new Pakistani friends.

Heather: For those not working in the clinic or painting the house, there was lots of playing with kids of all ages today. It doesn’t take a lot to play with these kids, which I find very refreshing. Somehow I can’t picture kids in the U.S. being entertained for hours by climbing all over an adult (K: Literally, they shimmy up you like a tree trunk!!), trying on sunglasses, playing hand clapping games (often accompanied by songs), having their photos taken (K: Though once any of them see it, you will have AT LEAST 15 kids mobbing you demanding “fait bon foto!”-basically “I get to take a picture, and there is no debating.” It’s awesome and very worrisome!) or getting a balloon as a gift. I even got some Creole language lessons today, and learned a valuable lesson in soccer. When it comes to the World Cup in Haiti, you root for Brazil and not Argentina.

I am always struck by how little these kids have here and how that plays into how they respond to us. Haitian culture isn’t very orderly to begin with, but you throw in poverty and that adds a whole new level of chaos, particularly when a child isn’t guaranteed that there’s enough for everyone. As an example, we brought balloons and a pump with us to make balloon animals for the kids. Ever since one kid in Jubilee got a balloon, they have become the hottest commodity in the neighborhood. Today, we tried to organize a mass distribution of the balloons by having the kids line up and wait while we blew up a balloon for each of them. That plan worked well for about 45 seconds until one kid got a balloon and lifted it in the air. That’s when about 300 kids came running at us and any semblance of line was gone. It was unfortunate, but we quickly had to stop giving out balloons because children were soon shoving one another to get a balloon.

Ultimately, I think that’s okay because I don’t think this trip is about giving stuff to the kids for any of us. I think each of us just wants the kids to know that we love them. Giving them stuff, even when it doesn’t work, is just an expression of that. I noticed today that several kids are already starting to recognize me after just two days. My hope is that by the end of the week, these kids understand that I just love them. That we all do.

K: After the clinic was the feeding program, and then back to Emory’s house for lunch, at least for most of us. One of the car’s keys broke off in the door lock and half the team ended up waiting next to the building project the other team is in charge of for the better part of an hour. It was frustrating because none of us knew why we were still there, just that we were. But it was nice to get more time with some of the older kids as well as the little ones. Most of the hour was filled with photo taking and the older guys trying to get various female members of the team to marry them! I told them “Jesus loves you” when they tried to trick me into saying “I love you.”

We finally made it home and it was “grab a sandwich” and off to the English class that Emory is in charge of. The teacher was there today, and they were going over colors when we arrived. He broke the class in half and sent three people with each half to help them practice their conversational English. The half of the class Brian, Crystal and I worked with was a total of five men, while Mike, Julia, Heidi, and Sarah’s half had about 30 people. After talking with students (on our side of the blackboards) or playing games involving what words they had learned that day (on the other side of the blackboards) we came back to Emory’s house only to leave immediately for a pastor friend’s house for an amazing dinner of fried chicken and shrimp, rice and beans, pink potato salad, and cane sugar coca-cola. After dinner he told us of his time here in Haiti including the earthquake and both of the floods he’s been through here. And by floods I mean 14-15 foot deep water and then eventually mud.

I would love to tell you more but this blog is already the longest yet and it’s time for group time.

Bon nuit!!

-Katilyn and Heather

Monday, July 5, 2010

Great things happening here in Haiti

It’s finally here. All the weeks of planning, packing, and getting things ready and now, we are finally in Haiti. Yesterday was a really long day. We started off the day in Fort Lauderdale, leaving our hotel by 4:30 am after getting about 3 hours of sleep. A couple hours later, we were going through customs in Port Au Prince. I was surprised by how quickly we made it through customs here in Haiti. The most entertaining part was probably Mike worrying about the stamp in his passport. Not only was he so excited to get the first stamp, but he was worried that it wasn’t going to be stamped exactly straight on the page. Thankfully, it was close enough that it didn’t cause problems for him.The trip from the airport to our temporary home in Gonaives was one of the most frightening journeys that I have ever been on. (*Note* I may exaggerate a bit, but hopefully you will get a taste of the feelings that we had riding in the car.) Roads in Haiti are mostly rock, with giant craters that swallow up cars and small children. Ok, maybe not small children, but it’s scary. Our “chauffer”, Brian, is very comfortable driving on the streets of Haiti.However, none of us are quite used to driving like this. There aren’t really any traffic laws here.I think the only word of advice that I heard is “don’t get hit by anything.” Cars weave in and out, narrowly missing other cars, motorcycles, people walking, animals, and whatever else might be in the road. At one point, Heather and I were laughing hysterically, simply because the ride was so bumpy that we were wondering how the car wasn’t falling apart.


Somehow, we made it to the house. After a few hours of getting settled in, we were off to help with the feeding program at Jubilee. Pulling up to the schoolhouse, I was amazed by the number of kids waiting for us. The minute that I stepped out of the truck, someone tackled me from behind, with a couple kids grabbing each of my hands. These kids are great! They just want to be near us. They have learned some English, so over and over I would hear, “What is your name?” My minimal Creole doesn’t seem to matter right now. Just a smile and a hug and we are best friends! It’s impossible not to just love them when you see those eyes staring up at you. It’s going to be hard not to take them all home with me.

Getting ready for my first night of sleep here I remembered two key things:

Mosquito net tucked in – check

Bug spray on – check

I have been warned about the mosquitoes. They won’t get to me tonight.





Today was an exciting day. There were definitely some harder moments, but there is so much good being done by all of the people here that it makes it all worth it. After breakfast, (which, by the way, was amazing! I don’t think I have ever tasted mango that was so good!) we headed back to Jubilee to hold a medical clinic. We have three women who are nurses, and a crowd of people gathered to come see them. Right away, after getting organized, we all had our roles. Some people were working our “pharmacy,” others were diagnosing patients, I was on wound-cleaning duty with Sarah, and all of us were ready to love on the people and play with the children. Shortly after Cody, Angel, and Deedee started seeing patients, a few of the Pakistani members of the UN showed up with their own doctor. It was amazing to see all of the doctors, nurses, and translators hard at work. One of the translators was more familiar with Spanish than English, so at one point, Deedee was discussing a diagnosis with one of the UN men in English, passing the information on to the translator in Spanish, who then spoke to the patient in Creole. It was amazing. Around lunchtime, the Pakistani men brought out food and shared with all of us that were working in the clinic. They were so friendly and insisted that we eat with them. I don’t think that I ever imagined sharing lunch with the Pakistani military while in Haiti. Our God is pretty amazing. He has provided so much for us so far on this trip. I’m excited to see how the rest of the week goes!

Thanks for reading all of this! I know it’s a long one, but there is so much going on! We really appreciate all of your prayers. God is doing great things here.

Much love,

Jen

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Passing of the Torch

Team One is heading back to the states as we wait for Team Two to arrive. We spent most of our day doing laundry, making beds, and getting everything ready for the next two teams. Another missions team from Georgia will be staying here along with the Omaha Rapid Response team. A few of us went to the market to buy food for the coming week - which was an adventure! There were so many vendors and people everywhere with seemingly little organization. If it hadn't been for Woobens (one of our Haitian friends), I would have been completely lost.

A highlight for me from the last week was getting to go to the English class at a nearby church. The Haitians there are at various stages of learning English. Our role was to help them practice conversational English after their formal class time. However, that day, the teacher did not show up, so we had the entire class time to talk with them. Sarah quickly jumped into "teacher mode" and was our shining star! Some of the other team members were more hesitant at first, but were able to spend time getting to know the students. I look forward to being able to go back to visit the class a few times this week. Most of the students were very friendly and eager to practice their English. Hopefully, when we return, we will be able to connect with some of the more reserved students and continue to build relationships with our new friends there.

We continue to help with the feeding program in Jubilee. Around noon each day, we travel to this nearby neighborhood to feed the children. Our host missionary, Emory, provides one meal each day to as many children as possible. For many of them, this is the only meal that they will eat. It's amazing to see how the children respond to receiving the food. They are patient. While they are waiting for their food, they sing songs to Jesus. They watch out for each other, especially for the little ones. They help us make sure that no one goes without. The unselfishness of these children speaks volumes.

I am looking forward to the rest of this week. It will be great to introduce the new team members to our new friends in Jubilee! Please continue to pray for us as we keep showing love to the people here.

-Heidi

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Weak at Heart

Landed back in Port-au-Prince today, the place this all began for most people's knowledge of Haiti. I was aware of Haiti myself before "The Earthquake" and had looked into bringing our ministry down here when we started looking for places to go...but we didn't have a contact, so we started looking elsewhere. Then the quake, and our options opened up dramaticly. ORR quickly became the only option we would end up considering.

Two of us from our ministry, Great Adventure Ministries, came down in March to help plan what our two back to back teams would be doing (this week and next). Honestly, I was a bit concerned about this Brian guy and his approach to ministry. Why were we not bringing down bags of "supplies"? Starving people and not mass amounts of food? Kids all over, but no toys? Plus, as I got to spend a week with Brian, I was pretty sure his tough attitude and focus could intimidate the average person. He has a lot of opinions on a lot of things...

Yet, after that week in March, I started to realize why God had put such a man in such a place as this. Brian isn't afraid to say "no". Most people just wouldn't have the stomach to sort through all the requests he gets almost every minute of the day when he's down here and be able to say "no" to 98% of them...but if Brian didn't have that strength, he'd just blow all the resources entrusted to him by feeding a few hundred people and then come home broke!

...But he isn't "weak at heart"; he has a "thick candy shell" on the outside of his heart to protect the vision God has given him and the interests of those investing in ORR's work...with a "soft center" that melts away when God moves on his heart to help someone...and that includes helping the teams and members who come down here to understand the vision.

Leaving today, I have no regret we didn't walk around handing out toys or mass amounts of food to people we didn't know. Instead, the children we played with and the adults we talked with all had a solid respect for us as people and friends. We built relationships that will leave an impact by example and will enable the long term health of the people and not the short term needs alone. Outside a few requests for water, most of our time was spent serving as representatives of Christ love, not just His good will. "Things" which we consider essential in the states seem to create division and distrust here...but not with our team.

How do I feel today? Very glad to be going home! That might not seem spiritual to say, but I am so looking forward to being home, going to a fast food place, and letting the water in the shower swish in my mouth! My heart, my body, my emotions are spent. I left nothing on the table. Haiti got everything we had. It is a wonderfully, beautiful place, and what I look forward to most is going home and encouraging others to step out of their comfort zone and make the trip. Hard as it is to endure the heat, the poverty, and the language, our hearts need to be opened up from time to time and refined, for when we are weak, He is strong.

Chad

Friday, July 2, 2010

How do I explain...

I was voted into the position of writing this tonight. Usually, I jump at the chance to talk and tell everyone the AMAZING things I have to say. I am finding it rather difficult to describe the situations I have experienced. How do I explain the look in a child's eyes as I hand them the plate of only food they may receive that day? Knowing that this meal does not contain the amount of nutrients a developing body needs. How do I explain how funny it is to be sniffed and rubbed again and again? They want to know what a white person feels like and smells like. How do I explain drinking water in front of kids that don't have water? Do I dehydrate myself out of guilt, or just get it over with? Why would I ever want to come back to a place where trash is thrown in the streets and burned? Why do I want to come back? Why do I want to bring my children? What? What is wrong with me? No wait. That stuff is for missionaries. I just love Jesus. I just love Jesus. He loves me. How do I process this? My daughter is at home with a fever right now. She will get her tylenol. She has my husband, and my BFF to help take care of her. (I love you, and miss you, by the way!) I held babies this week with temps in the 103's. We gave them tylenol, if we had it. What about those that have nothing? Do I dare question my Father in heaven? Yes. Yes, I do. But my question has shifted. I came here not wanting to pity the people living in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. I came here to fall in love. Which, I have. I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, physically. My heart is...somewhere. So, the easy question that I came here asking,"Why?", has turned to "I want nothing less than ALL of Your love". I can't fake being loved. I can't fake sitting in the dirt laughing at my bad, bad creole. I can't fake this one. If this city is as hopeless and consumed by fear, how much greater is the opportunity, to know His love? Endless. His love. I know this is a blog. You want to here what's going on. Well, today His love has no bounds. Haiti is hot. His love is patient. Gonaives kinda stinks in the heat of the day. His love is kind. There are children running around with no clothes on. Make Your love real. Make it true. Teach me to love like it doesn't hurt. Even though I hurt all over. Crap. I love this place. He got me. I'll be back. Love, Deanna.