Haiti Happenings

Two dozen KK doughnuts!!  Our team members just brought us in LOTS of food supplies, but the KK doughnuts & bags of Starbucks coffee beans were over the top!  Did I mention a pound of See’s Candy?  I feel a sugar rush comin’ on.

This young man was playing with a box in front of our house.  I happened to be standing in the street watching the younger ones play soccer and snapping a few photos.  The box became a hat, a gun, a goal marker, and several other things as he used his imagination in his play.  No SPS, no Nintendo, no Xbox…just a cardboard box and an imagination.  That’s what it’s all about in our street.

Dorothy, colleague Cynthia Aldrich, and a group of ladies from the Haitian A/G Women’s Ministries prepared ‘relief kits’ for about 500 ladies in our churches.  The kits included hygiene items, as well as lightweight bedcovers and protein shake mixes.  Monies and donations came from the Colombian Assemblies of God churches and Convoy of Hope.

It was a LOT of work but the ladies enjoyed themselves and were so very grateful.

The neighborhood boys were wearing the T-shirts from the Camp Hill, PA team that was here last week.  As the rains started, it didn’t slow them down a bit.  They played as a ‘river’ of water ran down the middle of the road.  It’s fun to see them enjoy life, though they get a bit too serious at times with their soccer.  I provide the ball.  When they are finished they toss it over the gate and yell “mesi.”

Our team from PA is doing an incredible job as they have torn down our fallen wall and are replacing it with a new block wall that would meet the strictest building code.  Hopefully the new wall will help keep the rat population out of our yard.  At this point, the rats are taking over and becoming more aggressive.

The schools in Port-au-Prince have started re-opening under tarps and in make-shift areas.  One of the classes in our school in Cite Cadet is meeting under a tarp in front of the church with the chalkboard leaning up against the church.  In this photo, you can also see the green MTPTC painted on the building by the govt. agency.  That means the building does not need to be demolished and is in decent shape.

These two little guys have personality plus!  They are two of twelve children in a family that lost everything in the quake and were staying on the church property on Delmas 18.  Every time I went onto the property, they brought a smile to my face.   The family has now relocated and I miss these little guys.

Today we visited 4 sites with an engineer where churches will be rebuilt.  One of those sites was a village called Vaudreil, out in the banana fields setting on the edge of a river.  What a location for a children’s ministry!  There were kids EVERYWHERE!

Talking on a cell phone while riding on a donkey pulling someone behind…way out in the mountains!

It’s almost embarrassing to post here again since I have been in a sustained silence for months.  Many are the times I thought about posting but found myself bogged down in things to do and wondered if anyone would even look at it.  I just saw where lots of people continue to look at my blog and there is nothing new there.  Therefore, I will make another attempt to keep a more regular posting.  Here is a photo of a post-quake food distribution.

Visiting one of my favorite areas in Haiti recently with a team, I snapped a few photos, even though the clouds were rolling in and visibility was decreasing at a rapid rate.

The temp had dropped to around 70 degrees and the mountain people were cold, as seen by this elderly gentleman wearing a jacket.  It was heavenly!

Our next team arrives tomorrow evening so another very busy week lies ahead and then we are looking at a few days of vacation.  Yeah!!!!