Day 2 (August 11th) - Life without Luggage, but with a Great Provider

Waking up in an unfamiliar place is always a little disorienting, but waking up in Haiti seemed particularly strange to me.  Perhaps it was the fact that we had arrived in the dark and everything looked different in the daytime.  Perhaps it was because we had lots of kids watching our every move from the time we first stepped out of our tents.  Or perhaps it was just that I had traveled all day, slept all night, and gone to breakfast in the same set of clothing that I had put on yesterday morning…  Whatever it was, the foreignness of this land was soon overwhelmed by a deep love for the kids and the missionaries that we had come to serve.  I am thoroughly enjoying myself and am so thankful that God gave us this opportunity to come to Haiti!

After breakfasting on oatmeal in the large mess tent at 7am, Jasmine Martinson gave us a tour of the orphanage compound. Then she and Greg went over the rules, schedule, and possible work projects with us. 

Before the earthquake on January 12^th, the orphanage was located in a building that was just down the road a bit from the field that they are in now.  That building was seriously damaged in the earthquake, so the Martinsons knew that they didn’t want to stay there. They ended up renting this field from someone they know, and have set up camp here.  Although it is quite primitive, it is very safe and orderly compared to the rest of Haiti, from what we’ve seen. 

At this point, the Martinsons, the girls, and the babies are all living in temporary buildings, which are constructed out of 2x4s and plywood.  However, the boys are still in a tent.  If the supplies arrive, we hope to be able to work on a building for them to sleep in.  While we are here, we will be sleeping in tents too, so it looks like we’re in for an adventure.

As for bathroom facilities, this piece of land has a septic tank under it, which allowed the Martinsons to put in a nice double outhouse.  There is also a well, which provides them with water for showers and laundry.  However, in order to run the well pump, they must use a generator, which gets expensive. So, we’ll be taking some very short, but much appreciated showers.

After explaining everything to us, Jasmine encouraged us to spend the day getting to know the kids, rather than diving into big work projects.  Since we had no work clothes and also because we wanted to play with the kids, Sarah, Courtney, Regina, and I decided that this was a great idea and prepared to do a craft with the kids in the classroom building. We spent hours making foam crowns, first with the girls and then with the boys.  It was fun to call the kids princesses and princes and tell them how pretty or handsome they looked, and they seemed to have a wonderful time too. One neat thing about doing this on the first day was that crowns came with foam letters, and we helped the kids put their names on their crowns, which allowed us to start learning each of their names.  After we finished that, we just spent time with the kids, playing around outside.

Although David, Donnie, Shane, and Josh also spent most of the day playing with kids, they also began on one of the work projects.  Swinging picks and shovels, they cleared and enlarged some of the trenches that are around most of the tents.  These channels are very important, since they collect the runoff from the almost daily rainstorms here.  If the trenches aren’t there or they’re too small, the water collects in the middle of the tents, which disrupts everything, as you may well imagine.

Lunch was some yummy mashed potatoes and gravy, and then we spent more time loving on the kids in the afternoon. 

In the midst of the craziness of our first day here, we had many moments to talk with Jasmine and Greg about all the ways that God has provided for them.  One of the most amazing stories they told us was about how He supplied them with enough food and water to feed an army. 

Soon after the earthquake, the Martinsons worked hard to get everything set up here in this field, with just a few tents and supplies, and whole lot of uncertainty ahead of them.  They knew God would provide as He had before, but they had not an inkling of how He would do it. 

One day, some Canadian military helicopters flew too low over the area where the orphanage is set up now, and they destroyed all of their tents.  Discouraged and distraught over the loss of their shelters, the Martinsons just had to trust that God did know what He was doing. 

The next day, the Canadian military showed up at the front gate of the orphanage, asking if there was anything that they could do to help.  Day after day, these soldiers kept coming back, bringing new and larger tents, and enough bottled water and MREs to feed them for months – literally.  They have been eating MREs for months already and they have several months worth left; the counter-tops in the kitchen and the benches in the church tent are all made of stacked MRE boxes. As for the bottled water, there are pallets and pallets of it lining the walls of the orphanage compound.  It is amazing!  In addition to bringing tents, food, and water, the Canadian military also set up plumbing and electricity for the orphanage.

Adding to the already extraordinary tale, Jasmine, who is Canadian, told us that she met a couple of her distant relatives among the soldiers.  It really is a small world, isn’t it?

It was encouraging to hear how God has provided for the Martinsons and these kids, and we are continually amazed and amused by how God is providing for us while we are here without our luggage.  When we were at the Port-au-Prince airport, waiting for our luggage, I remember thinking that it would be slightly funny if it never showed up.  In actuality, although it is somewhat inconvenient, it has been a good experience so far.  If one of us doesn’t have something that he or she needs, then either one of our teammates does or else the Martinsons do, and we are well taken care of.  God is so good and He is providing for our every need! 

This evening we began our study on the upper room discourse in John chapters 13-17, led by Shane. During this trip, we will be delving into this meaningful passage of scripture and I expect some great discussions to come out of it.

Tonight, we are again going to bed hot and tired, but excited to see how God will use us here in the next several days!

Hannah

The mess tent

The girls' tent

Daveson with his crown

   

Day 1 (August 10th) - The Journey

Hello from Haiti! This has been, without a doubt, one of the craziest days of my life. It’s difficult to describe everything I’ve seen, smelled, heard, and felt in the last 24 hours, but I’ll do my best.

The team gathered at the church around 8:30 this morning, and after bittersweet goodbyes to family and friends, we were on our way to OIA. Our flight to Haiti was in two parts. We flew from Orlando to Miami and then from Miami to Port-au-Prince. Flying into Port-au-Prince was a breathtaking experience. Haiti is a very mountainous country, and from the air it looked like a giant, tropical paradise. That was the end of the “normal” part of the trip for me. From the moment we landed in Haiti, everything was far, far from normal.

The first abnormality was our method of exiting the plane. Instead of the usual “arm” that connects the plane to the terminal, we exited the plane on a ladder. We then stood awkwardly on the tarmac with the other passengers until buses came and drove us to the customs checkpoint / baggage claim area at the far end of the airport. The customs and baggage claim were all inside a giant metal warehouse. The building was hot, crowded, and dimly lit. After standing in line for 20 or 30 minutes, we made it through customs and walked the few feet over to the baggage claim. It was a madhouse. People were pushing and shouting, giant fans were roaring, and the baggage carousel was humming. We squeezed our way up to the carousel and started searching for our luggage. One by one, the other passengers located their luggage and disappeared. Not one of our bags had been found. Josh went to the baggage claim desk, but they couldn’t help us. The best they could do was tell us they’d call when the bags arrived. It had been about 2 hours since we landed, so we finally gave up.

For the drive to the orphanage, we split into two groups. Josh, Hannah, Sarah, and Courtney went with Greg Martinson, who runs the orphanage with his wife, Jasmine. Shane, Donnie, Regina, and I packed into the other car with two Haitian men we didn’t know. I had to share the front passenger seat with one of the men, who Greg referred to as “Johnson.” Suffice it to say that sharing a seat with another full grown man while driving on Haitian roads is not a exactly a pleasant experience.

Words can’t really describe the drive to the orphanage that night. We’d been warned about what we would see on the drive, but I was definitely not prepared for that experience. I was expecting to ride safely in the back of an air-conditioned van down a smooth country highway all the way to Leogane, much like we did in Mexico. Instead, I was hanging out the window of a beaten up SUV in the thick of Port-au-Prince traffic with swarms of people walking and running all around us. Trucks and other SUVs would come within inches of us on either side, and if there was ever room for a moped to fit through the gap, you could bet that a stream of them would come zipping through it.

After about 30 minutes of driving, it began to rain. Johnson, who was already agitated by the traffic, became even more jumpy and told us that if it continued to rain, the only road to Leogane would be impassible and we would have to spend the night in Port-au-Prince.

It rained off and on for the next 30 minutes or so. After about an hour, we finally reached the stretch of road that was prone to flooding. Thankfully the water was just low enough for us to pass. Johnson said that if it had rained just a few more minutes the water would’ve been too deep.

We got to talking with Johnson during the ride and found out he’s actually a Haitian police chief, which was comforting to know. We later learned he is chief of the Special Forces branch – even more comforting. He told us several interesting facts about what he does. He works closely with the president of Haiti and also serves as an escort and security for important politicians and diplomats during their visits to Haiti. He’s gotten to meet the likes of Sarah Palin, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama. In fact, that very morning he’d seen George Bush off at the Port-au-Prince airport!

After three grueling hours of driving, we abruptly reached our destination. It had been such an exhausting day of travel that everything seemed more like a dream at that point than reality. Jasmine emerged from the darkness and helped us unload what little baggage we had. She then led us into a big tent with wooden tables inside and served us a Haitian meal of rice and an interesting “gravy”. We ate and had a quick team meeting before Greg took us around and showed us the basic necessities. Finally we split up and went to our tents, guys in one, girls in another. We’re tired, sweaty, and luggageless, but we can hardly wait for tomorrow!

David

The Beginning

Greetings!

This is the blog for the Circle Community Church College Group's mission trip to Haiti! We recently returned from our trip, the dates of which were August 10-19, 2010. On this trip, we served at an orphanage in the city of Leogane, about 20 miles west of Port-au-Prince. The internet connection was poor and unreliable, so we were not able to update this blog during our time there. Instead, we've decided to do the next best thing: record a day-by-day account as if we were there! Each member of the team will post a recap of a given day of the trip as if they'd just lived it. In doing so, we hope to recreate the trip for you as you read along.

For the team,

David Farrell