We're off Again!

We're home from our adventure and a little under the weather, but I want to share our experiences while they are still fresh.

We packed our checked baggage full of supplies needed at Real Hope for Haiti on Monday night and then did our last minute packing Tuesday. Pastor Andy came to pick us up at 3 am . . . We prayed and then loaded up into a fully decorated van thanks to some of my sister chicks! Thanks ladies! We had fun and really felt special.

Travel to Haiti went really smooth. The airport in Port Au Prince seemed far less crowded and easier to work through than it had been last year. Well, that is until we got our bags and didn't see the man that would take us to Zach and the truck. We had all kinds of men that were trying to convince us to let them help us for a small fee. Additionally, Lynn was swept away because someone said they had seen the guy we were looking for and we had missed him in the airport. It's comical now, but I even had a man that had decided he would be our taxi service to the mission and that we should not wait for whomever was coming for us. In due time, we found our guy, Alexi. And he took care of all of our "helpers" for us.

Now, I had read lots of articles and seen news reports regarding the clean up and rebuilding, or lack there of, in Haiti. I was anxious to see if I could see any real changes since we had been to Haiti about 11 months earlier. Two days before we left the States, Zach was approached by gunmen on the road that he had traveled with us last year. It is only by the grace of God that the gunmen did not shoot and he and Yves (one of his right hand men) were able to speed away. SO, needless to say, we took a different route.

This was stuff I hadn't seen before, but it was so interesting. It felt like we went through more of Port Au Prince's market areas. Zach even stopped at a stand and we watched him haggle over the cost of rope. It's something I've never seen go down . . . Zach ended up with his rope and everyone was smiling after the transaction.

We were so happy to get to the mission, hug some necks, and have some dinner.

Going Back...

I have never felt compelled to keep a blog before. I think it's mostly because I can't imagine how the interworkings of my day might appeal to anyone else. I know our pets are only adorable to us.

All of that being said, I feel an overwhelming need to document our travels to Haiti. It could be because the work we do seems to matter more there than a lot of things in my life. Regardless, I am going to try to share our days in Cazale, Haiti once we return home.

We've been told by many that we may have more compassion or understand more than we did last year because we lost of all of our worldly possesions in a fire this year. I mulled that over and concluded that I just was not sure. We had a warm, dry place to stay immediately and within hours we had clothes and goods again. It seems to me that most Haitians go through crisis together (earthquakes, hurricanes, disease, etc.) and they're forced to degaje' (make do) with what they can. I think I was/am to cope with our current situation of uncertainty and flux better knowing just how blessed I am to live here.

We're going back to Cazale, Oust, Haiti to the Real Hope for Haiti mission that has it's hand in so many ministries in Haiti. We are hoping to learn a lot, help where we can, and love on our missionary friends and as many people as we can. We want our hearts to be broken all over again for these beautiful people. We thank you for your prayers and promise to do our best at giving you a glance at Haiti through our eyes.

We leave in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesay June 15 and will return home ridiculously late on the evening of Wednesday June 22.

So Much Love!
Sarah (and Andy)

Wednesday

Early Wednesday morning the EMI team left leaving our team of 5, Anna, and Jess in the house where we were staying. So, it was almost eerily quiet.

Our assigned project for the day was to help clean out Lori and Licia's office, paint a wall, organize, try to convince Lori to throw away some ;), and put the office back together, The main motivation is Licia's upcoming birth. They needed to condense files, remove their mother's desk, and put in a pack-n-play, and rocker.

It took all of us to unload the office. My favorite part of that was watching Andy unload a filing cabinet. . . . a mouse dropped out of a drawer and ran across his sandaled foot. AND he screamed like a girl!! His version of that involves the scream being out of suprise rather than fear, but I don't know who else would attest to that. We were all wishing George had been there to help out. Oh, I haven't talked about George. He is a cat that is owned by a neighbor for the purpose of driving out rodents. Well, he quickly learned that those of us that stay at the mission love cats and are willing to feed them and love on them without making them work. So, George adopted it as his home. We all loved on him and the guys and I did witness George performing his duties of reducing the mouse population in Haiti. Anyway, we were lamenting his absence at that moment.

This is a picture of Andy and George. I know he looks small, but that seems to be the way of all of the animals in Haiti.

Licia and Lori's office is in the clinic. So, we were working and trying to stay out of the way of staff and patients. The up side of that was we saw a couple of children as they were admitted to the RC through the clinic. It was an undescribable experience to see the process and hear the children's stories as they were being checked in.

The first child we met was Marie-Rose. She was 2 and a half and about 11 pounds. She was severly dehydrated and malnourished to say the least. Her aunt brought her in because her mother was not mentally stable. Her aunt just learned of the situation and how sick was Marie-Rose was, and brought her on the long trek from her town to the clinic in Cazale. We also learned that Marie-Rose had worms. As a side note, that is apparently very common in many of the patients seen at the clinic.

This was Marie-Rose at intake.

There was also a baby, Dukens, that was taken in at the same time. He was about 3 months old and 6 pounds. He had been seen at the clinic when he was 2 days old and gained no weight in between the two visits. His father brought him in because his mother was very ill.

This is me and Dukens when he was taken in. I feel like I should tell you that these children seemed far smaller in person.

We worked some more on our project and then some of us went to play with the kiddos before dinner.

This is Lynn and her entourage of adoring Haitian children.

We would take hard candy with us for the kids when we visited the RC. At first we only gave candy to a few because the others seemed too young. There really weren't that many that were too young for hard candy. They were all just so small and immobile because of their condition.

This is Joel (pronounced Joe L). He is a child that has be nurtured back to health and waiting for his parents to come get him. Here he's wrapped around Andy's waist. He was so big compared to the others, and he had that much more love and affection to give.

This is Marlene (pronounce Mar lin). She was about 4 or 5. She and Jess were special buddies so she was around a lot. You would never see a child of that age just sit where they were put for hours without complaint in the states. That was fairly common with many of the children we met. More about Marlene, Marie-Rose, and Dukens later.

After dinner we were given a couple of assignments to help get ready for a team of 15 that was coming in for the day on Thursday. This mostly involved some sorting, tidying, some contact papering of tables for Lynn and Barb.

Then I walked over to the RC with Licia and Anna. I met a couple other little ones that were admitted that day. It was decided that Marie-Rose and Dukens needed some extra attention. The problem was Anna already had someone in her care. Jess took Dukens even though she had Marlene. I couldn't bare to see Marie-Rose left at the RC. The nannies are WONDERFUL and love those kids, but it was evident that she needed some one-on-one loving. So, I said that I was willing to take her if that was okay.

I scooped her up and we walked back to the house. We tried to get Marie-Rose to drink a little soemthing. The main immediate concern was her dehydration. She took about a sip of a couple different liquids that we presented her with and then started refusing. It was evident that she was scared and did not want to cooperate. After mulling it over for a bit, we decided a feeding tube would be easiest and best for her.

Anna put in the tube,and then we went to bed. It was my job to get up every 2 hours and give her 2 oz. through her tube. I did so willingly and much more easily than I expected. Any one of you reading that knows how I sleep realizes what an act of God it was that I woke up to the alarm each time and had it together enough to know what needed to be done.

This is Marie-Rose in her playpen next to my bed. Sweet girl . . .

So, we had lunch and then we came downstairs and helped put together food boxes for people. This is another way that RHFH helps the community. People who have the most need are given a card that they present to recieve food (once a week, I believe). We helped put together the boxes full of food (much of it with a lot of protein) and then watched as people came to get their box.

Many of the people brought their own bags to transfer all of their supplies to. Apparently the boxes aren't the easiest to carry on one's head. It was amazing watching them hoist these heavy loads onto their heads.

This is an older woman that comes to the mission each day that she can to pray over it and everyone there. I was a little unnerved when she came to me until it was explained to me what she was saying. She was such a lovely lady.

In this bag is a melon that one of the people who was receiving a food box brought for the kids at the RC. We learned how much the town of Cazale appreciates RHFH and what they are doing to help them. Maybe it was no big deal, but I felt like this melon was a testament to what this mission is doing.

This was a particularly crazy day of dispursing the food because Licia wanted to create a database of all the families that were benefitting from this service. The easiest way to do that was to take their cards, type the names into the computer, and return the cards to their owners an their next sceduled pick up date. It scared a lot of people. They were afraid that it wouldn't work out that way. It was interesting watching how it had to be explained several times.

After that was over, we went to the market. Tuesdays are market days, and we didn't want to miss our chance to see it. We didn't take very many pictures because we were taking it all in. It was very interesting. We saw everything from butchered animals, to produce, to shoes, and hair barrettes. The picture below was taken just as we were about to enter into the fray.

After the market, we went back to love on the little ones at the RC. I think I could have done that all day. Barb and Andy seemed to have a knack for putting little ones to sleep. Most of them were just so happy to snuggle with you. I was in heaven.

We went back to "our house" and gave gifts to Licia, Lori, and the boys that were sent with us. The boys got goodie boxes and a baseball set. They really got into it. Pictured below is Henley in his new pirate paraphenalia.

We had an surprise baby shower for Licia as she is expecting her first girl in August. She loved all of the things for the baby. Plus, Ronnie from the EMI team made her a silly hat from the wrapping paper from the gifts. And a good time was had by all.

That ends our first full day in Cazale. We were in love with Haiti already.

Day 2 - Tuesday (part 1)

Well, I have had to get back to my busy life, so I apologize for not returning to this blog sooner. I am also having trouble deciding whether I want to "talk" about different topics or continue with sharing each day's events. I guess I'll just feel my way through :)


We woke early (the sun rises at about 5:30 am and I was usually awake by6). After breakfast we started unpacking the supplies we brought to the mission. Each of us could take two pieces of checked luggage weighing up to 50 lbs. So we stuffed them full of all kinds of things from canned meet to homemade dresses, blankets, and aprons. We also brought several gifts for a surprise baby shower for Licia. (She's expecting baby girl Betor in about a month) It was fun sorting all that we were able to bring and trying to hide the gifts sent with us for Licia, Lori, and the boys. It was also a joy to see the delight on their faces as they were telling us where supplies needed to go.
Here are some of the pics of one of the ladies in her new apron and a little one in her new dress holding her new baby doll.




After unpacking we took a tour of the mission itself. It was too dark to see very much when we arrived. I know they lead us through a tour of the clinic, but I honestly do not remember seeing it until Wednesday. The clinic is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of every week, so I only remember seeing all of the people and taking in some of the statistics about how many people they see and so on. Then we went on to the rescue center (RC). It was just down the road from the clinic and the house where we stayed after the earthquake due to the building (where we stayed) having been initially compromised by the quake. (Don't worry, the Air Force came and took a look at it before they started hosting mission teams in the building again) Anyway . . . As you might expect there was a lot of noise. There were about 60 kids at the RC when we took our initial tour. They knew we were there to love on them too. We were surrounded by outstretched hands wanting to be held. It didn't hurt that the older kids knew we had candy in our pockets for them. There were several nannies that were taking such good care of them. We learned some stories about some of the children. Some of the kids, the rest of our team had met the year before and they really appreciated the follow up.



The older children are divided into three groups and this is one of them.



This is one of the nannies, Roselyn holding Rosemone (sp?) and sitting next to Rose-Marie. They’re twins. Rose-Marie gave us all a run for our money. Energetic doesn’t even begin to describe her. 


And then we had lunch . . .

Preparation and Day 1

Andy and I feel so fortunate to have been going to Haiti and this particular mission with people that had already been. They were able to give us first hand advice about what to pack and what not to bring. For instance, I needed to pack skirts for several days as it once was a sign that you were a prostitute if you were to wear pants. I learned that is a mentality that is fading away, but we didn't want anyone left wondering. Andy was pretty free to wear what ever he pleased except for a pair of long pants for church.

Anyway . . .

I was starting to get really nervous in the days before we left. So many people had brought us to this point of going through prayer and financial support. I was afraid of letting someone down. Plus, the two primary purposes of the mission are a clinic where the tend to the ill and injured of this rural village and the rescue center (RC) where they take in children that are very ill or simply very malnourished for one reason or another. In the RC they nurture children back to health and often combat kwashikor , which is brought on by malnourishment and a lack of protein. With kwash, these poor children are swollen due to kidneys failing and are hurting. I wanted to handle any death or pain we might see a little less emotionally than I tend to handle my everyday life. I felt a huge calling on my heart to minister to the missionaries as much as we could. I wanted to do exactly what I was supposed to. Silly me got caught up in thinking and not surrenduring those fears to the Almighty. I eventually did and felt much better. As a side note . . . poor Andy got sick two days before we left. I was so scared he wasn't going to be able to go! But The fever passed and he felt better. It like the last of many things that might have prevented our trip.

Well, our whole communty got together for a special service to commission us the day before we left. The three churches in Burnettsville have services together often throughout the year, but this service felt all the more special. We were ambassadors for Christ and the Christian community we had supporting us. It was beautiful. We had a wonderful worship and were prayed over. Most of my anxiety left.

We left our house at 4:45 am. Our team of five plus Jim (Lynn's husband), John and Pat (Andy's parents), and my good friend, Pat (who brought us goody bags) prayed together and then we were off. It was an uneventful trip to Chicago and a smooth flight to Miami. Everything seemed simple to me. Then we boarded the flight to Port-Au-Prince. I was so excited and nervous. I had never been out of the country up until this point. We filled out paperwork on the plane. When we arrived we were taken by "bus" to the location where we would go through immigration, baggage claim, and customs. This is where it all became a little more real for me. The building was a giant metal structure with fans in a couple of key locations. There were 3 booths with long lines where we went through immigration and a similar set up for customs. I felt like we had stepped into a movie . . . like a spy thriller that involved a bad guy hiding in a third world country . . . I thought it was pretty cool. (Please see images above. I haven't figured out how to put the pictures where I would like them) At the airport we learned that we had been on the plane with some Haitians that were injured in the earthquake that were returning. They came with an entourage of a camera man and people to help them. It was wild!!

Thankfully, we had very little trouble getting through the airport to Zach. I had been warned about all the people that would want to "help" with our bags for money and God spared us that anxiety for the most part. I was so glad to see Zach and his truck. We loaded our suitcases full of supplies and ourselves into the back of the truck. This was how we travelled our entire trip. the bed of the truck was caged in so we wouldn't fall out or anything of that nature. You'll see it in many of our pictures.

I learned that the airport isn't really in the heart of Port-Au-Prince, but we took in a lot of the devastation immediately. There were tent cities everywhere! No one could have prepared us for the sites and smells that immediately met us. (Again, the pictures are up top. I am open to suggestions as to how to post them where I want them) Of course, halfway to Cazale we were met with a rain storm. So, we spent a good part of our journey under a tarp. The adventure had begun!!!

We arrived to the mission and basically met people from another team and settled into our sleeping quarters, ate dinner, and took in all we could see. This other team was made up of engineers and such that were making plans for buildings for the mission to build on land that had been purchased. I was amazed at what this team of 22 ( I think ) accomplished in two weeks from surveying the land to floor plans. We also met, Anna and Jess. Anna is the teacher for the Licia and Enoch's three boys, Carmelo, Henley, and Trey. She has also taken on many other jobs throughout the mission. Jess is in Cazale for the summer to help as well. Anna's mother and sister were also there. I think they came to see where it is that Anna has been living and help "take care" of this large team that is helping the mission in such a big way. It's all fantastic, really. We enjoyed meeting everyone and tried to get some good sleep before our work began.

After the Fact

I had every intention of starting a blog in our preparation for our first international mission trip, but time eluded me and I am starting it now after the fact. I wanted to share our experiences as many people have asked for stories and pictures. So, please excuse my lack of timing. In the next several days I hope to journal for you all, in the best way I can, the sites, sounds, and experiences Haiti gave to us.

Enjoy!