Departure

Well we are home!!! What a ride, it seemed like we were there for years in some respects, like the relationships formed, and seemed to fly by in others. We went to Pierre Payen last night, it is about an hour to an hour and a half from Port Au Prince. It was so hot there that I couldn’t sleep. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I turned on the light nd beside the toilet was ….a giant spider looking at me. I have never seen any spider this big before. I just went about my business and took a picture or two and left it alone. I figured it would help with the Masquites (bugs). Anyway we were set to leave Payen at 5 AM, however the driver never showed until 6 AM. I was stressed because the airports are like nothing else, so disorganized, so corrupt that I wanted extra time to get through. We made it to Port in time, and went through the crazy process to get into the proper gate for our plane. We had to bribe an employee to expedite the process and get us to the front of the line, if you don’t they continually skip you with customers willing to pay. I gave the man $20 U.S. and he wanted $60 for him, two others that carried my two not so heavy bags, plus their supervisor. I had to push through in order to get through. I don’t want to sound negative but the airport is a chore you must get through to get to the fruits that Haiti has to offer.
We bumped into the canadian team in the airport and got to say goodbye again, they were a true blessing. We would like to go to Toronto to hear Pastor Barb speak.
We made it to Miami, got to eat some good old American food, then made it to Reagan in time for the D.C. Rush hour. Man what a day.

We are grateful to be home, with A/C, good food, friends and family, but sad to leave behind so much work. We know tonight we will lay down in bed, under a roof that won’t leak with a full belly, the boys we hve come to love will lay down on a bed made of dirt, in a house with a leaky roof, with a stomache that aches from lack of nutrition.
We have come to love these children and will try to send down some church clothes for Rollen, Alex and Addison. Right now they can’t attend Igles because they don’t have shirts and pants. Addison told me that he hopes to work with Andy, and get some money, not for food, but for church clothes. These kids love Jesus and just need guidance. I told him to save his moeny and I would send some things down.
Check out this spider.

We arrived at Pierre Payen

If my previous posts made you think nothing was worse than Haitian driving I want to point out that I never saw Haitian driving in the night. After an hour in the car, several near accidents and pedestrian fatalities, a rain storm that soaked us we made it. The truck has no A/C so when it rains and the windows are up, the windows steam and you can’t see, not a fun ride. Here we are about an hour and half from port, alone, only Haitians. This is our first experience without the Snyders since the airport and arrival. We were told that we would miss our flight if we didn’t pay an Air port employee to move us through the line. If you don’t the line moves very slowly. Most things in Port Au Prince involve extortion. I’m in a dirty room at Payen, with only a cieling fan, no masquito net, very hot. I am missing my kids, and my new friends. I won’t sleep much tonight, anticipating morning so we can begin our voyage home. I can’t wait to step foot in Miami, where I can fend for myself, eat a big juicy Burger, and enjoy the A/C while waiting for my flight home to Reagan.
I’ll post again Tomorrow to let everyone know we are home safely. Thank you for your prayers and support throughout this crazy trip.

The Hospital

Today is a bitter sweet day. We are getting ready to leave Borel, and head to Pierre Payen. Pieere Payen is about an hour from Borel, and two hours from Port. We will be leaving all of our new friends, the place we grew comfortable with, and any English speaking people. We will be the only Americans on the Hospital grounds. Pierre Payen was heavily utilized during the treatment of thousands of Earthquake victims following January 2010. The hospital is state of the art, and it should be interesting to visit. The kids are sad that we are leaving, we are sad too. You wouldn’t think you could build a relationship in ess than 6 days, but the ones I have here are stronger than you could imagine. These boys enter the compound at 6AM, and don’t leave until after dark. They open up about things, religion, family, struggles.

Today we went to the Hospital in Borel, Watson a worker at the compound has nurse friends that allowed us to visit and pass the pre-natal kits out to the patience. The hospitl itself isn’t bad, it is crazy and hectic. The lines of people waiting to be seen are unimaginable. The hallways are crowded, the rooms filled the waiting areas bursting at the doorways. We met so many wonderful kids, babies (baybay) sick children nurses, it was amazing. The kits will help so many kids. We also had some cars, coloring books and ttoys to pass out to some of the children. Hopefully it made a difference.

Last night we gave a ball, and a doll to a vendor woman, who was trying to pedal her art to us. We asked if she had children and a young girl ran up, We went inside and grabbed the doll and a footbal, and the kids went bizerk, it was awesome to see their mothers face free of worry, and shame for an instance as her kids began to be care free and have fun.

Our Canadian friends just packed up and left. The pastor was an amazing influence on me. I can’t wait to get home, have a hot shower with water pressure and eat a burger.

The Orphanage, and A birthday to remember

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So it’s been less than 24 hours since my last post but so much has happened today. I want to break this post into a couple sections. First I was able to sneak to my room mid day and upload a few random pictures, so I’ll explain them.

The first picture is of a make shift b-day party Karla and I threw together on the fly. As you’ll read we have become close to a family, two boys Addison who has deeply touched me, and his younger brother Alex. Today was Addisons b-day. I found this out around 2 o’clock. He’s never had a party, presents, or a cake. One factor is there is no kitchen in his house, so no oven to bake, no money=no presents. I don’t know if you have ever tried to find a cake in Haiti, but it is nearly impossible being a luxury item. We luckily found some brownie mix from the hosts that Karla put together.   We asked him to come to the geust house and sit down, he was so surprised when we sang to him, and gave him his brownies, he has never had brownies in his life, he ate extra.

The second picture is Alex and Addison, Alex is wearing yellow, and Addison is wearing black, we’ll hear more of them in a few paragraphs.

The next picture is of the orphans, these kids got most of what we had donated. There was eleven, 5 girls 6 boys of varying ages. They are amazing kids, so excited and greatful for their gifts, and our time. We gave goodie bags, Barbies and silly bands, with crayons, markers and books for the girls, and Soccer or American footballs with cars, silly bands and coloring material for the boys. God is working in that orphanage, one boy Ti Luc was unable to walk a month ago, now he walks freely by himself, although his control of arms and legs is sporatic, he is leaps and bounds further than 30 days ago.

The next photo is of the church we attended Sunday.

The next two are of the beach, one is all of the boys, with our mission hosts, the other is of Me, Lama (the taller one) and Rolland, a fifteen year old working machine.

The next photo is of the roof we repaired day one. The house is Alex and Addisons. The tarp is temporary, but provides some protection from the rain. A newly constructed concrete Haitian house is only about $1000 American Dollars. Our goal is to build them a house within a year. It’s a small step but for the price this family will have a safe, secure and dry home.

The next photo is of the shoe distribution at Addison and Alex’s house, you can see how quickly we are overrun, so strategic planning is important, we need to act quickly. The last photo is of their inside of their house.

So Karla and I decided to adopt Addison and Alex……kind of. Addison is forced to drop out of school due to lack of money, Alex will have to soon. We agreed to pay for them to continue their education with a couple of stipulations……1) no bebes (babies) if they have a kid they need to work to support it. 2) they need to pass their classes.  The next step was to convince their mother to allow it, which we were able to do easily. They were greatful, Addison said we answered  his prayer of school. He doesn’t know it but we will continue to send money, and clothes to make sure they succeed, I can’t give him fish, but I can help to teach him how to fish.

After their house we went to the orphanage, the children are amazing, it was like christmas.

We came home and had the B-Day party where Addison said, he is having a sad b-day because we are leaving. I have connected with him and hope I had an impact, at least one block to the foundation.

The kids have been trying to talk me out of my clothes, literally, they want my shorts, shirts ect. I may give some clothes to them tomorrow. Lama, another boy I like alot told us he will bring us bracelts that he made before we leave, to remember him. I’ve been here less than a week, but I feel like they adopted me, I’ll miss them greatly.

Other notes:

I was told I’m grol (fat or big) by Haitian standards, they associate big belly with wealth since that means you are eating. They have a way of making me feel like crap

Shoe Distribution and My preaching debut

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This morning was church.Traditional Haitian church starts at 6:30 AM…I don’t want to hear anymore complaints, or see anyone show up late for 10:30 church any more. The service lasts about 3-3.5 hours in a crowded, not well ventilated building that is the definition of sweletering.
We showed up fashionably late, around 8 or so, which was enough considered there was no translator. The church is so lively, when the music portion started up everyone (100-150) began singin the Lords praises at the top of their lungs, I didn’t understand it but it was uplifting. Before the music the pastor was talking, and suddenly a siren like noise broke out….everyone stopped what they were doing. I didn’t know what was happening. Steve Mossburg the Project Help Haiti manager got up and was trying to get us to all get up as quickly as possible. I almost thought we had offended them by coming late, we were rushed to the front of the church and made to introduce ourselves to everyone. It was crazy.

We went to get bottled water after church in the next town, on the way back a Haitian yelled at us “Give me the little white girl) Meaning Miranda our hosts daughter. The man actually wanted to trade for her, so naturally we did, we ended up getting a couple chickens in exchange……..just kidding of course, we kept driving. Things are different here, the need is so great that you need to come to terms with the fact that no matter what you won’t have enough supplies for everyone. The old saying that is you don’t have enough for everyone you can’t give it out, doesn’t apply. Feeling are always hurt, someone always turned away. If you see two children, and dig in your bag for candy, when you come up there are 15 more waiting, hands out, sad if denied. It is hard for me to not be able to save the world, but I realized today there is no S on my chest, I’m a servant of God who is sent here to do what his will is.
I got into a competitive basketball game with a few Haitians and a member from the Canadian team that is here with us. Haitians aren’t very good at basketball so I flourished and we won in dominate fashion. I paid for it with the heat of 100 degrees, these kids are resilient to the high temps and just keep going, with no water. I’m tired before we get on the court.

We distributed more shoes, and this time it didn’t go as well. We get over-run every time we go someplace with people, they all associate Blancs with free supplies. I got angry because as Karla and Theresa were handing out shoes I began handing out mini creole bibles and toys, trucks, balls whatever we had. A couple adults took the toys from the children, right in front of me. I noticed the one taking a ball from a kid, and I made her return it, then denied her any toys. It’s hard because chances are she was trying to give that toy to one of her kids, but people can’t be stealing. Karla was mobbed again, the video won’t do it justice. These people get grabby hands and we can’t breathe, but they are very thankful, there just isn’t enough to go around.

The amount of children are so high it’s unbleivable. The Pastor that is staying with us suggests a birth control be put into place, even though it isn’t traditional Christian values the need is great, cicumstances are calling for drastic easures.
Now comes the fun part, we picked up the children and came back to the compound for my preaching debut…We gathered at the bell tower and I began. It felt good, I don’t know if I reached any of them, I hope I did. The pastor came over to listen and said I did a good job. Karla cried, I’m not sure why. I prepared some notes but kind of got hijacked by God, he has a way of being heard. I talked about how unperfect I am, new to Christianity, I don’t have the bible memorized ect, and how Noah, Moses David lead imperfect lives, the message was that God can use all of us no matter age, race, wealth…and that God works in the darkness of the worst circumstances, that is when his power shines the brightest. I wanted these boys to know that even though their lives may not be great, they are a Masterpiece of God, and they need not disrespect him, nor themselves in thinking they cannot be used to carry his will.

Now that I’m off my tangent I’ll continue.
I opened it up for prayer requests, and got a couple, a woman who had brought art to sell had asked for us to pray she can get closer to Christ, I hink there is room in all of us for that Prayer. Another older woman listening thanked go for being able to put her kids through school, and for their health this year. Addison is one of the people that will be a lifelong influence on my. He is a young boy, maybe 16 who has had a rough life, he was the first to praise God that he is there for him, and that praying each night makes him at peace and happy in the morning, and all day. I told him that he can pray at any point, not just during the night, I told him a prayer can be a silent conversation between him and God, he doesn’t need to drop to his knees. He looked surprised, I told him that when I’m sad, angry, feel alone or need peace I pray even if I’m at work. I hope that reached him. I pra.ised the Lord for my new haitians friends, they were ripped off this week, I was blessed with getting to share the lives of so many amazing people, pople we could all learn so much from, wise beyond their years, but their bodies are malnurished. I realized today that Richard, the kid We gave the ball to a night or so ago is actually 14, we all thought he was 10. He looks that small from not eating.

Lastly Addison closed in prayer where he thanked the Lord for giving him today, and the Blancs in his life who make him smile, even when things are tough. His qoute is that” What are you going to do? things are rough, and they have been my whole life, but I can’t get down, I just smile”
At night we watched a soccer/footbal match near the compound. Haitians get crazy about soccer. I made the msitake of giving candy to a couple kids that swarmed us when we left the compound and we were mobbed again. I don’t want to compare us to celeberties, but everyone wants to touch you, hold your hand, be around you, mob you, wave to you, meet you. That’s why we are here. The last note is that tomarrow Karla and I are going to get the permission of Addison and Alex (two boys 16, and 14 respectively) to enroll them in school. Addison had to drop out because the $90 tuition was too much and Alex will stop going this year. We need her consent, and then we will forward their tuition to Steve, who will help to ensure the money gets to the school. The boys want to learn, and this will also ensure at least one meal a day.
God is Good, even when you can’t see it.

Haiti, Life is a beach.

Today was beach day! Saturdays are usually the day that the missionaries head to the beach, about an hour and a half away for relaxing. We woke up about 6 am, and when we went outside for a walk and to check out the sunset we were bum rshed by Richard, the little boy we gave the ball to the night before, he hugged us both so hard, he was excited still and said everyone loved his “Football”.
It’s amazing how we gave him something material, and ended up taking more away than he did, spiritually.
We invited him to stay for breakfast, usually the kids aren’t allowed in the geust house. He ate like you wouldn’t believe, a bowl of cereal, fruit, two peanut butter and jelley sandwhiches, a couple figs, and more. H doesn’t know when his next meal might be so he is stalking up.
We eneded up taking 16 total people to the beach, in a four passenger truck, with our supplies, we had the mission family of 5, the Canadian team of three, Karla and myself ans many Haitians. The beach is $2.00 American for an all day swim. Wait until you see the pictures, white sands, mountains in the background and turquise waters. The water was so warm, I just floated and looked at the sky, and took in Gods glory. The Haitians loved it, we all got sun burned despite the sun block. He stopped at a grocery store and Karla and I treated everyone to lunch, a picnic on thebeach, at least these boys will eat one meal today. Lunch was peanut butter and jelley, or ham and cheese with crackers, pringles and cookies. God is good. These kids had no troubles while playing soccer or footbal in the water with me, the happiest kids you’ll ever see. I’ll edit with pictures later. Tonight is a major soccer game on the compound.

Day Three

I’m settling into this Haiti thing. The people here are so spiritually rich that it makes me feel ashamed. I’ll outline our day after a short story.
There is a little boy, under 10 yrs old, and he is poor…I know what your thinking What Haitian isn’t? Well some are far worse off than others, this little boys family lacks wood or charcoal to cook with. He was at the compound this evening and he saw a soccer ball that a member of the Canadian team brought, and promised to another kid. His face lit up because he doesn’t own a ball at all. We aren’t supposed to give hand outs, we have to make them work for their toys, shoes ect, but I couldn’t resist, so I grabbed a decent ball Karla and I brought down. It was nice and in Brazil colors, Haiti’s favorite soccer team. I asked if he would like this one, and I swear it was like we gave him a new car, he was grinning from ear to ear he was so excited he bum rushed me, and layed a huge hug on me…he wouldn’t let go. I went to my room and grabbed a ball pump and a soccer bag because he had nothing to carry it with.  This is the kid who will give away his stuff to others that he feels is worse off than himself. I made him promise he would not give the ball away, I told him he deserved it.

Our day began like the previous ones, roosters crowing at dawn. We went in to town for diesel birght and early. We gave a man a ride to the next town over, and we heard Haitians yelling, “Blanc, Tap Tap” meaning wite taxi. They’ve never seen a white taxi driver. We fitted a couple families of boys that work on the compound for shoes. We thought we were in for about 25 pairs, but we were overcome and ended up fitting over 100. We will deliver them Saturday or Sunday. We met so many awesome kids, one little girl was filthy, and we gave her some water, she chugged the ice water and wouldn’t let go–she was about 1 yrs old, and downed a 20 ounce bottle of water, who knows how long it has been since she drank, or ate. Most
Haitians eat once a day if they are lucky. We wiped the girl off with bug spray wipes because bugs were in her ears, and eyes.

We feel bad because we have to draw the line with the shoes but the need is so much greater than the supply. I have a video of a little 2 yr old boy, completely naked and fithly playing with our mission hosts son. Children don’t see the obstacles that we see, they just see people like God. I met a boy 21, Marcus, he is a very intelligent kid. He told me he loves Jesus and would dioe without hesitation for him. Can you imagine a kid with his circumstances still having faith enough to say that?

I fell in love today with Sachu, she was born after the earthquake, she reached for me and only wanted me for awhile, I held her so tight and she eventually curled up and fell asleep, I help her for what seemesd like forever. She is gorgous and if I could have she would be coming home. I’ve met so many people that have changed my life. I know I will miss them when I’m gone..
The beach tomorrow, I’m excited, even God took one day off.

Day 2

Yesterday was a much better day. The stress was eliminated and we got to realize why we came to Haiti. We got out amongst the Haitians, played with the kids, and really got to know the true Haitian personality. My day started with my new alarm clock, a bunch of roosters pacing alongside our window cocka-doodle-dooing. In the morning people are out and about since the sun is not as hot, so it is a busy time. We ate breakfast, an omlet with ham, peppers and pepperoni, it was different but good. We then gathered some supplies and went to a boys house that comes to work at the compound, his name is Lama. He gave us a tour of his house, which was a buckleing mud hut, made from scrap wood and mud that dries, with palm leaves and branches as a roof.
The inside was small, and damp. We got to interact with a bunch of his family and friends, children mostly. One little girl was so cute, about 1 years old, they like to hold hands with the Blancs.
We came back to compound and played some soccer, these kids are soccer cyborgs, they don’t feel the heat.

We then headed off to another boys house that works at the compound, Alex who is about 10 yrs old. He makes tables and cars out of trash, to try to sell. I bought a can truck from him, it is very detailed and he was proud to have created it and sold it.

We Repaired his roof which was made of leaves, plastic, branches, really anything they could find, and it didn’t keep much water out when it rained. We brought a tarp for his house, which they were very greatful for. While we were there we fitted his family, 11 of them that turned into 25 for shoes, none of them had any. One little girl that I got a video of was so excited for the shoes that it was like you bought her a shiney new bike. The striking thing here was that the mother was willing to give a little girl to our Host Andy, he was holding her and joked about taking her, the mother would have oblidged. I know we all feel like giving our kids away at some point, but this was very sad for me, although the mother knew that Andy could ccare for her better than she could. I have pictures of the roof, the little girl, the shoe fitting everything, although I may not be able to get them posted right away due to slow connection time….the compound pays $349 per month for slow internet service here in Haiti.

We then played soccer, in a downpour with the kids, we went for at least an hour, blancs vs Haitians, and the Blancs won, with the help of one Haitian who is an unbelievable soccer player, he kicks the ball like a torpedo.

We had dinner, fried chicken, beans and rice, which was very good, and then had a devotional and went to bed, although both Krla and I had terrible heart burn. I’ll post pictures when I can.

Arrival

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This has been without a doubt the most trying day of my life. I found out last night that my Grandfather was being taken off of life support this morning. I just saw my email and he pasted early this afternoon.

So I got up at 2:30 AM this morning to make it to the airport for our flight. Everything was great, we got out of the house ealry and to the airport on time. We found parking, made the tran to the terminal and began to wait to check our luggage. Karla got a look on her face, and discovered she left our passports and boarding passes in the car….so I go back on the tran, back to the car and then again to the terminal. We made the plain on time and all bags were under weight, prais be to the lord.

A long cramped flight to Miami, followed by a two hour weight, turned almost 3 hours, then we boarded our flight to Port Au Prince.

In Miami we met another missions team from New Jersey, we prayed in the terminal with people just staring.

The airport in Haiti is unlike anything I have ever seen. There is no order, just pure chaos, and everyone is out for money. We were groped, pulled at and had our bags taken by many Haitians all asking for $50+ dollars to carry our bag for 10-15 feet, just because we are white, and we are rich. Iwas never so stressed, nervous and scared than as we attempted to find our hosts in a crowd of Haitians.

We found them after an exhasting walk with all of our luggage, they refused to give me a cart unless I paid $40.. USD.

I Rode in the back of a pickup, with two Haitians that work at the Church Compound, Watson a boy, and clona a girl who speaks very good English. A two hour ride through the potholes and speeding traffic was amazing, scary and physically punishing. We saw the most awful living conditions, surronding the most serene beaches. It’s like one big contrast. We stopped atg a melon stand, a butcher, and the baker for our dinner. Most Haitians wave, all of them stare as we pass. I can’t tll if they are angry with us for being here, or in awe that we are white. Everyone is selling something, the children brake my heart. At the compound I was sold a toy truck made from trash, y a 10 yr old boy who is trying to make money for his family. Tomarrow more will come as they get word that the “Blancs” are here. That means the whites.
I am beat, bitten and sore, I will post pictures tomarrow if they turned out of the tent cities.
We are safe and well, and miss everyone back at home.