May 10-22 2010.
21 college students. 1 broken nation. 1 experience of a lifetime.
We met as a group at OMS the evening before we left for a cookout, courtesy of our friends at the headquarters. 3 am came quickly and we took a bus to the Indy airport for a 6 am departure. Through Chicago and Miami and 15 hours later, our group found ourselves in the Port-au-Prince terminal. Our group leaders had told us what to expect, but I was still not prepared on impact. The heat, the smell, the sounds, all hit me at once and it was just overwhelming. I can honestly say, now, that the airport was the only time I was scared while in Haiti. Once we got outside, there were people trying to "help you with your bags" (to demand pay after), people lining the fences to simply get a look, people peddling souvenirs, UN guys with rifles and trucks. To top off the experience, our bus wouldn't start right away and we had to wait while they worked on it. Once on our way, the only way I can describe the feeling is surreal. In fact, the first few days felt surreal, but more on that later.
Villa Ormiso
The hour from the airport to our lodging was, as I said, surreal feeling. Could this really be how these people live? How could God have let this happen? How in the world are WE going to make a difference? These are some of the questions going through my head at that point.
We arrived at the Villa Ormiso in the pouring rain. In fact, we stayed on the bus for about a half hour while it down poured. Once it died down, we unloaded all of our luggage into the main building. The Villa was comprised of several buildings. The main one had a living area, a dining area and the kitchens. Behind that was a pool/lounge area and several other buildings with the living quarters. It was kind of like a fenced in motel. I stayed in a room with 3 other girls from our team. 2 beds and 2 2" mattresses on the concrete floor. Halfway through, we switched up who was sleeping where. We had electricity and running water... sometimes. Our water did not work most of the time and they would sometimes turn the electricity off in the middle of the night (so, no fans!).
Living at the Villa was tough. And by that I do NOT mean it was hard to sleep in the heat on the floor. I mean, it was tough knowing that on the other side of our walls were tent cities with children sleeping in the dirt. People would look over at us enjoying the pool. They would look in and talk to us (even though we couldn't understand them most of the time). That was the hardest part for me. We had 3 safe meals a day with clean water provided by the kitchen staff. Who's to say the kids right on the other side of the wall, had those blessings?
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| The Villa also had NINE puppies!! |
Kijan ou rele?
Yes, there was a language barrier, but it was not very hard to deal with in my opinion. We had some good translators that became good friends through the course of the trip. They helped us and we helped them.
I especially enjoyed playing with the children. I spoke very little Kreyol and they very little English (or French or Spanish). But it worked beautifully. Kids will be kids, it seems, no matter the circumstances. Here are two very special kids some of us got attached to. (I'm totally guessing on the spelling, but because Kreyol is a phonetic language, it might be correct!)
Va-sue-tan
This little girl was adorable. She became attached to me almost the first day we spent in their village. She didn't talk too much, most of her babble was incoherent Kreyol anyway (one of our translators told me that). She liked to pull me around and show me things and even took me to see her mother (kind of awkward seeing as no one could communicate). We played with her doll (from the medical crew) and blew bubbles. I would say "ou bel" (you are pretty) and she would smile. The days we returned to Gressier, she always came to find me.
Phil-it-son
Phillitson was a very outgoing little boy. He became quick friends with John. John taught him English phrases like "What's up son?" and "I got swag," and then he would go around repeating them to people. They would make faces at each other too. One look in particular was my favorite, and that's the picture I have included here. Like Vasuetan and I, John and Philitson were buddies every day.
The Little Angels of Gressier
Both of the kids I just mentioned were from the village of Gressier. I call them the little angels of Gressier because they just blew me away. They were joyful. They were playful and curious. They were kids! Yet they slept on the ground in hot tents each night, didn't have clean water and didn't always have a full stomach. They were not greedy either. One instance I witnessed was once when I was holding Vasuetan. Philitson walked up to us broke a single cracker in half and gave it to here. There was no speaking in this exchange, just love and friendship. He did the same sort of thing another time with a hard candy that i saw his mother give him.
My little angels were angels indeed. I pray they are well and maybe I will get to see them again someday.
The Boston Guys
Help for the Children of Haiti
One day, a group of us went with the "Boston Guys" to work at their orphanage/school. The guys were also staying at the Villa and were grateful to have our help. We toured the orphanage/school, played with the kids and say some of them in class. We also helped put up a tarp over the courtyard. The bulk of our day there, however, was spent cleaning out a room upstairs and organizing all of the tools and supplies the Boston guys kept there.
Don, the founder of the place, visits only a few times a year and each time he brings a team to work on the building. Obviously their work has paid off. It is a three story building that withstood the January earthquake, while the surrounding building crumbled or were severely damaged. So we built and organized their tool room.
Another part of the task was throwing away a lot of junk from the tool room. And I mean this quite literally. They asked us to take the stuff (small mattresses, old light bulbs, printers, computer monitors and more) and toss it down this hill across the street from the building. This didn't exactly sit well with any of us. I didn't like it at all. But what could we do? They asked us to help and this is what they asked us to do. The stuff needed to get out in order to finish the tool room. So we did it. We tossed a majority of the stuff down this massive hill that was nothing but trash. There were animal crawling through it towards the bottom as well as people. As we walked out, some people ran up and asked for the stuff we were carrying. When that happened, of course we gave it to them, but it was hard telling them when we ran out.
Overall, the Boston guys have done a great job and the link above can give you more information about their establishment. You can even help sponsor a child there.
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| View from the top of the orphanage |
Barnabas Task
Barnabas Task
This group is the medical group we met the second day we were in Haiti. They flew in and arrived about 24 hours after us, but they were also missing 20-some bags of medical supplies and clothing. Luckily, our team had intentionally brought extra Campus House tshirts, so we gave them to them and our friendships began. The team was comprised of about 20 medical professionals from the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. They had a similar goal as us, help Haiti.
Our nursing students took advantage of this opportunity to gain medical experience in the field. But the rest of us also had the opportunity to help in anyway we could too. I did a variety of things, from unwrapping Ibuprofens, filling bags with vitamins, taping a boys foot and more. I got to sit in a room (made of sheets) with a Dr. Rob and translator/med student Greg and listen to the cases as they came and assist in anyway I could. That day was very hard. I gained so much respect for what this medical team voluntarily put themselves through for Christ. It was an emotionally trying day to say the least. Most of the cases were simple malnourishment. So many of them would be easily prevented in the states, or at least extremely easy to treat.
The toughest part, I feel, of working with the medical team was the fact that we only stayed at each location for so long. Once we left, how would those people find that kind of treatment and attention again? Wait on the next American team? Also, we couldn't reach everyone. Someone said, in reference to our trip, that it was like "trying to put a bandaid on cancer." That seems true enough. We all had the passion to help and fix, but it is such an overwhelming task. However, I strongly believe their team and our combined was meant to happen and we touched many lives. Actually, we saw and treated just over 700 people.
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| School kids at Gressier. The med clinic set up camp here for two days |
Take a Hike
I title this section so because that's exactly what we did. On one of the days, we stayed back at the Villa to help organize the distribution items in the depot. We did not know why these items had not yet been distributed, but just left to sit ever since the earthquake. This was frustrating, but we worked at our task, not knowing what would happen next. We sifted through, reboxed and organized clothes, rice, care packages, medical supplies, ect (and encountered a few rats).
The very next day, our Haitian friend Karly asked us to help him take some of these items for distribution. How were we supposed to know the organization from the day before would help so much! So we said yes. Karly told us, oh, it's just up the hill over here. So some of us filled our backpacks with rice, vitamins and aquatabs and headed for the hills. Sweat pouring from all of our faces, burning muscles and 45 minutes later, we arrived. We arrived to a community of about 500 people, all living along a dirt trail in stick shelters with bed sheets for walls and roofs. It has so heart breaking to see. These people had literally lost everything in the earthquake and had gathered here to try and survive. The area would be considered rural Haiti, so they had goats tethered around, corn, plantains, cherries ect growing on the hillsides. But in their "shelters," there was very little to be seen.
We distributed our items with the help of Karly and quickly realized we had no where close to enough. The people we served were patient and grateful. They were also quiet and watchful, but always thanked us.
So once our team understood what we were facing, we were more enthusiastic about bringing heavier backpacks the next trip, which happened later that afternoon. That trip we reached more people than the first time, and also got rained on! They also showed us the view of Port-au-Prince from up there, which was breathtaking.
There are many many more stories to be shared from this experience. It is by far the memory I am most thankful for and my favorite, if difficult, part of our trip.
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| View of Port-au-Prince from the community on the mountain. |
Aly's School
Haiti Foundation Against Poverty
The day after the mountain hiking, a group of 6 of us went with a lady named Aly, whom we had met previously. She was American as well, but she spends a good part of her time working with the Haiti Foundation Against Poverty by working at a school and an orphanage. We didn't get to meet but a few of her orphanage kids, but we did get to visit the school.
First off, I need to say that we had a true Haitian experience in transit to the school. It was a tiny white truck, in which we piled bread, rice, beans, water and of course, our selves. 4 in the cab and 4 in the back. Have I mentioned yet how crazy Haiti driving is? Well this would be a good time because we got an up close look flying down roads and alleys ways. It took about a half hour and was a lot of fun!
Once at the school, we assembled about 700 peanut butter sandwiches and gave them out to school and village kids alike. Not a one remained. Then we helped to distribute the food and also clothes that we had brought. I left a lot of my clothes here. It was neat rewarding to see people being so thankful for the things we brought.
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| Handing out bags of bean/rice dinners. |
Victwa!
In a word, success. I felt our trip accomplished a lot, even though we went with a hazy vision of what would lay in store. The Lord certainly provided, as we trusted that he would.
As a end of the trip relaxation, we got the opportunity to visit the Caribbean Sea, which was nearly beautiful beyond words. We got to snorkle on a reef, swim and be in each others company without sweating.
I left a piece of my heart in Haiti. I learned so much there and pray to keep helping as much as I can.
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| On the way to the beach. |
Photos courtesy of Aamod Samuel, Lindsey Muhl, Bill Evans and Google
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