Field of Crosses

On Saturday, we had the privilege of stopping on the side of the road at a mass grave where bodies used to lie after the earthquake, now marked by fallen crosses.  On that same highway, a new community of people who had scattered to the side of a mountain to start a new life after the earthquake - Pastor Leon calls this community “New Jerusalem”.  In most places you go there are reminders of the earthquake; yet, it will take still a very long time before things are “cleaned up”....

A general overview....

It has been a week since we’ve been in Haiti, and it feels just as so.  The days, since coming here, have been long; and, there has not yet been a night where we’ve slept without waking numerous times... this is due to the 2 AM dog fights, the 3 AM roosters, and the 4 AM woman singing... Despite these things, Jeremy and I are coming to love Haiti, and most of all, the Haitians that live here.  The people at the base where we live - Terre Noire -  have been so welcoming and genuine, always greeting us with “Bonjour Stacey/Jeremy, Komon ou ye? (How are you?)”. 

Although the President just declared that school would start the second week of October, “Summer School” will start, just as planned on Monday, which will bring the beginning of our responsibilities here.  

Today Jeremy had registration for the adult English classes, which will be held after regular school hours - 2 classes of 40 quickly turned to 3.  How do you turn away people who come to better their future?  In Haiti, English is just that, hope for a way out of such poverty.  

Following supper, we spent a good hour going over different meanings of words with my translator, Garrison.  He speaks very well already, yet is eager to know everything. It was enjoyable just watching how excited he was merely to learn new words!

On Sunday I started my first after-church blood pressure and blood sugar screening at Blanchard, where we live.  I will be alternating this screening between here and Cite Soleil every Sunday.  Once school begins, I will also be the school nurse on alternate days between Blanchard, Cite Soleil, and Ibo Beach - where I have not yet visited.  I am a little nervous having to treat skin diseases that I have not yet seen, but, like I told Garrison, Monday will be a learning experience.

Too Much Computer... Where's the People?

The luxury of having the internet here will be a blessing as we somehow try to bridge the gap between us and our loved ones but I can't seem to get off it tonight, a problem that I don't wish to have!  This after I just told Forrest, another guy on the base, that I don't want to log on more than once a day.  Tonight its been two long sessions and I still wanted to blog...

Funny how there is so much quick, compacted conversation that is had on the internet.  People can't even bother to spell words properly anymore.  How is spelling "bye" like "bi" easier?  If I do that starting next week, I am going to have a seriously confused group of students.  Although, Creole, the official language is spelled completely phonetically, just how it sounds.  So just take most French words and spell them how you hear them and you might be close to speaking Creole!  After the first 2 days, a Haitian was telling me to just speak Creole, just go ahead and do it.  Maybe it will be easier to learn than I thought.  Here's hoping, because some days in the classroom I just know that I'm not going to have a translator...

Back to the initial conversation though... And meaningless and intelligible it was not.  Well perhaps some of the latter because when 2 parties attempt to speak each other's language without ever knowing much of it beforehand it can't help but be a little muddled.  2 things I did today:

1) Sang ABC's with a new friend Eddy, under a tin roof, while the daily thunderstorm tried to stifle the laughter in our childish exuberance.  Of course, my little friend Stetson was there as well, so that made us feel like we were singing for his benefit, right?  No, song is perhaps the best way that you can learn something new.

2) Sang Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes in English and Creole.  Tete, Epol, Genou, Zotey for those who aren't fluent :)  I constantly made sure I did the actions and words out of order to frustrate and amuse my young teachers but they were adamant that I do it right!  No better way to gear up for ridiculous classroom behaviour than exhibiting it yourself, and remembering how fun it is :)

This could have been the single most important day I have ever experienced in a missions setting so far.  I was able to take the time to simply BE with the people, mostly children, and absolutely love each other's company, for hours and hours, free from time constraints or group pressures that often short missions are inevitably subjected to.  Unlike past short-term missions, I can truly say that this is my home for now, and I am trying to do as a Haitian might do, taking time to converse with anyone who has the time (everyone), with no keyboard, but just simply my impressionable self, who is committed to nurturing relationships with others because that is what God has called me here to do.  If you have prayed through our mission statement at all since we've been here, know that your faithfulness in prayer will work at establishing deep-rooted connections with many lost and directionless people who are desperate to see God's Kingdom come but have lost sight of that in the wake of all the disaster this country has experienced.  And sometimes, all you have to do is recite your ABCs... in song, and like you mean it, of course.  Who knows, your life may depend on it :)

Did you know...

Haiti is the poorest place in the Western Hemisphere.  Their exports are limited, the GDP is staggeringly low and many economical and political hardships can be directly linked with corruption.  The media can always bring us the harsh truths in Canada but I will try and shed some positive light on our home for now...

1) Only 5% of people graduate from high school and 40% might have the chance to make it to junior high. The new president wants to make education free to all children but the scarcity of resources and buildings will make this promise almost impossible to keep.

The children that do come to school at our base (as well as Cite Soliel and Ebo Beach) are sponsored by people like you.  There is one little boy named George who lives at the Repatriote base and is eagerly awaiting the new school that will be ready to open before Christmas.  Until then, this little grade 1 boy will ride his bike (or sometimes walk I'm sure) the half-hour distance to school every day.  If students do have the chance to receive an education here, it is a source of pride for the family and certainly gives the children a new lease on life.

2) The cholera outbreak was bad, so was the one before that.  It was not the Haitians that brought this infection upon themselves though.  The infiltration of cholera to Haiti was linked to improper cleanliness of a UN base in Nepal, which was then transferred here when the UN came in after the earthquake.

Terrible things just seem to happen here and disastrous mishaps such as this plague these people for whom the desperation to survive is fierce already.  Dirty water in a gutter might seem like a desert oasis for those who thirst day and night but it is often a deadly decision.  Stacey especially, along with other school staff will work hard at educating children and their families about safeguarding themselves against cholera, scabies, malaria, etc.

3) The earthquake rocked Haiti and people will always talk about that fateful January day.  Disheveled buildings and roads remain jaggedly interlocked in a crudely creative discord that only gravity could neatly tuck into place.

It is easy to measure the destruction through the eyes of a Westerner who is used to seeing a mess cleaned up so that life can return to "normal".   For all the lighthearted sorrows that we feel when we watch the devastation unfold on television and the soapbox that it provides celebrities to pour out their hearts through remorseful song, it is a disgraceful shame how little has been done to "clean-up" Haiti.  I digress if the only reason I touch on this event is to somehow exercise my own shame and behold it reverently so that I may do something more noble about it next time.  And excuse my antagonist view of what has not been done for the clean-up when there are Westerners who have sought to help with the clean-up in some way.  But to help people within a community like Port-au-Prince, you need not the help of white men far away, though this does provide tangible help and encouragement for the people in many ways.  No, the hope comes from the way that Jesus Christ works selflessly and flawlessly in the hearts of his servants like the heroes which I will briefly acquaint you with.

Pastor Leon and his wife Jackie are native Haitians who began Haiti Outreach Ministries less than a year after they were married roughly 22 years ago.  There was need in Haiti then, much like there is now and they answered the call of God willingly and sacrificially.  As Jackie remarked, "sometimes your plans are not always God's plans," and remembering back to less than a year into my marriage I can say that I was not ready to plant a seed in the poorest slum (Cite Soliel) in the Western Hemisphere.  As we toured the compound I can only think that this is the most ambitious, and most finished, projects I have seen in all my travels.  Unscathed by the earthquake, the church building for 1000, the primary school for 300 students, 2 clinics (because they share a base with Samaritan's Purse) and courtyards for communities of people form the most faithful blueprint you could hope for in an otherwise debilitated community.

Ignorantly, I commented to Leon about the history of the Outreach and he pointed out that it was him and his wife that started this ministry, not the board of HOM in Maine.  I was ashamedly dumbfounded to doubt that a young Haitian couple could start all this.  What about the acres and acres of land, the creative use of space and the vision to build more still?  Aren't things supposed to never ever get completed in 3rd world countries??  Leon and Jackie are the most driven nationals I have ever met in any of the countries that I have visited.  You will no doubt here more of the amazing ministry taking place in this country and it started with the courage of a young, innocent couple who followed God's calling to settle in a place where so many earthquake survivors fled, years and years after they started the original church, school and clinic.

Ben, who is the resident liaison for HOM pointed out, that if Leon lived in the States, he would've become a millionaire, maybe a few times over, because of the drive that fuels him.  Jackie, Leon's wife, lovingly reflected that, "working with the poor and the needy is the greatest joy because they are the apple of God's eye.  There is nothing greater than this because He loves them so much."  Certainly a stark contrast to what might have been and what God tells someone otherwise, and most assuredly a supreme example for Stacey and I to serve under while we are here.

Welcome to our Island Home

Hanging out in Fort Lauderdale was relaxing, just the break we needed from the all the events of a busy summer.  For the first couple of days it felt like a regular holiday, until this morning.  Suddenly we were aware that a destination just an hour and a half away was going to become our home, a place where we'd never been, knew nobody and had only a skewed media perspective of from whenever disaster strikes this tiny country.  Could this really be what we wanted?

Flying into Haiti was beautiful, the lush mountains and menacing storm clouds overhead.  Not surprisingly there was a lack of beaches along the waterfront and not much architecture over a few stories high.  Grey and brown tones were awash across the whole landscape and trees like broccoli stalks sprouted up between these makeshift homes.  Nothing impressive, but in its own way, beauty simplified. 

Perhaps by this point we were feeling enamored by the sites that excited our emotions so much in missions trips of the past, but a reassuring feeling told us that this was where we were supposed to be.  God has been with us each step of the way and we couldn't wait to touch down. 

The drive was bumpy as we precariously moved throughout the city.  It was hard to imagine we were getting anywhere as our driver turned down unnamed street after unnamed street, only to arrive at our compound in a mere 15 minutes.  We didn't feel as out of place as we have in other places.  The presence of Amercians and the UN peacekeepers made our entrance more ordinary compared to shouts of "Muzungu!" when you tour through Africa.  Stacey rode in the truckbed and saw a pig.

Hey Stacey, why don't you tell them about our new home!

...I didn't JUST see a pig....riding in the back of the truck was a completely different view, and although we had been warned that the roads weren't maintained, driving over the the large pieces of missing concrete is a personal experience.  Behind us, several cattle made an appearance, along with stray goats, and i don't even have to mention..but dogs.  Someone also held on to the truck while riding his bike...

It is ironic how we left a house behind, full of "stuff" to find ourselves quite surprised with the great amenities....we even have a desk (of sorts), a shelf, a closet, and a huge fan!  who could ask for more in a place where our faces wouldn't stop sweating in our own room?