Day 5: Water Truck and Haitian Initiative

   We started the day early, out of the door at 6AM.  We are off to attend a local church service.  It was a truly unique experience to witness the free spirit which the Haitians worship the Lord.  Jeff knew the pastor at the church, who gave blessings to all the children.  Ours were the only I saw.

     Energized from the message Michelle delivered from our group meeting we were off to visit Elders School in Cite Soleil.  Once again, the children were excited to see us and we them.  Kids from 8 to 18 were all in school uniforms.  Many hand shakes, high fives, hugs and smiles were shared. 

   We are now off to our next stop, Cite Soleil water delivery.  Feeling more seasoned, our group worked and played hard during our two delivery stops.  We interacted with the young and old, dropping in a new phrase we learned from Jeff.  "Jezi Renmen Ou"..."Jesus Loves You."  We stopped for a quick snack and thought we were off to our next new adventure.  Surprise, we are stopping for another water delivery.  Everyone was very tired but we all rallied once again to serve the Cite Soleil residents their most basic need.  

    Now we are headed to the Haitian Initiative Soccer facility.  Boys and girls in Cite Soleil with good grades try out each year to participate in the program.  Each day they practice soccer then receive a meal.  Several of us in the group had the honor to play soccer with the kids.  The ten year olds we played against were awesome.  Avery V. and Al each managed to sneak in a goal.

     Our group seemed to click from the beginning.  We once again made it through another busy day serving the beautiful Haitian people the whole time with smiles and laughter.  

~Bill Villani

 

Day 4: Grace Village, Elderly Visits, and Mass Grave site/Memorial

Written by Aubrey age 10:

Today we drove out to Grace Village and saw what Healing Haiti had helped start. We had a tour around the orphanage and the lady taught us how Healing Haiti has helped and what is built there and what will be built there. Currently they have a library, orphanage, garden, school church, health clinic and eating center. They are working on adding a computer lab and a bakery to help employ villagers so they do not have to give up their children to an orphanage. 

Then we visited three elderly in the neighboring town where we went into their homes where we sang, gave foot massages, painted their toenails and gave them water and food. It brought a smile to your face, when they smiled back their smiles were contagious and they really made our day. 

On the way back home our team stopped at the mass graves which is a memorial for the people who died in the earthquake. The memorial is still under construction but it looks very nice. 300,000 people were buried here.  At my school we were just learning about the earthquake in Haiti so it was neat to see the site where so many were buried. Many people who have not been to Haiti thought that the devastation was still very bad, but when you get there you realize that it's in better condition.

When we got back to our guesthouse we had a Haitian meal prepared for us. We all really loved it it was delicious. We ended our evening by learning how to salsa dance. The salsa dancing was very fun and interesting because you got to learn about the music from another culture. 

At our sharing time tonight my word of the day was "love" because I shared love with the orphans and the elderly in many ways but I also felt a lot of love from them too. 

Pictured above is one of our elders, Pierre, dancing and worshipping with us!

             Aubrey, painting nails. 

             Library at Grace Village

Day 3: Home for Sick and Dying/Dari's Orphanage for kids with specialneeds/Apparent Project

Today our team split up for the morning.  10 of us went to the Home for Sick and Dying Children, the other 6 went to Dari's orphanage for special needs children. 

This is Zack Villani (age 11) talking about our visit to the special needs orphanage (typed by my mom):

At first I was a little nervous because I have never been around kids with special needs before. But when I realized they are just kids who want to play and sing like any other kid, I felt a lot better. 

My favorite part of this experience was seeing smiles on their faces even though they had disabilities. I liked to make them smile. 

There was one girl who would scream very loud a lot in excitement, I think that was just how she communicated. 

Our leader, Jeff, brought his guitar and played and sang, some songs in English and some in Creole. We also had a tambourine and a box drum that the kids were able to play a little bit. We blew bubbles for them as well. 

My favorite boy was named Bradley, he was missing an eye. He sang a lot with me and was really funny. He kept coming over to me copying everything I was doing.

I was able to play the guitar for the kids, even though I played horribly compared to Jeff! #jeffisawesomeonguitar 

I played "Oceans" and "Holy Spirit" for them. <insert other leader Michelle's comment here, because she gets to edit this😉: Not true...Zack does a great job at guitar!>

What I learned today is that God makes everyone different and special in their own way. He loves every person, everywhere, in every situation!

 

Now for Avery Thompson and Danielle Gjerde's perspective on the Home for Sick and Dying and Apparent Project:

Today half of our team went to the Home for Sick and Dying. This is a hospital where parents bring their kids when they are sick and can't afford food or other needs to keep them healthy. The parents can visit their children during designated times while they are in the hospital. If they get better, their parents can take them back home. What we were doing here was holding the sick kids and making them smile. A few of them had little accidents but the ladies who worked there directed us to a closet of clothes to change the children. When we walked in we were immediately overwhelmed with the amount of kids that were wanting to be held and loved. There were rows of cribs in each room with numbers and babies in them.There were kids there with malnourishment who were extremely skinny, kids with skin problems, and ones with other illnesses. Some of the kids were crying, some were just not happy, but once you picked them up they had the brightest smiles. We held them and just showed them that we loved them. The hard part was putting the kids back in their cribs to comfort another baby because they would start crying. It was very hard leaving the kids because you got so attached to their sweet smiles.

 

Next, the whole team went to the Apparent project where Haitians are employed to make mugs, jewelry, metal art, and other typed of wall hangings or art. There are 400+ people who are employed to work there. Most, if not all, are parents who would have had to give up their children if they did not have their jobs there. Most are working at the Apparent project, while the others make their work at home and bring it in to sell. This gives the Haitians an opportunity to provide for their families. They get the clay from 4 hours away and make it. They use this clay for the mugs and some of the beads. They paint then glaze them. The other beads are made with cardboard or paper then rolled and glued. Then strung together to make necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Overall, the day was a mixture of emotions. It was full of smiles and tears,and we will not forget this experience. 

Day 2: Water Truck

Today was our first day in the heart of Haiti. We started our day with prayer and then a ride in the tap-tap to our first destination. We arrived in City Soleil to deliver clean water to families in their shacks. The moment we stepped out of the tap-tap we were bombarded with kids that just wanted to be loved by us. We helped fill up the water buckets and play with the kids in the streets. It was remarkable to see such happy kids living in such impoverished conditions. They were some of the most loving and joyful people we have ever met. 

When we finished our stop, we had the privilege of touring the newly built Hope Church and soon-to-be school. It is astonishing how it stood out among the shacks of houses with garbage covering the streets. 

Once we finished our bathroom break and tour at the church, we got back on the tap-tap to ride to our next water truck stop. Upon arriving we were amazed by the kids' playfulness and their want for our love. The kids are extremely smart, even though we had a language barrier between us, they still understood the games that we taught them. We were even able to sing songs with them. It was wonderful to be able to glorify God with these thankful people. They also loved to talk to us and ask us questions, even though most of the time we had no clue what they were trying to say. That was our shortest stop, because our water ran out quickly. So we got back on the tap-tap and headed back to Hope Church for some lunch. 

When we had finished our food, we adventured deeper into the community to begin our last water delivery. Again, kids came running up to us, begging to be held. There were less kids this time, so we were able to talk to and help the people that were receiving water. Directing the water pump was chaos. It was hard to not waste any water in the massive crowd of people waiting with their buckets. When that stop was finished, we took a walk down the pier to see the trash-filled ocean and interact with more Haitians. Several of the people we talked to here knew enough English, so we could have a conversation with them.

On the tap-tap ride home, it was hard to move our arms, from holding the Haitian children and helping with the water pumps all day. Once we arrived home, we took a quick stop at the pool, and then we hung out with the neighborhood boys. We played soccer and games with them, until it was time to eat dinner. It was different, being able to interact with older kids and experiencing how their lives were like on a day-to-day basis. 

Overall, it was a day of embracing new culture and new country. We grew closer to God and His people. We went out of our comfort zone, to experience a day we will never forget. 

Avery Villani (age 14) and Kendra Fuller (age 14) 

Day 1: Travel Day

Greetings from Haiti! 

Minnesota met up with Arizona in Atlanta and arrived safely this evening in Port-Au-Prince. We are all settling in at Guest House 1 and look forward to our adventures this week!

Tomorrow we will head to Cite Soleil to deliver water. This is my 2nd trip and my daughter Lauren's 1st. Lauren says the dogs are really nice and so is Jean! She enjoyed sitting shotgun in the tap tap from the airport to the house. The group is 7 adults and 8 kids 4th grade through 9th grade. We welcome your prayers and are so grateful for all of the support! Bon nwit (good night in Creole)!

Stacy Roe

Day 6: Water Truck

This is my third trip to Haiti, and water truck day continues to be my favorite day.  Although we witness some very difficult things, we also get the satisfaction of meeting the people of City Soleil's basic need for water and witnessing their welcoming hugs and smiles. We also welcomed the nice breeze today and the slightly cooler temperature. 

Our two stops were far less chaotic than our first water truck day. There was less desperation, or so it appeared. I participated in the water line at our first stop. I started out holding the hose and enjoying the vantage point. I could see everything that was going on with all of our team members and I stopped to take a deep breath and really experience the exciting energy of the moment. I witnessed kids climbing on the backs of my team members as they were working so hard to fill water as efficiently as possible. One little boy really struck me. He was about 2 years old, no clothes, a big barrel chest and a survivor mentality. I was so amused by his antics to get water and his interactions with the other kids. His little white pitcher with pink flowers on the side was his and he wasn't going to let ANYONE take it. He also wasn't about to wait in line like everyone else. Michael and Tracy became his jungle gym and they had absolutely no idea because they were completely focused on the difficult task at hand. Michael likes to guide the hose into the buckets because he has a strong realization that the water in City Soleil is gold and doesn't want to waste one drop. City Soleil has a way of making you cherish every resource that helps to keep them alive and thriving.  The boy climbed over their backs, between their legs, was pinched by the older kids, had his pitcher stolen several times, managed to take them down and get his pitcher back. After all that work, how could I not make sure his pitcher was filled? He earned that water with shear tenacity and perseverance!  That kid will go somewhere! Not only do they have their own thirst to deal with but also the compassion to help us. A little girl saw that we were working hard on the water line and approached Tracy and Alicia. She made a cup with her hand and dipped it into the water to give them a refreshing splash on the face. She wiped away their sweat and gave them both a kiss on the cheek. It was priceless. 

Before we left I had shifted locations and ended up putting many, many buckets on top of women and children's  heads for them to carry.  The kids were all so delighted to have our attention, and we are mutually delighted to have theirs. The mood changed abruptly when right in front of me a man started yelling and whipping a boy, about 8 years of age, with a bungee cord with a metal hook on the end. The boy was running and screaming, tears streaming down his face. The man whipped him from head to toe. The boy hid behind some shanties until he knew he was safe and then came out crying and rubbing his wounds. Rachel, Maddie and I ran to comfort him. My hurt still hurts deeply for him and I'll be praying for his safety and freedom. 

When we stopped to fill the water trucks, some of us had to use the restroom. As we entered the gates I noticed two young women sitting on a ledge. They were interested in us, so they followed us to the restroom. Although we had a major language barrier, we managed to find out that her mother lives in Bagley Minnesota. My husband has family in Bagley, a very small town in Northern Minnesota. What a strange coincidence and a very small world! 

Our last water truck stop was also full of life and action. The kids were hanging off us all. The team members filling the buckets continued to work like a family that we have definitely become. We carried buckets, played with children, sang songs and enjoyed the last moment we had to spend with these amazing and resilient people. They continue to amaze me and will forever have all of our hearts. As I sit here typing, I feel the muscles in every part of my body and I only lived a very brief moment of their daily lives. They are strong and have overcome and continue to overcome adversity yet genuinely smile along the way. I will take their smiles home with me and remember to appreciate things a lot more. 

Day 5: Carrefour, Einstein Alberts, La Lou Orphanage, Pizza Amour

If I had to pick one word to describe the whole day for my team it would be polish. For some of our team the day began with alarms announcing "time to get ready for church" and for others the day started with a plate full of pancakes. This morning we had the chance to attend a 6:00 AM church service at a local church that is about a 10 minute walk away from our guest house. I attended this beautiful service where the church-goers would pace up and down the aisles declaring their prayers with their arms high above their heads. Although we were only able to stay for an hour, their passion was truly heart-warming. The word polish fits into this piece of the day due to the imperfections and the unpolished aspects of Haiti that our team has witnessed throughout our trip up to this point. It occured to me that while in the United States we may have ornate, polished, and extravagant churches, that this church surrounded by dust and garbage was impeccably polished.

Our first stop of the day was at Carrefour (home for sick and dying adults). While this visit was out of many of our team members' comfort zones, everyone walked in with their beautiful souls and determination to help anyone in need. The word polish ties into this experience more literally since most women wanted their nails painted with the nail polish we brought with. I think that all of our team members  who went outside of their comfort zone were comforted by the knowledge that the women now had the color of the nail polish to brighten up their days. 

Next stop was Einstein Alberts. We pulled up to this little shop full of beautiful, handcrafted bowls that several women were varnishing. We were all able to see all of the lovely wooden bowls that had been made with much effort and time. There were not many bowls ready for sale when we arrived, but even thought they were not all varnished or polished, they were still stunning and held as much value to the women/men who spent the time crafting them. Our visit was short, but we left with several bowls and lots of smiling faces.

La Lou Orphanage came next, and seemed to be bursting with laughs. We were greeted by the cutest kids who were all very eager to participate in our team member, Dawn's, art lesson. There were many colorful giraffes in the room after the excited kids finished coloring their drawings. They caught on to our singing and clapping games quickly and they all laughed when we sang and danced the TootyTa. Cassie gave them a fantastic dental lesson where they all 'polished' their teeth with the new toothbrushes we gave them. La Lou Orphanage was a joyful visit for many.

After our service work was done we were able to polish off our day with a fun grocery store visit and pizza from Pizza Amour. These trips provided us with great bonding time, tons of laughs, and stomachs full of pizza and dessert. 

Natalie (: