You can always tell when the trip is coming
to the end, as the energy of the group starts to drain and the motivation to
write the blog disappears. Alas, here I am after we are home writing about our
last couple days in Haiti with a different organization called Lemuel. (http://lemuelministries.blogspot.ca)
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| our last ride in the truck 'Mike' |
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| our H2H team |
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| a nearby hut |
Our last five days in Haiti were full of
bittersweet moments. It was sad to say goodbye to H2H, but exciting to see/be a
part of a different organization. We were excited about the prospect of
returning home, but sad to leave Haiti and our team as we had all become quite
close and used to cohabitating in close quarters. Some of the ladies took this
to a new level by having 4 girls sleep on 3 single beds by squishing the beds
up against each other.
Upon arriving to Lemuel ministry we were
pleasantly surprised by what we saw. We immediately noticed western doors with
glass on the church, hundreds of tall trees, flower bushes, our rooms had
dressers with mirrors, power 90% of the time, wifi (weak signal – some things
don’t change), a beautiful gazebo to
eat/relax in and a beautiful & clean outhouse if you can
believe it. Some of us definitely went through a bit of a culture shock just
arriving at this beautiful ministry campus. We were later informed of all the
hard work that had gone into this ministry and the involvement the Haitians had in the development of it. They had pictures showing what it was prior and
the progress that they have made over time. It was quite encouraging to see the
progress and it gave us hope for what could be done in Bouva with H2H.
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| the beautiful grounds of Lemuel. the building to the right is the gazebo that we spent much of our time |
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| we had the opportunity to ride donkey's |
During out time with Lemuel we did VBS in
the school, prayer walk, family surveys, helped out in kids club, crocheting,
and taught the ladies how to make friendship bracelets. We also focused some time
on debriefing which allowed the time to process what they have learned and how
to share it with their friends at home.
Doing VBS in the school was a lot of fun.
They ladies started off the morning by playing some games with the kids
including different relays (3 legged race, crab walk). The kids had a wonderful
time, albeit a little dirty in the end.
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| kids playing games at VBS |
Since the sun is very hot, we would wait to see the surrounding community after 4pm, so that we would limit our chance of getting heat stroke. It was great to be able to walk about the community and to see the progress of the community and the ramifications of drought. During one of our community walks, we came across a water hole, which was dug by 40 men. It was dug twice, as the first one was destroyed in the hurricane. It now serves to water sheep, goats, cows and donkeys.
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| goats drinking from the water hole that was dug by hand |
We also did a couple family surveys. We
split up into 3 groups, and each group had a translator. The goal was to learn
more about the community, it’s needs, the people’s support networks, common
illnesses, skills they would like to learn, struggles they had etc. We then
compiled what we had learned into a spread sheet which Lemuel will utilize when
planning future teams/teaching/resources etc. Some of the team members really
enjoyed meeting the community and hearing what it was really like in Haiti.
Others were discouraged by the despair of some of the people and the hardships
that they faced. While we had been in Haiti for 3 ½ weeks by this point, the
community walk really drove home the point that life is hard in Haiti. It has been encouraging to see different organizations working with the Haitians to meet
their needs and prepare for tomorrow.
Our last day in Haiti, we went to the beach. We were told that when it rains there ends up being some garbage on the beach. This was an understatement. Apparently there hasn’t been this much garbage on the beach in a long time. We walked through the plastic bottles, water bags etc in order to swim in the ocean. If they garbage was gone it would have been a beautiful beach. I forgot to mention, that in order for us all to get to the beach we rode in a dump truck. So much fun. It was a memorable way to end our time in Haiti.
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| our dump truck ride to the beach |
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| the lovely beach, garbage and all |
In my previous post, I mentioned that I
would talk about future dreams for Haiti in partnering with H2H and Lemuel. The dreams that are mentioned have been expressed by the different organizations. I
will begin first with H2H as we spent the majority of our time with them.
H2H – dreams for the future:
11)
continue to build up leaders
for the next generation
22) build a well/irrigation system
in Bouva so that they people can plant a garden
33) 18 new kids have arrived at H2H
this year, which brings their total to 100 kids. These 18 new kids still need
sponsors. There are also 5 H2H students who are graduating from high school
this year. These students who are graduating want to pursue university but they
need more sponsors in order to pursue this. Their aspirations include becoming
a nurse, doctor, dentist, and agriculture studies.
Lemuel:
11) would like to have a well built
on the premises
I’m currently in the process of planning
another trip to Haiti. Pastor Luc has mentioned that they haven’t had a dentist
or optometrist come down in a while. So if you know of anyone who would be
interested in coming to Haiti next year, please let me know.
Lessons learned on the trip:
1) Do everything for the glory of God
2) The contrast between the Love of Christ
and the destruction of Satan (John 10:10)
3) The importance of working in partnerships with the locals
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers while we have been away. We could not have done this without all of you help/support. Thank-you so much. We really appreciated it!
Janelle
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