It’s been amazing being here in Port-au-Prince, the heart of where the earthquake ripped through with its destructive powers. The sights, smells, and sounds are all eye-opening. With the rubble and garbage still everywhere after 4 months, some may wonder what it must’ve looked like the day the earthquake hit on that Tuesday afternoon in January.
We are staying in tents on grounds with facilities that YWAM is renting from an orphanage that is located here. There are 2 other DTS teams whom are on outreach as well that are here: one from Los Angeles and the other from Mazatlan, Mexico. We are blessed to have internet access, running water, cold drinking water, and a wonderful cook that prepares the meals.
Wednesday was our first day of ministry after arriving on Tuesday afternoon. We went to a tent city in Delmas that holds around 7,500 people, all of whom have lost their homes from the quake. We spent the day talking with people, hearing their stories and praying with them. It was a moving time for many of us.
On Thursday, all teams helped Peterson Georges (YWAM director in Port-au-Prince) and staff to clear and dedicate 12 acres of land that was given to YWAM. We spent the morning worshiping and interceding for this piece of property and then started clearing the brush with machetes.
Friday was our day off, but in the afternoon, a few of us helped some staff members load up 2 trucks with food and clothing to be taken to an orphanage and tent city in need. It was a sight to witness seeing the people of the tent city rush to the truck when we arrived. It was hard to keep an orderly line for the people to each grab a few items of clothing and pass out 1 item of food to each of the adults. When we did leave, everyone jumped onto the mound of clothes on the floor, grasping for anything they can get their hands on. They are so desperate for anything. Not a sock was left on the floor just after 30 seconds.
On Saturday, we went back to Delmas to help Red Cross clean the area, which they do every Saturday. It was amazing to witness the Haitian people taking initiative and helping to clean up too. They were even planting flowers and putting up decorative items to make the area more beautiful! Hope is rising!!
And Sunday, we went to a church service in City Solei. Along with worship and the preaching by Peterson Georges, each DTS team did a short drama/skit and 1 testimony.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Week 2 in Guisha
The majority of this week was spent in intercession for Haiti. We had more free time than expected because there wasn’t much that we could all do on the school, so we took the opportunity to go on many prayer walks. We also just spent time hanging out with the people in the community, either that be playing soccer, sitting and chatting, playing games, etc.
Our biggest day of physical labor was on Thursday when we could pour concrete on the roof. In the morning, we all worked together to place steel ties on all the rods before we could pour the cement. Then, the rest of the day, we helped carry cement upon the roof. Many of us had a lot of fun carrying water from the canals to the big barrels at the work site to mix the cement. It was a long, hard day of work. Lionel Town as a great preparation for the work we did here.
At night during our debriefing sessions, many of the community kids would come and join us. They would sit with us in our circle as we discussed our high and low points of the day.
We had an incredible church day on Sunday. We left around 7:30am to go to another of the mission’s Baptist churches. The church we went to is actually the largest Baptist church here in Haiti. Sunday morning service started at 8:00am and finished just before 12pm. It was an amazing service - the worship, the preaching (by Pastor Almo), everything. We had an delicious lunch at the vice president’s (of the church) house. They truly served us their best: roasted goat, plantin, salad, cabbage with carrot, fruit, rice, beef stew, fries, and even cake.
Before we had to go to the youth service that afternoon at 2:00pm, we went to an agriculture garden “show”. It was a garden that had beautiful displays of trees and flowers, as well as booths that were selling various items.
The youth service was also a success. Dwain played the role of M.C. for the afternoon. We sang with them and Marvin, Michael, and Brennan shared their testimonies.
We arrived home at about 6:45pm, had a quick bite to eat for dinner, and continued on to the evening church service right across the street. It was a “thanksgiving” service for us. We were all very touched and blessed for the blessings they poured over us that night. It was touching to witness how, as a team, we encouraged this community. We felt it last night.
Our biggest day of physical labor was on Thursday when we could pour concrete on the roof. In the morning, we all worked together to place steel ties on all the rods before we could pour the cement. Then, the rest of the day, we helped carry cement upon the roof. Many of us had a lot of fun carrying water from the canals to the big barrels at the work site to mix the cement. It was a long, hard day of work. Lionel Town as a great preparation for the work we did here.
At night during our debriefing sessions, many of the community kids would come and join us. They would sit with us in our circle as we discussed our high and low points of the day.
We had an incredible church day on Sunday. We left around 7:30am to go to another of the mission’s Baptist churches. The church we went to is actually the largest Baptist church here in Haiti. Sunday morning service started at 8:00am and finished just before 12pm. It was an amazing service - the worship, the preaching (by Pastor Almo), everything. We had an delicious lunch at the vice president’s (of the church) house. They truly served us their best: roasted goat, plantin, salad, cabbage with carrot, fruit, rice, beef stew, fries, and even cake.
Before we had to go to the youth service that afternoon at 2:00pm, we went to an agriculture garden “show”. It was a garden that had beautiful displays of trees and flowers, as well as booths that were selling various items.
The youth service was also a success. Dwain played the role of M.C. for the afternoon. We sang with them and Marvin, Michael, and Brennan shared their testimonies.
We arrived home at about 6:45pm, had a quick bite to eat for dinner, and continued on to the evening church service right across the street. It was a “thanksgiving” service for us. We were all very touched and blessed for the blessings they poured over us that night. It was touching to witness how, as a team, we encouraged this community. We felt it last night.
Week 1 complete
It has been 1 week since arriving here in Haiti. From Monday through Friday, we have been working on building a school. Unfortunately, there hasn’t really been too much for us to do as a corporate group. Most of our time has been spent playing with the children in the afternoon and during the break time at school. We’ve come up with a favorite game that is played everyday at the school. I call it, “Run and Catch”. It’s very similar to sharks and minnows. The kids would line up on one side and 4-5 of us students would be in the middle. After the count of 3, all the kids would run across to the other side, trying to avoid being caught by one of us. Since the kids didn’t get the concept of being tagged and sent to “jail”, we would literally have to capture them and carry them over to the out of bounds area. The kids loved the game and it gave us a good workout.
In the afternoons, we played a lot of soccer and sat in small groups talking with the community kids. A few of them spoke a little English and would teach us Creole. We shared stories, listened to music, and just chatted about anything and everything, from what we could understand because of the language barrier.
The biggest hit of this week has been the team’s health. Lesley became very sick on Wednesday and had to rest in bed all day. Chantel also got some sort of stomach virus and wasn’t able to keep any food down for a couple days. A few others experienced episodes of nausea, probably due to the new foods we are experiencing. Over all though, we are pushing through. God is gracious and is granting us with the strength we need to keep going.
In the afternoons, we played a lot of soccer and sat in small groups talking with the community kids. A few of them spoke a little English and would teach us Creole. We shared stories, listened to music, and just chatted about anything and everything, from what we could understand because of the language barrier.
The biggest hit of this week has been the team’s health. Lesley became very sick on Wednesday and had to rest in bed all day. Chantel also got some sort of stomach virus and wasn’t able to keep any food down for a couple days. A few others experienced episodes of nausea, probably due to the new foods we are experiencing. Over all though, we are pushing through. God is gracious and is granting us with the strength we need to keep going.
Destination: Haiti
Our initial traveling to Haiti began with the 2-3 hour bus ride from Riversdale to Kingston. When we unloaded all our gear, a few troubles began. Initially, our plane ticket says that each person can have 2 pieces of luggage, weighing up to 70 pounds each. When we weighed a few of the relief bags, they were over that weight, so we strategically evened out the weight so none of them were over the limit. When we finally figured that out, we got in line to each check in our 2 baggage. Unfortunately, the airport personnel told us that the 2 baggage together must total 70 pounds, despite what the ticket says. This was a problem because none of us could meet that requirement. We told them our situation and what we were doing and prayed for favor, but they couldn’t waiver that much weight on the flight. They did however allow us to have an excess 10lbs for each pair of luggage. Again, we stepped out of line and worked on the baggage weight. We paired up lighter baggage with heavier ones and took out most of the rice we were taking. After it was all through, we had to leave 2 large bags of relief food and clothes.
The first flight, leaving at 5:33pm was to Panama City and only totaled 1 hour 50 minutes. It was fun since all 12 of us got to sit together and we received dinner on the plane. We caught our next flight to Santo Domingo soon after and arrived at that airport around 12am. By the time we got through customs and onto the YWAM base in Santo Domingo, it was about 2am. All of us were exhausted and found a corner of the room to sleep until we had leave for Haiti in 2-3 hours. Bright and early, we helped load the bus when it arrived after 5am with our luggage and water. We set off at 6am heading towards Port-au-Prince.
At the border into Haiti, we had to get off and confirm our faces with our passports to the security personnel. Initially, they were asking for $20 each for visas to enter into Haiti. We were able to get the price down to $100 total, which was still a lot considering that we aren’t even supposed to need visas to enter into Haiti.
We arrived at Port-au-Prince around 12:30pm to drop off Danine, a staff member from the D.R. base, the water, and our relief supplies. We had to switch buses to continue onward to La Craze. We went from a large charter bus to a 12 passenger van, in which we had to squeeze 14 people with all our luggage and loads of bottled water. It was a long 4-5 hours to La Craze. Thankfully, we stopped once to stretch our legs and grab some juice. We shouted “Hallelujah” when we arrived at the church at 6pm. The other DTS team from Stones Hope were already there and they helped us unload and gave us a tour - with flashlights in the dark. The church’s electricity was not working so we had to grab our flash lights and eat dinner by candlelight.
After dinner, we all took showers, which was greatly needed after 2 days of traveling. We went to bed early for a hard days work up ahead.
The first flight, leaving at 5:33pm was to Panama City and only totaled 1 hour 50 minutes. It was fun since all 12 of us got to sit together and we received dinner on the plane. We caught our next flight to Santo Domingo soon after and arrived at that airport around 12am. By the time we got through customs and onto the YWAM base in Santo Domingo, it was about 2am. All of us were exhausted and found a corner of the room to sleep until we had leave for Haiti in 2-3 hours. Bright and early, we helped load the bus when it arrived after 5am with our luggage and water. We set off at 6am heading towards Port-au-Prince.
At the border into Haiti, we had to get off and confirm our faces with our passports to the security personnel. Initially, they were asking for $20 each for visas to enter into Haiti. We were able to get the price down to $100 total, which was still a lot considering that we aren’t even supposed to need visas to enter into Haiti.
We arrived at Port-au-Prince around 12:30pm to drop off Danine, a staff member from the D.R. base, the water, and our relief supplies. We had to switch buses to continue onward to La Craze. We went from a large charter bus to a 12 passenger van, in which we had to squeeze 14 people with all our luggage and loads of bottled water. It was a long 4-5 hours to La Craze. Thankfully, we stopped once to stretch our legs and grab some juice. We shouted “Hallelujah” when we arrived at the church at 6pm. The other DTS team from Stones Hope were already there and they helped us unload and gave us a tour - with flashlights in the dark. The church’s electricity was not working so we had to grab our flash lights and eat dinner by candlelight.
After dinner, we all took showers, which was greatly needed after 2 days of traveling. We went to bed early for a hard days work up ahead.
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