A job well done

Today we finished our work on the church.  We estimate we

• moved 14 tons of rock
• cleared 10 tons of debris
• sifted 2 tons of material

During this week we’ve made some new friends.  Although we did not speak the same language, we still figured out how to communicate with each other and work as a team.  The foreman said we were the hardest working team they’ve seen.  The engineer sincerely thanked us for the sacrifices we’ve made leaving our families and coming to Haiti to help them.  It was a very touching goodbye.

Tomorrow morning we’ll pack our things and head back to the guest house in Petionville.  We’ll spend the day seeing more of this wonderful country.

Final Day in La Tremblay

We are getting ready to begin our final day in La Tremblay.  I expect that it will be a day filled with emotion for us all.  We certainly will not miss the back-breaking labor, but we will miss La Tremblay when we leave.  We had a wonderful time with the children of the Methodist school yesterday.  We gave them a variety of toys and then watched them play, and sometimes joined in with the play.

Yesterday we took a ride in a “tap tap” which is typically a pick-up truck with the back partially enclosed.  It’s basically the mass transit system in Haiti.  We just hopped in the back end of one and rode a few miles down the road, stopped at a gas station for a quick “Malta” which is a carbonated malt syrup beverage, and then hopped back in the tap tap for our ride home.

The progress in the church this week is striking.  The cement workers have made significant progress in finishing the walls.  We made a big difference in cleaning the gravel piles from the floor of the church.  We look forward to seeing the finished church.

Time for work!

John 

Another hot and dusty day

We just finished another workday. We have been spending much time hauling dirt and rocks, but have been very blessed to be surrounded daily by a group of the cutest little kids ever. Every one of them comes up to us and wants to know our names. They touch your skin, they sit in your laps and they love to talk to us, even though we don’t understand much at all.

It has been very warm here during the day and then cools off at night to the lower 70s. The roosters have been entertaining us at night and so have the cars and the Monday morning choir (5am). Hello to our loved ones at home and our friends. Enjoy the amenities you all have. We sure miss them.

Love you all.

Sylvia

A Welcomed Day Off

After a 1/2 day of work on Saturday (more rock moving and some added gravel moving) and a 2 mile hike up a local hill, we welcomed Sunday Service and a chance to be tourists.  The 2-1/2 hour service lead by one of the church leaders and our own Gene Winkler was filled with energy, song and praise.  It was the quickest 2-1/2 hour service I had ever sat through.   A total of 120 youth,  young adults and local parishioners welcomed us as we got to introduce ourselves and present our gifts of a communion plate and chalice.  It was a Service to remember forever.

After Service, we piled into a van and headed into town to take in the sights of earthquake remains, museums, local culture and traffic.  Our capable driver maneuvered through obstacles and pedestrians like never seen before.  We viewed the remains of the Presidential Palace and the large areas of tent cities directly adjacent to it.  We also got to spend time in the National Museum and learn some local history.  The museum was a little extra special as it will be the only air conditioned place we will visit during our 9 days in Haiti.  We then toured the grounds of the Hotel Montana  before heading back home on a “shortcut” road that allowed us to feel like cowboys on a bucking bronco.  Sunday night brought us together as we huddled around a cell phone to receive text messages from Matt Bednash on the events of the Super Bowl.  Thanks Matt and Go Giants!!

Then & Now

There is much that that is different about this year’s trip to Haiti as compared to last year’s trip.  First of all, most of the highly visible signs of the earthquake are gone.  I haven’t seen a single “pancaked” house, that is no more houses where the cement roof has just crashed down onto the floor.  Second, as we traveled from the airport to the guest house in Petionville, I saw many new buildings that had either just been completed or were nearing completion.

The differences between last year’s location in Thor and this year in La Tremblay are stark.  Looking back, Thor was very much a middle class community.  Homes were large, modern, and well kept for the most part.  It was also clearly a suburban setting.  La Tremblay is a small rural town on the far outskirts of Port au Prince. And it appears to be a very poor community.  Homes are small, often built of sticks and mud.  Even looking at the uniforms of the school children, you can see the poverty.  Uniforms in Thor were clean, neat, and for the most part looked quite new.  In La Tremblay, they are still clean and neat, but show signs of wear.

It’s time for us to got to work.  I’m sure someone will be back at this later today.

John

We will rock you

Saturday morning – just finished a wonderful breakfast of eggs and cookies.  We arrived yesterday morning at the work site – a church that was destroyed in the earthquake.  We are staying at a school down the street.  It sorta like staying in a primitive Howard Johnsons.  The school’s a two story building, with the classrooms opening out to a court yard.  We’re staying on the second floor so often you’ll find us standing on the “veranda” looking out over the courtyard, watching the traffic go by.

after assembling our cots and eating lunch yesterday we walked down to the work site to start work.  With shovels and wheel barrow in tow, we looked like the seven dwarfs off to work in the mines.  We loaded that wheel barrow several times and moved three tons of stones. Our backs are feeling it this morning but we’ll stretch them out soon as we go back to that pile of rocks this morning and starting move some more.  The rocks are being placed around the outside of the church and will eventually be the base for a sidewalk in front of the church.

Made it to Haiti

After an hour and half delay in Miami, a couple encounters with security and a challenge with customs, we’ve finally arrived at the guesthouse.  I feel like I’m back in college – sleeping on the bottom bunk tonight.  Tomorrow we head to the work site.  We’ll help with constructing a church and will sleep in a classroom at a school down the road from the work site.  After the traffic here, I don’t think I’ll ever complain about Chicago traffic again.  Tomorrow we will drive about seven miles but it will take an hour and half to get there.  Thanks for everyone’s prayers for safe travels. 

Leanne McRill

24 Hours to Haiti

As I’m writing this, I’m 24 hours away from changing planes in Miami.  It’s been a busy past few days getting ready.  A lot of time has been spent creating an inventory of the amazing amount of donated medications and vitamins.  Altogether, the value of those donations is over $3700!  It is absolutely mind-boggling to think that our church (along with help from Pastor Gene’s adopted church in “Wilmetka”) is so generous in helping address the health needs of people we will never see or meet.  And on top of that, we’ve managed to pack the 21 baby blankets that were created at Roselle UMC, a cot that is being donated, a couple of camp chairs and 9 soccer balls!  I’ve been told by my contact in Haiti that the baby blankets will probably go to Grace Children’s Hospital (Roselle UMC’s mission designation in February).  With a little luck, maybe we will get to deliver them personally.

There’s still so much to do to get ready and so little time!  I keep remembering things I need to pack (toilet paper being the latest example).  I think I’ve gotten all the cash I need for the team.  All the bills have to be paid in cash, including lodging, food, transportation to and from the airport and work site, and compensation for the cooks and interpreter.  I keep wondering if I have given my teammates all the information they need prior to take off.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

We hope to be able to blog once we reach Haiti.  Certainly we will be able to give first impressions the first night in Haiti, and final thoughts on our last night.  In between is unknown.  Last year we were lucky to be across the street from an internet cafe, but this year, who knows what the situation will be for us.  I guess we’ll know soon enough.

Time to go think about whether I’ve forgotten to pack any other critical items!

John

A New Year, A New Journey

Eight more days and I will once again have the privilege to embark on another journey to Haiti with five other amazing people. The donations are lining up on and under the table behind the Parlor at church. Thank you so much to all of you wonderful people who have shared your suitcases, vitamins and medications with us and therefore with the people of Haiti. There is still a great need in Haiti. Many people are as of this days still living in tent cities. Hunger is also affecting so many of the Haitian people on a daily basis and basic needs, such as clean water, sanitation and health services are still lacking. There are estimates that this will be a longterm recovery effort (some say up to 10 years). Our presence and the presence of many good-hearted people will be needed there for a long time to come.

We will leave on February 2nd and will be staying for most of the time in La Tremblay, Haiti. We were informed that we will most likely be working on building the roof the Methodist Church in La Tremblay. This church has been damaged so much in the earthquake, that it had to be built new. As I mentioned in connection with last year’s trip to Haiti, the churches provide a great support to the communities in a country where there is as of now still no orchestrated support system in place. Please keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers. Our team members this year are John Sheely, Dave Bednash, Leanne McRill, Gene Winkler, Brian Frederickson and myself (Sylvia Hibbard). We will try our best to keep on posting updates on this blog, as long as we have internet availability. Keep on checking this post over the next few weeks for thoughts and reflections from our team members as we get ready for and begin this exciting journey.

Peace and love,

Sylvia