A new week, a new team

These last few weeks with my friend, Teresa, were great - I'm feeling really rested & full of energy!!! We spent plenty of time with the kids but also got to the beach a few times & had some well needed girl talk :)



Dr. Cam and his team arrived yesterday & our trip into PauP was uneventful and everything seems to be back to normal. The team consists of 1 doctor, 3 nurses and a medical student. They spent the day sorting through drugs & determining the best way to run the medical clinic. It was a great day to get to know each other & I'm really excited to be working with them this week. This is the first time I've been involved with a medical team so I'm looking forward to the experience.

Here's a picture of Cam with his first patient... Fritzon had a fever but after a tylenol that tasted like bubble gum & a few hugs he was smiling again!

The Story of Wilner

This is Wilner




He was born in Bouva:



In this hut:



Wilner was taken to Grande Goave with 3 of his friends to start a new life at the H2H children’s home:






Eric, who was on the mission team which brought Wilner to Grande Goave, fell in love... & became an instant father! He also got to meet Wilner's mom & sister before leaving Bouva.






First day... new shorts, clean water to drink and, of course, a new bump on the head!




New home... same personality!




Wilner opening a present from “papa”




The new clothes only get removed for a quick washing!




Delivering a present to Wilner’s sister, Jetta, in Boava

It is what it is

When I first starting learning Kreyol I overheard one of the older boys call me “Blan Pam” (my white). He didn’t realize I understood him & was shocked when I responded by calling him “Nwa Pam” (my black). That brief conversation created lasting nicknames & was the start of a friendship. His name is Predel and he came to live at H2H when he was 11 years old. His parents live in Bouva, which is a small mountain community where we have a sister church. It was Predel’s dad that gave me the goat, Pablo.

His parents had twins a few months ago… born at home (in the below house) just like their other 6 children. Sparked by my friendship with Nwa Pam, I have become friends with his parents & I visit their home in Bouva every chance I get. Like many families in Bouva, Nwa Pam’s parents are heavily involved in Voodoo.

When my parents came last month they brought presents for the new twins so my last to Bouva was a special one. Here are some photos:

Their house:




Their yard... & Pablo:








Nwa Pam with his parents:




The twins:




Meeting their "aunt" for the first time:




Writing about Nwa Pam and his family was inspired by this poem I read last week while I was visiting GLA…

What is it?

It is nonsense says reason
It is what it is says love

It is misfortune says calculation
It is nothing but pain says fear
It is hopeless says insight
It is what it is says love

It is ridiculous says pride
It is careless says caution
It is impossible says experience
It is what it is says love

Enich Fried

I’m not sure I can express why this poem reminds me of this family but I’ll try…

Each time I visit this home in Bouva I am struck by their primitive way of life. They survive. I don’t mean for this to come across as looking down on them or being arrogant… I respect these people & I am growing to love them. But as the poem implies, my insecurities (pride, fear, experience) caused me to judge them. I am ashamed of this judgment but acknowledging this has allowed me to realize how my culture & upbringing has shaped my way of viewing people and I am beginning to break that thought pattern. They are who they are. Their beliefs, expectations & desires do not make them any better or worse then me. It is what it is. If my insecurities are causing me to judge them I can’t imagine what must be going through their mind!! Their ability to lower their guard & welcome me into their lives is humbling to me. As I eat with them or sit in their yard and just talk, it is surreal for me – what a different world than I am used to in Canada! Yet I sit there, completely comfortable, talking to my friends. It is what it is.

Made it Home!

We're running the generator at the moment because we haven't had city power for a few days so this is just a quick note to say Teresa & I made it to Grande Goave without any problems... lots of debri still on the roads but nothing that wasn't passable.

On my way home!!!

Just a quick update to let you know that Teresa & I connected this morning - we are both at GLA at the moment - and the H2H boys are on their way to pick us up! Things were fairly quiet in PauP yesterday (& continue to be quick today) and the road blocks out of Grande Goave (Leogane, Forsche, etc) were cleared early this morning. After we are picked up we are heading to the airport to pick up a friend of Pastor Luc.

Keep praying for us but also say a BIG THANKYOU for the calmness & for the chance to get us to Grande Goave.

Remembering the good old days

The first time I came to Haiti was almost 3 years ago exactly. It was roughly the same time of year as now and my first journal entry began like this... "I feel like I've just played an entire hockey tournament without showering & now I'm trying to sleep in a sauna!!!" Well last night I slept with sweat pants, a sweat shirt & 2 quilt blankets and I still had to do a little dance to keep warm! Getting adjusted to the climate is a good change, at least for me.

Besides being incredibly hot, at least my "good old days" in Haiti didn't include riots & road blocks that stretch across the country. I know the violent protests are making headline news across the world so you're likely more informed than I am! If not, google "haiti riots"... there are some pretty horrific pictures & videos.

My blog being updated 3 times this week & my emails caught up completely (woohooo!) is not the result of double strength coffee... I came to PauP last Friday in search of some RnR before another set of back-to-back teams come to H2H. The plan was for me to be picked up Tuesday morning (yesterday) before heading to the airport to pick up my good friend Teresa, who will be visiting for 2 weeks. I got a call from Tontom (my Haitian uncle), far to early in the morning, to say that he could not get from Grande Goave to PauP because of blockages & protests... I'd have to find another way to pick up Teresa & we'd have to wait out the riots in PauP. Hmmm. That was some pretty bad news. Especially since Tontom is a Big Cheese in the Police/Coast Guard & has always been my personal body guard... somehow his inability to "save me" popped some imaginary safety bubble I had. After several stressful moments, way too many phone cards & some enormous help from Joyce & Molly, Teresa was picked up yesterday & is currently camping out at a Guesthouse near the airport. At the moment most of the major roads are blocked by barricades & "business as usual" has pretty much come to a halt.

Although we are at different locations, both Teresa & I are safe. Hopefully the situation will improve over the next few days & we'll be able to get together & ultimately get back to Grande Goave.

Pure Randomness

Ok, this will be the most random blog so far & I'm going to jump right into it...

When I was in Boava (a small mountain community in northern Haiti) last month the parents of a boy who lives at H2H Children's Home gave me a goat. Yup, a goat. Sweet, eh? I sent a picture to my niece, Courtney, and she has named him Pablo. Hopefully I'll come up with a good excuse for Pablo to go to goat heaven because he definitely will be going to goat heaven as soon as he gets some more meat on his bones! Here's Pablo in his house... which was made by one of the kids that felt sorry for him sleeping in the rain :)



I read through my last few blogs and realized that I didn't really update you properly on Wilkenson... probably because I'm still in shock at how he's recovered. While he was in the hospital in Port-au-Prince, waiting patiently for surgery, I was going crazy with frustration back in Grande Goave. I shared my frustration with the team that was visiting (Darcy's team) and Terry, one of the team members, prayed for God to touch his arm & heal it completely without requiring surgery. At the same time the kids in the home gathered and prayed a similar prayer. Hours later we received the phone call from PauP saying surgery was not needed and Wilkenson would be heading home after a few days of physio. I'm sure this sort of healing is unthinkable to many of you but check out this picture...



This is Wilkenson washing his clothes BY HAND just days after coming back to Grande Goave. He has NO PAIN in his arm whatsoever! The only sign of his broken arm is a tight tendon that is preventing him from straightening his arm completely and even that is getting better everyday.

Ok, moving along through the randomness....

Check out this sweet online game that is based on helping a Haitian family survive their difficult life: http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/rights/explore_3142.html

Check out this link to a new article published today: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/07/haiti.food.protests.ap/index.html

The increased cost of food & the violence that is resulting from the desperation is a reality. Pray the UN & Haitian government can deal with this before history needs to repeat itself in Haiti. Also pray for safety for us as we may be traveling through these demonstrations over the next few days.

And finally, what's the saying... "always a bridesmaid, never a bride"? Last week I was the maid-of-honor in a Haitian wedding. It was so much fun! Here's a couple shots:

The fun update!!

This update is a few weeks late but John's team did some cool stuff while there were here & I wanted to share some pictures with you. My parents were here the same time as John's team but I'm going to keep their update for "tomorrow"... I'm saying tomorrow in the Haitian sense, which means someday in the near future :)

John's team was really busy while they were here so I'll just cover a few of the things they did...

THE CAR RACES!!!

They brought wooden cars for the kids to sand & paint and they made a race track for an official competition. This would excite any kid but you'll see from the pictures that this was an exceptional day for them.

Getting the cars ready:









Race day:



Another thing the team did, & was by far my favorite thing, was feeding hospital patients at the local hospital. It was the favorite for me because of the way the older girls in the Children's Home took ownership of it &, aside from giving the money to purchase the food, executed it by themselves!! The team wanted to make a connection with the hospital in anticipation for working with them on future projects/teams but due to their busy itinerary they didn't have much time to buy or cook the food. I asked the older girls if they'd like to take charge & they jumped all over it!! They bought the food in the market, cooked it, packed it in individual plates, loaded it in the truck & helped the team delivery it to the patients. It was a unique opportunity for the girls & they've already asked if it's something we can do on a regular basis.

The girls making the food:











Delivering the food to the hospital:

The hamster-wheel

I usually type my blog entries in Word & post them on the internet when we have power. When I open the Word document the first blog entry I see starts with this sentence;

“Well, I think I’ve finally made it through the “survival stage”.”

Every time I read that sentence I’m struck at the naivenness of it. I have been straddling the line of survival since I got here. There have been several times where I felt like I’ve broken through & moved onto another stage but weeks, days, hours or even minutes later, I am tossed back over the line with my head hanging low.

A group left Sunday morning & since then I’ve spent most of my time napping & catching up on some housecleaning. The down time has got me thinking… is my hamster-wheel really that different than yours? Or the old wheel I was on in Canada? We are all experience different challenges but really, isn’t the overwhelmingness of it, caused by the same thing… what is your motivation for doing what you’re doing?

I have been a “people pleaser” my whole life & I’m no different here. But what is different here is my success with making people happy. I’m realizing that there will always be people here who feel threatened by me or misinterpret my purpose for being here. I have been struggling with this the last few weeks but I’ll relapse into being naïve & say that I think I’m climbing out of it. If you would have asked me last month why I was here, I would have told you I was here because I love the kids & I want to help them develop into successful people. That’s not a lie but it’s not really the truth either. I would have told you that because I was sugar-coating the truth because I know many of you (friends, family, etc) would think I’ve gone over the edge if I told you the truth. The truth is that the only reason I am here is because God has led me here. He is my motivation for doing what I’m doing & He is the only one I need to worry about pleasing. He has asked me to come here knowing my faults, and despite my weaknesses He can use me. My ability to “survive” & every now and again cross the line into “thriving” is His doing & all the glory is His.

I’m sure many of you are reading this & thinking; “Hmm, I knew becoming a “missionary” would change her.” Maybe you’re right. But think about it… What is your motivation for doing what you’re doing? Why are you always stressed? Why can’t you sleep? Why do you feel that your best is never good enough? If you’ve created a need to succeed based on pleasing yourself or those around you, can you really live up to that? Will you ever succeed? Huge questions, I know. But wouldn’t you rather spend some time thinking about them now, instead of waiting until you’ve wasted most of your energy on the wheel?

I have lots of stuff to update but every time I start to write something that sentence (Well, I think I’ve finally made it through the “survival stage”.) stumps me. So now that I’ve gotten that off my chest I’ll update you with the fun stuff over the next few days.