DAY 3 - The Adventure Begins . . . kind of

Trash filled streets in downtown Port-au-prince

The remains of the Haitian cathedral after the earthquake, where according to locals, voodoo is also practiced

The government palace lies in ruins after the earthquake

A close-up of the gov't palace, which was decimated in the earthquake

Tent city located directly in front of the government palace

Interceding for the government, leaders, election & nation of Haiti during our tour of Port-au-prince!

The ministry of Finance building also destroyed in the earthquake

One of NUMEROUS UN tanks we saw throughout the city

Current photo of the destruction still yet to be dealt with

Monday morning, we headed out for a tour of the city which Peterson had promised us. They took us downtown to see the worst of the earthquake damage & we interceded along the way for the present & future of Haiti. Everyone's seen earthquake photos of Haiti, but there were some interesting things to stuck out for the short time we were in the midst of it. 1st of all, the damage wasn't as bad as we'd thought (although w/o a doubt clean-up crews & int'l aid efforts had been working hard & had removed a great part of the rubble over the previous 7 months). What was fascinating though, was the nature of the destruction. Downtown the national Cathedral, the government palace & several of the other government & religious buildings had been damaged irreparably. The curious thing was, most of the other buildings/houses/businesses immediately surrounding these buildings remained intact & apparently untouched by the earthquake. 

The Haitians told us that the Catholicism practiced at the cathedral had been mixed w/ voodoo rituals for years & not only had voodoo been permitted at the cathedral, but that some of the priests even performed voodoo at the cathedral.

They also told us that the Government Palace had been built upon a site where there'd been a voodoo ritual, the drinking of pigs' blood & even sacrificing of young virgins & that the statues around the palace commemorated those events. Pretty heavy stuff. The government historically has been notorious for rampant corruption & mismanagement of government funds - & about a block away the, Ministry of Finance building also lied in ruins. Not to go the Pat Robertson route, b/c many innocent Haitians (hundreds of children & babies even) lost their lives in the earthquake, but just being in the middle of the destruction, at least downtown - there was no denying there did seem to be a message in the destruction of the earthquake which struck the nation's most prominent buildings. A message to future leaders of the country. A crying out against the decades of injustice & corruption . . . ' enough is enough.'

The tour was sobering, & we did pray our hearts out for the nation. The devastation was widespread throughout various sections of the city. The prayer tour gave us a great perspective as to what the people we'd be ministering to had been through. The most shocking thing about it all . . . was that in spite of all the money that had been raised for Haiti, & all the NGO vehicles & UN troops ALL OVER THE PLACE . . . there was VERY LITTLE RECONSTRUCTION going on in Port-au-prince. Some said it was because all confidence had been lost in the current government administration, & that perhaps aid agencies were waiting for the November elections to usher in a new administration with whom they could partner with & trust. That was one theory, but neverthelesss, several facts were undeniable - 

1) over 1 million people were living in permanent camp-out mode, w/o proper sanitation, privacy or hope or plan to recover & move out

2) most people in the city did not have steady work

3) empty lots, from destroyed or demolished buildings were seen all over the city

4) there was no shortage of cement, brick or building supplies

The obvious question is why aren't the aid agencies purchasing building supplies, putting Haitians to work (providing employment to the unemployed) in helping to REBUILD their own country(the uber-obvious need)? This question has yet to answered for us.

Those were the shockers - not so much the destruction, but the NUMBER of TENT CITIES all over the place; & the LACK of RECONSTRUCTION taking place.

Anyway, back to ministry - we had lunch at the base & then went back, (this time with the entire team), to the large tent city - Soupeis, where we had been told we'd be registering the teams for the sports ministry event, taking pictures of them, the whole 9. . .

The entire team's 1st experience inside the largest tent city in Port-au-prince

2 young friends who escorted us through the tent city

Taking a tour through the largest tent city in Haiti, where we ministered all week

Singing & dancing to the World Cup song!

View from above of the tent city that's home to 45,000 in Port-au-Prince

Girls from the team inside the tent city w/ new buddies

Edwin tongue twisted in the middle of Port-au-prince

Striking a pose from above the tent city

Singing a song w/ Haitians in Creole that proclaims 'misery is finished!'

We got there and it took awhile to get anyone from the committee to help us organize. Nothing had been done w/ respect to the teams. We were then told we would now NOT be doing any of the registering, that they'd take care of it, but we did get a tour this time of the tent city.

It was impressive.

Again, the streets were clean, and we were told that they took turns in shifts w/ the maintenance & clean-up of the place. The leader took us up to an elevated spot, where the amphitheater was located at the park, and gave us a bird's eye view of the whole tent city. It was incredible. Tents and tin shacks for as far as the eye could see. A group of kids had escorted us around inside & there was a toughness that was unmistakeable, similar to kids who live in the projects of urban U.S. cities. They were small, but they had learned to hold their own, not back down & appear tough to gain your respect. It was cool, WE taught THEM some Creole songs from our teacher we'd learned that talked about 'God ending misery & hunger in Haiti.' One of the songs had a good beat & they liked it - so we were off to a good start w/ them. We told them we'd be coming back to do some sports w/ them the next day and they were thrilled about that!

From there we went to the other tent city. Got another tour there, sang & taught some songs there too. The atmosphere at the City Soleil tent city was unmistakably different. The girls in our team much preferred it there. The kids, you could tell, were love starved & just wanted your attention. The conditions there were a bit rougher, as I mentioned earlier, a lot more naked kids, but they seemed gentler. The adults as well, were friendlier & you didn't get as many, 'what the heck do are you doing here,' type glances, or nearly as many 'Hey you . . . GIVE ME ONE DOLLAR!' demands from the kids & youth.

Haiti was different.

There were going to be elements that were undoubtedly going to challenge us here.

DAY 2 IN HAITI - Meeting the Committee - Tent Cities X 2

Praying for a young American who'd been sick w/ Malaria for over a week

Rice & beans w/ a touch of coconut, our staple food in Haiti

Public transportation in Port-au-prince

Arriving in the back of a truck at to the largest tent city in Port-au-prince

Some of the 1st boys we met at the enormous 'Soupeis' tent city

Permission granted from the Tent City Commitee

Saturday night we bedded down on the floor, each w/ our own foam mattress. It was mighty hot, but after awhile we managed to find spots where there was some ventilation & fall asleep.

There were no plans for church on Sunday, which was kind of wierd, but we went with it & got some extra rest in the a.m. after the long trip. Patty & I went to Peterson's house to meet Lucy his wife (who's from the States), pay our team fees, & discuss how we were going to do the sports ministry events we had come to do. Peterson explained to us that we'd be doing the sports ministry activities in tent cities, where they had been working & establishing a ministry presence. We then agreed with Peterson it'd be good to go scope out the space we were going to have, confirm we had the right permission from the appropriate authorities and define how the best way to do the event would be.

So off we went to the 1st and biggest tent-city in all of Port-au-prince, 'Soupeis.' It was 'home,' to 45,000 Haitians and was an urban park that had been converted into a make-shift tent village. We hopped in the back of Peterson's truck w/ Anasias, who'd be working with us during the week. Excited, curious & a bit nervous, after a ride through the city we pulled into the large 'compound.' At 1st glance it wasn't hardly as chaotic as I'd imagined. There were paved streets for the truck to drive on, the tent placement seemed pretty organized & UN soldiers greeted us in the entrance. Peterson drove us directly to the basketball courts, where we were to have space to run the event. There were 4 basketball courts together in what seemed like the middle of the park. When we arrived they weren't really being used as it was the heat of the day. Right beside the courts, however, was where the people who lived in the tent city bathed. There was a constant flow of water coming down from a large rubber water tank. Kids were having a blast underneath the water, but adults, men & women were also bathing in the same space, some w/o underwear. The water drained off into tiny drain-off canals that smaller kids were splashing in, again w/ no clothes (definitely not your poster image of hygiene). The truck stopped off to the side, presumably to wait for the committee people, and that's when some of the kids, mostly young boys started coming up to see & talk to us in the back of the truck. Patty & I got to use our Creole for the 1st time & enjoyed talking to the young guys who were very curious about why we'd arrived, but also very respectful. About, 20 minutes later, the truck cranked up again, & we were off to the committee's 'office,' to talk to them. They talked w/ Peterson at length (over an hour), as we all baked inside a small room w/ 8 or 9 grown men who were the authorities of the tent city. We encouraged them & congratulated them at the order & apparent calm we saw in the tent city. They were happy to have us come & wanted the sports ministry event to really be AN EVENT! - insisting that the teams have uniforms, that there be proper registrations w/ photo id's so the teams would be fair, that we bring a PA system, & that for the finals there should be a DJ & music to pump the crowd up. That was certainly Fine w/ us! Peterson had some donated uniforms & the YWAM base had a sound system they were willing to borrow. We made it clear that we did have some teaching at the beginning of each day we wanted to share w/ the kids & a drama w/ a message as well, which they were fine w/ that so . . . woo-hoo we were in business! The plan was to do the registration the following day, & they would take care of rounding up the kids.

From there we went to another, smaller tent city - where YWAM had a stronger presence & had even helped build a little school for the children living there. The smaller tent city was located in the infamous City Soleil slum area of Port-au-prince. Peterson explained to us that there was a lot of gangs, violence & crime in City Soleil, but the tent city itself seemed really calm. We went down a side road to get to it, and there was a river of raw sewage that ran alongside the road that curled your nose hairs, but once inside the tent city itself, you couldn't smell it. The kids at City Soleil were adorable & really warm to us. Many of them were stark naked or had t-shirts but no pants (which was odd), but we met the leaders there as well, & worked out to come there during the mornings to do more informal ministry & maybe minister in the little school. It was evening by the time we left City Soleil & we'd been gone a lot longer, than our 'be right back,' farewell to the team had suggested hours earlier. We got back to the base, & they were fine & anxious to hear about where we'd been. We talked about the plan for the week, had dinner, cleaned up & after hanging out, singing worship songs & practicing our Creole w/ the other team for a while - called it a night.

The Trip, Red CAPS, safe & sound

The team in Panama, just before the flight to Haiti!

Bedlam inside the airport of Port-au-prince

Loading up the bus after finally meeting our contacts

After some major tests of faith, our 2010 team to Haiti was off. We arrived at the airport around 1:30 a.m. to make our 3:30 a.m. departure time.

It was obvious, when we touched down in Panama, that they had a lovely airport, much nicer than I'd imagined. It was clean, one level & very manageable. Our layover was a couple hours & we could see many nice skyscrapers off in the distant downtown area. We enjoyed our last bit of air conditioning for the next 2 weeks, had a time of prayer as a team, and boarded our flight to PORT-AU-PRINCE!

The flight to Haiti was not very long at all, a little under 2 hours. With the pleasant surprise of Panama, fresh in our minds, there was a twinge of hope that maybe Haiti's not in as bad a shape as everybody says. We got off the plane, onto a tram that took us to immigration & pretty soon any remnant of that notion was long gone.

First off it was HOT! I mean Africa hot. We got off the bus & walked into the immigration & baggage claim building, which basically felt like an old warehouse with some furniture & an old-school luggage belt, & were sweating pretty good already. We got through immigration with no hassle, managed to get our bags & then the real excitement began . . .

After getting through immigration there were some random customs people calling some to the side to be examined in what was a tiny space for a large crowd of people. It was straight up French & Creole here, so there was confusion amongst the team about who had to be checked. Most went by unchecked, through the exit that lead to the outside & total madness. We huddled together outside the door & had expected to see some YWAM signs or a smiling face but there were no signs of any kind, just a lot of guys in red caps yelling and pulling on our arms & picking up our luggage trying to get us to follow them. After some firm 'NOs!' a lady who saw we were totally out of our element offered to lend her cell phone for us to make a call to the only number we had, but before we could, what looked to be a lady police officer started demanding in Spanish that we move along - apparently we couldn't stay in the walkway & she FORCED us to basically go into the sea of red cap guys. There was one who seemed adamant about taking us. He was partly deaf & dumb, & was pushing away the other guys who were tugging at our arms & picking up our stuff. No one knew what to do & we were being shewed away (by the police) to who knew where. The deaf & dumb guy pointed to our shirts, (we'd all worn our Haiti shirts for the trip), as if he'd been sent by someone to pick us up. I asked for his name through the cop who spoke Spanish & then who'd sent him and he had no answer. He did have an i.d. wrapped around his neck, but it didn't say anything about YWAM, or that he was a transport service.  There was a lot of yelling and pressure from the cops for us to move on, so we wound up following the deaf & mute guy and as we walked outside in the scorching sun to what seemed like a parking lot, there were countless male Haitians jumping on & shaking the fence that enclosed the airport & yelling things in English, SPanish, Portugese & Creole. At the same time there were other red cap guys who were grabbing at our stuff as we walked, & trying to get us to go w/ them. The deaf & dumb guy did his best to push them away, but 2 of them managed to jerk away from Patty & Edwin their bags. It was crazy, no one knew where we were being taken or where the YWAM folks were, but we seemed to have no other options. The only hope was that maybe they didn't allow non-passengers into the area & that the guy was leading us to another place where the YWAM folks might be waiting for us. We walked about 200 yards and finally saw a glimpse of hope. There were people holding up signs . . . and there it was 'YWAM - PaP' crudely written on a piece of cardboard. There was a Haitian who spoke English, but seemed disgusted about something, & a Brazilian who walked w/ us & the red cap guy to the bus that they had come to pick us up in. I'd never been so happy to see a Brazilian guy in my life!

What a relief! Most of us were seriously terrified. I hadn't thought to ask or plan out w/ the YWAM folks our arrival, & had never been in an airport so chaotic. Nairobi was heaven compared to this.

We loaded up the bus w/ all the luggage, got on board & set off. We were safe. Thank you Lord! This trip was indeed going to be a wild ride. As they cranked up the engines, we discovered that the red cap guys were not taxi drivers, or transportation service of any kind - just guys to help w/ the bags. By the time we'd gotten a tip out, 5 other red cap guys came out of nowhere asking for their cut as well. We gave 6 bucks to the mute guy & pulled away.

The YWAM base was not very far away. It was a nice, we were given a friendly welcome & were glad to be somewhere safe. It was hot, the house was nice, tile floors & everything, but there was no furniture or beds. Everyone was outside to try & catch some of the breeze, but we unloaded & were given orientation by Peterson, the Haitian base leader, and Dani, who was in charge of communication & receiving teams. The evening was chill, we had a nice dinner rice & beans & some chicken & the shock of the airport was wearing off now.

SAFE at last in the bus!

Serving ourselves our 1st meal in Haiti!

Praying over the Director of the YWAM base

Jammin' w/ the Haitians

We were in Haiti . . . & the adventure had begun!

CHolera, help arrives & WE'RE OFF!!!

So this is us, the 2010 Bolivia Team to Haiti! Made up of Patty, Lilian, Yovana, Karen, Cinthia, Analia, Carla; (back row L to R): Larry, Enrique, Edwin, Abdel & Jorge - we finished up as a nice biblical group of 12!

Our final Thursday night meeting was pretty solemn. We were leaving in 2 days. There were reports of a serious Cholera outbreak in Haiti & we still needed over $5,000 US yet to raise. We had managed to pay off our airfare, but didn't have a dime towards our housing, transportation or food costs once we got to Haiti . . . AHHHH! 

We had everyone ring out thier pockets & hadn't come up w/ much and our plane left in a little over 1 day. What to do? There had been several friends from the States who'd commented they're going to give, but we hadn't received their offerings as of yet.

Friday was another day. We made our last to-do list. Patty set off in the a.m. I stayed behind to finish up some last minute street kids' ministry stuff at home. Trying to remain cool & collected was tough, but we finally got our last report of donations from our U.S. church. . .

That same morning, donations of over $4,000 were set to be deposited into our acct.!  I couldn't believe it, but then again why  do we ever doubt? We were sure that God had told us to go, He IS faithful & He was going to provide. Relief. . . the stress level just dropped like 40 decibels. 

The day before, I'd written our contacts in Haiti sort of casually asking if we could pay 4 our stay by online donation to them either after we arrived or after we left Haiti. They quickly replied, um . . . no this is Haiti & everyone's tight on $, responding that they require all teams to have 100% of their fees (for housing, food & transportation) upon arrival. 

Anyway, we had managed to come up w/ what was a boat load for us, and now only needed a little over $1000 to be totally covered; but even that was going to require ANOTHER step of faith as we were set to go to the airport that same night. There was no other way to go about it. I had to go cash a check for more than what was in our acct., believing (a) that the money was going to come in & (b) as I had been told, the check cashing service takes at least a week to withdraw the amount from the acct. It was a safe bet, but obviously not 100%, they could cash the check at anytime. We went for it, got our things together & didn't look back.

At the airport, several folks from the church, including Pastor Dilmar came out to give us a really nice send off. Everyone made it on time, except for Analia who was running late, & come to find out had forgotten her Yellow Fever card! They weren't going to let her go, we were scrambling for what to do. No one answered at her house, where she'd left the card. Finally, one of the airport attendants told us there was a doctor who comes to the airport, injects the vaccine & signs the yellow fever. So, that's what she did, & Analia got her boarding pass in the nick of time & all 12 of us were off!

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP & PRAYERS, & FOR COMING ALONG WITH US ON THIS LATEST MISSIONS VENTURE!  AS ALWAYS, THIS TRIP DOESN'T HAPPEN W/O A LOT OF SUPPORT & PRAYER COVERING!  THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR PART IN THIS & WE WILL HONOR GOD & DO OUR BEST TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM IN HAITI!!!