True humility. The hard way.

It's the morning of our last full day here in Haiti. Frankly, it's going to be easy to leave because of the work and the food. Allan says you know when it's time to leave because they're starting to serve the same food again, which was refried beans and buns. And yet, it's going to be hard because there is so much left to do. Joan is curious about the regulations for electricity and if to answer her, the power has winked off again this morning.

can you spot the spider?

Something is bothering my sinuses and I think I'm coming down with a cold. Today, we returned to the same spot as yesterday, and saw many more tarantulas. We had to walk there, because, again, the trucks would not start. As always, our system of bucket brigade is not without its glitches. Rhonda got hit in the head, as was I, by the empty buckets. 

But there was a moment of lightness and humor, when Ricardo caught one of the piglets. Mummy pig heard her baby squeal and let out a roar and chased Ricardo, snapping back at the end of her line. Ricardo dropped the piglet, who was okay, and mum returned to check her babies out. We're lucky that her line didn't break because should it have, Ricardo would've been chased around the yard by a very angry sow.

Someone has tied up several nanny goats around another mango tree, hoping they will eat the mango leaves, but they all look frightfully skinny. Though we filled up two truckloads of rubble, I did manage to take a lot of good pictures of the beautiful flowers around this yard. On the way home for lunch, we drove around a burned-out dump truck at an intersection. It had been stripped and abandoned, giving the whole area a warlike feel. The streets are dirt and gravel, rubble is piled everywhere and is guarded and hoarded.

Lunch today was rice and beans, fried chicken, spicy onion and pepper sauce, and a hot potato salad with corn and carrots. During the rest after lunch, I had to turn on the air conditioning as I began to pack. We've discovered were going to two home dedications, something I'm looking forward to. 

Of course, Allan brought his goofy teeth and scared one little girl who hugged me. He ended up giving the teeth to the boys to play with, and loads of good pictures were taken.

The first dedication was to

a man in a cowboy hat and Seattle T-shirt. Amanda presented the keys to him and he got to open his home for the first time. We gave him a few small gifts, Joan's donation was a doormat and a bandanna and Jackie some Canadian effects. Rhonda offered a sewing kit and candy, and Sharon, some facecloths. We prayed with the man, who seemed a little overwhelmed by it all.

On the way to the second house, we passed a voodoo priest's house. There was a small cross set in the cement mound with the rope and a stick attached to it, and some people say it indicates that the priest believes he's higher than Jesus. A group of young men standing nearby invited Wes to a ceremony, and I told him I would like to pray for him first. I'm concerned about witnessing such a thing, after all, to use a counterfeit analogy, bank tellers are trained to recognize counterfeit bills by handling and studying the real thing. But Wes is a student of cultures and wants to reach out and connect with his full number of followers.

We arrived at the other house, which sat on the very site of the earthquake-destroyed house. On the front porch an old woman rocked in a rocking chair. We've discovered the family is Catholic, and I told the lady I would pray for her pope, as I was touched when I read that Pope Francis' heart had been broken for the poor. Our gifts there were much the same as the previous house, with the exception of the solar shower instead of the doormat and yet they all didn't seem enough.

The little old lady lifted her hands and praised God, and I could tell by her bleary eyes she was indeed very grateful to have a home. It was truly moving experience. All this week we'd been grumbling and complaining that we weren't building a home for anyone, until it hit me right then, that this was the plan all along. This wasn't about us. We have to stop being selfish, and indeed my heart has been broken for the poor of Haiti. I am truly humbled that these people are so grateful for a small, one room shack with the tin roof. We came into this town with a high aspirations of doing good, but rather we have learned 'good' instead. I don't know how else to describe this. We weren't sent to Haiti to build rubble homes or to save a life or two, but we were sent here to learn true humility, and for me it's a hard and difficult lesson.

I looked at the rest of the day in a different light. We had a decent supper, and I wasn't hungry, and nor would I complain. Joan gave a tour of the women's quarters to the men and I walked upstairs to discover three large fish skewered on rebar, drying in the sun. I can't say yet what I'm going to take away from this journey. I need to absorb it all first. We celebrated communion together, Rhonda played a hymn on her harmonica, and we departed into the night, in a way reminiscent of the Disciples' Last Supper with Christ.

And yet like the disciples, our day wasn't over because as we were playing a game later, the truck with all the supplies finally arrived. We had to stop, change our clothes and unload it, and take showers again. It took us 40 min. to unload 50 bags of 42 kg each of cement, dozens of pieces of wood and rolls and rolls of chicken wire. How ironic that the supplies would come in after all I learned about this trip. My throat is sore, my head is full of cold and the day tomorrow will start early as we travel for 24 hours to return home. Tomorrow, I'll wrap this up with a unique trip to the airport and my thoughts on all the effort happening in Haiti.

A Glimpse in Haiti - Part 5

As usual, the day (day 4) began early. Joan saw a cockroach in our bathroom and a lizard on the wall. I slept well, probably due to utter fatigue. It was dark when we begin breakfast, which was a very spicy spaghetti. I think it had some meat in it, but Tessa didn't complain, as she's not a complainer at all. Like me, Rhonda has been bitten by some insect. And horribly, we ran out of Coffeemate, and had to borrow some skim milk powder for one of our Dallas friends.

This morning, instead of going to the jobsite, we walked down to the river, guided by a young Haitian woman whose name is Teeteet. She showed us where to pickax and apparently our job today is to pile sandy gravel.The garbage here is incredible, worst than in Bolivia.   

It was hard work, and we were little disorganized at first. I tossed a rock from the pile to another pile and I hit Joan's leg. Then someone hit me. We eventually found a rhythm. Then one of those motorcycles turned into a small pickup showed up with some water. In this dry riverbed, we have a good view of both the ocean and the mountains, and at the mouth of the river.

Shortly after, we walked toward the beach. The beat-up truck came and we loaded sand from another pile to be taken to yet another jobsite. It's starting to look like we won't get back today to where we were working before, and I'm a little disappointed at that.

The second time the truck came back, I went with it, and saw some finished rubble homes. A man named Pastor did the driving and we met his grandfather, as well as passed Grand Goave's town hall. As we drove down Rue Constitution, we saw the group coming back. We picked up Sharon and Rhonda, while Jackie and Joan and I walked with Junior, all the while snapping a few pics.

Lunch was rice with bean paste, and the fish brought yesterday in an onion and butter sauce. It was very tasty. I wish we had more food, but we still have tortillas and peanut butter and cold pop. After, everyone scattered for naps while I was off to put my feet up.

After we returned to the riverbed. We loaded up the truck, which I've discovered is a quarter ton Mitsubishi 4 x 4, with a couple of loads of sand. Naturally, children gravitated toward us. Two little girls in just underwear and one little naked boy played nearby. For their dignity's sake, I didn't take a close up picture.

They said that they were hungry and wanted me to look in the knapsacks for food. I felt bad because I had nothing to give them. We're all bothered by the children we see. The very skinny and some their bellies and belly buttons stick way out. They say all the time that they're thirsty. At the end when we were leaving, Junior told me to dump out the water and one boy drank some before I did. 

A short distance away, there was a single tomato plant growing in the middle of the riverbed, and it had some green fruit on it. An odd bit of life in the middle of stones. On the way to the next rubble home, we saw a crazy guy dressed in heavy black clothes, screaming at everyone. We passed Seeds of Hope, a Canadian mission, and they'd even brought in an ambulance from the Peterborough EMS.

Jackie was kind enough to purchase two small cans of evaporated milk for one American dollar. I think that's expensive and I am sure they don't charge that to the locals. We only did two runs of sand this afternoon before returning to the compound. It gets incredibly hot, and our shirts are soaked and even stained with salt, so we all piled into that motorcycle-come-pickup for the drive home.

Tessa and Amanda are having cornrows done, and with Sharon's phone, I texted my kids. Right then Faucher brought me, Sharon, Jackie and Joan into the kitchen. He showed us supper, which is vegetable rice. The veggies are beets, carrots, cabbage, watercress, bok choy, and cans of peas. Bob has a cold, and Faucher suggested taking some watercress and garlic chopping it up fine and adding a bit of vinegar and taking it in the morning. Last night he gave Bob hibiscus flower tea for his cold, and he actually sounds better today. With the dappled sunshine and the gravel and picnic tables and the smell of charcoal cooking.It's like we're camping.

A very skinny cat has come for a visit. I put my feet up on the bench and he crawled over and lay on me until he heard some birds and decided to investigate. The rest of our crew is playing a new card game called Phase 10. They're all talking about the women that we saw bathing in the water where the river met the ocean, and of course the men swear they didn't see anything inappropriate. Of course, they didn't. 

I spoke to one of the Haitians named Alex on the phone. He said he was in Port-au-Prince, getting the mesh wire wouldn't be back until tomorrow. I realized then we would probably not be going back to our house that we're building again.

It's after supper now. Sharon felt that I took too much rice. I was very hungry, and there are never any leftovers. We all need a little extra in the way of peanut butter tortillas and crackers. Thankfully, Sharon brought out some smoked cheese and cookies. All of my Nutribars have disappeared, so I'm not the only one who's hungry. I had put them out by the kitchen, and I think some people needed the extra calories, too. This is certainly a test for me. I'm a big eater used to as much food as I want. Now I must force myself to eat less. Rhonda also needs to snack periodically. Jackie went to the small store across the street, but she said there wasn't anything in the way of cookies there. This island has good fruit and vegetables, but no place to grow grains, so there's little flour and very little bread.

But to complain about our meals makes me feel guilty. Those children don't have very much to eat, but we're told not to feed them. So I feel a tension back and forth within me. I can't help these poor children, and oddly, the young boy we saw today had a bag of raspberry candy. Someone had the money to buy that for him and yet, he looked like he was starving.

There are so many relief organizations here, each specializing in something, but does this aid the expectation of handouts? Our driver today said this a drug problem here, and they all need hope. I brought this up at our devotional.  Junior said that when the children say they're hungry, they're only practicing their English and Jackie said that they're just saying words. Ricardo said in Mexico, children are taught to beg. Sharon hugged me and apologized for what she'd said. It's disconcerting to sort out all my feelings about the poor. I've asked God to make me more compassionate, and now it hurts.

We could smell marijuana tonight. Some people disagreed on it was, as it wasn't strong, but it sure smelled like that to me.

Some of us are frustrated by what appears to be the lack of progress in our house because Alex is having trouble getting the wire in Port-au-Prince. Joan reminded us that on Saturday, she asked who brought our house's rubble and sand to our worksite, so it must've been a previous group delivering it when they couldn't work on their house. Our pastor had reminded us before we left that the work is ongoing and we're just going to be part of the process.

Many of us are tired tonight, although Bob and Tessa went for smoothies with the Dallas group, and I wonder if they're still hungry after supper. The young boy, Chris, said he was missing his family and friends back home. Some of our group are playing Phase 10, but I'm going to bed.

If we ever come back here, I'm going to bring more dessert-like foods, more Coffeemate, and my Samsung tablet, though I don't miss the Internet, but I'd love to connect with my kids.

I did another devotional but it's hard to see because of the energy efficient lights, which wink off often, so it's off to sleep now. It's been a hard day.

A glimpse into Haiti - Part 3

It's morning and I have discovered there are banana palms in the eating area! Love it!

We all slept well, but our mattresses were so thin, I took another one to pad it. Actually, I moved two thin mattresses to my bunk, and then slipped the pillow under the hip part to cushion me even further. Jackie and Sharon called me a princess and I said I would put a pea under my mattress. Tessa had not heard that story. We were cool last night because the air-conditioning. After breakfast we walked down to the job site. 

The area looks very similar to Cochabamba, but much more rubble and dust. It took us about 30 min. to reach a man's hut that was beside the small garden of Swiss chard, okra, corn, melons, and other vegetables. The man's home was tarpaulins and woven leaves under tin roof. 

He had a few chickens in the pen, plus a few chicks loose and a rooster whose leg was tied to a small rope. Immediately we began to break up a square of about 12 X 12 with pickaxes and created a trench around the outside. 

Like in Bolivia, cement and small stones were poured into the trench. I marveled at how well our two groups worked together, especially with the bucket brigade moving small boulders. Cliff Temple's minister of missions, Wes, is a natural leader.

As we were digging out the center area, we unearthed two small tarantulas. I even touched one. With gloves on, of course. But even  a fear of  spiders won't stop me from the desire to build a home. I'm so proud of the way we're working.

We mixed cement and stuffed small rocks and such into our footings. Naturally, the locals were curious and stopped and watched us, with various children slipping into the area. 

One cute little boy with just a shirt on, (and nothing else!) stuck around. His red shirt was ripped and had been resewn. He kept grabbing things, especially Tessa's earrings and her dreadlocks. When we had nearly completed the footings, we left for home for lunch, walking back a different route. Surprisingly, the weather is cooler than I expected and cloudy this morning, but after lunch it really got hot.

Lunch was chicken, rice and beans and vegetables. I've discovered that Tessa is a vegetarian, but we had brought flatbread and peanut butter, and we found some jam and washed it all down with Coke or 7-Up.

After lunch, it was naptime, but before that, we gave away T-shirts with our group logo to the compound staff and sewing kits to the ladies in the kitchen. The man who runs the compound, Jean-Faucher, took the little girl dresses that some of the ladies of the church made, and brought in to our dormitory about half a dozen little girls. So we got to present them to them. And of course pictures were taken.

We walked back to our worksite past some vendors, and I asked Junior, a young man who was in charge of us, to ask how much a dress I saw cost.

We finished the footings early. On the way back, Junior asked the store lady how much the dress cost . She said $20 US. I said no, but Junior said bartering wasn't appropriate. She lowered the price to $15 US and since Rhonda had a 20 US dollar bill, I borrowed it and she got some Haitian gourdes back. The dress was a pretty blue-and-white one with smocking at the top. 

We walked down to the river where the town was installing a mesh embankment. 

We got back to the compound, I took a shower and wash my socks as they were filthy. The other group invited us to the rooftop for devotional, and we have agreed to do two of the nights. Wes says he's interested to learn 'Canadian doctrine'.

We have a mango tree here in the compound and Allan says he'll get some to eat. Our supper was a macaroni casserole with big glasses of water. Which was good thing, since the food is very spicy. We ate crackers and flatbread. After we went upstairs onto the rooftop for a nice devotional. 

When that was done, we all went around the corner to a smoothie shop, where the lady takes evaporated milk, fruit, sugar, and ice and blends it altogether. However, she only has three flavors, papaya, potato and breadfruit. Yes, you read right, a potato smoothie. Tessa had that one. They were all rich and sweet. We had a good long day, a productive one, and I'm bushed and off to bed.

Haiti - glimpse into the real country - Part 1

This coming Monday, I will be blogging daily about my trip to Haiti. I want you all to tune in and read each daily entry. It's fascinating and since we lived like Haitians for a week, it's a wonderful chance to glimpse into the lives of the western world's most desperate poor. 

So, mark you calendars and come back Monday!

Early in 2012, those of us from our church interested in taking a mission trip decided that we would go to the island nation of Haiti to build rubble homes. This past week, it finally happened. We were in Haiti. Over the next week, you can read the events of what happened to us transcribed from my journal.

To bring you up to speed, I'd like to tell you a little bit about rubble homes. In Haiti, when they make cement blocks, they don't always use the correct ratio of sand, water and cement. I don't know the exact ratio to make a decent cinder block here in Canada, but I can tell you that they probably use twice as much sand in the mix in Haiti. As a result, a cinder block may look marvelous, will literally crumble if squeezed by your hand. Since the majority of the homes in Haiti were made from cinder blocks with cement ceilings, and corners of cement and re-bar, (and often another storey was built exactly the same way on top,) these homes would never stand up to an earthquake.

When the earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, the majority of these homes crumbled like sand castles being hit by a wave at the beach. And rubble lay all about. A university in the United States devised a system of building a home that though it is not earthquake-proof, is much more durable and will allow its occupants to escape relatively unhurt. After the system was tested, they began to build these single-room rubble homes in an earthquake stricken Haiti. 

A wire mesh cage, the size of the thick wall, with re-bar running from bottom to top, is set on footings, filled with rubble, which is simply the broken cinder blocks from the previous earthquake. The insides and outsides of the wall are cemented to a smooth stucco finish. An A-frame, and corrugated steel roof are added, extended at one end to create a simple porch. Two doors and windows made of specially designed diamond-holed cinder blocks, are built in to finish the home off.

So, our team traveled to Haiti to meet up with another team from the United States to hopefully build our own rubble home. For the next eight days, I will journal about our trip. For that time, we lived like Haitians in the town of Grand Goave. We weren't the first group of people to build rubble homes, and we won't be the last. But follow us along as we learn how to serve, how to work together with strangers and true humility.