Really!! We did all that???

When people ask what I did in Haiti, I surprise myself with how long the list is. In Haiti, everything takes time. Delays and miscommunication are an expected part of the daily routine. At times we were frustrated because of our reliance on others for transportation, information, or other things necessary to accomplish a task. But because of good planning on our leaders part and an openness to go where God led us on a day to day basis, we really touched a lot of lives in the short 10 days in country.

Day 1: (Friday) Set up camp - because of the earthquake and aftershocks, many people sleep outside, even if a building wasn't damaged. So many people where injured and killed, it is probably part of the post traumatic shock to fear being inside a building even 6 months later. We used the guest house for all of our daily activities, but slept in tents outside -- right next door to a tent city with over 2000 people.

Day 2: (Saturday) Filled hand sewn bags with gifts for VBS, drove to the Pure Water Facility to show everyone where we would be working, then went to Notre Maison - Gertrude's orphanage. We stayed and played with the kids, and did a mini VBS with singing and bible stories. We gave all the kids a gift bag (she has about 37 about 1/2 physically and/or cognitively impaired) and gave Gertrude several dozen of the hand made cloth diapers.

Day 3: (Sunday) Went to Church at Croix de Boquet - a church that many Michigan teams have help to build over several years - it now includes a school and is a site for Pure Water Filters. Both years I have attended a service at this church and have been amazed to sit through a service in a different language and still hear God speak to me. We spend the afternoon at Holy Angels orphanage - another orphanage for children with special medical needs and physical and cognitive impairments. We played and provided another mini VBS with songs, stories and crafts. This orphanage also received diapers.

Monday through Thursday the team split up between three projects: Pure Water - providing fresh, clean water to over 160 families in Cite Soliel (one of the world's largest slums); Grace Children's Hospital - delivered diapers to the hospital and helped provide health kits to women in the tent cities who attended family planning or hygiene classes, and women who came in for HIV testing or immunizations for their kids; and VBS at Croix de Boquet - two days of fun in the sun for close to 200 kids with about 40 coming up for the alter call to accept Jesus!

Thursday early evening we visited Bill at Morning Star Home for Boys (a story unto itself). His boys spent much of the week with us, helping with VBS and translating at Pure Water. From there, we went to Frere Campus to see the storage depot for Rays of Hope (an organization in Grand Rapids that helps ship donations to Haiti) and visited the trade school that teaches industrial arts and electrical engineering.

Friday we finished tearing down the back wall at Croix de Boquet and put up a temporary fence to protect the school and church.

Saturday was site seeing and a trip to Wings of Hope - which will have to be a story all to itself, also.

Sunday we packed up, said our goodbyes, cried with our new friends, and left for home.