Approaching trip's end

Today was the next-to-last day and everyone was focused on getting everything done possible, ensuring projects were closed up, people trained and relationships set right before our departure Thursday morning.  It was a good day.  The teams have meshed beautifully as one BIG team which has been very special, and each member has shared how they've found their niche and made contributions over the week.

It seems like it was hot today, and Cec was saying eagerly its -9 degrees in Calgary, whopee!   That would be nice when drenched in humidity and sweat here, though I think the tune will change after a week or two back home and remember longingly of this tropical clime.

Last night we shared about where we see God's fingerprints here, and it was wonderful to hear all the varied anecdotes and insights.  God truly is at work and we hope to share some of those things upon our return over the coming weeks.

Midday respite

Lunch-time Monday, only three days left (2 1/2 actually), the end is in sight and clearly not enough time to finish what we were hoping.  It is going very well, but the job is massive.  Taken to prioritizing rooms and projects to get the most important ones done before we go on Thursday.

This morning Monica (Crossroads-Red Deer) escorted the young 8 year old boy she has started sponsoring for school into his very first class.  He was very excited, especially eyeing all the kids playing at the playground before classes.  What a wonderful sight!  Later this afternoon we'll split into three groups and head off to dedicate 6 houses recently completed by Haiti Arise and turn over the keys to the new homeowners.  That will also be special.

Well, spaghetti is ready so I'd best get going or it'll all be gone...
Chris

Sunday day of rest

Today is a day of rest, a welcome break after a busy week and before the next three days before our final push.  Church this morning was a joyous blessing of worship, with "pastor" Cecil bringing a word from the Lord and then an inspired word on walking with the Lord.  The whole church was blessed and four ladies responded to his invitation and came forward to accept the Lord.  Praise the Lord!  As day goes to day the Lord is continuing to touch the hearts of the men (and Cathy...) on the team as each sees the Lord working within and how they are able to contribute to the ongoing and work here.

Yesterday was a a day of market and then the beach.  The market tour was quite the eye-opener with the crowds but also the hustle and bustle of ongoing commerce as each busy providing the means for ongoing life.  Many last night were touched and are coming to better appreciate the intricacies of life here, below the surface poverty seen at first glance.  The other blessing is the continued knitting together of our two teams and the unity of spirit amongst all.

Tonight we're off to a local restaurant for "goat & Coke" which will be a welcome break.  Now off for a rest!

Thursday it poured down rain midday, which cooled things down a bit then soared the humidity.  Progress is coming, but with changes midstream it seems like one step forward and two back.  Tiling and electrical and welding and plumbing and a few other things are keeping it busy and changes are becoming apparent.  We hope to have lights on in the technical school tomorrow.  Guys are holding up well and there's been good camaraderie amongst the teams.  Tonight Howard cooked up two turkeys he found in PAP and we celebrated American Thanksgiving, which was great.  The next four days we've some outings re evangelism, market, beach, restaurant and house dedications so it'll again be a different challenge and eye-opening all at once.  Internet is bad so I'll end here and hopefully this gets saved...

Now Friday evening after a very satisfying and eventful day.  I've been tiling, after two days finally figured out how to keep a straight line.  Yeah!   Two rooms are nearing completion as today we had three different tile crews going so we're making good progress.  We also got lights in the rooms which you never really appreciate until you don't have any.  Late this afternoon we split into two teams and with interpreters walked into the nearby village to meet and share with some local Haitians.  It was a very moving time, with lots of opportunity to pray, play with the kids and get a much better appreciation for normal life here.  At one home a wrinkled grandma rushed up and with joy in her face gave me a great bear hug and won't let go, remembering my name from last winter and our fun times dancing in the Lord together.  She introduced us to her 7 children and some of the 32 grandkids, one looking very similar to our own Bella and proudly discussed their life here, showed off their garden and allowed a lot of play with the young kids.  At another stop we connected with 3 young men "hanging out" and gradually built enough trust to share the love of Jesus with them and challenge them to seriously consider God and a relationship with Him.  There were many other experiences and it all was quite life-changing from many of the participants.  another great thing this week is the interweaving and meshing of our group with the Red Deer Crossroads group.  It is going very well, with all open to sharing and being used as best they can be while here.  It is a pleasure leading and working with this group of men, and of course Cathy.

For those praying please raise up Glen who has a touch of stomach illness as well as Cathy's continued back weakness, though she did have a  good day today.  Tomorrow and Sunday are rest days, with a market trip in the morning followed by the beach in the afternoon.  Danny I think is going to join the worship team in the afternoon then on Sunday, and Cec is preaching and bringing a word the Lord has given him on Sunday morning.  Many have shared devotions and been challenged in many ways and it is fun to see everyone stretched, even the oldest of us old dogs, Ian.  Sunday we're off for "goat & Coke" in the evening at a local restaurant then Monday night are several HAM house dedications to participate in which will also be a great blessing to be able to participate in.

That's it for now.  We pray you are all well too.  God Bless...

Chris & Cathy & Team

Massive progress

Today was a great day with significant progress on many fronts.  Railing pieces have been cut and initial welds made... though Cec says he's had to learn welding all over again (thin materials...), Danny and Ian along with several other electricians have gotten most of the wires run and the main hook-up nearly done, so we're going to celebrate lights by Friday latest, Cathy is finding her way with the new staff and helping out where she can, thought the back is still hurting and restricting her activities walking... Glen's gotten the painting stuff realigned and is getting tiles set starting this afternoon, James is helping all over and relishing the returnee role, sharing vision with all the newbees... and I'm taking up tiling with a vengeance(thanks Paula & Dave...) as well as being a resource for both teams... The Lord is working too, impacting each in different ways and allowing each to open their hearts to the circumstances and other team members.

Haiti itself is still on the road to recovery.  Obvious signs are everywhere.  Besides that tons of standing water and washouts from the recent hurricane Sandy are everywhere.   PAP shows continued signs of advance with fewer tents less garbage, though that's still relative.  In spite of all that its still Haiti and lots remains to do.  Tonight, here's Cec...

The heat is not hard to deal with, and neither is the humidity, my clothes become damp from sweating and I am comfortable. Hello to you my wonderful Sue, I send you my love and prayers. I am working with John Philip ( pronounced 'feeleep') the local welder here, and another great brother named Travis who came with the Red Deer team. Together we are a very good team and are making good progress. The ride from the Airport, through Port au Prince to Grande Goave began in me, and others, a breaking  to make more room for the heart of God for all people every where and particularly for those who have nothing and live in the midst of garbage, open sewage, pigs and other animals,  extreme poverty. I could continue with descriptions, but no words can tell an adequate story. I am forever changed. Thank you all for your prayers. Cec.    

Followers and other interested parties.  If you feel inspired please send comments back so we know you're getting the blog.  The guys appreciate it!

Day One done

Day one is in the books and it was a great day.  Just after breakfast everyone pitched in to unpack the multiple, massive and heavy checked suitcases (which ALL arrived intact, thanks for the prayers...) and then headed off to their various worksites.  All in all it was productive, which new relationships forming and challenges met with good attitudes and efforts.  As a note, the internet here went bankrupt and we're now set-up via an internet stick, which only works on computers so my plan to use and iPad and wifi is shot... the consequence is no pictures this time.. but we'll show some upon our return.. Instead you'll get some input from the team, tonight from James...

Good day fellow trip followers:
The change here in the last nine months is massive. The trades training building is coming along at an amazing pace.  Danny has put himself in charge and running the job like a project back home (:  We are trying to keep up with his orders but the Haitians have the language barrier and us labourers have the heat and humidity to deal with.  We try to keep up with his pace but the man wants progress....( HA HA) Everyone is doing an amazing job considering all the challenges each job brings.  The whole team is in great spirits and looking forward to another day filled with both challenges and triumphs.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and support to make this happen.

Well we've arrived in Grand Goave with no incidents and all our luggage!  PTL!!  Things are definitely progressing here, as more rebuilding is done and its a bit cleaner, but its all relative... a long ways to go.  The team is well and adjusting to the trip and being away.  I think Danny wants to share so he'll follow.  Tomorrow starts the work projects, it'll be busy.

    Well! It is sure an eye opener seeing first hand what we saw on tv. The trip was good with no trouble on the flights. My big case got damaged and I'm not sure how bad the zipper got broke. I'll find out tomorrow when we empty the cases and get to work. There is plenty of electrical work to do so we are going to be busy. Colleen would freak out at the way they drive here. I'm glad I was in the back of the van.Any way all is well and I'm missing everyone already. God bless and I'll get on this again later. Ian

 There's an awful lot to take in - a lot of thoughts going through my brain and a lot of things I could write here.  It's tough travelling past such deep poverty and terrible filth and see kids the same age as mine living in it - how sobering, saddening, upsetting - I'm very glad I'm not here with my family, but at the same time, I'm really missing my family at the moment.  I saw a kid at the airport in Miami that looked a lot like my son, which was a very different sensation than looking at a little girl about the same size as my daughter sitting in a pile of dirt, garbage and rocks - wearing a little shirt but no pants.  I believe the day will come that I can make a trip like this with my kids but I'm immensely glad that my kids are shielded from the trip I just took - and yet...  Sunday morning as I was finishing packing, Sammy (who is 4) was getting upset that I was going.  He didn't want me to go.  It's hard to explain exactly what's going on to a 4 year old so Erin and I told him that daddy was going to Haiti to help people that didn't have a lot of things - where there are kids that don't have any toys.  Well that hit Sammy - he wanted to know how many kids there were that didn't have any toys and he could give them his toys.  We couldn't tell him that there were thousands upon thousands upon tens of thousands - Erin suggested that maybe there were a couple of kids, Sammy said he thought there were probably 3 and ran downstairs and came back with 3 of his little hot-wheels cars for me to bring to the kids here with no toys...so what an incredibly blessed man I feel like - I get to raise my kids in a place with so much blessing, and yet in the midst of our incredibly selfish culture, my little son can understand and have compassion for a kid, just like him, who doesn't have any toys.  Blessings!  Danny

Early morning

Up early, we're finishing breakfast at the Comfort Inn with waffles, eggs and our last sausages for a while before heading off to the airport in a half hour.  The day is bright and sunny, and warm, for a change that I'm sure we'll all enjoy for the next week and a half.  That became clear with all the shorts being worn... All are well, bright-eyed and smiling, not knowing what they are about to face once landing in Haiti.  But that's ok, that first flush of reality is one of the best parts of the trip as it extracts a whole new perspective in participants and an appreciation for things always taken for granted before.  Got to run, hopefully Internet and electricity will be working tonight.

Returning to Haiti...
Tomorrow we're heading back to Haiti, this time with a team from our church.  The team consists of myself and six others (including Cathy), mostly tradespeople as our focus is working on the interior finishing of the HAM trade school, to finish it off so it can open for new classes in January of 2013.  We are looking forward to the trip and renewing friendships there.  We'll keep in touch, along with sharing from the other members with us.  The team consists of two electricians: Ian & Danny Wilson, a welder: Cecil Rau, an electrical lineman, returning for his second trip: James MacKey and a painter/businessman: Glen Leibham along with Cathy & I.
Chris

Back in Canada

Well Cathy & I have been back in Canada for a while.  Its been good to get home but we've left our hearts in Haiti.  Our time there was a mostly uplifting and excellent experience, though it did have its challenges... and we greatly appreciated working with Marc & Lisa and the rest of the wonderful and dedicated Haitian staff there.

We're both fully recovered from illnesses, although Cathy is still dealing with an unknown injury to her hand and wrist.  We'll be following that up soon.  After everything was said and done our sicknesses are still a mystery, "infections" to be sure but nothing clear-cut beyond that.  New strategies and procedures to counter potential sickness sources have been undertaken in Haiti and previous ones reinforced, all good, and we hear things have improved there.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll each put in a final summary of our time in Haiti with Haiti Arise.  Its been good, and we've enjoyed sharing something of our time there with each of you.  We hope you've enjoyed it too.

Recovery from Afar

Well its been a couple of weeks since my early departure to get home and get treatment for a persistent sickness, and glad to say it has been successfull as in especially the past several days I'm feeling fully recovered and have been without symptoms for the past week, with the exception of altered eyesight and that is slowly returning to normal too. Thankfully, a combination of full and complete diagnosis, testing, proper treatment and consistent medical care has proven successful and I'm thankful to the Lord for guiding me home at the time He did.

Unfortunately, back in Haiti the sickness continues, with Cathy pretty much knocked out of action all week with the same nausea, fever, exhaustion, headaches, chills and rashes plaguing her and several others there for many weeks. Thankfully the Lord has allowed her moments of strength with short periods of feeling better before falling ill again and into bed. Although she is determined to gut out her complete stay, she's in her final week there and starting to look forward to her return home. The sickness is a bit of a mystery, as the whole of the Sask Medical team also got sick with similar symptoms, some before departure, others on return home, and thoughts of Dengue Fever or another, unnamed illness are circulating, and stricter care with hand-washing and mosquito bite prevention the mandate for the day as new teams arrived Saturday to start their stint in Grand Goave.

On the construction front, news has been limited, but it seems concrete has been poured at the Technical School and Children's Village meaning second-floor slab and ground floor slab, respectively may now be complete and work proceeding from there. Hopefully Cathy will be able to get out and get a fuller report of the latest activity and the current buzz of activity from the new teams as they seek to fulfill their goals for their short time there...

The Calm after the Storm

The day before a team leaves it is usually busy in the morning so the afternoon can be at the beach, however, that was not the case yesterday as the Saskatchewan Medical team saw call back patients as well as some new ones at the clinic.  They must have seen around 650 patients in the 6 1/2 days the clinic ran.  The afternoon was spent closing the clinic down.  All items in the pharmacy were counted, inventoried and packed away in containers until locking cupboards are installed.  All the examination rooms and consulting rooms were packed up, patient records were organized in Rubbermaid bins, and everything was swept and washed.  What a beehive of activity.  Everyone worked right up until supper and then the personal packing and room cleaning began.

Scurrying around organizing, packing and cleaning at the clinic

Cindy Knelson, Mignon and Antoinette LeRoux cleaning and organizing...supervised by Ronald?

The Moose Jaw team finished up at the Children's Village (I'm sorry, but I never made it over there to get photos).  I know they worked hard, because they came back sweaty and dirty.   Dave and Mike were putting finishing touches on the fence around the clinic and the railing on the stairs at the street entrance with their Haitian partners.  It's amazing what these two teams accomplished in ten days....very long days.  Thank you for everything you did!!

David Schock and Jean Philippe at work under the mango tree

Mike Forge finishing up a section on the fence around the clinic

Mike and his partner admiring their railing on the steps at the clinic entrance on the street

The finished railing waiting for completion of the painting.

It was a late night, with Steve Harrison hanging out with his Haitian buddies outside, the medical group having a final lengthy debrief on the roof, and the rest of the rest of the Moose Jaw team playing their final round of Up and Down the River with Roy.

Morning came very early as showers began at 4:00 am and baggage loading began before 5:00 am.   Both Chris and Gordon Stock were still under the weather.  Chris was running only a low fever and felt a little better than yesterday.   We prayed for the ones departing and saw them off.  By 5:30 am all was quiet and Roy, Olive, Wayne and I headed back to bed for another hour or so of sleep.

Roy prays for the departing group.

Chris all ready to board and begin his journey home

Marc, Lisa and Jasmine headed back to Calgary with the departing teams so Jasmine can get some medical attention.  They'll return on Mar. 24.  Roy and Olive are looking after Asher, Meisha and Aryana here at the guest house.   After the kids got off to school, Olive, who is still feeling low in energy found a sunny spot under a mango tree in the yard for a relaxing breakfast.

I caught up on some emails, and got called out in the afternoon to take photos of two ladies each receiving a goat.  They have to agree to give away the first offspring of their goats to someone else in need and then they can keep all the rest for themselves.

We were supposed to have our Creole lesson at 5:00 pm, but our instructor was sick, so I'll have to do some work on it myself.  I still get frustrated because I don't have a large enough vocabulary to communicate as effectively as I'd like, and if I don't use certain words regularly I forget them.  The staff is good about helping me fill in the blanks (-:  Then we all have a good laugh.

Chris Heads Home

For the past several weeks Chris has been suffering with a cold that has settled in his  chest and left him dragging around.  He took an antibiotic for a week, stopping last Friday, and on Saturday developed a high fever, which is still plaguing him.  The doctor of the medical team saw him a few days ago and put him on another antibiotic to treat what she suspects is pneumonia.  Chris decided yesterday to go home with the teams that are departing tomorrow.  He's only just over two weeks away from finishing up here and felt that with the way he's feeling he's not able to contribute much and would be better off getting home and seeing the doctor there to get whatever tests are needed to get to the bottom of this.

He walked me through the process of doing the blog this morning so this is my practise run.  Chris has done such an outstanding job recording and communicating our wonderful adventure here in Haiti that I want to continue to do the blog.   Even though we will now be separated until April 3, the work that  God has begun in us continues, and there is yet work to complete here in the time I have left.  We have felt so lifted up by the prayers of friends and family and are so grateful for your support.

Now back to work.....lots yet to do before Chris leaves.

Though sick, none tarry

Over the past many weeks sickness has rotated through the staff here and yesterday Cathy was hit full-force.  A massive, splitting headache (worse than she ever had), fever, chills and nausea had the doctor thinking malaria so after a day of bed rest I trundled her down to the local hospital for some blood work, which proved negative for malaria so its being treated as a viral infection.  A good thing in the process though is we discovered we weren't taking full dosages of our anti-malarial which will start immediately and we'll keep an eye on Cathy who's feeling a bit better today, she's not out of the woods yet.

awaiting clinic entry and blood sampling, semi-orderly

blood analyses

Grand Goave IKEA, Wayne making new stools, and taking orders for more

The trip to the hospital was an experience, not totally different than a small hospital back home, minus the long lines, foreign language and concerns about germs... not that we don't have them in Canada.  We managed to get our lab request shoved in to the attending staffer, and after a half hour or so she got in for the test.  I took an interpreter back for the results, but by that time the hospital was closed to new patients so the crowds had gone.

multiple waiting areas, and more shade needed, a future tweak...

I think there's furniture in that container...

At the entry gate, initial registrations

professional consultation with team leader, keeping it working...

Now who wouldn't want an office like this?

Aside from attending to Cathy and concern over her health, work here is proceeding rapidly on many fronts, especially at the clinic and the Children's Village.  The clinic is fairly humming along, the team having worked out many kinks and work-arounds where necessary and complaining this morning they didn't have enough patients!  That wasn't the problem, the Haitians propensity for being late for everything (except flights and appointments to the US Ambassador) was so they eventually came.  The initial influx on the first day included many not too sick coming looking for handouts, like the popular sunglasses and toothbrushes, whereas now the truly sick are making it in.  The staff are working well and seem to really be enjoying the new clinic, like the consultation room under the banana trees, though tweaks are in order and will be addressed after departure.

inverter and battery back-up power system

"Friends helping friends health centre" now open to the public 

fence sections getting prepared for final placement

welding shop under the mango tree...

We're still finishing odd items, like fence sections, the inverter battery back-up system and signs and that will continue too into next week and perhaps beyond.

prepping for planting

multi-use land

approaching the South Property from the north

At the Children's Village, great progress is happening as crews of block-layers, cement mixers, haulers and others are together building the foundation walls and starting the significant back-filling now underway.  Calculations are for between 150-250 yds of material needed (a lot) so Marc has located a gravel-filled stream-bed nearby partially owned by church members and is digging it up and moving it into place.  Since the rivers belong "to the people" (government) he's getting a great deal too.  The Moose Jaw team has joined right in and is working well with the Haitians, learning new skills, like brick-laying, as well as learning mechanization is a great thing!  They hope to have it completely back-filled before departure, a major task, that only 2 days ago seemed impossible but now may be within reach.

the only shade in sight, welcome relief from the scorching heat

block-making factory

crew excavating a river channel, no environmental permits here

no photo unless working, great attitude!

2 yards at a time, all by hand... PS: the bobcat is broken, the wheels are in the container

6" blocks ready for the walls

foundation walls nearly complete

we got this part to full height, about 1/20th of the whole, but its coming

final levelling corrections, too rushed earlier leads to more work later

block-layer boss stringing up centre wall

compactor finally working, missing spring stuck to a shirt...

concrete mixing station

Scenes from the City

One of the things you learn living here, is its different in many ways from home.  I've discussed some of these differences while sharing about mangos versus apples, and warm versus cold cultures.   I've found, living here, in a "warm" culture, the norm is to be warm, and perhaps the unstated belief is that warm is somehow better, but really, in some things warm alone just doesn't cut it.

After our regular Haitian driver made a trip to PAP on Monday but failed to return with both pieces of lost luggage, a second trip was essential, the following day to get the still-missing piece.  Now I can't say that the attempt wasn't made previously, nor that the explanation that "we're trying" wasn't said with a smile and sincerity, but when you're missing your luggage, as when you're missing lots of things, trying is nice but getting results is what really counts.  In this case a mixture of airlines, gangway checking and incomplete documents and a multitude of (wrong) numbers made it difficult, but with a little persistence and Skyping back to American Airlines in the middle of the night the pertinent details were finally discovered and the next day the bag was retrieved relatively easily from where it had been sitting for four days waiting to be claimed.  And hey, I even had a smile when I rolled it out the back room to freedom!

jockeying for position as the road narrowed or avoiding holes

a long dusty day in the sun...

still signs of abandoned structures collapsed from the earthquake

essential building materials, rebar & rouble' (rubble)

taxi stop at ever-present lotto houses

hillside towers bring cells to life

across-road rivers and puddles at important exchange west of PAP

cavalcade of parked buses, recycled to Haiti after a lifetime in Canada & the US

In addition to the luggage we did some shopping for essential items only available in PAP so I had the opportunity to snap a few pics of street scenes and general life in Haiti, which I'm including without much discussion.  Perhaps it'll give you a flavour of things here and a better appreciation for beautiful Haiti.

road repair crew tearing up old concrete

roadside mechanic shops everywhere, "what do you need done?"

corner food stall, but watch out for that hole!

everything to market, even a wheelbarrow to cart it away...

cleaning the gutters, ugly now but essential, it's getting done!

local Sleep Country bed sales, mattresses not included

everything by hand, its the Haitian way

fruits and eggs, Thanks to God

mattresses over here!

1.0 manpower pull cart

beautiful buses

the destroyed Palace is slowly coming down

Centennial (?) Plaza monument

a few gems still standing

women carrying water

garbage collection day, a positive sign

brassieres outside the bars

typical roadside markets, atypical bikes

store-side alleyway

garbage-cluttered major channelized drainage ditches

keeping a cool head while selling water by the bag, next to the bakery