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.