Day 3 Emotions

Today was a day of mixed emotions. We had the opportunity to visit Haiti Design Coop. This was a modern facility that employs both local men and women to design and craft beautiful artisan work such as leather purses, wallets, necklaces, earrings, etc. We toured their facility and got to do a little crafting of our own. We each made either a beaded or leather bracelet. We even had a little time for some retail therapy! The integrity of the employees was inspiring, and the team expectations amazed us. They start each day out in prayer. This is a much different concept than many of us experience back in the states.

In the afternoon, our team split up into two groups.  Half went to the Home of the Sick and Dying Babies and the other to an orphanage.

The Home of the Sick and Dying Babies was overwhelming. We walked into two rooms full of tiny cribs with beautiful babies in them. Our hearts were heavy as we tried our best to love on each of them. We didn’t have enough arms to hold them all at once. A lot of questions would come into our heads while holding these little ones from what are they sick with to does anyone else love them and will their family return to bring them home. Their eyes were huge but often expressionless. Their malnourished bodies often were much less developed than one would ever expect. Even though our hearts broke for them we were able to hang on to the hope that they are and always will be children of God. He loves each and every one of them and has a special plan for them. Today we got to experience just a piece of that plan with those beautiful children and our hearts will be forever changed.

The team that went to the orphanage was able to also love on some amazing kids, but in a much different way.  We brought a supply of activities to entertain the kids.  Jump ropes, coloring books/crayons, nail polish, bubbles, and soccer balls/beach balls were some of the kids’ favorites.  One surprise to me was that many of the kids were able to speak and even write in English!  One of the little girls who took to me (Meghan) drew a portrait of me on a dry erase board.  It was so precious watching her look up at me to draw my eyes, then ask me to take my hair out of my pony so that she could see how long it was, carefully transferring what she saw onto the board.  Our time together was short, but memories were made by all.

Niomi H.

Lori G.

Meghan R.

Day 2: Food and Water Day!

Food & Water day!

We started the day at Fleri Farms, where Healing Haiti is helping to create a more sustainable future for agriculture in this country.  It was fascinating to learn about their struggles with the soil, and learning how to grow crops the way their land was created.  We were able to drink from coconuts & eat the flesh of the fruit.

The first and second water truck stops were relatively calm due to the rain the night before.  Still many showed up to fill their buckets.  The final stop, called 4 coffins, was much more active, with Haitians coming from every direction to get their fill of water.  The children were smiling, running to be held and played with, and unphased by their surroundings.

We also got the chance to see Hope church, school and soon-to-open clinic.  We were all impressed with the new pods delivered to the school a few weeks ago – technology, sewing, and solar power – that will help the children expand their knowledge and give them hope for a brighter future that God has in store for them.

We are grateful and humbled to be here together!  God is good!

Rachel F.
Jen E. 
Kelsey F. 

SLP Trip - Arrival and Travel Day

Traveling days are always long and today was not an exception.  Our 6:30am flight leaving Minneapolis ended up taking off at around 7:00am.  We made it to Atlanta and were able to able to make a tight connection to the last flight into Port-au-Prince, landing at our destination around 3:30pm.  Haiti is beautiful.  Our first tap tap ride brought us to the Healing Haiti guest house.  Tonight, we got oriented to the guest house, ate dinner, and settled in.  I think I can speak for all of us that we are grateful for a safe day of travel and looking forward to what God will do this week.

Michele S.

EBC Spring Lake Park Day 6: Water Truck #2 & Cite Soleil Elders

About 3 seconds into this blog and Stuart Little scampered across the guest house. We’re now in full blown mouse catching mode - Anna equipped with a large bowl hopping from couch to couch trying to find him (photo included). To say this is entertaining would be an understatement.

I will keep you updated with our mouse hunt, in the meantime I’ll share some highlights from our 6^th day in Haiti: We started out with breakfast, devotion, & prayer. All a little sad that it was our last full day of serving. We all jumped into the tap-tap and headed into Cite Soleil for our second water truck day. As we were waiting for the water truck to arrive we got a tour of the brand new technology pod outside of Hope School. The pod is a classroom the size of a shipping container equipped with Ipads, high definition tvs, interactive teaching applications such as Osmo, and high speed internet. This gives Hope School the opportunity to teach their kids with technology that they would have no access to otherwise.

After the tour we went right into our water truck duties. For some reason this stop seemed more chaotic than the others with water buckets lined up all the way down the street. We filled buckets and gave lots of love to the kiddos and families until the truck ran out of water.

After delivering water we got the awesome opportunity to visit a few elders in the community through the new Cite Soleil elder program. To be able to visit elders in the center of Cite Soleil and inside their homes was unbelievable – it’s hard to put into words. When we visited the first woman she beamed with happiness – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile that big. She hugged a couple of us girls and wouldn’t let go, it was powerful. As soon as we arrived she said “my family is here.” We got to sing and pray over her and a few others who really needed it. We were only able to give them 10 minutes of our time but they cherished every second and I truly think we were able to lift their spirits.

Update on our mouse hunt: Stuart found his way back outside. Phew.

The day ended at Papillion, a partner organization that makes jewelry, mugs, and other gifts out of clay and recycled material. Papillion shares a similar vision with Healing Haiti: Job creation. They currently employ over 200 Haitians, many that are single parents providing for their families alone.

Just another memorable day in Haiti.

Ellie

EBC Spring Lake Park Day 5: Grace Village, Elders, HDA, Fleri; November 2nd

Hello friends and family! Take a seat and grab a snack because it was a busy day. We woke up bright and early this morning to be on the tap tap at 5:45 for church (believe it or not, all 17 of us made it there on time). While it was still dark out, we arrived at Church on the Rock for a unique church experience. It was amazing to see how people of different cultures worship the same God. Even though most of it was in Creole, it was powerful to witness God working in the people there.

After breakfast, we spent some time at the mass graves, a memorial for those who died and were affected by the earthquake that struck in January of 2010. It has a beautiful location at the top of a mountain in Titanyen. Our translator, Smith, shared his memories with us from that day. It was hard for him to share these difficult memories but he explained how the earthquake united all Haitians, no matter their age or wealth. Taking some time to reflect on this event was a beautiful and moving way to start our afternoon.

After the memorial, we had an amazing time visiting the elders in the area. There were some heart melting moments while we danced and sang with them. It was clear that they love visitors and we were so happy to be able to pray over them. Most of them live in tiny houses on the side of the mountain but continue to have an incredibly inspiring faith.

After elder visits, we had the opportunity to tour Grace Village. The tour was led by long term missionary, Caleb. We got to see the beautiful homes the children live in, classrooms, clinic and more. We spent some time playing and laughing with all the kids in Grace Village.

Our next stop was a tour at the Haitian Deaf Academy. The kids there loved teaching us sign language and showing us our own name signs. Their joy was completely contagious and it was a privilege to visit the organization and hear from the couple who founded it.

We had a great chance to relax and eat some za (pizza!) at Fleri. This bakery is a part of Grace Village. The long term missionary there, Jake, impressed us with how much growth the bakery has had over a short amount of time. The business has taken off by selling bread at wholesale prices to street vendors. By doing this, Fleri is able to support many people within the community. It’s no surprise that “Fleri” means “flourish” in Haitian Creole. We loved chilling out in the restaurant and playing an intense game of Jenga. It was an incredible and busy day. 

Here are our words of the day:

Elaine: Flourish

Anna: Beauty

Mary: Above

Callie: Smile

Chloe: Nudged

Andee: Family

Bill: Overwhelmed

Cindy: Profound

Ellie: Dance

Meredeth: Empathy

Wayne: Humbled

Steve: Dedication

Chris: Faith

EBC Spring Lake Park Day 4: Sweet Home/Metal/Dio's; November 1st

Another great day in Haiti!

This morning, we started out at the Sweet Home orphanage where we had more time to spend with kids.  It was amazing.  The orphanage houses about 30 children and is building more space for another 50 children.  The kids were very energetic and happy to spend time with the team.  Activities ranged from coloring and blowing bubbles, playing tic tac toe and full-on soccer.  There even was a yoga session led by Elaine and Mary. 

After the orphanage, there was time to shop at the metal market.  A few of us let loose and emptied the wallet and purses – we’re talking about Bill, Dave, and Ellie of course.  It was incredible to see the workers as well.  Most are just building the metal art right on the ground – no bench, no chair, all by hand.  These people have a desire to work and it was great to support them today.  Many shop owners were pleased to see our willingness to spend. 

Last stop was Dio’s orphanage for special needs children.  It was very impressive to see the will of these kids despite their disabilities.  There were kids playing soccer in wheelchairs/walkers.  They were not going to let the fact they had deformed legs stop them.  The bubbles were a hit as well.  The children were quick to embrace us.  Their energy and laughter was contagious.  We all showed up wanting to show them love, but we felt like we got a lot more in return. 

We did have a special appearance from a snake.  One of the Haitian women cut the head off, and one of the Haitian men took the body and chased the most squeamish of us out of the courtyard.  They thought it was funny – well most of us thought it was too.  Overall, it was a fantastic day serving together at both orphanages.

During devo time we had the opportunity to share our words of the day:

Resilience (Bill)

Protection (Chloe)

Joy (Mary)

Will (Steve)

Thankful (Cindy)

Smile (Anna)

Growth (Chris)

Innocence (Merideth)

Flawless (Elaine)

Potential (Ellie)

Stillness (Andee)

Diverse (Stan)

Present (Callie)

Energetic (Abbie)

Happiness (Wayne)

Content (Jamie)

Connection (Dave)

EBC Spring Lake Park Day 3: Water Truck Day; Oct 31st

Today was water truck day, and we made three different stops in Cite Soleil.  We started off at District 17 near Hope School, and as we pulled up at least 20 kids ran up to the Tap-Tap chanting “Hey you!” They’ve learned that phrase in English, and they know that we will respond to them when they say it. They we were SO excited to see us and we were excited to see them too!  As we got off the Tap-Tap, they jumped into our arms.  Many kids in Cite Soleil are restavek children (a form of modern-day child slavery that persists in Haiti) and don’t necessarily get the love and affection they so crave. One of the most fulfilling parts of water truck day, aside from providing clean water to those who would otherwise not have access to it, is providing love and fun to kids that desperately need it.

The water truck holds around 500 gallons of water. Mostly children with some women gathered in a line with their buckets.  It’s interesting to look around and observe men simply watching the women and children maneuver the streets with these heavy buckets of water. Some of us held the children, some carried buckets and some worked the water hose. Many of did all three, sometimes at the same time which was a fun challenge. The buckets the Haitians brought were various shapes in sizes.  Some were shaped like gas cans, some were five gallon buckets and some were even shaped like kiddie pools. 

While the water trucks were re-filling between the first and second stop, we toured Hope School and Church.  Hope Church and Hope School were built on 40 feet of trash! Everyday 300 children go to Hope School who normally wouldn’t get an education. Healing Haiti is also building a clinic that will open by the end of this year.  The kids also have access to technology via storage pods that were brought in from Minnesota and stocked with iPads, drones, and even robotics equipment. Some kids are afraid of the technology and some are so blown away by it that they’ve tried breaking iPads open to see how they work! It’s so cool to see what has been done with what was formally a landfill. 

Another stop we made while the water truck refilled between the second and third stop was Fleri Farm in Cite Soliel.  Here they are growing crops such as plantains (can you believe that plantain trees only produce fruit one time and then they have to be cut down and new ones planted?!), papayas, sugar cane and even some pesto and citronella. Their goal is to develop farming strategy for the area so that they can share that with their Haitian neighbors in order to increase their growing potential, thus helping them boost the Haitian economy. Fleri Farm’s long-term goal is to be able to produce dried fruits and products that can be sold in other countries to generate income that will be solely invested back into the Haitian economy. Our tour guide said there is even talk about making a variation of sherbet someday to be sold in Haiti.

Our last water truck stop was near the ocean and there was a large pier that jutted out into the water. After we helped the Haitian children and women carry their water, we all went out to the pier. Lots of kids walked along with us and wanted to be carried by us. People were lining the pier with fishing nets and we saw them catch buckets of fish and also some squid which was really cool. We got to hang out, take a team photo, and reflect on how well we had worked as a team that day. It was incredible how a group of 17 people from so many different backgrounds came together to serve the people in Cite Soleil so well. God truly brought each of us here for a purpose and it was great to watch everyone fulfill it today.