Haiti Trip October 2011
Please pray for the team as they are in Haiti, you can follow the team at: http://haitiarise.squarespace.com/team-blog/
Haiti April 2011 BLOG
Click Here to read the 2011 Haiti Teams Blog: http://linkhaititrip.blogspot.com
Suitcases for Haiti 2011
If you have any suitcases that you would like to donate to the Haiti team please drop them off at the Link office!
Fundraising Dinner & Action- Haiti 2011
Thank you in advance for your support. Also, we would like to extend a HUGE thanks to all of the businesses and individuals that have donated auction items.
See you there!!
Haiti 2011
Haiti 2011: Support Letter 2011
1 day later (April 15)
Rob
It is good to be home!! It is so weird to think that 48 hours, 2 Quizzno’s subs, and 5 movies ago, we were in Haiti! I apologize for not blogging more, but to be honest there seemed to be very little opportunity. We should have had two computers; one for people to use…and the other for Randy to sleep on. The transition back to Canadian food was accelerated with a visit to McDonalds on the way back from Calgary. My first day home has been spent adjusting back to life in Canada. I can go outside and not worry about death by mango, or having small children urinate on my shoe. I’m sure my core temperature has dropped 15 degrees, and my water consumption has gone down by 3 gallons per day. My skin is drying out and flaking; chapped lips and nose bleeds will likely follow. The night seems empty without beating Kerry in cards…I can’t sleep as I have become accustomed to Jeff’s therapeutic snoring and Anthony’s middle of the night conversations with himself. I slept in this morning expecting to be woken by the donkey at 6:00. I realized when I got to work that I had not stopped for one traffic light but rather just leaned on the horn as I drove through the intersection. People in Canada, however, are so understanding; and many of the even gestured that I was “number 1”. Then I spent the day walking around aimlessly waiting for Jason to call a “Quick meeting to discuss just two things”. I’m really hoping tomorrow goes better.
I had a great time. It was awesome to be a part of what God is doing, and what great group of guys to have gone with.
Day 8 – Haiti to Montreal
We’ve made it to Montreal and are in our hotel room for the night. The pictures are the goodbyes this morning and the trip from Haiti Arise compound to the Airport in Port au Prince. We were delayed about an hour for an American VIP departure but other than that it was straightforward. Driving in Haiti is a bit of an adventure – it is close…
Anyway, many of the pictures were just taken out of the window or from the box of the truck. Later there will be some video that may give you a bit more of a feel. But for now, here they are…
Day 7 – Worship, Serving, Relaxing
Randy
It was a good day! Little sad about the Tigers though…
Pictures are there for you to see. The video editing and uploading is a little behind – internet was out last night and there always seems to be stuff happening. I was working on some of the video – had a slight moment of intense relaxation… well you can watch the pictures and why I shouldn’t leave my camera laying around. 
There are pictures of the worship service, us passing out the rice we purchased (plus the repackaging of it on Saturday), giving fruit roll-ups and sunglasses to the kids. We brought along 100 French New Testaments from the Gideons and they are all distributed as well. There are also some pics of the garden prep from Saturday and a few pics of the “coffee club” sponsored by Starbucks (they actually gave us some coffee to bring along) which was greatly appreciated by some of us as well as some of the other staff here from Haiti Arise and Samaritan’s Purse. Today and yesterday also involved a little fun at the beach!
At our own meeting tonight we made plans for our last day of work which is tomorrow! Hard to believe its here but there are a few key things to finish up including garden planting, placing a few more rebar columns for the wall, repair of the front gate, cleaning off the cement pad that was the site of the tech school building and a bit more clothing and the Prairie Gleaners soup mix distribution. We leave Tuesday morning from here, drive to Port au Prince and fly out in the afternoon to Montreal. Wednesday morning sees us back in Calgary and late afternoon in Medicine Hat.
One really meaningful part of our meeting was Marc Honorat sharing his personal story and the vision he has for Haiti Arise. Very exciting things God has done and much more for the future… even earthquakes don’t change the vision! His story may be another video that appears… we’ll see.
Enjoy the pictures and hopefully maybe even some video…
Haiti
Steve
The Samaritan’s Purse staff have been a real blessing to me personally. One in particular, Dan from Florida has given a lot of insight, encouragement and been a joy to talk to. He’s a super positive guy and he loves the Lord to the utmost. He’s a heavy equipment operator (trucks, bobcat) and says he’s here just to share the love of the Lord with people. He’s been all around the US and even to Africa before coming to Haiti.
Message from home
“Thank you so much guys for the updates, we look forward to them everyday! Beautiful pictures Randy, we are so humbled. We hope these images can help push us out of our comfort zones and priviledged lifestyle to go on to help those with such great needs, as you all are so willingly doing! You are a blessing to all of us! Take care! We look forward to hearing your stories in person!
We miss you Mames! Steve, Tan, Shan, Lace and Kotes
Day 5 Thoughts
Josh
Hey Everyone. Halfway through our 3rd work day. Lots of projects going on. Haiti is the land of patience. Man do we take for granted the ability to have the right tools for the job. I literally lost 3 hours of the day trying to find the right drill bit. Yeesh. Pray for patience for us.
I had a unique experience when I was pulled aside and asked to come sing some worship music with a Haitian named “Kelly”. A little scary when him and his ten friends all stood around me and stared while I stood there with no idea what to do. Eventually he started playing a few tunes I thought I recognized and started mumbling some of the words. Encouraged, he started singing along and it turns out he knows quite a few of the same worship songs we sing. Mostly older ones, but still. What a cool feeling to worship with people half way around the world and feel at home in it. They sing to a different tempo and a different beat, but who cares! Very fun. Uplifting. Hopefully to those who heard as well. They are trying to convince me to sing at their sunday service. Eeep. The church is in the middle of the campus here and we had the sound system turned on. So now all the haitians keep coming up to me and calling me the singing man and complementing the music. Crazy. Haitians as nearly a rule, love to smile and compliment. “Good work!” “Great job!” You cant help but smile.
Communication is funny. I have a small background in french, which is where haiti’s native language Creole is based from. So alot of them speak it. Somehow the word got around that I speak french. So now I have ton’s of people coming up to me daily and attempting to conversate in FAST french. It’s halarious. I try my best, and I’m learning fast. I’m making lots of friends. I’ll have to get their facebook info before I leave. YUP most of them have facebook and a cell phone. Go figure. Live in a tent or shack and still have facebook. What a strange world.
Well we’re on our way out to go distribute some food and clothing to one of the MANY tent cities. This is sure to be an experience. I’m sure their will be some interesting posts to come.
Cheers.
Jason
Last night we had a tremor (felt like an earthquake to most of us) – woke me at 12:30 and continued to have some movement until just after 1AM. Talking with Marc and a couple other Haitians, they are quite rattled with every quake or tremor. It sounds like it will be at least a year until most Haitian people will plan to go back into their homes.
Today, we had an amazingly productive day as a group – part of the team got concrete poured for the wall at the back of the campus and another group spent a large part of the day getting an irrigation system functional for the garden. We have completed a huge list of tasks – I have even accomplished a few things. My past couple days have been spent inside – sorted clothes for 2-3 hours yesterday and today set-up some shelving in a kitchen storage room and started trying to organize a room with lots & lots of stuff. There is a very Haitian approach to many things – that can be a tad frustrating as it challenges my expectations.
We are blessed to be at Haiti Arise – much favor with the community and so many Haitians through the compound all day. We are also very thankful to be sharing this space with Samaritan’s Purse – they are doing amazing work all over Haiti!! I have met some amazing people – they have a diverse and talented group of people who go all over the US and the world helping areas in need. We also work every day with Dave, Beth and James – a couple and their 18-year old son from Moose Jaw – they have been here almost a month and Dave & James will be here until mid-May. I am humbled to see so many who are giving themselves in service to others – definitely makes me want to come back.
Randy
Much has been happening and this is just a few still pics to show some of it from today. One thing we had been looking forward to was distributing the donated children’s clothes to one of the nearby camps. After we walked over to the camp with our seven large bags of clothes it turned out to be a rather large logistical challenge. So the decision was made for us to leave after only distributing some of the clothes and regroup for another time. The need is great but its hard to make it somewhat fair and orderly. Even though we had what seemed like lots of clothes, it became a rather competitive and aggressive environment so we live and learn and try again another way.
The wall is coming along great. Its one of several projects that we are doing and has some of us doing the foundational work on the back and one side wall while the local workers are laying the cement blocks on the other side.
You will also see we’ve made some great friends. Hopefully the pace will slow a bit and the internet will speed up a bit for me to get out some more video.
Enjoy… and no, I don’t know where that music comes from… maybe plug in your own ipod while you watch…
