Grand Goave

There is a large river bed on the east side of Grand Goave and many people lived beside it until Hurricane Sandy ripped through the country. Many people lived here and it was lush with many trees. Now there are just a handful of houses left - badly damaged by Sandy. Approximately 6 people from Grand Goave lost their lives during the hurricane.

Cool Dudes!

It is unusual to see Haitians wearing eye glasses.  To them it is a novel fashion item! Sometimes children will approach us and ask us for our glasses.  Someone donated hundreds of pairs of frames with either no lenses in them or the clear plastic lenses.

Last week, during the youth conference, when we had 500 young people here, one of the ladies decided to give some of them away for fun. She was thinking a box or two, but word spread quickly and pretty soon she had most all of them all around her wanting a pair. This is a week later and they are still wearing them!

 

The white frames were especially popular.........

 

                                                                                        

    

Men's Retreat

The men who are here from BC, planned for a half day get together for the Haitian men - from the church and for the workers - some of whom do not attend church. It took place yesterday at the ocean front property owned by Haiti Arise.
They played some games, a couple of Haitian men and a couple of Canadian men shared testimonies, some went swimming and then they had supper together. Approximately 100 men attended. It was a great afternoon.
Here are a couple of shots of their 'tug of war'. This was completely new to the Haitians - but thoroughly enjoyed!

Being a Sponsor

One of the many ministries of Haiti Arise is the sponsorship program.  Children can be sponsored from preschool age to post secondary.  When someone sponsors a child that attends our school on this campus, they can usually meet them while they are here which makes it very special for both the sponsor and child.


A team member spending time with his new sponsor child

 

Raising the flag at the start of the school day

BC teams with conference speakers from Alberta and Ontario

It is always fun to welcome new folks.  Many of the people from BC have been to Haiti Arise several times, so being back is somewhat of a reunion for them.  Their arrival was especially sweet for Roy as his wife and daughter are a part of the team.

Another Week........

Another week has flown by.  We have had a very energetic team here who were always game for something - be it a work project or a fun activity.  They left last Thursday in the van and most of their luggage in a taptap.  They hit road construction and morning traffic in Port au Prince and in the midst of this the taptap had two flat tires.  The two vehicles also got separated in the traffic.  MarcEddy flagged down another taptap to transfer the luggage and carried on.  The van made it to the airport in time for the flight, but the taptap did not.  The team decided to leave without it so when the taptap arrived at the airport, the luggage got put in the van and came back here. 
The team flew from Miami to Denver where their flight was canceled due to bad weather and they had to spend the night there.  Instead of arriving home late Thursday night, it was late Friday night.
We are working on a plan to get the luggage back to Canada with others who will be coming and going from here in the next 1 - 4 weeks.

This weekend marked the beginning of Mardi Gras.  It is a time of rukus partying that carries on for the week.  Today and tomorrow are national holidays.  A couple of days ago, we heard the sounds of voodoo drums mixed with sounds of Mardi Gras.  It was very sobering to hear the two mixed together. 

On Saturday, we went to Port au Prince to buy some supplies for building projects and some food items from a wholesale place.  We left a 6:00 and returned around 2:00. It was a successful day.  The trip was uneventful.  Driving through the slums in the city is always a reality check of where we are and why we are here.  They live in such a desparate situation.  Grand Goave is a poor city, too, but there isn't the deep deep despair and poverty like in the city slums.

We have a team arriving today from BC.  There will also be folks from Alberta and Ontario arriving to speak at the Youth/Worship Conference which will take place from tomorrow until Friday.  Three to four hundred people are expected to attend.  Haiti Arise will be humming with activity!

MarcEddy

MarcEddy is head of Communications and Transportation for Haiti Arise.  He is the one we arrange translators with for our various activities, and he is in charge of arranging the transportation to and from the airport for teams.  He does an awesome job.  He is also the worship pastor for the church.  As you can see, he is a fun loving guy! 

Petite Goave and VBS

We had the opportunity to go the the neighboring city of Petite Goave a couple of days ago.  There are frequent trips there for shopping and banking. It is right on the ocean and is very beautiful.

Anyone want to buy a hand made boat?

MarcEddy, Wade and Sterling in Petite Goave

We had a two day (afternoon) VBS with a total of 200 kids.

Team Pour at the Duplex

 

Wade and team passing 5 gallon pails down the line to pour
 

It is a big event to have a pour day.  The second half of the duplex roof is poured.  It is all done manually with an assembly line passing 5 gallon pails up to the roof.  Once poured, they are shot back down via a rope to repeat all over again. There are approximately 40 Haitian workers and twelve team members doing this.