#haitimission

Friday, March 31. Judy and Margaret write:

Today was a finish-up and begin to pack-up day. Judy's group completed their 6th wall hanging. Some of them will go back to the States for sale and others will be marketed here. Margaret worked with her students in the morning followed  by a small party hosted by Linda and Margaret which was great fun. It has been great getting to know this fine group of students. The felt brooches will be sold in the gift shop and some will be brought back for sale, with all proceeds going to the students. Our students also made scarves and pendant necklaces.

This evening Margaret, Linda and Judy met fellow traveler Tom at the home of Arnold Dorleus and his wife Katherine for a delicious Haitian meal: fresh vegetables, fried goat, spiced and plain rice, Creole chicken, Haitian lasagne, potato vegetable salad, and a mango and sour sap dessert drink. They live in a lovely home in Terre Noir that houses not only  them and their 5-year-old daughter but also 15 relatives.

Afterward  we returned home and Judy attended a prayer service in the church with Chanel her interpreter. She stayed about an hour for the music (beautiful harmonies!) and a prayer time when everyone prayed out loud together, followed by a series of alleluias . . . and then started all over again. It will last until midnight. But then, we can hear prayer and praise services going on all over the place in this little poor town.

Well, this is our last blog post. We leave here tomorrow. We feel blessed by these people. We have been blessed by their hospitality, their warmth, their sincerity, their joy . . . and most of all their very great faith. Probably none of us have words to describe some of the things we have seen here, yet we can all describe the relationships we've made.

Thursday, March 30. Margaret and Judy write:

Cold showers felt good today after a hot, humid and dusty day – quite normal for Haiti.

Margaret and Linda started the morning attending chapel services for the children, which began at 6:30 AM. There were 500 precious children in the church, praising God, mainly through song. We took some videos during the service and are excited to share them when we return. Young and old worship God frequently. There was also a service this evening and it looked to be as packed as Sunday's.

Judy took her 30 minute tap-tap ride to Cite Soleil this morning. It winds through tiny communities with deeply rutted streets no wider than a pickup truck. People get picked up or dropped off along the way. The poverty is close-up, and nothing you ever get used to seeing. Her class did another wall-hanging – almost completely on their own! The tailoring class across the hall had just finished and were modeling their suits. Quite impressive!  And fun to watch!

Then Leon, the semi-retired pastor at Haiti Outreach Ministries, picked us up and took us to the UN complex for lunch. American-style hamburgers, French fries and ice cream were unbelievably delicious! Beans and rice, while tasty, does have its drawbacks. The UN is pulling out of Haiti in the near future, so this luxury will soon be gone. While Haiti is pretty peaceful right now, one wonders what will happen. People can't live in such conditions without feelings about their lot.

Tuesday, March 28. Margaret and Judy write:

Monday was a back-to-work day, Judy at Cite Soleil and Linda and Margaret at Terre Noir. We then prepped for Tuesday in the evening.

Tuesday, we drove to a worksite where initial work is being done for a future church and school. The work crew is digging the trenches for the foundations for the caretakers house, which is back-breaking as they are digging in almost solid rock. The area is home to almost 10,000 people who were displaced by the earthquake in 2010. Arnold D’Orleans has purchased the property and feels led by God to minister to these many people through the church and school. An 18-person team from a church in North Carolina, both youth and adults, along with our friend Tom who traveled to Haiti with us, are working hard under the beating sun.

We took the trip on a tap-tap over very rough roads and were actually in pain as we were jostled around on hard benches. The rules of the road are also a little different here: blaring horns and non-existent traffic laws.

Following lunch, we returned to our students and continued working with them here in Terre Noir.

The large group that was here from Indiana, building new benches for a church and school, left yesterday. Two people arrived today and there is another medical team that also arrived and are staying at another location. So it is pretty quiet.