Let there be air, and it was good.
Brushed our teeth off the balcony, spitting toothpaste to the jungle below (taking no chances to ingest any Haitian water) and Kellie straight telling the loud, obnoxious rooster, cock-a-doodling below, "Dude, we get it".
Had a decent breakfast of fruit and cereal and cold water. I'm not used to eating breakfast so this was a stretch for me to stop and eat.
After breakfast, the interns took us on a tour of Mission of Hope. It was very humbling. How for granted we take amenities, like a cool house, comfortable bed, soft sheets, plenty of water and ICE.
The orphanage houses over 200 boys and girls, from infants to age 19. They are building a 100,000 sq ftstorage facility in conjunction with Convoy of Hope in hopes of housing enough food for 1-2 million in case of another disaster. Right now they feed over 5,000 people a day (in schools and various villages) and their hope is to educate Haiti farmers on the right foods to grow, so they can maintain their own food supply and feed their own. Mission of Hope is awesome.
One of my most goosebumpy moments during the tour happened when we stopped at the Clinic of Hope. Dr. Jenny is the Haitian doctor there, and most of the nurses are Haitian. Of course, the volunteers that come there are from America, but the clinic is basically ran with Haitian staff. This is so important to get these people self-sufficient, so if and when Mission of Hope is no more, they are well capable of running it on their own. So in November before the earthquake happened, a man in Canada contacted Brad (founder of MOH) and told him God had put it on his heart to donate an ambulance to the mission. Brad told him that was a really nice gesture, but they didn't have any need for an ambulance. The man continued to insist and basically told Brad God had told him to do it, and he just wouldn't take no for an answer. So Brad said "Send it on", wondering all the while where in the world they would store something like an ambulance. Then a few weeks later, a man from the states called and said "Brad, God put it on my heart to bring my family there and work with you". This man was a trained EMT. Brad told him that they really didn't have a need, and that he was horribly overqualified, and they could never pay him what he was worth. The man, like the ambulance man, stated simply to Brad, "I just have to come". So now Mission of Hope is equipped with an ambulance and an overqualified EMT. Two months later, the earthquake happened. God supplied their every need. The Philadelphia Eagles heard about how the staff had to carry people under the hill (the mission is built on a mountain side), and showed up and built a sidewalk for ease of stretcher rolling, and the Green Family from Hobby Lobby have given a grant to build the hospital. God's grace and presence is so evident all over this mission.
They've added another since the earthquake...
After 9 unsuccessful attempts for drilling for water at the mission, after the earthquake, they were able to hit water. And after praying and praying to figure out a way to help the children at the orphanage find a way to get to go to college and maintain their residence on the mission (Port au Prince being too far to commute daily), the college totally destroyed in earthquake, and rebuilt on adjoining land by mission. Hello, God.
It was another goose-bumpy moment. Knowing I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and that God's presence was felt. I gloried in the voices raised in Creole singing the worship songs I love (I Know who I am), then same voices singing in English... I have 3 faces staring over my shoulder as I write this. Fascinated by the writing? Wanting my pen? Laughing at me, definitely. Totally told them "Good Evening" instead of "Good morning". They snickered. Raising their voices singing at the tops of their lungs. I'm moved to tears over and over.
Music is an international language. They sing my favorite songs in Creole. I sing in English. We sing to the same sovereign God, and that brings me peace. He is here.
"Holy is the Lord God Almighty".... We feel so superior to these people because we have more "stuff". Most of them speak 4 languages, English, Creole, French and Spanish. I know nothing.
Incredible breeze in the chapel and it's a good thing cause God knew I'd need it.
"Here I am to Worship" -- how I love hearing those little voices behind me singing out. No cell phones, Kids playing with balls and sticks. Little sneaky boys that know they steal my heart with "What's your name?" now the entire row behind me is grinning at me and saying "LOLLY". I'm a sucker. I'll end up giving everything I have to them before it's over.
Hard core worship. Singing almost an hour, standing and praising. The boys behind get brave and ask Lacey her name. "I want to be your boyfriend" they tell her. They are a bit short for her, and about 20 years too young.
We walked to the beach and there was a Haitian beach party in full swing. We were outnumbered about 100-1 with the Haitians winning, so we hung out a half a minute and headed back. It's just really hot and dirty. You can't escape it anywhere. Hot and dirty and then a little more hot.
I had a fun talk with a kid from Austin (Big SPURS fan). Found out we were Thunder fans and totally gave us crap and said he'd "Pray" for us. Then found out that Miami was playing us in the finals and said... "OH BABY, THUNDER UP. Beat Lebron". :)
Went to the next village and almost had a small coronary driving the bus into the village. It's pretty much in the mountains, and I imagine that people go through tires and brakes like crazy in this country. Check out how the bus bottomed out on the rapid descent down the hill.
Good thing I have low blood pressure.
Upon arrival in the village, the interns cautioned us that we would be BOMBARDED by kids. They said, "Just ignore them for a minute, and come over by the water and listen to us first." Hallie really listened as you can see.
I was totally expecting to hear, "Mom how many Haiti kids can we adopt?". I had my purse unzipped and Krisana (the little 3 year old girl Hallie was holding) totally spied my dried mango. She pointed and blew me kisses and put her hands together as if to say "Please", and ripped my heart out. I'd be stripped naked and give everything to these kids if we didn't have our rules. I'm pretty glad I have those rules. Even though my heart hurts.
It astounds me how they live. Hallie's "I thought we had a small house" still rings in the air as we drive through the village. They call them blue hot boxes, because I guess they just are. No windows, just crude structures to keep the rain off of them, and that's about it. That's their homes. MOH is attempting to build 500 homes for them and replace all the blue boxes. One of the houses had the number 401 on it, so they are getting there. Each house costs about $6000 to build.
Played with the kids, screaming and yelling all around, and had to get used to seeing children with no pants on. It's a very common sight. One little boy fashioned a mask with some stray cardboard, and used cactus as staples for his ears and a piece of straw to attach it to his head. He was batman.
Our american kids wouldn't have even given that a second look. It was his awesome, great creation. I was totally impressed.
We played with the kids, Duck Duck Goose, and a creole version of Simon Says, and I just sat and got hotter and hotter, and dirtier and dirtier, and more overwhelmed by the second. Hallie was feeling the same way.
We got on the canter for the ride back to the mission and noticed about 6 people not there. After searching a few minutes, found out they were with a woman giving birth and didn't really want to leave. After someone came back and said, "Does anyone know first aid?" I gulped, and said "Me" (just completing it for foster care, and pretty darn sure that childbirth WAS NOT one of the things I learned that day)...a girl stepped up from the bus and said, "Hey, I'm a midwife".... See how God works? Trying not to feel hot and impatient while a life hangs in balance. All I could think of was SHOWER, SHOWER, SHOWER. Group shortly came back and said she was hours away from actual birth, so I was selfishly relieved we could go back.
Totally poured my supper down my shirt at return at the mission, Lacey almost freaked out that she couldn't wash her hands (after being with all those kids in the villages) before she got her supper, and Hallie just so overwhelmed she didn't even know how to verbalize what she was feeling....She just lost it at dinner time.
We intentionally had a group de-brief and prayer each evening just to keep us sane and ticking, so we felt Hallie out that evening. "In 7 days, I go home," she cried, " to a/c and cold water and tv and a house. They all have to stay here and live here..." my big hearted baby, just broken hearted for the people she had met. Austin summed it up... "We've only been here 24 hours"..... it had felt like an eternity at that point. So much to digest and process and so much heat and dirt and broken hearts everywhere.
We were on the point of mental collapse and it had only been 24 hours. How do the people that live here even survive???
Meanwhile, I took a shower, Mission of Hope style. Concrete shower with shower head hanging straight down with valve to the side that you push up for on and down for off. Cool water. The kind you can't put in your mouth cause it's all full of Haiti goodness. You turn on the water and douse down good, and take a deep breath because it feels good and freezy all at once. Then you immediately turn the water off, and soap your hair, your body, and attempt to keep soap out of your eyes while you are reaching up to find the turn on valve and pour the cold water down on your body. It took me under 5 minutes to accomplish that shower. Every single time. The waste of america in the shower overwhelms me. We take water from a faucet so for granted. Warm water from a faucet. The Haitians bath in an aquaduct that flows through their villages and they wash their clothes and bodies in that. They don't have deodorant (whoa), and the smell and the dirt and the flies and the heat are overwhelming. Even that cold shower given to us at the mission are far more than most of those people ever get.
24 hours. It had only been 24 hours.
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