Mission Trip to Haiti

I am back from my mission trip to Haiti! Most of you didn't even know I was gone!

We left last Thursday via Philadelphia Airport. We flew to Newark (NJ) then to Port au Prince, Haiti. When we got off the plane and came into the airport, there was this little band there playing. I later found out that the government there wants to show off their culture to visitors. Not a bad idea.

Our son A went too.

We went in to get our luggage, and an airline employee came up to us (he was wearing a badge) and offered to get our luggage for us for $2. The American dollar is 8.7 times more than the Haitian dollar. After he got our luggage, he put it on a cart and pushed it to the door for us then he disappeared. We went outside the door and there were all these guys in red jackets and shirts. They were kind of pushy and wanted to carry our luggage for $1. We were told not to let them, so we didn't. "No Masi"  They speak Creole in Haiti.
Everybody wants a dollar! The American dollar is 8.7 x the Haitian one dollar. 

Our missionary friend was there to meet us and we all carried our luggage to the truck.

This is the truck we rode in the back of almost 2 hours to the missionarie's compound

 

 

The trucks and other vehicles drive at least 50 miles an hour everywhere. The roads are better then they used to be, they didn't used to be paved, but they are still not great! Very bumpy.

The missionaries had running water (a tank on the roof), and electricity (a generator on the roof that ran during the day, and a few small solar panels too.) 

Most of the community did not have either. Every morning as the sun was coming up you could look out on the neighbor hood and see women cooking over camp stoves- like camping out everyday. They have very small houses, usually twice the size of a normal bathroom for us, and they are made of cinder blocks. There isn't enough wood for wooden constructions. The people are dirt poor and very simplistic. And most are happy. One woman we met had a typical small house with a double mattress on the floor on which she, her teenage son and her teenage daughter slept on. Someone else slept on the floor. They had one table with glass jars on it and not much else in their house.
Even the missionaries got a block of ice everyday for their cooler. They did have a bigger size apt. size refrigerator.They had a stove too.

A clinic in one of the orphanages

 We were at the missionaries house (also made of cinderblocks but had two floors and a little nicer then the community.) with another team that consisted of a doctor, an oral surgeon, a pastor, his wife and the doctor's 16 year old son. In our team there were myself, my husband (a pastor), two other women, a 19 year old girl, my 25 year old son and another 20 something year old guy too. The last of whom was seldom found without his guitar.

 

We helped with 3 clinics int he 5 days we were there. (the last day was entirely a travel day.)

I did crafts with the kids while the Haitian patients waited to see the doctors. 

 

I had the kids paint these little conk shells that we found everywhere on the ground. We cleaned them up, the kids painted them and put googly eyes on them and I put their name on one side and "Jezi loves Haiti" on the other side. Jezi is Creole for Jesus. And for the word love I made a heart. The kids loved them!

I loved the kids. They are a beautiful people.

Egress a boy our church sponsors

The kids love "photos"

A little princess

Haiti is a wonderful place, a beautiful place with many many needy people.
My husband is still thee for another week.

I think my heart is still there too.

I will share more next time.