Two Months

Coming up on two months already….two months in HAITI…WOW to say life has become a routine is strange to say, here in this third world country. I continue to teach my classes, set up the medical clinic and other construction/odd jobs around camp. Evenings are spent playing games with the crew, our game of choice has been FARKLE which is a game played with six dice…. strategy, gambling and most of all luck. We play for the camp RC (or Reigning Champ). I wish I could say I hold the trophy but I can’t…I have had a bit of a cold streak recently. It has been real hot, close to 100 with a heat index 110+, it is raining a little more frequently as well. I did anticipate more rain, but when it rains here it comes down in buckets. One night this week we had a thunderstorm it was so bad the thunder and lightning was happening at the same time. Well, I am still living in a tent (on a flat roof that floods) and I thought I was going to get blown off. I was the only one to stay in my tent that night, everyone else went into the building. I and all my stuff stayed dry however and my tent stayed up, a little lost sleep and excitment but just another night in Haiti.


Unfortunately no teams have signed up for the month of May so the “Long Termers” are working…a little at a time. The work consists of putting up the temporary housing (8 x 12 SHEDS), projects around our base camp (pouring a concrete slab) or putting gutters on the small house we built. Needless to say everything takes a little longer here, and there is always a story of how things worked out. The mission here did buy some property and started to clear the one story that used to be a three story house. After the second day Ricardo the pastor of the church came into contact with some people with some heavy machinery. After some negotiation and donations from the states, the property is cleared as well as half of the church across the street. It did cost more than the original price…but the job is done. This property is going to be Ricardo and his family’s home, a place for the church to meet, a place to teach English and a place to have a medical clinic…a true all purpose property. The base camp we are currently staying at will be set up for long term folks and teams that come in for relief work. It was quite the day, a true neighborhood gathering as we hauled out 70 dump trucks of rubble.

There are a lot great stories around camp. Currently a couple is praying about adopting a one month old orphan baby. The baby’s father died in the earthquake and mother died in labor. An aunt was caring for the baby and two brothers, living in a tent city…under terrible conditions. We have been taking care of the baby the last few days and looking into the formal adoption process, which can be quite extensive. In the mean time this baby (who doesn’t have a name yet) is getting a lot of love around our base. Prayers continue as to what the next steps are, there are thousands of stories just like this, all over Haiti. We do what we can and continue to leave the rest in God’s hands. It is so hard and a true tension for many of us at camp. I am working with a great team of kind, compassionate people, that hurt inside because of the conditions and pain of the people. God helps us. Ricardo just walked in and said (not knowing what I was typing) “with the eyes of God we can see the good in people (and circumstances).” Yes God, give us eyes to see.