Another Great Worship Experience! (Sunday Aug 28, 2011)

The ride to and from church was pretty similar except we got another flat tire on a different bus – but then finally got to Church.  The worship was as powerful as we had experienced the week before and a huge lunch was waiting for us when we returned from Church.  The rest of the day was spent sharing stories and playing games together.

Kaliko, Bus and a walk to the Police Station (Sat. Aug. 27, 2011)

On Saturday morning over 30 of us piled in a bus and headed off to get some refreshment at the Kaliko Resort, about a two hour drive away.  Some of us were initially a bit reluctant to go to Kaliko because we wanted to focus all of our efforts on serving there at GO Haiti… We hadn’t come to Haiti to sit around the beach.  However, we recognized it would be good for us to relax and reflect on our experiences together. It was so good not only to rest our bodies, but to relax our minds and debrief our experiences together.  

We also got a chance to see more of the countryside and other gorgeous parts of Haiti that the western world has been so attracted to for the last several hundred years.

Later that day we piled back in the bus to make the trek back to the compound, and while I was half asleep sitting with Tariku on my lap, I felt what sounded like chunks of the road hitting the underside of the bus.  I didn’t think much of it at first but then realized that within minutes it was the back tire splitting apart.  Almost as soon as that thought came to me the driver pulled over to the side of the road.  We were still about a half an hour away and it was getting dark.

Since this was the end of the week and we had already experienced a myriad of obstacles like this throughout the week… we all laughed a lot… and started walking down the road toward the rural police station where we waited for another bus. 

Miraculously, the replacement bus came in record time and took us all back to our bunks.  I don’t think the screeching frogs bothered anyone that night.  

Finishing up and capturing memories (Fri Aug 26, 2011)

On Friday we began to finish up our projects and get in a few games of Ultimate Frisbee and soccer. 

Additionally, by Friday these three video segments were finalized and broadcast by our friend Sarah French and broadcast on CT FOX Channel 3.  She and our friend and Videographer, Dustin Schultz did a tremendous job telling the story of the GO Haiti ministry and communicating some of the areas’ greatest needs and how to help. 

Segment 1: Meet Kim Cornell

Segment 2: Meet Dr Franco, The Man behind the Mission

Segment 3: Inside a Haitian Tent City

Brute Wheelbarrow (Thur Aug. 25, 2011)

While the other projects had adequate support, I stumbled on another need.  They only had one wheelbarrow and it seemed to me that a second one would be helpful.  So I started looking around for some scrap wood to build one.  Since most of the wood was cut to build the remaining pieces of the bunk beds, I pieced together enough scraps to build a second wheel barrow.

The finished product however looks like something you might find in the middle ages.  It looks like a device Robin Hood might have used to cart around dead goats or fire wood.  It’s a little harder to push around than I had hoped, but it will definitely last. 

Earlier Thursday morning, several more helpers arrived to assist in the meal we would provide later that evening.  By dinner time, when we started bringing out the tables and pots of food, there were lots of people waiting outside the gate.  By the time we were ready to eat, there must have been 250 men women and children that came through the food line.  That meal together was one of the most memorable times for me – I think we all had a sense of reward and accomplishment that night… it was kind of a culmination of what we had been doing all week together, but in the middle of the meal it struck me that as great as we felt about providing food to those in need… there were many who may have only had that single meal all day… and maybe that single meal was going to last them for the next day or two.  


It was  a privilege to be a part of, but what hit me hardest was that in a matter of days we were going to be able to go home to clean water in our sinks and fresh food in our refrigerators.  It’s not fair.  That experience and  memory is branded on my mind and my heart forever, and I'll continue to consider ways to help and serve in a sustainable way … that doesn’t just enable people… or to propel me or other Americans toward “Superman-Complex”.  There has to be a better way for long term sustainable help… more on that later…

A Hospital with No Doctors or Nurses… and more farming. (Wed Aug. 24, 2011)

Several people including the Nurses and a few others went with Dr Franco to the Port Au Prince Hospital in the morning.  Sarah French and Dustin Schultz also went to capture video and as many pictures as possible. 

When they returned later that day they all were having a very difficult time putting words to what they’d seen- the conditions were unconscionable - but it was therapeutic to talk.  I don’t think they knew exactly how many patients were there, but they talked about maybe 10 or 12 individuals they’d met.  When they first arrived at the hospital, they learned that all the Doctors and Nurses were on strike and all the medical staff had left the hospital two months earlier after not being paid by the Haitian Government for months.

There were several patients who had been there since before the hospital staff went on strike – still lying in the hospital bed hoping for some attention.  At least some patients had family members bringing them food and water, but little help beyond that.  It was a very difficult experience for our entire team – so when they were able to provide some medical attention with some of the supplies they brought they did, but the needs were so great and a few patients required care beyond what they could provide at the time so they just made them as comfortable as possible.  I know that Dr. Franco has been back to that hospital since, but I don’t know if the conditions there have changed much or not. 

While Dr Franco and the others were visiting the hospital that day, the rest of us continued the farming projects and finishing the bunk beds. Amy’s sister, Michelle was a huge help on this trip.  Under her guidance, we were able to begin some fruit and vegetable plots next to the house.  Michelle shared her expertise she learned while farming similar soil types in Honduras. 

That garden had some tough soil, but Michelle’s help really paid off.  From my conversation with Dr Franco on 1/24/12, there are now many maturing fruits and vegetable plants that will help to independently sustain the children and staff at the orphanage! 

While the Clinic and VBS continued, Jerry, David, Jim and I finished 7 Bunk Bed sets and now almost all the kids have their own beds!

Preparations, Clinics, VBS, and Ultimate Frisbee! (Tues Aug 23, 2011)

The two or three days prior, some of the locals began hearing about the free clinics that would be offered … so by the time we finished breakfast, there were already 50-75 people gathered outside the gate – most of whom were mothers, children and the elderly.  The medical team was led by Dr Barnett (Nursing School Professor at Southern CT State Univ.) and Dr Franco supported by Graduate Nurses including Amy, Jon Kim, Ted and others. 

The Clinic and Vacation Bible School were able to begin simultaneously because many of the children who had come with their families to receive medical attention, also wanted to participate in VBS.  Kimberly Dominy and Terri Felgate did a phenomenal job with the VBS.  What a blessing to so many kids and their families! I have no idea how many kids participated, but it grew from 25 or so the first day to maybe close to 50 by the end of the week. 

What a beautiful thing to bring physical and spiritual healing to hundreds of lives that week!  While the VBS and Clinic work continued, the rest of us began to clear the farming plots with hand tools and cut down the weeds in another large area to create a playing field. 

We all worked hard the rest of the week but by the following day we had a full sized soccer field that later included soccer goals made of tree branches and volleyball netting.  We wrapped up the day playing the most competitive game of Ultimate Frisbee ever played in a thunderstorm!

In a Sauna attached to an Elephant with a Limp (Monday Aug 22, 2011)

Those of us that arrived the prior week spent a lot of it setting up the home to provide adequate space for beds and personal items for the team of 22 people that would arrive that day (8/22).  We had been stocking up on drinking water, cases of coke and fanta, and rigging up up mosquito nets.  We also rearranged 25 or 30 barrels of donated items that were stacked in the store room, and put them under a rigged up tent outside. 

             

The first few people arrived earlier in the day, but then an entire wave of people came in.  If you read my earlier post about coming in to the Port Au Prince Airport you’ll have a better mental picture of what kind of surprises we all encountered, but everyone arrived safely.  Once everyone was outside in the parking area, it was another entire expedition just getting the crew and the luggage to the bus parked ¼ mile away. 

The bus trip was like riding in an enclosed sauna loosely attached to the back of a slow moving elephant with a limp.  I can’t believe no one got sick… but really, it’s just another treasured memory of the whole experience.  I’m just glad we didn’t have to try to load 25 or so people with all 50 suitcases and additional 40+ personal bags into the tap taps.  We would have needed a convoy of those little trucks and we might still be waiting for people to arrive at the compound! 

Nonetheless..after everyone got unpacked and settled we went gathered together to discuss the desired plans for the week ahead.  As I vaguely recall, we titled the orientation classes something like:

Toilet Flushing 101

Drinking Water Rationing 101

Tips for Mealtimes 200, Finding Your Laundry 201 and

Hopeful Projects of the week 301

None of the rest of us were seasoned veterans by any means… however, I think we had several initially “shell-shocked noobs”… but they all adjusted quickly – they didn’t have any other choice. 

We also gave a class on how to near-miss the 4:50am crowing Rooster.  But no one passed that class – it wasn’t such a big deal though because it was already bright and sunny and in the Sticky mid-80’s by 5am anyhow, so everyone got up.  We started work as early as we could too, because by the time early afternoon rolled around, it was too hot to work much outside… we had to wait till the sun started to go down again.