Brandon & Jessica

This has been the theme of my life the past few weeks.  We purchased a generator in PAP three weeks ago.  The plan was to put it on a Northwest Haiti Christian Mission Truck that had just cleared customs and drive it to Port-de-Paix.  Jessica and I boarded a plane to fly down to PAP two weeks ago to load the generator on the truck and visit a potential partner organization.

As we were getting on the plane I received a call telling me that while the truck had cleared customs, no small feat, they had not been able to acquire license plates and it would not be ready until tomorrow.  We almost had the truck.  We went to the partner organization in Carrefour, a suburb of PAP, close to the epicenter of the earthquake.  We meet with the organization.  They almost understood what Outside the Bowl does.  They were interested in a kitchen but not a partnership.  They almost had a place for us to stay.  Jessica and I shared a twin bed in a shack with almost a million bedbugs.  There was a huge thunderstorm that night.  We almost got struck by lightning.  Between the bedbugs and the storm we almost slept.  The truck was almost ready the next day.  We flew back to Port-de-Paix empty-handed, less the hitchhiking bedbugs.

Every day following the trip I was told that the truck was almost ready.  Only to be told the same thing the next day.  With no end in sight, I decided to take one of the mission trucks in Port-de-Paix down to PAP and get the generator.  But, the problem with the mission trucks in Port-de-Paix was that they can’t be driven out of the Northwest zone legally without insurance.  That almost worked.  There was one truck with insurance.  The brakes on it almost worked.  I almost risked the venture but decided to rent a truck in PAP.

I flew down to PAP again, this time with the intention of renting a truck.  The company we bought the generator from could ship it to Port-de-Paix for $2,500usd.  If we hired our on truck we could do this for less.  I drove around PAP with Jacques looking for a truck to hire.  He had some contacts that almost worked.  At one point we were parked on the side of the road calling people he though we could hire.  He told me we should go that this was not a safe part of town.  I almost forgot that I was given $2000usd to give to Jacques to clear containers from port.  He told me that a lot of people get robbed in this area.  I gave him the envelope with the money and joked that if we get robbed I’m going to tell the robbers that you have an envelope with $2000 in it and I’m just a poor white missionary.  He almost thought that was funny.

We found a truck that would ship the generator to Port-de-Paix for $750usd.  The driver met us at the generator depot.  The cross-bar welded to the back of the truck was too low.  The generator almost fit in the back.  The driver told us he would cut it off and load the generator in the morning.

The next morning we loaded the generator in the back of the truck with other miscellaneous things.  I road in the truck for the ten-hour drive back to Port-de-Paix.  We broke down one hour out of PAP.  The rear leaf springs were rubbing against the bolts that secure the shackles to the frame.  The problem, we almost had enough lug nuts to secure the rear wheels to the axle.  I inspected the rest of the truck and noticed that all the wheels were missing lug nuts.  No problem, we had extra in the truck.  They just don’t put them all on at the same time.  We used some of the “spare” lug nuts to better secure the rear wheel to he hub.  We were back on the road.  Our conversation consisted of me almost speaking creole and the driver almost speaking English.

It got dark so we turned on the headlights.  They almost worked.  Every time the driver depressed the clutch the lights would go out from an electrical short.  Lights are important at night on a one lane dirt road with a 400 foot drop off to the rive below.  The river ravine was littered with trucks that had driven off the road.  We were almost to Port-de-Paix.  We pulled into the compound a little after nine o’clock.  We were almost done.  We needed to offload the 2500lbs. generator.  The driver wanted to offload that night.  I told him that we needed to do it the following morning when I could borrow the tractor from the school across the street.

Me and the guys that went from PAP to PAX

Little did I know that my contact at the school had flown back to the states for furlough.  I found another guy at the school that was willing to let me use the tractor.  In the meantime the driver wanted the generator out of his truck.  We were almost done.

With out the tractor at the present moment the only thing I could think of was to slide the generator from the back of his truck to the back of the mission truck in the yard.  They were almost the same height.  We drove the mission truck on top the concrete and left the other truck on the dirt.  They were now both 49.5 inches high.

Moving the generator from one truck to the other

After much debate, everything I Haiti is up for debate, I was able to convince the guys that we were going to work from simples to most complex plan.  The simplest being let’s get a bunch of guys to push the generator from one truck to the other.  It worked.  The following morning I was able to get the tractor and off load the generator from the small truck to the generator room.  Now I just need to hook up the wires and get some diesel.  We’re almost done…

Successfully moved

God always provides. Even when we don’t know there is a need. I went to the prison and brothel as I do every Thursday.  Since I first started doing this back in April, our driver has always been a man named Jisler. For some reason, unknown to me, he didn’t drive us this last time. Instead it was Elrick. We usually park the truck at the prison and then walk to the brothel, since it’s not far. This week it was just me and the interpreter, Ivanor. (The main woman, Melonnie, who headed all this up is in the States) So, as we were walking we ran into our driver, Elrick. He was bored and just wondering around. We told him where we were going, and of course being curious, he wanted to come along. I was hesitant, since usually the girls are a bit more distracted when other males come along. J But, for some reason, I said yes and off we went. Well, that day the regular four/five girls we have been meeting and doing Bible study with were all in PAP. But, there were three knew girls to the brothel, who had just arrived this last week. Guess where they were from? The Dominican Republic. And what does that mean? They only spoke Spanish! So how could I (who barely can remember her 5 years of classroom Espanol) and my interperetor who knows English and  Creole talk with them? Well, it just so happened Elrick spoke Spanish. Tears flooded my eyes as I saw that God met a need I didn’t even know we had. And there we all sat. I spoke in English, Ivanor translated to Creole, and Elrick translated to Spanish! As much as I wanted to do the Bible study, it was a bit too much with that much of a language barrier-so we simply chatted and got to know each other. Praise God for His infinite wisdom and faithfulness!

1.I go do laundry and I wonder how much soap I should use. The box says ‘one scoop for soft water, two for hard or very hard water.” So, how many scoops for ‘ultra hard slightly crusted over city water I am using? It has a plethora of bad bacteria in it. Maybe 3 scoops.. or how about 20?

Yes, I have a washing machine! What a huge blessing! And since we have very little water pressure, instead of waiting about 2hrs for the washing machine to fill up, my handy dandy hubby added a pipe that quickly dumps water right into the machine!!

2. Brandon killed a centipede right inside our house last week. I like to think that our place is pretty secure-with lots of mire mesh, screen, door sweeps.. and yet we killed another one just outside our house yesterday. For those who don’t know.. those small suckers are poisonous.  I wonder what else is lurking in here waiting to be discovered…

Creepy thing huh? Faster than you would think too!

3. Yes, I am learning the language. But, I sometimes no matter how hard I try, I can’t get what I need. That is why, for a small window, I have a gigantic curtain. Yes, I did try twice to get a smaller one. But, the woman getting them for me still didn’t understand me-that or they didn’t have any smaller ones. And someone once told me that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing expecting a different result.

Where is grandma when you need her???

4. There are lots of bugs here. It’s just a way of life. They come in all shapes and sizes too. I used to hate the big ones, until I realized that the little ones are far worse. They are hard to see and hide more easily. Such was how I found the most recent friends. I opened a container of pancake mix and started to mix it with water. Then I remembered in this new way of life I have to always to check for bugs.. so I did. Much to my dismay, I noticed the whole thing crawling. A friend here in Haiti told me that if I were to throw out all the food that has bugs-I won’t have any food left to eat! And so, I stand alone in the kitchen debating with myself. “If I cook them, won’t all the bugs die? but will I still taste them?” or “maybe I can try to sift them out”  But, in the end, there are just too many. My dislike for tiny crawly bugs outweighs my want for pancakes.

5. Since the water in our house is unclean, we buy clean water down the street. And we use that to drink, brush our teeth, etc. But, when I shower, and the water runs on my face, I can’t help but wonder. I hold my breath, close my eyes tight, and pray that no microscopic germs find their way into my eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.

6.Avocado. Just saying this word brings a smile to my lips. They are in season right now, and in abundance! How is it that after a hard, long, hot, tiring, frustrating, unproductive day that all I need is this simple fruit and all is well with my soul again.

Beautiful huh?

Port au Prince.

We visited last week. The goal of our trip was two fold. One, we planned to pick up the generator. That’s right!!! It’s been paid for, the wire transfer complete, and simply waiting for us to pick up. This generator is plan G, as it’s one OTB bought in PAP.  This was purchased using funds from the rotary club, in addition to donors who gave as well. (The other generator that nwhcm bought for the entire campus (including a school and housing for teams) won’t make it’s way to us until Christmas time.) Hence why we are on plan G with this new generator. When we arrived in Port au Prince, we learned that the huge army truck that was needed to haul this thing all the way to port de paix was not ready!! We were told it had “cleared customs” and was ready to go. Well, it did clear customs, but still did not have the necessary paperwork to legally drive. And so, we wait. We were told it would be ready by the 30th, then that turned into the 1st, then that turned into the 4th. This is Haiti afterall, and we don’t believe things until we see them with our own eyes!!

The second reason we went down there was to check out a potential partner organization. OTB is deciding if the Lord wants another kitchen in Haiti. And, since this is Haiti, it takes a long time to do anything. So, we are simply meeting with other NGO’s in Haiti-all over Haiti-and seeing if there is a possibility of partnership. We very much want to wait until the pdp kitchen is up and running before we move forward with another kitchen in Haiti. In the meantime, we will start some very preliminary conversations.

We were so thankful for the opportunity to see more of Haiti. God provided safety as we traveled, and we praise Him for it. Port of Prince is a big city-much bigger than Port de Paix-and that city is a lot to take in. Please continue to keep the hundreds of thousands of people in prayer there. They are living in difficult and uncomfortable situations because they have no where else to go. They are moving on with life, trying to make the most of what might seem like an impossible situation. You can see shops set up all along the streets, in front of piles of rubble. Vendors are walking around selling anything and everything. People are hopeful and trying to move on.

Tent cities are everywhere in PAP

And yet, life goes on. Amidst piles of rubble on almost every street, people are still selling, buying, living.

These are my favorite. We don't have these sweet beasts in pdp.. I'm so jealous.

The palace.

Sanitation was already an issue before the quake, and now trash seems to accumulate all too quickly in too many places.

Sugarcane. It's in abundance here!

It is heartbreaking to see this sight down so many streets in PAP. And yet, life goes on right in the middle of it. Haitians are tough and resilient.

Meet Rose. She’s a Haitian woman, married, with seven kids. God has blessed them with the ability to take care of their seven children-including the ability to send them to school, and even two are in college. She doesn’t just use the money God has blessed her with to help her own family, she seeks to find those who need help. And she has found them right in her own neighborhood. Rose feeds about twenty kids ranging from young kids to young adults. She usually feeds them once a day. Once she started doing this, she discovered that several of the younger children didn’t have parents to take care of them. No wonder they were coming to her looking for a meal to eat. So what did Rose do?  Nothing short of what Jesus would do.. she took them in. She converted an extra room they had next to a small shop they own, and made a place for them to sleep. Them. Now there are seven children that usually sleep there at night, because they don’t have anywhere else to go. She can’t just feed them once a day, knowing they pry won’t get food from anywhere else. So, she tries to feed these children three meals a day.  We met Rose through some new friends we’ve made, who teach English right across the street from us. (What a huge blessing they are!!) They introduced us to Rose, and the whole family. As we sat in their home listening to what they are doing, I couldn’t help but cry. Tears flowed as I tried to explain to her in Creole how much I love to hear her heart and all what she is doing for those kids. She started cry too, and told me “how can I not help when I see how much they need it”. What a heart of gold. We hope that OTB can help.  OTB can offer her the opportunity to feed more kids.  And since she just so happens to love the Lord, she can not only tell them about His love for them, but continue to show them how much He loves them by her actions.

Grocery shopping. While I usually don’t mind this task in the States (I know, most of you gals out there just hate it) it is a beast I have not been looking forward to tackling. I am not sure how things work yet, to take on this venture alone. Sure, I can get my point across and tell people what I need, but when they talk back to me I don’t get half of it. So, I asked to go with my neighbor (and I drug our great interpreter Edril with us too.) She is so sweet, and so kind to Brandon and I. Plus, she speaks no English, so it forces me to learn.   My list wasn’t long really. I just needed rice, eggs, butter, garlic, onions, fruit, and ingredients for Haitian spaghetti.  I was pretty excited to venture down town to the open air market. I felt ready with my sun hat and shopping bag. We walked around through a huge maze of people. I had a hard time deciding where to look-at the different food sprawled out over tables and the floor, or people passing by selling things from baskets on their heads, or men mowing people down with their huge wheelbarrows full of goods, or the huge puddles and ditches filled with questionable things that snaked through every single street. My sweet neighbor would look behind at me to make sure I didn’t get swallowed up or ran over. I loved watching her as she would walk through the market scanning the whole area for what we needed. I was confused because it seemed that there was only about 7 different types of booths. Yet, there are ‘booths’ down several streets packed in right next to each other. They all seems to be selling the same thing- Produce stand, rice/beans/grains stand, household items stand, meat stand, fish stand, misc stand, canned goods stand. Then, when she would see something she liked we would stop. And let the haggling begin! I couldn’t pick up everything she said, but I got a lot from body language… and she was good. We walked away from items twice, and once even had a woman come find us down the next street with a pineapple! I did feel sorry for her though, cause one vendor asked if the items were for her or me. I felt like responding something snide back in creole, but instead used some self-control. I know that I will pay more because of the color of my skin (which is a whole separate issue) but it’s not fair that she has to simply because she is with me.

Anywhoo, we made our way through the part I was dreading the most-the meat section. I can’t help but chuckle, hours later, as I tell you this.  We walked in between two stands where the men were hacking away some kind of meat, and I hold my breath and look down as I walked quickly. Splat!! Something smacked my neck and I let out a half gag and half laugh as I pull off a small piece of meat from my neck. I keep moving. When we have to pass it again to get out, I decide I am going to conquer my fears and stare at what is lumped on the tables. I know my vegetarian friends would gag, but even those hearty red meat lovers would be weak in the knees. Before my eyes was a huge table that was holding the massacre of I am not sure what. The first thing I saw was a ‘moving’ stack of meat. Yes, there are so many flies on all of the meat, it looks alive.  Then, I saw a brain. How did I know it was that? Well, they had nicely arranged it just how it is supposed to look inside of the animals head, so I could tell exactly what it was. Next? A long bone that looked see through. After that, I stopped looking. I thought my Vietnamese friends would have been so proud of me, I had my poker face on the whole time-giving the allusion that seeing all that was completely normal for me and not a problem at all. Later, much to my added revulsion, I noticed three small chunks of meat of my skirt and chuckled again to myself as I scraped them off.  But, the day was not complete until the final lap on our way out. I was scanning the tables soaking in all I could, when I felt a wet squishy sensation on my left foot. Yup, my first full foot submersion in a puddle of death. For those of you who don’t know-puddles are a very common thing in Haiti. But, there are some puddles, that if you step in them, you might just drop down dead. This one was somewhere in between. I didn’t want to be dramatic, afterall, I wanted to be invited back to market day. So, I casually walked a little while longer with black funk oozing between all my toes. When we came to a clearing where we could stop I found a girl selling small bags of water. I paid her, ripped it open and poured it on my foot. I felt instantly better. Yet, suddenly, I was very aware that almost all the people around me had dirty feet from the mud around us, and I was that white person-pouring drinking water that most can’t even afford to drink, on my feet. So, I tried to gracefully recover and casually strolled away. Oh, thank you market day. The things you taught me today are endless!!

Thankfully, we have a pretty uneventful trip back to report. God was gracious in getting us here quickly and safely.  We returned home to a campus that had been painted, cleaned more, and still had construction going on. Our interpreter, Edril, ran things wonderfully while we were gone. He had someone clean both our house and the kitchen. Since they both have a whole sections that are “outdoor”, dust (okay, more like soot from the neighbors who burn trash right next to us) and it gathers rather quickly. It was so wonderful to come home to a clean place! We are unpacking and getting readjusted to the heat. I didn’t think it could get much hotter than July-but I stand to be corrected! Yikes. As long as I can resign myself to the fact that it’s normal to have sweat dripping down me all day long, I do pretty well. Also, we do have running water, and unlike the majority of my neighbors, I get to take a shower at night in my house. I’m not sure whether to feel guilty about this or enjoy it. For now, my heart is just very thankful.

What is the most American thing to do??

“Take me out to the ball game.. take me out to the crowd….”

It was a delayed birthday celebration for my brother’s birthday, and what a perfect last night home.  I have to admit, as cheesy as it sounds, I did shed a few tears when we sang the national anthem. Living in another country has made me appreciate so many things I have taken advantage of. I am thankful for this beautiful country we live in. Each country has it’s own individual problems, and our problems are very different problems than Haiti’s-but I have come to appreciate that land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Go Padres!!