I am finally getting my Haiti photos uploaded. It was an amazing trip. Thank you so much to all of you who supported me. I really enjoyed my time there. Haiti is not the sort of place you enjoy like you enjoy a vacation. It's dirty and rustic and crazy. But I loved being there. I loved the kids. And I loved seeing the story that God is writing there through the Haitian and American individuals who have Haiti branded on their hearts. I know that I will go back someday.
Haiti is a beautiful country with rugged mountain terrain. This is the view from in front of the church we visited in Manoje, a community in Jacmel.
Restore Haiti has a child sponsorship program. We got to meet a lot of these precious children. In Haiti there is no public education. So mostly the only kids who get the chance to go to school are those who are sponsored by an organization like Restore Haiti.
This is how we traveled in Haiti, in a "tap-tap." Think taxi, but a pick-up truck with makeshift seats in the back. We fit 15+ people in one truck every day. In Haiti, that is perfectly normal.
Another very common mode of transportation was motorcycles. We often saw four people on one bike.
Here is the river in Jacmel. This is where they wash their cars, their clothes, and themselves. It not a particularly modest culture. And this water is not particularly clean.
We took over 30 large duffel bags of supplies and gifts to distribute to the children.
Organizations around the world donated tents which have been distributed to people who lost their homes in the earthquake. Maybe you've heard of the "tent cities" in Port Au Prince. This is one of those tents. They are about 15x20 feet big. And usually there is 6-10 people living in one of these.
This tent is pitched in front of the family's condemned house.
This is the home of a family who was recently converted to Christianity. Previously the man of the home was the local voodoo priest. Now the voodoo temple is shut down. :) Restore Haiti is raising funds to build them a new house.
The inside of the home. It's about 8x10 feet big. I'm not sure if this one is condemned or not. But a lot of families still live in homes that have been deemed by engineers as not safe after the earthquake. But they stay because they have no where else to go. Not everyone received tents.
This is the family's bathroom. It's um... not even an outhouse.
Here are some of the young men of the church getting ready to go drive around town to promote the crusade that would happen in a few days. For a loud speaker, they strapped all the speakers to a tap-tap.
This is a house that Conduit Mission built for a family. It is a two bedroom concrete home. Many of the wooden homes that some organizations put up in the aftermath of the earthquake are already warping because wood is not an appropriate material for the humid climate of Haiti. Concrete is the only thing that will last here. Conduit plans to build many more homes like this in 2011. You can even donate towards that. The money goes a long way there. It only costs $6000 US dollars to build a home like this.
It's me in Haiti. :) We went for several hikes in Manoje to visit families and see some of the homes the ministry would like to rebuild. We also filmed some video at these sites for fundraising purposes.
This is Alave Sensia. She appeared out of nowhere on one of our hikes the first day we where there. She took my hand and she was attached to me the rest of the week.
Alave Sensia again. She is the same age a our son Noah. Turns out she had been waiting for four months to be sponsored. She basically chose me. So now she is our sponsor child. :)
Another sweet Haitian child.
This is Pastor LaFluer. He has an incredible vision for the future of Haiti. He knows he has to start with the education of these children. It is the only hope for breaking the cycle of poverty there. He himself was helped as a child and young man to get an education. He got out of Haiti, went to college, and speaks at least four languages. But he felt called to go back to Haiti and work for change there.
These babies are coloring sheets to be sent to their sponsor families. We got ours from Alave Sensia last week.
Another one of the pastors in Manoje.
The inside of the church during the Sunday morning children's service.
One of my friends Brit with her sponsor child.
Another thing the sponsorship program provides is a good meal for all of these kids on the week days. They are fed a late afternoon meal after they get out of school. These sweet children all waited patiently until everyone was served before eating.
Here they wash up before eating.
On this day the meal was a hefty serving of rice and beans.
The crowd at the crusade which was put on as a joint effort by the churches in Jacmel. I believe it was three nights long. It was very cool to see the passion of these people for God. They love to dance!
This sweet woman asked me at church to take her photo. It is my favorite photo of the whole trip.
Thanks for checking out the pics. Please pray for this community and the ministries of Restore Haiti and Conduit Misssion.
