Haiti 6-26 thru 6-28

Hello again from Haiti,

I am updating this blog while sitting listening to the ocean crash and a Haitian band playing music. Fortunately the hotel we are staying at has satellite internet.

We have had a busy last few days. On Thursday we finished the work at the ministry center. We were able to finish grouting the main room. Here are a few pictures of the girls working on this task.

While this was happening, the Haitian work crew was tiling another room on the inside and applying a stucco finish to the outside. Here is a picture of the scaffolding that was used for this task. Steve helped out here the last few days moving platforms and lifting concrete up to the workers on top. This was the hot side of the Ministry center. (FYI, we had to drive under this scaffolding to get in and out of the ministry center)

We also took out the jacks from underneath the bridge that the work team from 1st CRC in Denver poured about a week ago. This involved pumping water (filty sewage water) from underneath the bridge and then removing the jacks in foot deep mud. Steve worked on this most of the morning and was hot, tired, and dirty. Not a fun job but at least it is finshed.

We ended our time with a meal together and a picture of the entire team. We gave them a gift of UofM hats, and you can see many of the team wearing them.

After cleaning up and doing some quick shopping, we headed over to Vandam's for a final lunch with all of the non-Haitians working for Sous-Espwa and the CRC organizations. We met a lot of workers with very intersting stories. There was a single Canadian wormen that is volunteering to audit all of the partner organizations, another young woman working as a photojournalist, and another young family with three young children. What a diverse group. Driving home we were treating to one thing that I really wanted to see in Haiti, a tarantula. Just to let you know the size, the brick it is sitting on is probably 8-10" high. I wanted to have someone come out of the Land Cruiser and put their hand by it, but I got no takers.

The next morning, we left early (5:30) and headed to Jacmel. It is a 3 hour drive through the mountains. Here is a picture from where we stopped for a quick breakfast.

After a little more driving, we arrived at our Hotel. Here is the view from the open air restaurant (This is where I am typing the blog). We enjoyed some swimming and excellent food before heading out to the soccer camp.

We really did not know what to expect. We arrived at Jacmel CRC and walked to the soccer field through the streets of Jacmel. As we walked, we had more and more children follow us to the field. The field it totally walled in and a guard only let in the players that rented the field. We basically played soccer with a team that one of the members of Jacmel CRC is trying to develop. They have both a boys and girls team. Jenna and Katie played with the older girls the first day. It was really fun to watch them play. Others had pick up juggling and passing with all the other people that came to watch. We also had Kelli and Catherine answering questions about their lives from some Haitian kids that could speak english.

The next day was more of the same, but we played with some of the younger girls and then the younger boys. We all got involved and had a lot of fun. After both sessions, we gave out candy and granola bars, along with a soccer tract developed by someone here in Haiti for such events.

Here are a few pictures of the camp.

During the soccer camp on Saturday, Steve, Linda, and Howard heading up into the hills to go to a school graduation. From what I heard from them, they two tracked straight up a mountain, driving past steep hills that were being terraced farmed. Here is a picture from the trip.

Here is a picture of the graduation ceremony. In Haiti, you need to pass exams at the end of the year (all grades from 1st to 12th) in order to proceed to the next grade. Many students to not and need to retry. With this in mind, the graduation ceremony is very important in Haiti. Here is a picture of the ceremony.

The afternoon was spend doing some souviner shopping and going to anothe beach that had big waves. The evening had another wonderful meal and now it is update blog time and off to bed. Tomorrow we will have church at Jacmel CRC and then head back to Port-au-Prince to prepare for the trip back.

This has been a truly wonderful experience. We have many other stories that we could tell. We thank you for the prayers that have kept us safe during all of our work and travel. God is good, all the time (Bondye bon toutan).

Haiti 6-24-25

Hello again from Haiti. We are all doing well and working hard in the HOT weather. It is interesting that in Michigan we are always looking at the forecast to see what to wear and if it will rain. No one seems to talk about the weather in Haiti. It is usually hot and if it rains, it rains. They do not worry about such things.

We have had two more days of working on the ministry center. We have finished laying tile in the main room on the second floor. Approximately 1200 square feet. The girls this morning grouted another room that had been partially tiled by previous groups. We are still planning on getting one more room done with tile and hopefully grouting and putting on the baseboard (cut tiles approx 3” tall). We are still enjoying the wonderful meals. Excellent cooking! We even enjoyed the lunch on Monday which was rice and beans, beet salad, and fish. Here is a picture of my (Tim’s) plate. I was the lucky one and got the head!!



Here is a picture of where we eat lunch. It is a nice big tree on the property. The women cook here the entire morning to get ready for lunch.

Also on Monday, the entire work group got together for dinner and worked on learning some English/creole phrases. The girls did better than the adults. We all still had fun!


We ended the evening by playing SLAP. In order for the one Haitian to play along, the girls all played in Creole. It was fun to watch.



Here are a few more pictures of life around the ministry center and around Port-au-Prince. The next two pictures are of the girls screening cement to make the mortar for laying tile and then cleaning out the bin at the end of the day.

Here are two Haitian boys who either live on the property or are here all the time. They all enjoy having Linda play with them, splashing us with water, blowing bubbles, and just running around.



When we drive anywhere in Port-au-Prince, there are many interesting things to see. The ministry center is about ½ and hour away from the Vandam’s house, and we go right through some interesting areas. Here is a picture of a TAP-TAP, which is equivalent to our bus system. They are all painted up with all sorts of interesting artwork. I have not yet figured out how you know where they are going.


The next two pictures are typical scenes on the side of the road. Many people selling their wares. You also see everyone carrying large loads on their heads. The hills around town are full of houses stacked one on top of the other.

Finally we have a picture of Alexis showing the girls a math trick on an old fashioned chalkboard. He is a lot of fun.


We also did not have enough pictures of Katie, so here is one last parting shot. You should never leave your camera with a group of four high school girls.




Keep up the prayers. We are in excellent health and in good spirits in spite of the weather. We do get a good breeze which helps out a lot. Hopefully we can update at least one more time. We will be heading to Jacmel early Friday for the soccer camp. We are not sure if we will have internet access there.

June 21-23

Greetings from Haiti! Sorry it has took so long to update. We were at the Vandam’s on Sunday and did not get time in the afternoon to do the blog seeing that the computers were tied up with the girls checking e-mail and facebook. Then in the afternoon, I was updating the blog and we had a sudden, brief lightening storm which knocked out their satellite internet. I am writing this all down in Word and hoping that I can get down to an office with internet capability on Monday.

Everyone is doing fine here. Linda was sick this morning but is feeling much better tonight 6-23We are enjoying our time here. It has been quite an experience. Many of the ideas we had about Haiti are no longer valid. The fears of coming to this country are subdued. We are starting to get used to the way things are done around here.

Let me start off by updating you on everything that we have done since the last update. After the last update we went to the Vandam’s for supper. We had a great time visiting with them and the Vandam’s kids watched in amazement at our 4 girls telling stories and laughing VERY loudly. I believe they enjoyed having volunteers that were close to their same age. We also enjoyed learning about how missionary children live in Haiti. We drove home late that night and our eyes were wide open looking at the many people that are out on the streets at night.

Here are a few pictures to try to explain the life in Haiti. This is a corner on a busy street.

Here are a few more that show some of the things that we see as we drive along from place to place.


The next few show life at the Ministry Center. The first is a picture of our bathroom. We need to use the buckets of water for showering and flushing the toilet (no running water, not sure where the sewer goes to).


Here is a picture of our helper, Marguerite, doing our laundry. She also does our cooking and cleaning. She is living at the ministry center with us. (There are many people living on this property, not sure how many, sometimes over a dozen).

Back to our work. We were planning on doing some sightseeing and meeting staff on Saturday, but we had a good opportunity to pour some concrete. One room on the seconf floor needed to be leveled to prepare for tiling. We spend the entire day bring up buckets of cement to a crew doing the leveling. Howard and some others did the mixing of the concrete by hand on the ground. It took us all day, but we finished the room. Lunch was with the entire staff. It was a wonderful Haitian meal prepared by some of the wives of the workers. We had a beet salad that was absolutely incredible. Here are some pictures of the work we performed during the day. We pumped water from the well on the property to use in the concrete mixing.

Some of the girls ended the day by cooling off in some water storage barrels. Everyone was tired by happy at all the work we accomplished.

Sunday was a trip to a small CRC church in Petionville (suburb of Port-au-Prince). Another hair raising ride brought us down a narrow alleyway up to a church on the second floor of a building. We arrived to wonderful, powerful singing. It was a tune that we knew, but the words were definitely unfamiliar. We listened to service, introduced ourselves, gave a greeting from Fellowship, and sang the “Tree Song” and “My Friends may you grow in Grace”. We then met with the staff of the church and talked about their church. We have many similarities. The sign below is for the church. It would make sense if you could read Haitian Creole.

Lunch was again at the Vandam’s. After lunch, we visited the only museum in Port-au-Prince and learned about the history of Haiti. Then we toured a cathedral. Our guide Alexis showed us how Voodoo has been interspersed into the Catholic Church. Here are some painting showing Jesus turning water into wine, with a few Haitian twists. Roman Catholicism in Haiti is definetly not Christian.




We went back to Vandam’s and tried to update the blog. We then drove home in a downpour. Another interesting drive. Here is a picture looking out the back of Vandam's house. Their house sits on a ravine and there are many, many houses in this ravine. Many are in states of construction. No railings anywhere. You can maybe even see people in their houses.

On Monday we will be laying tile at the ministry center. Here are a few pictures of the work during this day. Besides working all day, we talk to many of the people helping us out who are pastors and deacons and elders at CRC churches in Haiti. We have many similarities with them and it is very interesting sharing about each other.


We are all doing well. We are in great health, just a few bug bites. The food has been awesome and no one has any food related “issues”.

Since we will be working at the ministry center for the next few days, we may not be updating the blog every day (or even every other day). Keep praying for us and that we can get our work done and experience the culture and people of Haiti.

One last update. I drove back to Vandams on monday night so Howard could clean up for dinner back at the ministry center. I am updating the blog now. Trying to get it done really quick. We are all still doing well. We had a good day working. I wanted to download more pictures, but it will have to wait. We need to get back to the ministry center.

Haiti 6-19 and 6-20

We have arrived safely! Thanks for all the prayers so that we could make it here safely.

The first trip from Chicago was on time, and our trip out of Miami to Port-au-Prince was 1 1/2 hours late. We arrived in Haiti a little unsure of what we could expect, but we still had smiles!

We were through customs fairly easily (Use pen next time Jenna and Catherine!). Howard and Alexis were there to meet us and we were off to Sous Espwa ministry center. We were introduced to a our cook and ate a wonderful meal of rice, chicken, potatoes and fresh pineapple. After a little money changing and debriefing, we were off to bed.

Tomorrow morning we took our showers. The ministry center has sinks and toilets, but no running water. The bathroom is stocked with 5 gallon buckets by our guard Wilcox. The showers were interesting and we are still learning how to dump water on ourselves and also how to successfully flush the toilet. We also have to learn to use the "culligan water" which is used for drinking and brushing teeth. Here we are eating breakfast of baked oatmeal. Yum







Then we were off for a trip to God's littlest angels. This is where the real culture shock came in. The roads in Port-au-Prince are very different from the US. People walk right by you, you pass when you need to, there are no stop signs or street signs at intersections, and there are huge potholes everywhere. Vendors are all along all of the roads selling almost anything. I will try to get some really good pictures of this. It is amazing! The road up to GLA was very steep. You keep thinking you are coming to a dead end or you are going to drop off a cliff, but you still keep on driving. The orphanage is in the mountains overlooking Port-au-Prince. It is very beautiful. We went right to playing with the kids on the 3rd floor volunteer balcony. We all brought up one or two kids to play with. We took them away from the nannies on the 2nd floor. Here are some pictures from the orphanage.

After a few hours of playing with the kids, we drove on up to the huge Baptist mission and had a mostly American lunch. here is the view from where we ate. It is gorgeous here. We also needed a little rest waiting for our lunch. Did I mention that it is really HOT here? I think it is in the upper ninties with high humidity.

After lunch, we visited a lookout over Port-au-Prince. It was a little hazy but what a view. We could see the entire city.

We then visited the CRECH which produced cirriculum for all the Christian schools in Haiti. There are more Christian schools in Haiti than in the US! We ended our informative meeting with praying with the staff for the wonderful work they do in Haiti.

We then stopped off at the Sous Espwa headquarters and learned about their ministry. They have internet access so this is where I am typing.

We need to go now to Howard and Ruth Vandam's house for dinner. Their kids are enjoying some youth here.

Take care. More to follow later. This is definitely an experience.

Getting ready to go!!!!

It's hard to believe, but this past Sunday we had our last team meeting and our commissioning service. This week Thursday we will fly out of Chicago and start our adventure in Haiti. Please pray for the Sous Espwa team, all the people we will meet and work with, and our team as we travel and serve in Haiti.
Here is an idea of our schedule while in Haiti. W will update the blog site as time and internet connectivity permits.

Thursday June 19 - We leave church At 3:30AM. We drive to Chicago, and fly out at about 8:30AM. We arrive in Haiti at 3:40 PM. We are scheduled to settle into the Guest house, and then have devotions and supper at 5:30PM..Following that will be intros, orientation, and we will learn the background of Sous Espwa.

Friday , June 20 - Breakfast at 6:30 AM. then we meet various staff members of partner ministries. In the afternoon we are scheduled to visit a local orphanage - Gods Littlest Angels. One of our team members has a niece who lived here, so it will be a special visit for us. 5:30 will be devotions and supper.

Saturday, June 21 - breakfast at 7:30 AM. In the morning we will have partner orientation and will be working in Kenscoff. We will have lunch and go shopping at the Baptist Mission and then visit Fort Jacques & Boutillier to see a view of the city. Supper will be at the Vandams, and then have a social time and games with the Sous Espwa staff.

Sunday June 22 - Breakfast at 7:00AM. We will attend church at the Jacquet CRC, followed by orientation to another mission partner. following lunch, we will have a downtown history tour of museum, and St. Trinity.

Monday, June 23 - Breakfast at 6:30. At 7:30 we start working at the mission center. We understand the bridge work was completed by the Denver team, so we will be installing tile and helping finish and paint the new mission center. We were inspired by the Denver team and the work they did. We pray we can be as successful as they were. We will work until 3:30, and then have time off to cleanup, relax, etc. At 5:30 we will have devotions, supper, and have introduction games with the local Haitian team.

Tuesday, June 24 - same as Monday.

Wednesday June 25 - same as Monday. At night we will have devotions and supper with Segaar-Kings. we will complete the evening with a discussion on poverty.

Thursday June 26 - We will work until 3:30, and then say our thanks and goodbyes to the local Haitian team. At night we will relax and prepare for our trip to Jacmel.

Friday, June 27 - We leave for Jacmel at 5:30 AM! We will arrive at Cyvadier for lunch around noon. At 1:00 PM we will have a soccer camp for elementary age children from the local area.

Saturday, June 28 - breakfast at 7:00. this morning the team will conduct another soccer camp for the older children. Linda and Steve will attend a graduation ceremony in Meye with the VanDams. In the afternoon we will have the opportunity to spend some time on the beach at Cyvadier.
Sunday, June 29 - We will have breakfast at 7:00 AM. We will visit the Jacmel CRC church, and have lunch at Cyvadier. Following that we will return to Port Au Prince. In the evening we will have a time of debriefing and trip evaluations. Then it's time to clean and pack for our trip back home.
Monday June 30 - Breakfast at 6:30, leave for the airport at 8:00 and depart at 11:00AM.