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).