I know a lot of you have been patiently waiting for me to tell about my recent Haiti trip...and the time has finally come for me to tell!
This trip to Haiti made trip #5 for me but in many ways it felt like my first trip. Not knowing what to expect post earthquake, going on a BOSKO team instead of a Three Angels team, going to a new work site, & a new guest house, & going there without my children as the focus.
Day 1 was a long travel day that started at 5:30am & ended around 5:30pm. We definetly saw God's hand move has we watched him move us through the maze of delayed flights due to no plane, plane problems, crowded run ways, etc. Our first surprise came when we were taken to a "hotel" instead of the guest house we thought we were staying at. To make a long story short, the guest house we were suppose to stay at was bought before our trip & the new owners did not know about the previous arrangements for us to stay there.
Day 2 we went to the BOSKO site & prepared for the VBS that we were going to do the following three days. That was my first experience of really being in a rural village area of Haiti. We were driving in the middle of no where & then at one point we turned off the road, drove down a long road...and wa la!, there was a village.
It was interesting to see the different reactions to us being there. A few of the village children immediately came up to us & wanted to know who we were & what we were doing. Other children stood off aways & watched us, & many adults gathered around at various distances to watch what we were doing. The general attitude of the villagers of us for the first two days was a mix of distrust & curiousity.
After we had a "plan" for the next day, we went to the Ebenezer site which is now called Global Ministries...Orphan Project. This was the site where we thought we were staying at. It has a guest house, orphanage, church, school, & medical clinic. While the rest of the team looked around & played with the children, our leader spoke with the on site director about why we weren't staying there. After a discussion it was decided that we would move to that site the following day since we would not be able to go to the hotel, get packed up, & get back to the guest house before dark.
On the way to the hotel we were stopped by Haitian police...not something you want to happen because they can stop you for whatever reason they want to & then state a charge that makes no sense...as was the case for us.
Day 3 we packed up, ate breakfast, & then dropped our stuff off at the guest house & then headed to the BOSKO site. Our original plan was to have a VBS for 60 of the village children & feed them lunch. I think we had 72 or so children the first day, & many, many adults in very close proximity. It was very hot the first day & we did not take into account that even Haitians don't stay out in the direct sun for long periods of time in the heat of the day...as evidenced by the majority of the adults taking refuge in the shade of a very big Mango tree which we affectionately named the "Tree of Life."
Despite the heat, having more children than expected, not having as many craft supplies as I was suppose to, & not having enough food to feed everyone, we were pleasantly surprised about how the first day went. We went back to the guest house & revised our plan for the next day.
After dinner & devotion our team leader went to bed early because he wasn't feelig well...he had a cold or something prior to leaving for Haiti. The rest of the team decided to stay in the dining area & play some cards but before we even started a hand, we heard a gun shot coming from the right of us. This was around 8pm & you could hear activity outside of the guest house from the orphange as the children were getting ready for bed as well as sounds from the neighbors close by. All of the team except for Bell our Haitian translator & myself, didn't really seem to notice it at first. Then someone stopped & asked if that was a gunshot. As I was about to answer them, a second gunshot could be heard from the left of us & this one sounded a lot closer than the first. Bell immediately told everyone to be quiet, to put our heads down, & not to move.
I don't know how long we sat there...I think it was about 20 minutes but it felt like hours. During this time there was silence everywhere, no children or nannies talking, no voices of guest house staff, & no neighbor noise. Just as Bell told us it was probably safe to get up & go back to our rooms, we heard some foot steps & then saw two feet walk up the stairs that were to the right of us & led to the balcony above us. A brief exchange took place in Creole between Bell & the man who walked up the steps but the man would not say who he was or come back down so we could see him. After a few more minutes of silence, we decided to go back to the girls room because our leader was sleeping in the guys room.
During this time there was an expression of fear & frustration. I then went to the other room & woke up the leader & told him what had happened. He immediately called the site director. She was in her room on the level below us & said that there are gun shots in the area from time to time but that the gate was locked & no one could get in & that there were 2 security gaurds at night. She said that the man who walked up the stairs was most likely one of the security guards & after he was on the balcony probably kept on walking down a corridor that would take him to the other side of the guest house. Our leader was reassured & tried to reassure us. Two of the men on the team, as well as our leader went to bed. The rest of us stayed up til midnight having "group therapy." It was much needed, & really bonded us as a team.
Day 4 we had Day 2 of VBS. We had fewer children on this day but the kids that were there really wanted to be there & we had a great morning. This day went much better for two reasons, first, we weren't in the direct sun like the day before. We decided to move our location to the "Tree of Life" which provided much needed shade & a breeze. And second, we decided to hand out bags of food for the people to take home & prepare themselves rather than us trying to prepare it for a large group of people.
We returned to the guest house after VBS & got ready to do a mini VBS for the orphange children. This went really well & was a lot of fun. We then prepared for our last day of VBS. We voted to delete the craft that we were planning to do after we realized the materials we had were not going to hold up to the heat. So we decided to use the craft time to make balloon animals instead. As we practiced our animals, our leader had another discussion with the site director. He was not pleased with the fact that we were paying $40 a night more per person than we thought we were going to pay so he decided that we would stay there that night but for our last night we would go back to the first place we stayed at.
Day 5 was our last day of VBS. It went really well & the team was really encouraged by the children's, as well as some of the adults attentiveness & participation. We were able to hand out 2 bags of food to all the people who showed up.
We then went to the hotel that we stayed at in the beginning of the week. Seven of the nine teams members then got into a big tap tap & went to Three Angels in Petion ville. I was really looking forward to seeing Caleb & Shakira's birthmothers because they had been notified that I was coming & I was told that they would be there. I was somewhat dissapointed when I got there & found out that they weren't there because the person in charge at the time didn't realize that it was "that day" that we were coming. He made phone calls to birthmothers who were suppose to be there but only 2 of them could come on short notice. One was the birthmother of our team leader's son & the other one was Shakira's birthmother. It was so good to see her & finally get to talk to her! I had met her once before but we really didn't get to talk at that time. We had a good conversation & I showed her pictures of Shakira & told her about how she was doing.
I also got the wonderful news while I was at Three Angels that Samara's birthmother is alive! I was so happy to hear it that I bursted into tears & cried heavily. I couldn't wait to tell Samara the good news but unfortunately that would have to wait until I got to Miami.
We spent our last evening swimming in the pool, laughing loudly, & sweating profusely :o)
Day 6 was our departure day but our flight was not until 5pm so we got to spend the morning with the adorable BOSKO kids & have lunch at the motel before heading to the airport. I called Randy as soon as we arrived in Miami & told Samara the good news about her birthmother. She was so happy & yelled in my ear :o) We arrived at a hotel around 10pm. We then walked a block to a Cuban restaurant & had some amazing food & drink.
Day 7 we got up, ate breakfast, went to the Miami airport & then flew to Louisville. I got home at 3:30pm & immediately "crashed" into my bed :o)
It was an "amazing" trip. It was a heart changing trip for me...it was both a closure & a new beginning. It was also a trip of many firsts. My first time riding in an ambulance...our mode of transportation part of the time. My first experience with Haitian police. My first time doing a VBS for people who don't speak English. My first time riding in a tap tap. My first time drinking coconut water straight out of coconut. My first time drinking hot chocolate made from goats milk. And last but certainly not least, my first time drinking cocktails that came out of Chlorox bottle :o)
We had an awesome team, an awesome leader, & great comic relief!
