by Kandy Sanders
The journey across Haiti to the small town of Petite Riviere was long and filled with sights which were new to me. When driving through the country side of Alabama it is very common to see pastures full of cows, horses or goats. Occasionally a hen house can be seen in rural areas of the state, or perhaps a few chickens pecking around in someone’s yard. I had never been in a place where cows, horses, goats, donkeys, chickens and pigs roam completely free right in the middle of a city. There was an almost disturbing clash of cultures which could be seen in every direction. People were riding donkeys loaded down with goods, children carefully balanced buckets of water on their heads, while trucks and motorcycles seemed intent on running everyone else off the road. On one street corner an elderly woman was selling freshly made fried plantains and pork on a stick, while on the next a man was trying to sell old stereo parts and computer equipment. One of the strangest sights was of a lady walking down the road with a large basket of laundry on her head while talking on a cell phone. Occasionally a UN truck filled with soldiers carrying large weapons would come into view and I was unsure at the time if I should feel protected or frightened. While the bus weaved its way among the streets littered with debris and people, the cacophony of sounds was unlike anything I had previously heard. The constant noise of large trucks rumbling slowly through the city, the buzz of motorcycles darting in and out of alley ways, and people hawking their goods on the streets verged on auditory overload. The air was filled with dust and a horrid smell which could have been one of any number of things, but the near nausea that it induced prevented me from attempting to identify its origin. The constant jostle caused by the conditions of what the Haitians called “roads” was more than slightly annoying and I almost felt as if I was in Jeremy’s old Tacoma mud riding through Mt. Olive again. The only difference was that this ride was incredibly long and punctuated by nearly constant horn blasts from our bus and every other vehicle around us.
The larger cities through which we traveled resembled Port-au-Prince in that they looked like garbage dumps with people and animals wandering around in them. While in Port-au-Prince I had been astounded by the amount of earthquake damage still visible but as we made our way north, I eventually began to see evidence of hurricane damage. Haiti has been ravaged by many hurricanes, tropical storms and floods over the past few years, but I had assumed that the country had largely recovered from these earlier assaults. Surely the earthquake was the only natural disaster still causing problems, I thought. Unfortunately, as I soon learned, the country is in such mayhem that the people just cannot seem to get out from under the devastation of so many catastrophic events. For too many reasons to explain here, damaged buildings sit untouched, lingering rubble is piled high in the streets, people remain hungry, and children are still sold as slaves.
The bus stopped in St. Marc, which is the main port of Haiti, so that we could eat a late lunch and load up on groceries before getting out into the countryside where supplies would be fewer and harder to find. For me, it was an exercise in faith just to walk across the street since vehicles had no regard for the safety of pedestrians and they almost seemed to veer toward those on foot in most instances, so I was sure I was stepping off the curb and into certain death. Let me say here that I have spent time in many large U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and others, as well as the cities of Lima and Iquitos in Peru. I also experienced what I thought were crazy cab rides while on my honeymoon in St. Thomas, and on a trip to Hawaii, but I had never seen anything like this. There seemed to be no traffic laws whatsoever, most of the roads would not even be considered roads in America, and our driver had nerves of steel. That is not an exaggeration. At one point during the week I remarked that driving must be considered an extreme sport in Haiti and I know that you could ask any member of our team and they would concur. Once safely inside the store, we grabbed a bite to eat, purchased groceries and journeyed back to the bus. Despite exhaustion caused by being on buses and planes for many, many hours, I found that sleep was elusive. I reasoned with myself that sleep would come once we were settled somewhere for the night and I certainly did not want to miss the sights, so I stayed awake through the long ride.
The countryside of Haiti was absolutely gorgeous and I was pleased that I had stayed awake to enjoy it. The green hills, which rolled right up into the not too distant mountains reminded me of the breathtaking scenery in Hawaii. Palm trees could be seen swaying against the backdrop of a Caribbean sunset, the ocean became visible for a short while, and I began to feel peaceful for the first time in several hours. For a little while I almost forgot that I was in the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere. Occasionally we would go through a town and see pigs rooting around in piles of trash, or women making charcoal by the side of the road, but after a few hours I began to feel as if I was becoming desensitized to these sights. When we finally arrived in Petite Riviere, I was relieved to be finished with the day’s travel, but more than slightly intimidated by what was to come. For some reason, I felt for a moment that whatever happened over the next few days couldn’t be as difficult as the previous twenty-four hours. However, I remembered having this same thought upon arriving in Iquitos, Peru last July after more than a day of travel, and I was overwhelmingly wrong in both cases. The days to come would prove to be filled with exhaustion of both the physical and emotional kind.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:1-3
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Overwhelmed
By Kandy Sanders
Some of what I've written here is straight from my journal because I want you to get a sense of the raw, unedited emotion I felt at the time. You may be surprised at some of it, but I'm striving here for honesty and not the toned down happy mission trip story that so many of us have told or heard at one time or another.
Walking out of the airport into the overcast day brought unusual sights, smells and sounds which overwhelmed my senses and brought to mind the vague feeling of a being on a movie set. Scanning my surroundings, I quickly became aware that I was certainly not in Alabama anymore. After fighting my way through a sea of people, being herded through the fiasco known as baggage claim, then being attacked by pseudo airport employees, somehow I had expected relief upon exiting the building. What I saw made me wish I had stayed inside. Children dressed in not much more than rags held their little hands through the holes in the chain link fence, hoping to be given something, anything to feed their hungry bellies. The cinder block wall across the street was a canvas for all manner of graffiti, and men leaned heavily on it as if one, the men or the wall, would be unable to stand otherwise. The porters who fancied themselves airport employees were arguing with one another over my bags in a language I did not understand, and I began to feel absolutely helpless and out of control. Once again expecting respite from what seemed like a strange dream, I boarded the bus which would take us to Petite Riviere, our final destination. I was wrong again. The drive through Port-au-Prince was surreal at best, a nightmare at worst. There were people everywhere in the streets, an occasional naked child running this way and that, buildings in shambles, trash piled high on what may have been sidewalks, goats and chickens roaming free, and vehicles everywhere competing for space on the road. When the bus finally reached the outskirts of the city and I thought that surely the worst was behind us, the tent cities came into view. Some were seemingly built on heaps of trash, some on hillsides, others in ditches alongside the road. They stretched as far as I could see and suddenly I was devastated. The emotion of the day began to have its way with me and I was ashamed of the name of that emotion. It was disgust. Absolute, total, outright disgust. I could not fathom why someone would want to come to this God-forsaken place to do anything. How was I going to spend an entire week here?
I did spend a week there and lived to tell about it. There is more to come. God is good!
Some of what I've written here is straight from my journal because I want you to get a sense of the raw, unedited emotion I felt at the time. You may be surprised at some of it, but I'm striving here for honesty and not the toned down happy mission trip story that so many of us have told or heard at one time or another.
Walking out of the airport into the overcast day brought unusual sights, smells and sounds which overwhelmed my senses and brought to mind the vague feeling of a being on a movie set. Scanning my surroundings, I quickly became aware that I was certainly not in Alabama anymore. After fighting my way through a sea of people, being herded through the fiasco known as baggage claim, then being attacked by pseudo airport employees, somehow I had expected relief upon exiting the building. What I saw made me wish I had stayed inside. Children dressed in not much more than rags held their little hands through the holes in the chain link fence, hoping to be given something, anything to feed their hungry bellies. The cinder block wall across the street was a canvas for all manner of graffiti, and men leaned heavily on it as if one, the men or the wall, would be unable to stand otherwise. The porters who fancied themselves airport employees were arguing with one another over my bags in a language I did not understand, and I began to feel absolutely helpless and out of control. Once again expecting respite from what seemed like a strange dream, I boarded the bus which would take us to Petite Riviere, our final destination. I was wrong again. The drive through Port-au-Prince was surreal at best, a nightmare at worst. There were people everywhere in the streets, an occasional naked child running this way and that, buildings in shambles, trash piled high on what may have been sidewalks, goats and chickens roaming free, and vehicles everywhere competing for space on the road. When the bus finally reached the outskirts of the city and I thought that surely the worst was behind us, the tent cities came into view. Some were seemingly built on heaps of trash, some on hillsides, others in ditches alongside the road. They stretched as far as I could see and suddenly I was devastated. The emotion of the day began to have its way with me and I was ashamed of the name of that emotion. It was disgust. Absolute, total, outright disgust. I could not fathom why someone would want to come to this God-forsaken place to do anything. How was I going to spend an entire week here?
I did spend a week there and lived to tell about it. There is more to come. God is good!
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."
Proverbs 19:21
Friday, October 8, 2010
Our Trip to Haiti
By Sam Miller, age 13
We got to Haiti Saturday evening and the airport was crazy everyone trying to “help”. The ride over to Gonaives was extremely bumpy but I actually got some sleep. When we finally got to the house we went to bed. Sunday we went to church. I thought the church service was neat; I had never been in a church service that there was a translator. The church was definitely different than the churches here. It was a building with no windows and one room inside. After church I helped Raymond sort out pieces for the water filter. Monday we started sanding the pieces to the water filter and putting them together without gluing them. Tuesday we started to glue the pipes and pieces together. We started to put the system up on the wall, after that I went outside and played soccer with the kids. They were so much better than me that they were just going around me with the ball. Afterward I went out and helped do surveys around the school. The houses looked like mud huts but the people looked happy.
Wednesday we finished putting the trusses on the church in Souvenance. I was glad I got to help out as much as I could, carrying and lifting. Thursday we started and finished putting tin on the roof of the church, and put a small wooden cross on the church. We sang “Amazing Grace” with all the people who were there. On Friday we went to an orphanage that had 95 kids and gave out dolls to all of them. They had one meal a day sometimes none at all. They lived in dirt floor huts and they all looked happy. Afterward we went to Port au Prince and stayed in a house that was really nice especially for Haiti. On Saturday we went to the airport and flew to Miami and we ate the best food I had tasted all week, Chile’s. When we finally got to Atlanta we started driving home. When we got home I went to bed and slept like a rock.
I think Haiti is a terrible place with so much poverty and death. I would also like to go back because I enjoyed helping the people there. That was what I did in Haiti and what I thought.
We got to Haiti Saturday evening and the airport was crazy everyone trying to “help”. The ride over to Gonaives was extremely bumpy but I actually got some sleep. When we finally got to the house we went to bed. Sunday we went to church. I thought the church service was neat; I had never been in a church service that there was a translator. The church was definitely different than the churches here. It was a building with no windows and one room inside. After church I helped Raymond sort out pieces for the water filter. Monday we started sanding the pieces to the water filter and putting them together without gluing them. Tuesday we started to glue the pipes and pieces together. We started to put the system up on the wall, after that I went outside and played soccer with the kids. They were so much better than me that they were just going around me with the ball. Afterward I went out and helped do surveys around the school. The houses looked like mud huts but the people looked happy.
Wednesday we finished putting the trusses on the church in Souvenance. I was glad I got to help out as much as I could, carrying and lifting. Thursday we started and finished putting tin on the roof of the church, and put a small wooden cross on the church. We sang “Amazing Grace” with all the people who were there. On Friday we went to an orphanage that had 95 kids and gave out dolls to all of them. They had one meal a day sometimes none at all. They lived in dirt floor huts and they all looked happy. Afterward we went to Port au Prince and stayed in a house that was really nice especially for Haiti. On Saturday we went to the airport and flew to Miami and we ate the best food I had tasted all week, Chile’s. When we finally got to Atlanta we started driving home. When we got home I went to bed and slept like a rock.
I think Haiti is a terrible place with so much poverty and death. I would also like to go back because I enjoyed helping the people there. That was what I did in Haiti and what I thought.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Report from PAP Airport from Jeremy - Saturday, Oct 2
Wow, crazy week.
We're sitting in the PAP airport and I finally have a few minutes to collect my thoughts. Here's a quick update on our various projects for the week:
• church - the roof is finished thanks to a lot of help from the community. The dedication service was great. Mark preached a quick sermon(he had to use the bible on my iPhone, ha!) and then we prayed for the church leadership. As we prayed for them I was overwhelmed by the dedication to the gospel displayed by these men. For the last 6 years they have faithfully been plowing this land planting the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of the people of this community. I am not worthy to tie their shoes. Hopefully God will allow these men to continue to spread the gospel for many years to come.
• water system - we were not able to get the system fully operational due to some electrical problems with the generator. Elise is going to get a breaker box put in and then a local plumber is going to help him test it for leaks once it is pressurized. Elise said he would call me when it is working.
• hygiene/sanitation training - the ladies were able to share with the children Monday and Tuesday. They read the Jesus bible storybook and taught some personal hygiene lessons to them. In the afternoons they visited houses and were able to collect information for our health surveys. We still have to compile all of the information but the results confirm a lot of what we expected to find. Most people eat 1 time a day if they have food. Everyone has stomach problems and headaches which are common symptoms of water born diseases. Friday we had a class with all of the teachers at the school. It was very interactive and full of questions. After the class they were real careful about their drinks. It really made them confront things that the sort of knew but didn't apply them to real life. Some of them drink from the river. Some of them don't have latrines. These are things that are within their power to change. They think that they don't have the resources to do this themselves and is the attitude we are trying to change. We told them to start where they are, use what they have, and do what they can. Hopefully they will become passionate enough about their community's health to do something about it.
Voodoo temple - the main voodoo temple in Haiti is less than 1 mile from the church we were working on. As we passed by it each day I couldn't help but think about the people in bondage to this dark religion. I also thought about Paul when he went to the temple to the unknown god in Athens and presented the gospel to them. Thursday morning I paraphrased Paul's message so that I would be ready if we could get into the compound. After the dedication service we got Michelle(our truck driver) to drop us off at the temple. Kandy, Mallory, Jenny, Odny, and myself went up to the gate and the lady told us we could walk around and take pictures if we wanted to. There were children playing and 20 or so adults scattered around the compound. We walked around passing out copies of Finding Your Joy in Creole. Everyone wanted a copy and several people immediately started reading it. One teenage guy spoke English and asked me what religion we were apart of. Instead of answering I asked him what religion he was. He said he was Christian so I asked him why he was hanging out in front of a Voodoo temple. His replied that he was there because his mother was there. I asked him if he also worshiped Voodoo spirits. He said that he did. Then I asked him how he could be Christian and Voodoo at the same time. He had a puzzled look on his face and said, "I don't know". Before I could respond he said, "You mean you have to choose?" This was not something he had ever considered before today. I told him that yes he had to choose. He could not serve God and Voodoo at the same time. Then I told him that I had a message for them if they wanted to hear it. Everyone gathered up and Odny translated for me. What I said is below:
Men of Souvenance, I see that you are very religious. I see this great temple that you have built to honor all of the many spirits of Voodoo. Therefore you worship many spirits that you do not know. I am here to tell you of the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in a temple made by man. He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives life and breath and everything to all mankind. From one man He made all the peoples of the earth, and He determines the years of their lives and where they will live that all men should seek after God in the hope that they might blindly find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for "In Him we live and move and have our being." The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent because He has planned a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. This man is Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God. He lived a perfect life and died to pay the sin debt for every man who believes in Him. Therefore you must repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Throw down your Voodoo charms and call upon the name of the one true God. Cry out to God and leave this way of life behind.
They were fine with everything I said until the part about throwing down their voodoo charms came out. They erupted with anger screaming, "we will never do that!" A witch doctor argued with me for a few minutes and knew a lot of scripture, but never did have a point. We eventually made our way back out to the road and walked towards Elise's church. I don't know if there will be any fruit from that experience, but hopefully some of the people will reconsider their syncretism and turn to Christ.
I also want to write something about the orphanage, but that will have to come later. See you guys tomorrow.
We're sitting in the PAP airport and I finally have a few minutes to collect my thoughts. Here's a quick update on our various projects for the week:
• church - the roof is finished thanks to a lot of help from the community. The dedication service was great. Mark preached a quick sermon(he had to use the bible on my iPhone, ha!) and then we prayed for the church leadership. As we prayed for them I was overwhelmed by the dedication to the gospel displayed by these men. For the last 6 years they have faithfully been plowing this land planting the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of the people of this community. I am not worthy to tie their shoes. Hopefully God will allow these men to continue to spread the gospel for many years to come.
• water system - we were not able to get the system fully operational due to some electrical problems with the generator. Elise is going to get a breaker box put in and then a local plumber is going to help him test it for leaks once it is pressurized. Elise said he would call me when it is working.
• hygiene/sanitation training - the ladies were able to share with the children Monday and Tuesday. They read the Jesus bible storybook and taught some personal hygiene lessons to them. In the afternoons they visited houses and were able to collect information for our health surveys. We still have to compile all of the information but the results confirm a lot of what we expected to find. Most people eat 1 time a day if they have food. Everyone has stomach problems and headaches which are common symptoms of water born diseases. Friday we had a class with all of the teachers at the school. It was very interactive and full of questions. After the class they were real careful about their drinks. It really made them confront things that the sort of knew but didn't apply them to real life. Some of them drink from the river. Some of them don't have latrines. These are things that are within their power to change. They think that they don't have the resources to do this themselves and is the attitude we are trying to change. We told them to start where they are, use what they have, and do what they can. Hopefully they will become passionate enough about their community's health to do something about it.
Voodoo temple - the main voodoo temple in Haiti is less than 1 mile from the church we were working on. As we passed by it each day I couldn't help but think about the people in bondage to this dark religion. I also thought about Paul when he went to the temple to the unknown god in Athens and presented the gospel to them. Thursday morning I paraphrased Paul's message so that I would be ready if we could get into the compound. After the dedication service we got Michelle(our truck driver) to drop us off at the temple. Kandy, Mallory, Jenny, Odny, and myself went up to the gate and the lady told us we could walk around and take pictures if we wanted to. There were children playing and 20 or so adults scattered around the compound. We walked around passing out copies of Finding Your Joy in Creole. Everyone wanted a copy and several people immediately started reading it. One teenage guy spoke English and asked me what religion we were apart of. Instead of answering I asked him what religion he was. He said he was Christian so I asked him why he was hanging out in front of a Voodoo temple. His replied that he was there because his mother was there. I asked him if he also worshiped Voodoo spirits. He said that he did. Then I asked him how he could be Christian and Voodoo at the same time. He had a puzzled look on his face and said, "I don't know". Before I could respond he said, "You mean you have to choose?" This was not something he had ever considered before today. I told him that yes he had to choose. He could not serve God and Voodoo at the same time. Then I told him that I had a message for them if they wanted to hear it. Everyone gathered up and Odny translated for me. What I said is below:
Men of Souvenance, I see that you are very religious. I see this great temple that you have built to honor all of the many spirits of Voodoo. Therefore you worship many spirits that you do not know. I am here to tell you of the God who made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in a temple made by man. He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives life and breath and everything to all mankind. From one man He made all the peoples of the earth, and He determines the years of their lives and where they will live that all men should seek after God in the hope that they might blindly find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for "In Him we live and move and have our being." The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent because He has planned a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. This man is Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God. He lived a perfect life and died to pay the sin debt for every man who believes in Him. Therefore you must repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Throw down your Voodoo charms and call upon the name of the one true God. Cry out to God and leave this way of life behind.
They were fine with everything I said until the part about throwing down their voodoo charms came out. They erupted with anger screaming, "we will never do that!" A witch doctor argued with me for a few minutes and knew a lot of scripture, but never did have a point. We eventually made our way back out to the road and walked towards Elise's church. I don't know if there will be any fruit from that experience, but hopefully some of the people will reconsider their syncretism and turn to Christ.
I also want to write something about the orphanage, but that will have to come later. See you guys tomorrow.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday, Oct 1 - Final day of ministry in Haiti
From Jeremy and Kandy's FB postings from yesterday and today:
I believe the team is now headed back to Port-Au-Prince to prepare for their departure early tomorrow am.
Yesterday: Jeremy - Just preached paul's sermon from the temple in Athens at the voodoo temple in souvenance.
Yesterday: Kandy - Today's excitement: a visit at an orphanage and a debate in a voodoo temple.
Today: Kandy - Just visited another orphanage. Atrocious conditions, much worse than the other orphanage. Very emotional.
Today: Jeremy - Orphanage had 95 kids, mud huts, one meal per day. Kids slept in dirt or on a foam mat
Today: Jeremy - Sanitation class this morning, dist Judy dolls at orphanage. Headed back to PAP now.
I believe the team is now headed back to Port-Au-Prince to prepare for their departure early tomorrow am.
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