Haiti Day 6

Greetings From Haiti!
This morning started out

with a devotion from Jamie whichled the group into a wonderful discussion and brought some people to tears. Today the construction team was all over the place from cabinet making to painting to setting up scaffolding outside the building. Many of us had the chance to work outside today which is very apparent with red backs, faces and necks. The medical team saw 200 patients today, the most they have seen so far! Jessie and Sally came into their callings as doctors after giving shots of novicane and pulling teeth. Janet enjoyed rocking a young girl in a yellow sundress to sleep while people pulled her fathers teeth. A couple of our medical people switched to construction today which mixed things up a bit- bet they'll have sore arms tomorrow! After work both teams walked to the nearest tent city which was really neat. Soon after we arrived and played a few games with the kids we had a trail of children following us and jumping on us. We saw a woman with bad burns who one of the people medicated with burn cream. The kids loved playing with Jamie and Jessies long blond hair and at one point about 7 kids were crawling on Faison. For dinner we had a new tradition as of January 2011 that was a Haitian specialty- pumpkin soup with root vegetables and beef, it was delicious! We have all really enjoyed the week here and can't believe tomorrow is the last day of work. That's all from us here, see you all shortly! Love from Haiti!

Day 5

First of all the team would like to wish our favorite packer a happy birthday tomorrow. Jana we will sing happy birthday to you at dinner.
 Another warm and sunny day in Haiti. The construction team was able to start some painting today, sure beats sanding cement walls.  Except for Jessie and Katherine who sanded cabinets all morning with the electric sanding machines and were told by the boss man after lunch that they all needed to be redone. ah!!!!!!! So we got double the fun, singing and sanding to some good tunes- even John Benson was singing all day! The big boss men worked on the making the cabinets, while others finished painting four rooms.  There was a nice breeze throughout the day but I'm sure Jay would beg to differ.  The medical clinic saw 188 patients today, almost twice the number yesterday.  We gave medicine to a 96 year old woman, when we asked her what her secret was she said she was a servant of the Lord. We saw so many patients that the pharmacy would never have kept up had it not been for the young and quick Maddy, Jamie, and Steve.  Jamie spent his first day at the clinic and really enjoyed the 20 minute drive seeing some "very genuine country Haitian people".  The news was really spreading around town about pulling teeth because many people came in hoping to get rid of a few teeth.  The clinic finished work a little early today because of the election results being announced tonight, so some of the haitians wanted to get home early.  This afternoon we played some intensively competitive games of "spoons" where people got so rowdy that a finger nail broke and some body parts were bruised.  All is well and happy here, we can't believe the week is half way over.  We miss our family and friends and hope everything is great at home.  Farewell our friends!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 4

Today in the clinic, we had about the same amount of people yesterday. Fan Fan got all the Haitians to sing a beautiful hymn before it started. The baby named junior with the scabies infection looks much better today, he was much more alert. Sally was attempting to pull her first tooth and made a man pass out from her stunning beauty. He was administered an IV and was well cared for, and Kanyon decided to wait until tomorrow to pull the tooth. Kanyon also gave a root canal! Poor woman had to get dissolvable stitches. Towards the end, a few of the girls played with the children outside of the clinic and blew bubbles and handed out silly bands and balloons. All in all, it was a great, productive day. We saw God using us as tools to help the Haitians and make them feel better.
The construction team had a long day of sanding the walls for the orphanage Hope 2. Most of the walls are ready for us to start painting tomorrow. The woodworking team- Greg, John Stinson, and John Benson, Johnny Thomas- worked all day and night on the cabinets for the kitchen.
After work we walked down to Fan Fan's school, and he gave us a tour of their new 2nd floor construction and new property.  He told us all about how he got started and about his plans for the school's future.

After dinner, Tobi and Tim came over and told us about their fascinating path that landed them in Haiti.  

sanding the walls of hope 2

Day 3

Today, we had breakfast at 7:00. The medical team left around 7:30 and took about a half hour to get to the church where we were running the clinic. There were about 150 patients. All of which mostly complained of everyday aches and pains (worms, infections, colds..). Kanyon pulled about 10 teeth today and also referred some to get their wisdom teeth out. They let their wisdom teeth grow in without knowing what they are, and end up with terrible pain. Susie saw so many infants and children today. There was one baby named Junior that had a high fever and scabies. The infection had become septic. Susie gave him shots of antibiotics and lots of water (he was dehydrated, too). He is coming back tomorrow to get treated further. Lots of eyeglasses and rehydration packs were given out. It was evident to these patients that God was working through us. Everyone made sure to pray with their patients after they saw them. It was such a blessing to be able to work with these people who live with the daily aches and pains that life brings. 

The construction team was split into 3 groups this morning. Group one painted the window grates in Jeff and Jean's soon to be new apartment. Group two cleaned up and also sanded the walls and the ceiling in the new hope orphanage, we ran into a slight problem when the ceiling started to crack. The layers of stucco didn't adhere correctly, causing cracking that now needs more work for the week. Group three built cabinets. They made pretty good progress. They should be sold by home depot, under the name JJJ. Johnny Thomas, John Benson, and John Stinson. And tomorrow, more of the same! 

And the highlight of the day was most definitely Maddy's birthday! We had cake for dessert and sang at breakfast and after dinner. For her party, Sally, Steve, Kanyon and Faison accompanied Maddy on the trampoline. We played popcorn and did flips. We also played with the orphan girls.

Day 2

Greg was kidding about sunrise at 4:30, it was closer to 5:30. Great news for now Hot Water in the orphanage, but Greg said he could fix that. Greg Benson runs CSI in Haiti for our new readers. Our whole group of 28 took two trucks into Citie Soliel to attend church at one of Leon Dorleans churches. Much to our pleasure Leon was the preacher today along with a woman from Kentucky, joint sermon.
  After church we chatted with Leon and his wife Jackie about joining us for dinner one night this week. They will try but Leon has the head of Haiti Outreach Ministries coming to town and a big team coming that will take up most of his time. I really hope he can make it. After church Fan Fan took us for a tour through the city. Very disturbing, not much had been done...the palace was a mess and there were tent cities everywhere.  We saw where Dr. Kanyon Keeney slept on top of the police headquarters after the earthquake.  Downtown was clean but there was still a lot of destruction; we saw the Catholic and Episcopal churches completely destroyed.  The newbies were slightly taken aback when Fan Fan drove us through the river to get home.  Fan Fan is a haitian native who works with CSI and built an elementary school here. We walked down and saw the ten houses that CSI had built for its workers, we saw Vilnor and Remy-the two Haitian workers we work with regularly and  will be for the rest of the week.   Greg gave us a tour of Hope 2, the new orphanage. The medical team will be mobile this week, they're going to Dumae tomorrow. Construction will be building kitchen cabinets, painting Jeff and Jean's apartment, cleaning, and sanding walls.  We are ready for a busy week.

Now from the eyes of our youth...We really enjoyed the lively spirit present in the church and the beautiful singing.  Their strong faith is so evident. We've loved interacting with the kids, as much as possible... They love to have their pictures taken.

 Sally on the trampoline with a few of the girls from the orphanage below us.

 Pastor Leon at Citie Soliel church.

Steve playing with some kids outside of the church

That's all for now. Orevwa.

P.S. - Dwayne, Greg didn't get doughnuts OR pecan pie...thanks for reminding him.

Day 1 Haiti Trip

The following team members arrived safely in Port-au-Prince today: 

Faison Cochrane

Susie Flowers

Sharon Franklin

Katherine Hetzer

Stuart Holt

Steve Holt

Maddy Keeney

Kanyon Keeney

Mitch Leon

Courtney Ludeman

Doug Ludeman

Sally Ludeman

Marci Meeks

Tom Meeks

Jay Patton

Steve Powelson

Cullen Rivers

Giles Robertson

Rubyjane Robertson

Jamie, Janet, Jessie Sauer

Georgia Seely

John Stinson

John Thomas

Dana White

Donna Zocco

Stephanie Zocco

It was an early morning, but we arrived to a great dinner and meeting.  The group is very enthusiastic to start working on Monday. We are attending church tomorrow at Cite de Solie with Pastor Leon Dorleans. Time to go to bed, up at 4:30, according to Greg.....which means 6 we hope. Until tomorrow, bon nuit.

From, Croix des Bouquets

Tom Meeks wondering where Marci is as we load the cages.

T Minus 12 Hours

This is what Jana & Jeff packed.

The Facts

• Bus leaves at 4 a.m. 1/29/11
• Everything has been officially weighed on an UPS scale and each bag is under 50 pounds (for now). 
• We have two items left with no place to put them.
• Can't decide whether to leave Doritos or the tile spacers for Greg
• Hope the Medical team's bags don't weigh as much as ours do

Special thanks to Ferdie Baruch for putting the trip together and to Jana Thomas for buying and packing everything. We will miss you two on this trip.

This is the first posting of many and hopefully next time someone more qualified will be filling it out.