Haiti

Our team

I have been waiting for a week to try to bring some clarity and words to our experience but I am still having a hard time... so here are some of the pictures we took and a few of our experiences...

arriving at the airport to faces of desperation..not waiting for anyone in particular but for anyone who can give them anything...

a street in Port-au-Prince

the streets are lined with people selling stuff but no one is buying anything...

signs of the earthquake and devastation are everywhere

tent cities fill the city and provide shelter for some of those who lost their homes

we arrived at the orphanage where 70 beautiful children live

the older ones take care of the younger ones

Kelly connected with Berson, a young man (21 years old) who became a believer in February. Now he has started a Bible Club (he has gathered many of the kids in the area) and they meet every week. Kelly went and spoke to them and had a really encouraging time.

the house where all the girls live

the house where all the boys live

Jean-Mark was looking intently at the ground so i went over to see what he was looking at. I eventually realized that he had planted some seeds in the ground. i started helping him clear the rocks out of the way and make a little "bed" for the seeds (look closely at the bottom left corner of the picture). He took a picture that day and then a few days later he took another picture...

we met every day to water them and take care of them. He was very proud of his little plants and I was very proud of him!!!

the boys were thrilled to have a picture taken in the bus

this is a school house. we arrived to all of the kids clearing out of it so we could set up our medical clinic for the afternoon.

Here is Doctor Jefferson and Kelly, his right hand man! These two were quite the pair- it was really neat to watch them work together!

some of the kids from the school

Kelly playing soccer at the orphanage
this is where we all slept (the rooster's and dogs were quite the symphony throughout the night..)

kids we saw while driving around

this was the 3rd medical clinic we put on at a nearby church. we ended up seeing about 500 people who received treatment and got medications. We also had a dentist doing extractions and fillings.

we drove through Port-au-Prince and this is the government building (Palace) where the President used to live.
looking down a main street (most of the streets were much narrower and busier).
we walked past this man (who was blind) and his son. he was singing about the earthquake and how Haiti would never forget.
The priest of this catholic church died in the earthquake.
this man was chipping away at the rubble of what used to be his home. many people are still looking for loved ones.

I got to know Michaelange throughout the week and she is such a loving person. She was cooking for us all week and I learned lots from her!
here are some of the kids when they got home from school
we played "keep away" games and the girls did lots of braids in my hair but they never stayed in because we didn't have elastics!

our team spent half a day measuring and bagging rice and beans. 200 people from the surrounding communities came on the second last day that we were there to receive some food and water.

...lining up for food

The people we met were so resilient, strong, talented, loving, positive, and faith-filled despite their circumstances- we are so thankful to have shared a bit of their lives!