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Photos from Haiti, Oct 31, 2010

Sunday in Haiti

Church was about 40 minutes away from the guest house.  We rode in a "tap-tap" to the church.  The one that the Methodist compound uses is all white, covered in back with wire mesh on the upper half of the walls.  Benches run down each side on the inside, and they are nicely padded.  We were more or less locked inside, and if you can picture a big white paddy wagon, then you've got a good idea of what it looks like.  The streets are full of other tap-taps, so-called because the scores of people riding in them tap on the sides when they want it to stop so they can get out.  We were out of the sun, yet exposed to the wind while moving, so the temperature was nice back there.  But, it was very bumpy and the wire mesh made it impossible to get a good picture.  So we took a lot of wiry pictures.

Church was in a suburb of Carrefour called Thor. The destruction of homes and buildings along the way was very sobering.  It has been nine months since the earthquake, yet the visible destruction is everywhere.  It is sort of numbing to see large homes crumbled flat, piles of rubble along every street, and thousands (millions?) of people living in scattered tents and canvas tarp “homes”. The previous city parks are all packed with tent cities. Sidewalks are packed with tiny food and business stalls between a dirt wall or building and the street edge. Everyone seems to be honking at the same time.  Diesel fumes and other air pollution is truly awful.  A couple of us wore masks while traveling.  Life looks very hard.  People were working very hard selling and hauling things, shopping and walking somewhere.  Pigs wandered in some places, cattle or goats in others.

We spent about 2.5 hours at church, not really understanding any of it in Creole.  But it was clear that we were welcome and people were very nice to us.  Across from the front door of the church is a huge collapsed building or home.  I’ll post a photo of it.  Then we visited our work site to see where we’ll be working.  After that, we stopped at a large bakery/fast food kind of place and ate burgers and soda.  Then we passed by the collapsing presidential palace before stopping to visit the 40 or so orphans at the Methodist orphanage.  This afternoon (Sunday) we are getting organized and settling in.  Most of us are a bit numb, having seen plenty of earthquake destruction and human misery – more than enough in fact.  It will be interesting to see how our feelings evolve as we continue to build relationships here.

There are rumors of a hurricane coming on Thursday or Friday.  It may very well derail our departure plans for Saturday.  Oh well, I’ll let God worry about that for now.

We arrived safely!

Boy is it hot!  But, we seven are all here, safe and sound at the guest house in Petionville.  The three of us who flew out of Helena had no luggage arrive with our flight, but everybody else is OK.  The rest may arrive on a flight this afternoon.

The five of us who flew together from Salt Lake City to Atlanta and then on to Miami had a few problems last night.  Our plane in Atlanta aborted the take-off while accelerating down the runway.  Apparently there were warning lights on in the cockpit. We had to return to the terminal and change planes.  That meant a considerable delay, so we got in to Miami at about 1:15 and to the hotel at about 2:30 am.  Our shuttle for the airport left at 7 am, so it was a very short night.

For me, I can see that I'm going to have trouble dealing with beggars.  They are everywhere, clearly very needy, and not shy about asking for help.  I have great difficulty not giving a lot to each and every one of them.  I know that these very poor people deserve my help, and that I'm supposed to help them.  But I don't have enough for all.  There must be a way for me to figure this out.

Don Skillman

Cholera in Haiti

One week before our arrival, and an epidemic of cholera is breaking out in Haiti.  On 23 October, there were 2,564 cases with 194 deaths.  This ought to be interesting, and challenging.  So far, the disease is centered a long way from our projected work-site in Carrefour.  Maybe we'll get to help anyway.  If cholera is not stomped out quickly in Haiti, this will become an epic disaster.  I've tried to reassure the team that we'll be safe and that I know how to protect them.  But, this epidemic has raised our anxiety level substantially.

Commissioning Ceremony, Helena

Today, there was a very nice commissioning for the three of us from St Paul's UMC in Helena:  myself, Debbie Irby, and Phil Campbell.

I have already been getting donated bags of acetaminophen and  vitamins from church members.  A patient gave me a bag full of his knee braces, all in very good condition.  And I have several large boxes of sterile gloves to leave behind (and hopefully not require for personal use) in Haiti.

Our day of departure is coming soon!

Since I'm old and inexperienced at blogging...I want to see if this actually works. As we narrow the time for leaving, I am rapidly reading about and viewing Haiti information sites. The rubble and devastation seems so great, I only pray that we may all do our little part to put this section of God's kingdom back together!! To those on this blog, I have posted it to my facebook site!! sueb

Howdy! This blog will be related to the UMVIM Mission trip to Haiti from the Yellowstone Conference.

We're traveling on 29 October to Miami, and will arrive the next day in Haiti. On 6 November we'll leave Haiti, and will spend that night in Miami before heading home. It's not that we're totally in love with Miami Beach. We simply can't get to Miami from Haiti at a time that will permit us to continue our journey home on the same day.

The plan for Haiti (so far) is that we'll be working on construction of a Pastor's home and potential new UMVIM Guesthouse in Carrefour. Our motto is "Semper Gumby", so we're prepared to cheerfully modify our plans after arrival.