Over the course of twenty days in the month of February, our world race teams were in Haiti. We were spread throughout the country, some in lush green areas, others in farmlands, still somewhat green, while Tikvah and Luminous were paired together in the dust. We were located in an area called Gonaives in the northern part of Haiti. This area has been through a lot with the destruction of hurricanes over the years, although we were not directly involved in hurricane relief. Our two teams partnered together to help a local pastor (Pastor Woodman) and his people build an orphanage and church. We also helped add on to two “houses of hope” near the orphanage we were living at.
We lived at a clinic, located in a compound including a church building, a school, and an orphanage (all basic concrete buildings). Our breakfast and lunch were taken care of for us everyday buy several ladies that worked with the pastor. They were an incredible blessing and we had a lot of laughs with them over the few weeks we were with them.
Our first work site was located at the pastor’s church and home, a 15 minute car ride (pile into the back of a truck) from our clinic. We would go in the morning, eat our breakfast there, and begin working. Our first job was to build a foundation for a small orphanage, which was an area the length of the church building and about 7 or 8 feet wide (it was only 3 rooms). When we first got arrived there was nothing except for large piles of rocks waiting for us, which, with much sweat and soreness and some blood, we moved to make a nice base level for the foundation. We filled that in with smaller rocks and dirt, abusing a couple wheel barrels in the process. Eventually we packed that down hard and poured cement over the top of it (there were masons there doing the fine tuning). The church building is under construction as well and us guys got to help lift huge triangle tresses that would form the supports for the roof. Each one took about 8 guys to lift, and we saw one guy almost get caught underneath it when one fell (close call). We attributed the drop to a couple workers who didn’t quite have their technique down, which we thought was rather humorous. It was hard work, we had sore arms and backs, and some sweaty clothing, but it helped solidify our friendships.
That was our first week and a half, and our second was a little different. We woke up, had our breakfast (which they delivered to us each morning), and went outside for work. The work was simply providing the actual workers with cement, cement blocks, and water. It only took 4 or 5 of us to do this, so there wasn’t a whole lot of work to go around, but we tried to spend our other time with the kids that lived at the orphanage, which numbered about 250, or spend some quiet time resting back at the clinic.
We did not get to leave very often, and most of the time we spent in the city was in order to drive from our clinic to the pastor’s house. Although Haiti is considred a rather dangerous place, and there is a strong presence of voodoo and satanic worship, we felt safe most of the time. We were protected and provided for very well over those three weeks, and we thank the Lord for that. In an area where witchcraft and voodoo were prevalent it is a blessing to feel safe and taken care of.
more to come…
