Tuesday, September 28, 2010
There and back again...
I'll never forget yesterday. We climbed up a mountain road to do some work at Mountain Top Ministries. For two reasons, really. Our leader's back is in a lot of pain, and I'm deathly afraid of that drive :-). So Pam and I got out of the truck, and everyone but 3 guys got out with us. Great leg workout. All the locals were passing us pretty easily, and smiling and laughing in many cases. I'll share the end of our mountain journey, then tell you what we did up there. We walked down the mountain and it started to rain. I don't know how to explain how steep these roads were, and mixed together with the rain, and one sharp turn in particular, it freaks me out to think about riding down the mountains in the rain. However, I'd trade it for walking down the mountain. We were warned by one of our pastors that you will use muscles you don't normally use. True, and I was looking forward to that. A good workout is a good thing. However, what I did not anticipate is that the shoes I bought specifically for this trip (rather, that Jill bought) were like snow skis down a mountain. There was no traction. At one point I started walking, then got to jogging, and was nearly in a full sprint when I just had to throw myself to the ground. I was like a runaway train. Just a few tiny cuts and bruises, though. I was one of the first down, so I yelled to warn the others about this particular steep hill. Only a few fell. There's not a lot of grass to walk on, mostly large weeds. It was sort of comical. Some fell multiple times. A boy was carrying bananas and passed some of our people, then set the bananas down and sat to watch the comedy take place before his eyes. Great stories to tell his friends, I'm sure.
The truck waited for us at that bottom of the mountain, which used to be a river. We then drive to the less steep mountain to get back to our place. It's pouring rain at this point. We're in the back of an incredibly bumpy ride, and the truck sounds like it's about done for. The jostling was amazing. We positioned ourselves with our backs against one another and our feet against the short wall of the truck. It was a natural shock absorber, but still, you can't fully combat this jostle. INTENSE. And what made it even more fun was that the road had become like rocky road ice cream. Which totally makes sense to me, now. Like light brown chocolate. And it was a STRUGGLE to get that truck up the hill. We made it, yay.
So, the mountain. Our house did not get built. We are confident the man will get a home. What did happen was a bit of an exercise in doing what you are told. We moved rocks from one side of a land plot to another. Well, we also pick axed the ground, and shoveled down a few feet to get large rocks. There's FB pics if we're FB friends. LOTS of rocks.
After climbing a mountain, and hauling huge rocks, we were spent. We went back to our lodge, which I explained earlier that we walked down the mountain. Fun times. So we were drenched. I have limited clothes after AA lost my luggage. See earlier post. So I washed all of my clothes in the shower. See previous post.
Last night we had a lot of fun. Some were keeping up on the Bears v. Pack game. Yah Bears (acting like I care). But we played spoons. I won't go into a whole lot of detail, a lot of those "You had to be there moments," but I forgot how fun spoons is.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Cleaning and Poverty
Well, today I washed clothes in the shower. I've never done that before. A shower isn't really the word for it. Run the water, and use a small pitcher to rinse yourself. That's more like it. I was perfectly able. It wasn't that bad, honestly. My clothes still aren't dry, I hope they are when I wake up. It's been all day. It's not been a hot day, though, and it poured earlier. We shall see, I suppose.
While I was washing I kept thinking of how grateful I am to have a washer, though. I washed about 5 articles of clothing, and it did take a while. And they still have a good bit of dirt in them. They're way less oily, though. I guess I produce a good chunk of body oil. Anyways, while I'm washing I'm just thinking about our washer at home. And thinking about how I'm always thinking about how awesome it would be to have a front loader washer and dryer. I suppose I'm less worried about that now. Especially since I saw a woman bathing and washing her clothes in the stream today. In Haiti, you just don't care about all that American decency. Well, because you can't. It's not really a choice. The pastor that we're with said a good truth last night, "The definition of poverty is when you don't have a choice." I hope I never forget the plight of these people, and that I can be open to God's will for me to do something about poverty somewhere.
Yesterday as we walked through the tent cities it felt like we were in a movie. Someone made mention of hitting the pause button to go grab a snack. I really resonated with that comment, it didn't feel real at all. I don't know why. I've not been hit super emotionally yet, but a lot of our team has. Lot of crying yesterday. Mostly all of us not knowing how to process what we saw. Not sure how many know this, but as our plane arrived, the minute we got off the plane, the country experienced an intense tropical storm called Matthew. At least that's what the pilot said it was called. So I hear that 5 people died. Those with access to CNN and regular news probably are more in the know than we are. I mention that because the tent cities were having a difficult time, and many tents were destroyed. There was tons of mud everywhere. Apparently there's just been a lot of rain lately.
So I don't know what we're going to do about all of this when we get home. Lots to process. Later this week we hand out 100 backpacks filled with water purification systems that are just so fantastic. I really want one to showcase to people as they visit our home, and all. It's smaller than what I thought it would be. Like a thermos, or something. But it's a neat little device, and we're going to drink the worst water in Haiti, filtered of course, to show that we believe in the filtering capabilities of these devices. I'm sure somehow we'll still get sick. We're not supposed to dring any water here. Glad this will be towards the end of our trip, where we have the benefit of American doctors.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
A land dispute
We had planned today to begin digging the foundation for a man's home. The man recently died during surgery and was revived at Mountain Top Ministries. There are over 22,000 people on file there, by the way. This man was one of them, and doctors saved his life. We don't know the story other than that.
This man has no home. He is pretty excited about this home provided by our donors and Mountain Top, but as we began to dig today, almost as soon as we started, came a 3 hour yelling debate and a LOT of people. For the entire 3 hours we had no clue what was going on. Specifically, because people who speak Creole speak incredibly quickly, and we are ignorant to their language except for a few key words. Like Bonjour, Bonsoir, and Bonnuit. Except, we never have to tell the locals good night because we're never out at night. Safety first :). Anyways, we prayed during their dispute, without making it look like we were gathered to do so. We didn't really know what boundaries to be cautious of. The people were yelling down at us in what I perceived to be threats. I kept watching as more and more people were walking over to be a part of this dispute, and I kept getting a bit nervous. Nothing violent ever happened. I'm glad for that. We just sat there. Stood there. Walked around scratching our heads. Then we started to give some of our snacks to the kids. They were very grateful. And incredibly generous with one another. This was no mad dash.
We did a lot of walking and playing with the kids and walking around Mountain Top Ministries. The place is incredible, by the way. The locals really take ownership of this place. The owner, Willem, made a small fortune translating for CNN during Haiti's civil war. He invested wisely, and has used his money to give back amazing things to the people of Haiti. He has a lot of respect around these parts. He's an incredibly wise man. I only have this against you Mountain Top Ministries, why do you have to be so high up on the mountain? What an amazingly terrifying truck ride. I'll be honest, I positioned myself to jump off the back of the truck in the event we went over the mountain. On our drive to Chicago, I was asked if I was nervous at all. I said something like "Not really, I'll be totally fine as long as there's none of those crazy mountain rides where you are almost falling off the side of the mountain the entire way up." I was serious, and assuming the fear I overcame in California would not have to be matched and raised. I was wrong. It was a death defying stunt. A doctor, not knowing my fear, said "There was a truck that went over earlier this year. Such a shame. A ten year old boy lost his life." It is a shame. And I don't want to keep making this drive. But I'm going to. Tomorrow is church, and a day of rest. So we make the drive up the mountain tomorrow. It's incredibly steep. I'll probably position myself like a coward again, standing and ready to jump off the side.
Friday, September 24, 2010
A brief offering
I lost my luggage today. I'm telling you this guy had it out for me.
"Sir, can your luggage fit the measurement bars?" Or whatever he said.
"No." I said. As I looked at everyone else's carry on, that could also not have fit on that thing.
The guy took my luggage and didn't ask if I had a connecting flight. I was about on the plane when someone told me I should tell them. Through a walkie talkie call, a baggage guy coming from outside, and right in the nick of time, I was assured my luggage would make it. But it didn't.
I kept telling people it wouldn't. They assured me it would, I just needed to have a little faith in this whole system. American Airlines totally bummed me out today.
We drove for 2.5 hours up the mountain, and I've never seen driving like this. People almost died several times. Yet no one flinched. No white or yellow lines, no nothing. This whole time, I'm just sulking. Thinking about telling our leader that I'm not at a place to lead our bible study on Thursday. I just wanted to go home and be with my wife and dog, and play a bit of Halo Reach.
These thoughts are hard to take seriously, and you just sorta realize you're a joke as you look at poverty all around. The reminder that 430,000 people lost their lives in the quake. All these people walking around know someone, possibly family members who lost their lives. They're living in tent cities now. We saw them throughout the entire 2.5 hour drive. The mud flowed all over from the hard rain. The tents were blown over, freshly, from the tropical storm Matthew. Glad I have the option to not stay in a tent. Actually, I never opt for the opportunity to get in one. And I'm not staying in one while we're in Haiti. I talked to a woman today as I botched the Creole in the convo, and she talked to someone else. She lost her husband, home, and business in one day. We saw her at the airport. But I lost my luggage. So. I don't think she knows what I'm going through, you know? I mean, underwear after 9 days is... itchy.
The good thing, though, I don't even have to worry about that. I'm so thankful for the people I'm on this trip with. I was given 3 NEW CRISP FRESH pair of undies, a new pair of shorts, 3 shirts, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and another pair of shorts. It's nice to not have to worry about your needs. I don't have my tuna salad packs and other things that I thought were essential, but through my friends, I've "Happened upon an essentials kit!"
http://comedians.jokes.com/brian-regan/videos/brian-regan---lost-baggage
"Sir, can your luggage fit the measurement bars?" Or whatever he said.
"No." I said. As I looked at everyone else's carry on, that could also not have fit on that thing.
The guy took my luggage and didn't ask if I had a connecting flight. I was about on the plane when someone told me I should tell them. Through a walkie talkie call, a baggage guy coming from outside, and right in the nick of time, I was assured my luggage would make it. But it didn't.
I kept telling people it wouldn't. They assured me it would, I just needed to have a little faith in this whole system. American Airlines totally bummed me out today.
We drove for 2.5 hours up the mountain, and I've never seen driving like this. People almost died several times. Yet no one flinched. No white or yellow lines, no nothing. This whole time, I'm just sulking. Thinking about telling our leader that I'm not at a place to lead our bible study on Thursday. I just wanted to go home and be with my wife and dog, and play a bit of Halo Reach.
These thoughts are hard to take seriously, and you just sorta realize you're a joke as you look at poverty all around. The reminder that 430,000 people lost their lives in the quake. All these people walking around know someone, possibly family members who lost their lives. They're living in tent cities now. We saw them throughout the entire 2.5 hour drive. The mud flowed all over from the hard rain. The tents were blown over, freshly, from the tropical storm Matthew. Glad I have the option to not stay in a tent. Actually, I never opt for the opportunity to get in one. And I'm not staying in one while we're in Haiti. I talked to a woman today as I botched the Creole in the convo, and she talked to someone else. She lost her husband, home, and business in one day. We saw her at the airport. But I lost my luggage. So. I don't think she knows what I'm going through, you know? I mean, underwear after 9 days is... itchy.
The good thing, though, I don't even have to worry about that. I'm so thankful for the people I'm on this trip with. I was given 3 NEW CRISP FRESH pair of undies, a new pair of shorts, 3 shirts, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and another pair of shorts. It's nice to not have to worry about your needs. I don't have my tuna salad packs and other things that I thought were essential, but through my friends, I've "Happened upon an essentials kit!"
http://comedians.jokes.com/brian-regan/videos/brian-regan---lost-baggage
