Last day- Jasmine

Very last day so we gave it every iota of energy left. The fields almost done! on the expense of all our sore bodies. Dinner was delic as always, gotta love Pastor Pierre's wife. Spend some more quality time with the kids on the swings today. I'm short of words right now.. there is so much that I feel for all this hospitality, the kids, the community, their innate integrity.. there is so much to this mission and the Haitian culture that I've fallen in love with.. I couldn't possibly put it all down in words.

Tommorrow, after church, we say goodbye. .

saturday

gavin i should have taken your advice...

Sixth Day - Tom Fraser

Who's tired!? We are. Finished the basketball court today. It was the most epic extended single concrete pour I have ever been a part of. Hopefully also the last, but that's ok. We went hard from 7am till 6pm, taking breaks in shifts and running through more than a few dump truck loads of sand and rock. Everyone pitched in pretty well though, and we got way more done that I would have originally thought possible. We also secured and stood the baskedball hoop (at slightly under regulation height) so we should be able to get a group photo on it tomorrow, complete and ready for some b-ball.

Also got in a bit of frisbee, a early morning hike, and a viewing of a sun halo, which was sweeeet. (see photos) We are all excited for tomorrow and some resort relaxation, but again, I can't believe the week is almost over. Crazy times, will be weird not to wake up at 5:30 every morning to a beautiful sunrise and chickens crowing. Anywho, likely won't have computer access tomorrow night at the resort so this should be the last set of posts from Haiti until we hit stateside again! Then look for a greater photo set, and hopefully a video as well. Woowooo!

Tom

Day 5- Jasmine

This was the funnest day ever! Started with a trip to the market which was just absolutely mad busy. Pretty sure we got ripped off but totally worth it. We came back to taking some classes with the kids!! The high point of this whole trip. It was madness all over again. We kicked it off with a camp song, handed out all the stationary goodies, some drawings, some quizes, tattooes ( that Lynn was lovely enough to give us), man.. sheer madness I tell you. With Roland and Dennis's help, also managed to get individual portraits of about 60 of them with their names! Red Swing Project ( redswingproject.org) found its way here too today. The kids were SO happy.. It was quite fulfilling. All of it. Not sure I'm ready to leave yet.. This trip just gets exponentially better every othor day.. Gnitey Gnite

Fifth Day - Michael Noonan

Michael Noonan

So you've probably already heard, but we got to teach a little bit at the school today. A church full of kids from 5 years old probably all the way up to 15. Two of the most intense hours of my life. First off, a big thank you to Tom and Kristen for stepping up with the "Party" song. I was proud to represent the "Y". After that, I had a power drawing lesson as I drew cornstalks and soccer balls for a small army of kids. After that, I read Aladdin to a small group of kids and learned that the original Aladdin took place in China and had a ring genie as well as a lamp genie. Then after our second soccer game of the week I took an amazing shower to once again remove the dirt-black sock line I acquire every day. It's been another amazing day and I am ready to just unwind before bed. Love everyone back home. Mike

Fifth Day - Kristen O

since everyone else has done a more than sufficient job with play by play action at the mission, i'll just fill you in on my personal condition.  mentally - happier every day -- i seem to see less of what these people don't have, and more of what they do.  physically - my feet have never looked worse, but i'm thoroughly excited for them to turn into natural moccasins, i have "scabbies" (kruse) on my ankles, and i drank so much white grape juice so fast today when we got in that i have no room for my malaria pill.  if i come down with it, hopefully it gives me a cool scar somewhere. wishful thinking. ok. byeeeeee.

Fifth Day - Tom Fraser

Hello all!

So today was slightly different than initially planned,  but it worked out quite well in the end. Our 6am pour time turned into framing for the next pour and moving a swingset, but that was the last concrete work we did for the day due to other ongoing projects around the mission. We then grabbed breakfast and worked on the ground around the play area, clearing dhrubs, weeding, and grading the earth. After it got so hot we couldn't really do much more, we went into the chapel to do some activities with the kids, and Kristen and I led them in a rousing rendition of the P-A-R-T-Y song (thank you Camp Adventure!) Then some drawing, paper airplane lessons, and a whole ton of temporary tattoos (thank you CoD).

Lunch was followed by the hottest nap I've ever taken on the floor of our room and then some jumprope, frisbee and a game of soccer, or football, depending on where you are from. I decided to play barefoot as about half the kids do everything in bare feet, and it was interesting to say the least. No major injuries though, especially for those of you that know me well. No blood even. I should step up I guess. Dinner was some of the greatest lasagna I've ever had, and some more delicious rice and avacado, amongst other things. Didn't shoot much today as I was in the heat of the action most of the time, but here's a decent sampling. Can't believe we only have 1 more workday left. Time flies when you're busting @ss, I suppose.

Peace.

Tom

Senor Vander

Ok, I was MIA last night but I'm back...

Still have poison ivy, though it doesnt itch as much. However, I forgot my emergency pills at home, and that was very unfortunate. Other than that, it was a more relaxing day today. The concrete crew decided to take an early weekend I guess so waking up at 5:30 to start pouring at 6 proved usless. So after doing some random jobs all morning, we decided to have an afternoon with the kids. Paper airplanes, national geographics, and temporary tatoos were hands down the favorite activities. Those kids wore us out! after our time with the kids we all passed out on the floor of our rooms for about an hour or two. Later we went back out, painted the basketball hoop, put up some swings, and played frisbee and soccer on the field. Dinner was looked delicious thooouuugh I played it safe and didnt eat much tonight...

Got to talk to Hope today! Thanks for the comments.
Tomorrow is our last day at this mission.

God bless,
Mike (Senor Vander)

Fifth Day - Jason Kruse

What did Jason learn today?

-Now I know why I am not becoming a teacher
-Haiti time is not the same as US time
-Haitian food is legit
-Paper planes were a bad idea
-so were tattoos
-Haitians can ball...
-the sports complex is turning into the Haitian Olympic training facility
-im still kickin'
-I don't ever want what is on half our teams legs (scabbies?)

Third/Fourth Day - Jasmine

So yesterday was the longest yet most productive day ever! Danette, Nadia and I set off for PP with Pastor Pierre at 6. After a 4 hours of the bumpy and eventful ride, that involved passing the occasional markets in towns by National Highway -swaped with people, chickens, dogs, products and almost everything you can think of, we arrived at PP. I have to admit, that it did make us a bit nervous to slow down the Range Rover when we'd transit through the open markets in PP. There are no words that could do justice to the dynamics of the streets of PP.


The objective was to touch base with as many contacts as we could till about 3 PM and then head back. Thanks to Danette and her spiderweb of contact network in NY. The first one of the list was Yves, a Haitian architect who grew up in NY and has now been in Haiti for 5 yrs, started his own architecture and construction company. Here's some more info on him- http://archrecord.construction.com/news/haiti/100526yves_francois-1.asp. He is currently partnering with Technologists INC, a design build construction company operating in Afghanistan with USAID and Army Core of Engineers. The company provided jobs to 5000 local labours and 1000 local professionals and is making great investments in the local economy. Since, their Executive Director was visiting town, we had to oppertunity to meet with him. The meeting involved discussions about our project and the logistics of building with containers. Yves mentioned getting a shipping container from an NGO, like UN (where they just use them as fences) might be a good idea. After discussing a few details, some of which included equipment availability/ insulation, Yves took us out for a delicious Haitian lunch. He was also gracious enough to take us to the AFH headquarters thereafter. We met with a few graduate students from Univ of Cincinati and WashU. A few other practicing professional from Ireland. They were all working on school projects. (There's more info of all that on the AFH website if you're interested.) Next was Florentino Latortue, a former state secretary and relative of Gerard Tourtue that came to power as the PM after Arstide. We met him at his office and he told us about his reflied efforts for the people fleeting from Haiti and setting up emergency tents in the mountains. He initially provided them with food and water but when the numbers kept increasing from 5000 to what it is now, they had to stop. Later he we took a drive through tent cities in the mountaines that were put up by refugees. (However PP, post earthquake has more people than ever, from all over Haiti, in the hopes of recieving aid.) These tents were put up by the UN and OXFAM with public toilets and water on the left side of the road. This locally is refered to as Heavan. The refugees that kept flooding in and did not recieve any accomodation build tents out of burlap, corrogated metal and other materials, are living in whats referred by the locals as hell. There are over 150, 000 tents on the mountains. The shocking news is that the tents are around and some are in a dried river bed which is soon to flood since the rainy season is also here. Some efforts were being made to make some canals to reduce the flow of water but I doubt that will really solve the problem..

The ride on our way back was mostly silent. We were just taking it all in.. There is much to be done. But at the very least, we have a start.

-- Jasmine

Fourth Day - Tom Fraser

Hey all! Going to be a short update today...we are all dog tired and have a very early morning ahead of us. Finished a full strip of concrete today and sunk in the first swingset, and all suceeded in getting some degree of sunburn to add to our...poison ivy rashes!!! After 3/4 of us realized we all had the same itchy, clustered red rash on our legs (and a couple on our arms) we came to the conclusion that we trompted through some of that wonderful plant (or one of it's cousins) when we went to hack down some coconuts. Not the end of the world, but slightly annoying none the less. It had little effect though on the the work ethic of the team and we cranked out some concrete and are aiming to do even more tomorrow, starting at 6 am. So a early night to bed, and rising with the sun to bust some more manual labor out. Until tomorrow, friends and followers.

Tom

Michael Noonan Wednesday

Hello Earth.  First of all I just want to say hello to all my friends and family back in the states.  I love you all and can't wait to see you again.  Second, I'm not sure what everyone else is writing about, but I'd like to take a moment to just say that the meal Pastor Pierre's wife made tonight was amazing.  We finally got to eat some Haitian food: goat meat, tomatoes and avocadoes, mangos, watermelon, and the infamous rice and beans.  It was delicious.  Also fried plantains.  Yum.  Tomorrow we will have coffee and cereal as always then do some more work.

MVP - The Purchase

Today we did some serious shopping in Gonaives. First we looked at containers. The guys we were working with "tenatively" have 4 reserved for us as of right now, and the mission is ready to purchase them as soon as the bargaining goes through. (thats great news!) Next we went to buy some needed supplies for the concrete work on the basketball court, swingset, and soccer field. We purchased 4 shovels and a hoe head from the hardware store. (the hoe head served as a personal comfort for jason as he walked though the market) Next we made our way to a store with a hole in the back wall were old tools were stored. Here we found wobbley rake. Next we made our way through the market to find some empty 5 gallon buckets for concrete. We finally found a stand, but they did not take US dollars so we had to exchange money on the street (sketchy kinda). Once we got that out of the way though, I was set with about $500 goods** which I had no idea what kind of value it held. The buckets were about 30 goods and we stopped on the way back to buy water for everyone ($120 goods) so now I'm sitting at rougly $350 goods and still not a whole lot of an idea about how much their worth.
Hi Hope, miss you and my family.
Until next time....
Mike VP

Third Day - Jason Kruse

What Jason learned today?

-less threatened in Gonaives than at Times Square
-Give a man a dollar and he buys a concrete block, give him a shovel and he will rebuild Haiti
-Duck butter has more applications than WD40
-the exchange rate is approx. one US dollar to seven haitian dollars
-if one gets something they all want it
-still kickin'
-correction, no longer 100% efficient

Third Day - Tom Fraser

Wowzer I'm tired. Another full day today, starting with a trip to Gonaive to get some tools and check out some shipping containers. Nice bumpy 30 minute ride reminiscent of a wooden roller coaster, minus the corndog and popcorn on the wind. Also got to see the market area, which was a wonderful experience. After rounding up the supplies we needed, we drove t o the north side to an actual shipping yard where, after some sweet talking, MVP and I were allowed inside to look at the 4 they had set aside for us, which were all in relatively good condition.

After a quick lunch, we got out to the field again to finish clearing off the soccer field (one goal of which had a 12" concrete slab underneath), level out the remainder of the bball court, and frame in the first section. A rainstorm at 4:30 pushed us off the field, but we spent the next couple hours playing with the children, listening to some Haitian acoustic guitar, and Kristen getting her hair braided. After which, dinner was a absolutely delicious meal of more traditional Haitian food...rice and beans, goat, fried plantains, and some awesome mango. Seriously, Haitian mango is world changing. Tomorrow we should get the rest of the lumber we need to frame in at least half and begin pouring, which is pretty exciting. Also on the agenda is setting up two swingsets and staking out the placement of our project. I will try and keep the photos coming, so here's a slice of today. Enjoy, and love you all!

Tom

Second Day - Michael Noonan

Hey earth.  This trip has been pretty amazing so far.  It's been a trip full of a lot of firsts so far.  First stamp in my visa, first morning mountain hike, first drink of coconut milk and first international game of soccer.  Everyone is being really amazing and I'm pooped and going to bed.  Good night!

Second Day - Jason Kruse

What did Jason learn today?

-my body is almost 100% efficient

- they lied, it was more like 500,000 Haitians that died in the earthquake

-early signs of sun fever

- learning to ball on some Haitians

- my base tan has paid off

-I'm still kickin'

- what other people also posted

Second Day - MVP

Heeeeeeelo,


Everyone else has our day preeeeety much covered today it seems like, so I'm not going to write much. I just wanted to say hi to my fam and Hope who I miss very much. I believe two of the highlights of my day however, were Scott getting tor-up on his fuitless attempt to climb a coconut tree (which he self proclaimed as a pretty good attempt) and watching the "whites join the blacks" on the soccer field, only to be embarrassed.

Love you.

Second Day - Tom Fraser

Today was a great success, complete with a solid chunk of work on the basketball court, marking out the soccer field, a full tour of the site and the clinic, and a very useful conversation and small critique with the school principal and some other major players in the compound. Saw a wonderful rainbow and looking forward to tomorrows trip to Gonaive! Love you all.

Tom

Day 2 - Jasmine

So today, we met the community kids. They welcomed us, cheered, almost instantly we were all shaking hands, exchanging names and playing hand games! Tippo, Dennis, Rolan and Reggie, the leaders of the community gave us a tour. We saw the school facility that houses the primary, secondary and kindergarten. The schools are closed right now so about 3000 teenagers go to other towns like goanaive (excuse my spellings!) since they have more activities to keep them occupied. Some children don't come back after the summer, the ones that come back are quite different because they're exposed to a more engaging lifestyle, some of the girls that return are pregnant.It is the lack of a youth center that reinforces their community- not only so it solves the above mentioned problems but so they can host football games, invite other teams of tournaments, expand their sports facilities and instroduce volleyball for girls. Anyways, going back to the tour, we saw the kitchen facility that provides the kids with food everyday, it smlled pretty delicious! There's more than I assumed going on here in terms of construction. Another school is under construction. They basically use concrete/ cinder blocks to build. Everything within the gated compoud, the mission itseld looks pretty good. However, the houses to the outside could use some work.. we have pictures Tom will posting soon so you'd know what we're talking about (nothing beats the tent towns in PP though).




We came back and presented the project to Altenor, the principal beneficiary of all the projects here. Mike briefed them with project. His response- he liked the idea of inccorporating the culture of la croix into this project, that it would enhance the image of the area. He said this project will put value into the children and encourage them to not only excel in soccer but also in music and academics. He was also interested in the idea of linking the graduating kids from the schools here to ISU so they could get the oppertunity to futher their education and come bakc to the communinty to better it.



Later in the day we saw the hospital facilitated by the mission for the community. The basic general medical practitioner's office and the maternity ward that was in another building. It was impressive to see all this up and running. In adjacent areas, we saw a man-made pond, the intention of which was to culture fish. But this project was clearly not seen through to its completion. The fish were exhausted by the locals before they could complete their reproduction cycle, bamboo house made by the women of the community. The highpoint of the day was watching one of the Haitian kids climb up a coconut tree, Scott following him and doing us proud, and the wonderul coonut water that followed the event.



After a long day of clearing out the site of weeds, using small rocks to level the out the to be bb field, an eventful soccer game which involved kristen getting hit in the head (no she wasn't even playing), we got back for the most delightful dinner and it's time for bed! Tomorrow, Danette, Nadia and I goto PP to meet with Yves and a few other contacts Danette has. Everyone else will goto Gonaive to see the condition of shipping containers available. So yes, I'll call it a day. More tomorrow! Gnite! -Jasmine

We made it, INTACT

After two sleepless nights, packing, flying, and a 5 hr bumpy ride from Port Au Prince to La Croix, we're finally here. There is so much we saw during that car ride that deserves a mention here. All in good time.

 For now, we were welcomed very warmly by the people of La Croix and the transition from the airport to our vehicle, to all our surprise, was smooth. Many thanks to Pastor Pierre and Silentor. Also, to all of you who encouraged us to do this. We wake up for a hike at 6AM tomorrow and take it from there. There is so much to be shared with you, so much to do here!! It's very thrilling. We can not wait for this week to unfold.

After a delicious dinner, I'm going to crash. Will keep you all posted!

-Jasmine

Safe and Cuddlie in La Croix - MVP

Hi everyone,

We made it to Haiti safe and sound. The security and travel went very very smoothly (my hat's off to the staff and Pastor Pierre at the La Croix New Testament Mission!) Many things suprised me, while others lived up to my expectations.

Words cannot describe what living conditions are like for some in the immediate PaP area. The tent cities and crumbled buildings are only a scar left from the tragedy that took place this past January. However, efforts look promising, and more permaent shelters and relief efforts are taking place. The peoples spirits seem high and are optimistic.

The facility at the La Crox mission is supurb, they have really made it into a top notch establisment, with a great mission and effort.

Keep us in your prayers as we start some of our projects tomorrow.
I miss you family and Hope. xoxo Love Mike

MOM! I MADE IT!

Hi mom and everyone!

I CANNOT believe I'm here right now.  It's surreal.  I have a million thoughts running through my head, no arm space to write anything down in the cramped van we rode 3 1/2 hours from Port au Prince to La Croix in, and to tell the truth, not enough time to digest any of those thoughts to put towards something that would make sense.  It's incredible.  Thats all I can say.  And that we are safe, and being treated like kings... which kind of makes me feel like dirt. I'm undeserving. Alright! Until next time....

Kristen O.

Safe Arrival - Tom Fraser

Just an update - we have arrived at La Croix, all intact and safe, eaten dinner, and are getting ready for bed. Early morning tomorrow; lots to do. Flights went well, no hiccups and all luggage arrived intact. After a long drive, everyone is ready to get going tomorrow on all the work we have to do. To keep updated, simply follow this blog or check back every day. Photos coming tomorrow (hopefully)!

Pre Trip First Post - getting excited!

This is the first test post for the blog we plan on keeping updated (daily, if possible) while we are in Haiti. Hopefully we can get some photos or videos up as well, but we will see what kind of equipment and access we actually have. Enjoy!