Wednesday, January 25, 2012 – Update #3
This morning we woke up to a lovely breakfast of eggs, corned
beef hash (?) and really good pancakes, courtesy of Chef Ernie. Then Pastor Bob Stovall led a
devotional and James W. led worship with his guitar out on the front porch.
Later, Michelle and I took Cameron, Linda and Brian (since
it is their first trip) to Port with us to pick up Gary and Kathy Rinkenburger from
the airport. Cameron and Brian
worked most of the morning at the building site with the men and then we sort
of kidnapped them when we brought the team lunch.
I had warned Gary and Kathy not to let go of their luggage
at the airport because they would be bombarded with people trying to “help”
them with it for a tip. They
carried multiple 50 lb. bags all the way out almost to the parking lot when the
Haitian trying to “help” him pointed at me (I was waving at them) and said,
“Mama!” (Like he knew me and I was
his “mama” – I’ve never seen him before, lol). Gary dropped his bag for 2 seconds at that moment to greet
me and the guy snatched up the bags, took them to the bus and was then upset
because he didn’t get a bigger tip.
Welcome to Haiti Rinkenburgers! Ha ha.
After that we went on a tour of Port-au-Prince. First we met Ryan and Osmy at the Eco
Depot (a wanna-be Home Depot) and Linda and Brian advised him on electrical and
light purchases.
Then we drove through City Soleil and La Saline, the poorest
slums in the entire western hemisphere, where they make the mud cookies for
kids to eat (although we didn’t go in where they do that because it’s also the
most dangerous slum). Brian said
it was difficult for him to comprehend the chaos and that people actually live
in that trash. Kathy couldn’t
believe kids are actually raised in that environment. There is no personal space, no identity – in other areas of
the city we saw women bathing and relieving themselves alongside the busy
street – there’s no privacy for people.
After that we took them to the Presidential Palace where we
learned that although they’ve done nothing to try to rebuild it, they still
have a flag raising ceremony in front of it every day. Next we went to the wood market to buy
some hand-made Haitian souvenirs and Gary bought a $5 “Picasso”.
And finally we drove out of the city and to Titanyen, where
the mass grave is. This is where
more than 200,000 bodies were dumped into pits by dump trucks after the
earthquake – a very surreal and solemn place to experience. It looks different than before because
January 12th was the 2-year anniversary of the earthquake and President
Martelly wanted to commemorate the site.
So they moved a lot of dirt and rocks and made a big terrace on one side
where he gave his speech and they build a big round monument with black tiles
and a large rock on top with a plaque.
I was surprised that they would have moved all that dirt with that many
bodies buried not far beneath. We
found 3 human bones among the rocks in just the short time we were there. Another interesting side note is that
the land right next to the mass grave (that is a very controversial site among
Haitians because of their respect for the dead and the way they were treated
there) was selected by the government to grant to people as an incentive to get
them to move out of the tent city right next to the airport – they are trying
to clean up the area a bit as they attempt to revive tourism and industry. So that tent city that people are so
used to seeing is pretty sparse now and the hill-side next to the mass grave is
filling up.
Ryan and Osmy spent a long, frustrating day in Port trying
to find necessary supplies and purchase the 4 door Nissan truck he found at a
dealership. It is evident that we
do need our own vehicle here.
In the morning, Ryan and Kenol had taken 3 different
tap-taps (Haiti’s version of taxis) around to different places like Cabaret to
find supplies. That was quite an
experience. One was a scary ride
on the back of a motorcycle, one was in the cage of the back of a truck completely
full of chickens (glad I wasn’t there!) and one was blaring Haitian music and
everyone was dancing inside and the ladies were poking Ryan, trying to get him
to dance with them. (I wonder if I
should be jealous…;-) To get off a tap-tap you push a button that is an actual
door bell that goes ding-dong, signaling the driver to stop, then he “tap-taps”
the side of the truck, you pay him and he leaves you and takes off.
Bob also gave Kenol (a good Haitian friend here) driving
lessons today – apparently poor Kenol is not a good driver and they had a few
laughs and got into a few pickles.
Saying the driving in Haiti is crazy is a huge
understatement. Cameron Colace,
aka Jimmy Johnson, thinks it’s quote, “fun and exciting.” The only time he got a little scared
was when Jaques, our driver (who I think would be capable of winning the Baja
1000) was passing a truck on the highway, with an oncoming vehicle and he just
went right in between them at full speed.
Linda said she definitely feels God’s hand of protection on us!
The men got some electrical work done and beams out at the
building site. They were glad they
got those Agriboard beams out when they did because the termites were starting
to eat them!
Things are going well here, but we also see the enemy at
work trying to put obstacles in our way.
So we need prayer from our prayer warriors out there.
James Whitehead is very sick and had to quit
working
half-way through the day and went to bed early tonight without leading
worship
– that is saying a lot because he is really tough. Wildo (a Haitian)
got a very heavy beam dropped on his
foot. Jeremiah cut his finger with
a knife and was treated at Lifeline’s clinic. A few people have gotten
pretty dehydrated. Brian is still having his pain off and
on. Noe, who is like a gentle
giant – a sweet, burly man who doesn’t talk much, because he speaks
Spanish. His wife, Reyna, is
having a very emotional time at home because this is their first time
being
separated. Pray for her, as this
can be difficult on the families left behind. Also, Candice and Jean
Fritz (the little boy Adrian takes
care of) have been sick. Some of
us are also still trying to get our residency paperwork, driver’s
licenses and
the container released from customs.
It’s a slow and frustrating process and it just doesn’t seem like
there’s enough time here to do everything we need to do while we’re
here.
Thank you for all the prayers. I can’t even begin to tell you how much the team appreciates
and feels the prayers from you at home.
Blessings,
Nikki
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