January 17-18 - Arrival and Thoman

Five of us from PPC flew to Miami with 10 duffle bags full of meds and hygiene items, plus our carry-ons. We met up with four folks from two churches in the Easton, Maryland area. Our group included 2 nurses, 2 doctors, an Episcopal minister and a professional photographer.  After overnighting in the Miami airport hotel, we flew early to Port-au-Prince and were met by Pastor Luc. We had 17 bags plus carry-ons. We went immediately to our "Happy Bus", a school bus body attached to a truck front, a very used vehicle. It was loaded with our bags, many bags of rice, soap and five of Pastor Luc's men, several of whom were our interpreters.

Photos tell the story; words are inadequate to capture the essence of PAP.... the markets, the garbage, the many tent cities, the damaged buildings, crowded streets, tap-taps chock full of people (a converted small pickup truck with seats, used as a public mode of transportation), the skinny dogs, people carrying large parcels on their heads, the bumpy roads, the uniformed school children.

We drove a few hours NE to the village of Thoman, which is rural and off a long, dirt, bumpy road. Pastor Luc's Harmony Ministries has a school and church building. We unloaded and set up for the next day's medical clinic. We took a long walk and saw lots of very small concrete homes. There was no electricity and little water. There were many donkeys, pigs, chickens, dogs, goats. In fact, we had goat for supper with beans and rice and vegetables. That evening we attended the church service. The generator provided the light overhead from a few bulbs. The music was great and the people sang with gusto. We slept on the concrete floor with mats and sleeping bags that we had brought.

January 19  - Clinic in Thoman

The next morning we were up early and running the clinic. People came into the small school area and had their blood pressure checked and were given a card with their name and other information. Then they came into one of the three stations with a doctor or nurse and an interpreter. We had set up the meds in a small area. So all day long, with a short lunch break, we saw people and retrieved medicine and gave out toothbrushes and vitamins and rice to all. Then we loaded up the bus and were on our way by 3:45 p.m. We had several people from Thoman on the bus; they were all jolly and talkative. It was dark when we drove through PAP... a maze of humanity, selling items in the streets. We were in bed early after eating a supper that Pastor Luc's people had prepared, then brought to the hotel patio.

January 20 - Leogane

Up at 6 the next day to go to Leogane, a town to the west of PAP. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Leogane, so we saw more damage. We went through an area that is miles of markets with people selling goods and food items. There had been rain and there were lots of big puddles and trash everywhere. Cars move quickly and the horns honk constantly.

In Leogane we set up under a tent. Luc's church was destroyed and there is just the concrete slab left. The school is a small tin-roofed structure. We brought benches under the tent and set up the "pharmacy" and doctor stations. We worked all day with another quick break for a PB&J sandwich. Because we had done this the day prior, today went more smoothly, and there was more light. We loaded up and were off by 5 pm. On the way back the air was very hazy. People cook outside. Our driver was amazing. We drove with inches to spare sometimes! The roads are very crowded. After supper at the hotel by 8 pm, we repacked the meds for Luc's PAP "pharmacy".

January 21 - Port-au-Prince

Saturday morning we drove to Pastor Luc's church in Port-au-Prince, which is in the middle of a very poor area. The temporary church is a huge tent.  Next to that, where the original church stood, the new church is being built and is well underway. Rubble was used to be part of the foundation, so it is slightly raised. The walls are going up.

Linda Jenkins gave a health seminar with Luc translating for the women. There were a few hundred in attendance. She talked about women's health and there were many questions. Dr. Mike Fisher from Maryland then spoke to the women. We handed out soap bars and rice.  We then took a tour of an orphanage that is sponsored by a Haitian relief organization in Phoenix. There were about a dozen children in a clean, well-kept home.

We then drove way up the mountain to a Baptist Mission which has been in Haiti since 1943. We went from slums to areas with large homes. However, trash including styrofoam food containers were everywhere. At the mission there was a cafeteria style restaurant and several other mission groups were there. We ate and then drove down the other side of the mountain. There were spectacular views of lush green mountain areas where you could see the farming plots. We stopped at a lookout and we could see almost all of Port-au-Prince. Although there are several million people in PAP, we saw only two tall buildings. The rest is just areas of tents or tiny concrete homes. We could see the ocean and the port, but one of the interpreters told us it makes him sad to look out and see how it looks now compared to before the earthquake. The air is not good. Fires burn, cars emit fumes continuously. Today's devotional really said it for me:  "God of the City, your spirit moves through the crowded streets and honking horns. It weaves through the paint of a tap-tap and the basket of a hopeful entrepreneur sitting on a curb. It moves through the quiet alleys and busy intersections. It enters a small rusty tin home, a tent, a roaring market. Have mercy on Port-au-Prince, dear God."

Sunday, January 22 - Port-au-Prince

While boarding the bus to go to Pastor Luc's church, we saw so many people dressed in their Sunday best, off to some place of worship. Once at Cite Militaire (site of Harmony Ministries) I was aware of every woman and child dressed in their Sunday best, clean and pressed! The men all wore shirts and ties and some wore suits. If they did not have a tie, ties were available to them and passed out by the Elders. The men's shoes were shined. I did see a small shoe shine area to the right of the entry. There were male and female scouts dressed in their clean, pressed uniforms. They acted as ushers. When we arrived, people were singing. Later in the service, there was more music with a keyboard, drum and guitar. One of our interpreters played the guitar! The service was long (3 hours) but so inspirational... just to watch the people as they sang. They closed their eyes and raised their hands and swayed and smiled. They felt and lived the music and the Lord. They held nothing back. They stood and rocked and hummed and sang. Pastor Luc spoke and so did one of his Elders. Then Father Jim, from our trip group, spoke and Pastor Luc translated. There were lots of verbal "Amens". The people came up, row by row, to drop coins in big baskets. After the service a group stayed in one area for some marriage counseling. We stayed and took photos and people milled around. The tent holds 1500, and I noticed more chairs in the aisles and outside the sides!

We flew out late Sunday afternoon to Miami and overnighted at the airport hotel. Took long showers! Back to PHX on Monday.

 

Here is a journal kept by Jan Loichle during PPC’s Haiti Mission Trip in March 2009:

 

Travel Minus 1 Day

 

Many people work throughout the day getting meds and supplies ready to pack. Hundreds of tubes of toothpaste and creams, hundreds of bottles of liquid Tylenol and other items are taken out of their individual boxes and packed into large baggies for packing into large duffel bags. Donations are sorted and stacked.

Rev. Mac Schafer waits with some of the luggage at the airport.

Duffels are packed, weighed, labeled, inventoried and stacked for leaving in the morning. Twenty-seven big duffel bags: 17 with meds and medical supplies, three with food for the children, four with sleeping bags and pads, two with food for our team and one packed with tools. We also have our carry–on bags with clothes and personal items. What a sight, and what amazing generosity of people in giving both gifts of supplies and funds, and gifts of time and effort to prepare and pack for the trip.

 

Day 1: March 10, Travel Day

 

Morning prayer: God of Time, help me to step away from the many things that preoccupy me at home in Arizona. May I be open to the present and the team of people I am with on this journey. Amen.

 

We arrive at church before 7 a.m. to find that Ken Core has already loaded all the bags into his pickup truck for transport to the airport. Meet the rest of our folks at the airport and begin the huge task of checking in and weighing and checking all our bags. We are blessed with a wonderful ticket agent who patiently helps us and also gets her supervisor to waive excess baggage fees. Our flight is delayed several hours causing missed connections, so we have to be re–booked through Dallas and arrive in Miami late at night when everything including bag storage was closed. So, we reclaim all our bags, drag them to the airport hotel where we are staying the night, take them up to our rooms, arrange a meeting time in the morning, and try to get some sleep.

 

Day 2: March 11, More Travel; First Day in Haiti

Holly Fechtmeyer, Linda Jenkins, Jacque Sidoti and Jan Loichle stand beside a “tap-tap”, or a bus-like taxi.

Morning prayer: God of the Journey, you are not constrained by borders, bodies of water or boundaries made by human hands. May we have confidence in your unlimited presence and boundless love as we fly into Port–au–Prince on this day. Amen.

 

Another day of dealing with bags – first we drag them down from our rooms in the hotel, then over to the airline check–in. Aside from some weight redistribution, no problems this time. After a fairly short flight we land in Port–au–Prince and are greeted by blue skies, a view of small mountains in the distance, a reggae band in the airport entranceway, and then crowds of people wanting to carry our bags or otherwise “help” us. Pastor Luc and his men meet us, escort us and our bags through customs, and pack our “tap–tap” (a Haitian taxi of sorts, in this case a small old bus) for the trip to Thoman. We wait for another truck to join us which has the plywood for building the cabinets, then set off on the two–and–a–half hour journey, first through the teeming masses of people and vehicles in Port–au–Prince, and then through the countryside, past a large lake and then up the long, bumpy mountain road to Thoman.

 

Once in Thoman we are greeted by villagers, take a walk through the village, meet some people, and see goats, donkeys, chickens, and the occasional pig. The cement block houses are small and sparse, there’s no electricity or running water, and the land is so filled with rocks it’s barely tillable anywhere. After eating a meal that Pastor Luc brought for us, we join his church service where there is lots of music, lots of clapping and amens, and many people. We leave to roll out our sleeping bags and get some rest, and the music continues into the night.

 

 

Day 3: March 12, The Clinic in Thomas

 

Morning prayer: God of the New Day, as we move into work and ministry, help us to stay open to the ways you desire to minister to us. As we help and heal, may we stay open to being helped and healed ourselves. May I listen and love today. Amen.

Students at a Harmony Ministries’ school.

We awake to donkeys braying, roosters crowing, and road construction trucks rumbling through town. We get up at 5:30 and start to get the clinic set up. At dawn local people are working in the fields and starting to line up for the clinic. There is a morning school session with 120 children all dressed in pink shirts and blue skirts or pants. We give each child chewable vitamins, toothbrushes and toothpaste. The sanctuary fills with families from all around, and Pastor Luc’s people organize the flow to the clinic. Each of us serves specific roles, from packaging and distributing meds, to taking blood pressure, to the doctors evaluating people, to building cabinets. The line of people is unending, and the medical professionals are tireless and caring. They see a wide range of maladies, as well as many people who just want to be seen and touched and given vitamins. There is heartbreak and frustration given the limitations of a one–day clinic and the inability of those in need to get to hospitals and doctors for further treatment. But the people are cheerful, grateful and touching. The children are beautiful, well–behaved and all dressed up in their Sunday finest. They also are small – almost all undersized for their age. They think we “blanco’s” were either very funny, or terrifying.

 

The numbers are overwhelming (maybe 600 people), and we stay two hours past our planned departure time in order to see everyone (and avert possible rioting?). Exhausted, we board the tap–tap for the long drive back to Port–au–Prince. Just outside Port–au–Prince we have a flat tire – no wonder given the road and tire conditions. We stay on the tap–tap, remaining as inconspicuous as possible, while the tire is changed. Shortly later, back on the road, we have another tire blowout. Now things are beyond immediate repair, it’s dark, and we’re really tired. But our friendly guard Solomon is with us and we’re never threatened. After a few phone calls, Pastor Luc has a couple vehicles lined up – a truck for our gear, and a small tap–tap for us. Squeezed into the replacement tap–tap, we finally make it to a mission house for dinner, and then our hotel where Pastor Luc checks us in (no English spoken).

 

 

Day 4: March 13, The Clinic in Leogone

Jim Callison and Roy Gust share a meal with Pastor Luc.

Morning prayer: God of strength, energy, imagination and love. Fill me up with who you are. Give me a spirit of hope and the courage to be present. Thank you for each face I will look into today. For that face has a story and has value. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

 

We meet for breakfast in the hotel, then set off for the two-hour drive to Leogone, most of which is through Port–au–Prince. The roads are crumbled, rutted and rocky. Traffic is horrible and the drivers are crazy. People, motorbikes, cars, tap–taps are everywhere. We go by a huge tin roof and open market where people are selling mangoes, bananas, onions, clothes, belts, motor oil, you name it. We pass U.N. complexes (and many U.N. vehicles and troops), an area with refineries, many, many partially built buildings or homes. As we near Leogone, there are fields of sugarcane, mangoes, gourds and animals. We arrive and set up the clinic in the church. Today we know better what to expect and how to move people through — maybe 350 to 400. Nutrition is better here; it’s a more agricultural area and they have access to fish. There are some unusual and difficult cases, as well as the more common ailments. Once again we stay late in order to see everyone. The clinic crowds are much bigger this year than ever before.

 

The long ride back is uncomfortable but uneventful. At the hotel we gather and share reflections. Again, the medical professionals were tireless, kind and effective. Everyone worked well together in our various roles. The Haitians are friendly and gracious despite language differences. The experiences have been both gratifying and heartbreaking. We are overwhelmed by the poverty, hunger, lack of infrastructure, and presence of walls, concertina wire, and armed guards and troops.

 

 

Day 5: March 14, The Church, School and Clinic in Citi Militaire

 

Morning prayer: God of the City, your spirit moves through the crowded streets and honking horns. It weaves through the paint of a tap–tap and the basket of a hopeful entrepreneur sitting on a curb. It moves through quiet alleys and busy intersections. It enters a small rusty tin home and a roaring market. Have mercy on Port–au–Prince, dear God.

 

Today, we take the relatively short drive to Pastor Luc’s church, school and permanent clinic in Citi Militaire, part of Port–au–Prince. All are in a walled complex, surrounding a plain courtyard. We are surprised at the size of the church, cement block with tin roof, which seats nearly 1,000. There are several classrooms in the school for various grade levels, and a library and clinic. We tour the facilities, talk with various people, and then unpack, sort and stack all the remaining meds and supplies in the pharmacy. We also have Oreos for the school kids, along with drink mixes, toothbrushes and various foods and supplies. Nothing is wasted. Also, Mark checked out the electrical situation and worked out a plan with Luc to send a used transformer and generator. After we finish at the pharmacy and have some lunch, we set off for a tour of more of the city including the Presidential Palace and some of the nicer areas in town. The pervasive poor conditions are almost unbelievable.

 

 

Day 6: March 15, Church and the Journey Home

 

Morning prayer: God of the Great Pause, it is time to stop and center in on you. It is time to worship and find our rest and foundation in you. Restore me. Renew me. Help me to see you in new ways through the worship of the people in Citi Militaire. Thank you for Pastor Luc’s ministry and leadership. Guide Harmony Ministries in all its work. Amen.

 

From every church we pass, we hear beautiful singing. Pastor Luc’s church is full – nearly 1,000 people, all dressed up and looking wonderful. There’s lots of singing, and lots of encouragement for self–respect and respect for God. Dr. Jacque is introduced and speaks to the women about the importance of seeing a doctor annually, about caring for themselves so they can care for their children. She has touched the women; you can feel a spark of appreciation and admiration through the crowd. Pastor Mac deliveres an inspired sermon that is received with many hearty “amens.” The church service continues, but we have to leave.

 

Once again, Pastor Luc and Solomon accompany us and make everything go smoothly at the airport. And once again, our flight is greatly delayed causing us to miss all our connections and not get back until the following day. But by now we realize, “It’s Haiti” and you just go with the flow. A few more travel hiccups, and we’re back home appreciating all we have here.