Building New Homes & Lives - June 22 & 23, 2013

Let me begin by saying that we appreciate the generosity that everyone has shown throughout the process of building homes in Haiti.  Christy and I never expected the response that we got from all of the companies and individuals that worked to make the dream to provide homes and water collection systems in Haiti a reality.  When we initially agreed to build these homes we had no idea where the money would come from but through your support and encouragement these homes became a reality and lives were truly changed in the process.  This is a simple timeline for the process that was completed over several months.  You can truly see the challenges faced when doing this type of construction but I can say with conviction that together we have worked to “Be the change” in a community where change is truly needed.

 In April of 2013 a team from Whitestone Church went to Haiti with several specific purposes in mind.  The primary objective was to minister to the people of Camatin, Coq Chante, and Belloc, Haiti but also with a focus on laying the ground work for the upcoming building trip in June.  The team was composed of Mark Johnston (Legacy Builders), Brock Tharpe (Whitestone Church), Tim Meyers (Tool Crib), and a group of other missionaries/adoptive parents from Whitestone Church.  Mark, Brock, and Tim, with the help of a donation from Tool Crib, were able to contract out and oversee the laying of the foundation for the home in Camatin.    The first building site was located .61 miles from the road or 1.2 miles from the orphanage and all materials had to be carried in by hand.  The team was able to hire several Haitians to clear and frame the site as well as carry 90 lb. bags of concrete and 5 gallon buckets of water to lay the foundation for what was to be an extremely challenging and physically demanding week in June. 

 On Thursday, June 27 the building team left from the Whitestone house to drive to Atlanta to catch a flight to Miami and then on to Port au Prince, Haiti.  The team consisted of Mark Johnston, Tim King, Rusty Ortner , Tom Powers, Bill Powers, Jason Gilleran, Mark Gilleran, Brock Tharpe, Zeke Meyers, and me.  We arrived at the Atlanta airport safely, loaded with tools, and checked in for our flight to Miami.  The flight to Miami was uneventful except that we arrived during game 7 of the NBA finals.  The team spent the night in the airport in preparation of our 6:30 AM flight to Port au Prince.  We arrived in PAP at approximately 9:00 AM, cleared customs and began our day of purchasing the supplies need to build 2 homes and 3 water collection systems.  Building in Haiti is not like building in the United States.

Fortunately in PAP there is a supply depot called MSC where we were able to purchase most of the materials “American Style”; which made the process much easier than relying on a traditional Haitian building supply store experience to get our materials.  The final tally from the first stop was $4817.80.  Over the next 3 hours the materials were slowly loaded on to the truck.  After loading the truck we had the opportunity to go to the Visa Lodge for some down time and lunch prior to the 3 plus hour journey up the mountain to Camatin.  The PCAP truck left the Visa Lodge at approximately 4:30 PM loaded down with supplies for Camatin.   We were packed in for the ride to Camatin but such is life in Haiti. What should have been a 3 hour ride turned into a 5 plus hour ride due to traffic in Carrefour.

   

Mark Johnston is an incredibly detail oriented person and he had organized the building projects in to responsibilities.  Those responsibilities ranged from carpenter to siding to roofing and so on.  My primary responsibility was to represent the interests of the homeowners.   So on Saturday morning I left early for the building site to discuss the plans for the house and what Amanese would like to see in the house.  It was real simple she wanted 3 windows and 3 doors other than that she would be happy with whatever we did because it was a blessing to her and her family.  I was able to tell her that I let Bel pick out the paint colors for the house and that the house would be blue with yellow trim.  She was obviously excited about what was to come.   Progress was incredibly slow due to the distance from the road.  Each board had to be carried in by a team of 10 Haitians who had been hired by a local contractor as laborers.  This group of Haitian men worked harder and longer than any group of individuals I have ever seen.  It was amazing. At the end of the day we paid them 4 times the $5 US per day Haitian minimum wage.  Each worker walked out with $20 US. The workers were eager to come back and work on any projects that we had for the next few days.  The following collage of pictures is from Saturday.  As one can see we made good progress and the house was almost in the dry by the time we left on Saturday night at 7:00 PM.

 

 Sunday, June 23, 2013

On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to Belloc and worship at the Redempteur Church which was founded by Pastor Juste as part of his network of orphanages and churches that stretch all over Sud Ouest , Ayiti.  After church we began work on the second house for Madame Marcel.  Mme Marcel lives next to the church and her original house was destroyed by the earthquake in January of 2010.  Currently she is living in a make shift USAID tent.  She was incredibly excited and has been waiting over a year for this house.  The house in Belloc was much smaller and of different construction since it was designed to house one person.  It was more of a shed design with high quality exterior sheeting to withstand the elements.  Mme Marcel continually hugged us and thanked us.  Her favorite phrase throughout the whole process was “Mesi Jezi” which means Thank You Jesus.  Her house was in the dry in roughly 6 hours. 

 

 

 

Monday, September 10 - One Wild Ride Part 1

Monday was the most eventful day on the trip and the title one wild ride doesn't begin to describe what really happened that day.  Looking back Monday could have been called a million things but ultimately it was about getting the final adoption paperwork - THE IBESR TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION!

I have traveled the road from Camatin to Jacmel many times and conversely I have gone the other way from Camatin to Port au Prince many times as well. This trip goes down as an EPIC journey that is almost unbelievable.

Christy and I had stressed for several weeks about what would happen when we got to Camatin.  The thing we knew was that we had to get the IBESR travel authorization for Berline to leave Haiti.  Hearing the stories from other parents in our adoption group we knew that at best we were looking at a long day that involved traveling to PAP, meeting with Nathalie, and then sitting at IBESR for several hours to get the authorization at worst it could take several days to complete everything.

The travel authorization is a stack of papers that must be presented to Haitian Immigration at the airport.  The travel authorization validates Berline's Visa and lets the authorities know that we have permission of the Director of IBESR to leave Haiti.  It wasn't a necessary step until after the earthquake.  Since then there has been concern about child trafficking and I am in complete agreement that we need to protect the children of Haiti so I have no problem with the Haitian Government trying to do the right thing.  However, as with everything else in Haiti getting the travel authorization can be a difficult process.

We had called Jabet on Sunday afternoon with the help of Marie Flo to see when and where he would be meeting us to go to PAP for the appointment.  Jabet told us that he would be picking us up on Monday morning and something was said about 8:30 AM.   Even with the best English speakers in Haiti there is always a gap of information, something that gets lost in translation.  Christy and I were confused as usual.  Based on the past experiences in Haiti Christy and I knew that we would be leaving early to get to PAP before the traffic got bad in Carrefour.  This lack of information brought out some real questions we didn't have answers for.  Did Jabet mean that we were leaving at 8:30 AM or was the appointment at 8:30 AM?  If our appointment was at 8:30 AM  did we need to be ready to go at 5:30 AM?  We knew the truck and the rest of the team was leaving on Monday morning to go to Jacmel to pick up building materials to start the bench building project.  When they left we would have no way to get around other than walking.  So we just had to be faithful and know that Jabet had a plan.

Jabet is a former orphan that was identified by Pastor Nicholas Juste as a "kid" with lots of potential.  Just as Pastor Nicholas had identifed many others, Jabet was sent to school, got a good education and now works for Ricot.  Jabet is full of life and continually laughs with an infectious laugh that creates joy in all those he comes in contact with.  Jabet has become a dear friend and I feel blessed that I have gotten to know him.  A church purchased Jabet a dirt bike several months ago.  It is green and very sporty.  Every time I think of Jabet I see him on the bike darting in and out of traffic on the road from Camatin to PAP. 

Christy and I slept fitfully on Sunday night.  It was hot and we were unsure of when and where we needed to be on Monday so I kept waking up every few hours to check my watch, phone, IPOD, and any other time piece that was available.  We got up and were read to go by 6:00 AM knowing that Jabet would be there any minute.  Well minutes seemed to turn into days and finally at about 8:30 AM we called Jabet to see when he would be getting there only to find out that Jabet was sitting in traffic in Carrefour.   Knowing the road from PAP Jabet wouldn't be in Camatin for another 2 hours, but we were ready.  The team got up, loaded up the truck, and left for Jacmel.  Christy, Berline, and I were left sitting in the orphanage just waiting on Jabet.

At about 10:00 AM Ricot's truck comes roaring down the drive to the orphanage with Jabet at the wheel.  Jabet comes to a stop and out jumps several Haitians and Jabet.  I looked down from the second floor and saw something odd, the back of Ricot's truck was pink.  It appeared that Jabet had picked up Leslie and some paint so that Leslie could do a job near Camatin.  That paint had crashed hard in the back of Ricot's truck and was now all over the bed liner.  That should have been a hint of what was to come during the rest of the day but Christy and I were just excited to get going. 

Berline, Christy, and I loaded up into the backseat of the truck.  Jabet turns to us and tells us that the Haitian lady in the front seat has to go to court in Jacmel before we can go to PAP.  In the best Haitian Creole we can muster Christy and I say, "Ok, no problem".  So off we go to the end of the drive and a right turn towards Jacmel. 

To give perspective to what it really is like to travel by car/truck in Haiti I can think of only one real comparison here in the USA.  For those of you familiar with Highway 129 (aka The Dragon's Tail) that runs through Monroe County, Blount County, and on into North Carolina this is a good starting spot.  The Dragon's Tail is an 11 mile stretch of road that has 311 curves.  It is a popular spot for motorcyclists and those with high performance cars but not the best route for travel from Blount County to North Carolina.  The road continually switches back and can be very dizzying for those who tend to get motion sick.  However, the Dragon's Tail is a masterpiece of engineering compared to mountain roads in Haiti.

The road that runs from Leoganne to Jacmel is very similar to the Dragon's Tail only longer.  It was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers during the "Occupation" of Haiti back in the early part of the 20th century.  It is a mountain road that is full of curves and is roughly 20 miles in length.  The road goes up some serious climbs and offers some spectacular views of the mountains in Haiti, but there are certain things to remember when you drive in Haiti and I have made a short list.

• There are always people walking on both sides of the road. 
• Every so often you run into markets, fruit stands, animals, soccer games, , landslides, police road blocks, etc. 
• If you slow down someone may jump on your vehicle and try to sell you something. 
• You will get passed no matter how fast you are going.
• Horns make a great sound so blow them all the time.
• Motorcycles are like mosquitoes - they are everywhere!
• It is not illegal to drink and drive.
• You cannot legally drive a car without a shirt on however no one has said if you have to have pants on.  

By PCAP truck it takes about 40 minutes to get to Jacmel.  We have had the fortune of making the ride several times so Christy and I arefamiliar with the route and not overly concerned about a quick stop at court before heading to PAP.  As we quickly discover being in Ricot's truck with Jabet at the wheel is more similar to riding Space Mountain that riding in the PCAP truck.  It us less than 20 minutes to reach Jacmel and all this without a seat belt.  

 

We circled around the courthouse and after much horn honking and chatter found a parking place near the "Home Depot" or local hard ward store.  Jabet jumped out with the Haitian woman and said that he would be back shortly. While sitting and waiting Christy and I are talking about the people we see on the streets.  Everyone was wearing blue jeans.  It was 90 plus degrees, the sun was beating down, and people were walking around in long shirts and blue jeans.  It was odd to see but it is life in Haiti where it is 90 degrees every day.  Another interesting thing is that you never see "blancs" or white people.  White people really stick out in Haiti.  The country has less than 5% Caucasians so we got a few stares while we were sitting in Ricot's truck.

We waited for about 30 minutes and Jabet comes back to the truck with the Haitian lady.  We are finished and now on to PAP.  We take off towards the main road and sticking out like a beacon ahead of us are a group of blancs loading lumber on to the PCAP truck.  Our group is picking up lumber to build desks in Coq Chante.  So we do the Haitian thing and stop to say Hi. 

It was really neat to see the Club kids along with our team working to load lumber onto the PCAP truck.  The kids were working hard and looked comfortable in a foreign place with a different set of rules.  We hung out for 30 minutes or so and bought some drinks (25 goudes will buy a 20 oz Coke in a plastic bottle) on the side of the road.  We loaded back up with some additional passengers that we would drop off at the orphanage on the way to PAP. By now it was around noon, only a 2 hour drive to PAP, assuming that there was no traffic, and we would be sitting in the IBESR offices waiting on our travel authorization. 

September 8, 2012 - Arrival

The ride to Mme Samuel's house was very uneventful.  It was the same trip that we always take.  The same chaos, the same poverty, the same people struggling to survive.  The trip was the same but somehow the feeling was entirely different. Yes we had a group of "Club" kids who were experiencing Haiti for the first time.  Yes we had Billy who was seeing a world that was straight from a movie.  For me though, I knew it was the beginning of the end of a part of my life that had consumed me for the past 21 months.  We were finally bringing Berline home.  It was a feeling that was indescribable.  Sadness, joy, and relief were some of the emotions that were coursing through my body. 

I spent the better part of the trip offering insight for the kids and for Billy.  I wanted them to look past the difficulty that is Haiti and see the beauty of the people and the country.  It was amazing watching them see Haiti for the first time and reflect upon my first visit in March of 2011 when I got to ask Berline if she wanted to come to the Etazzini and be our daughter.  It seems like a lifetime ago.

As we approached the orphanage the excitement continued to build.  How would she react?  How much does she know and understand?  Does she remember that in March I promised not to come back until she was coming home?  We rounded the bend and the orphanage was in view, 21 months of anticipation all rolled into one moment!  The truck parked in its usual place and we climbed down.  Waiting at the gate were the girls, our girls. 

It is the same series of events every time you step off the truck and see the girls.  They are incredibly excited about visitors but at the same time everyone stares.  Somehow this time was different.  Christy and I immediately looked for Berline.  Where was she?  What emotions would she be feeling?  I never can put the moment you see her into words.  It's strange but it's familiar.  We both went to her and greeted her with big hugs and kisses.  She was happy to see us but as usual the adjustment takes some time.  She has to get used to us and we have to get used to her. 

Christy spent some time with her talking and laughing while I worked with the rest of the guys to unload the pile of bags on the top of the truck.  I went and put our stuff in the same room that the whole adventure started with back in March of 2011.  The last room on the right over the kitchen.  Billy joined us in choosing this room.  Some how on every trip it seems that we choose the same room, familiarity in and unfamiliar place. 

The rest of the first night was uneventful.  We hung out with the girls and rekindled old relationships.  Everyone was tired and we all hoped to get some rest on the first night of a very big week. 

The Journey Home - September 8, 2012

When you look back at the who crazy process of adopting from Haiti it is amazing that you get to the end of the process with some sanity left.  The stress of adopting from Haiti is unlike anything that I have ever experienced.  The constant lack of information and feeling of uncertainty tends to push the most faithful to the breaking point. I know that even though we had completed everything and had US approval there was still as sense of foreboding.  An unmistakable feeling of apprehension.  What else could go wrong?  That was a question we asked ourselves time and time again as we were packing for Haiti.

The day was finally here!  It was September 8th and we were leaving Knoxville at 5:55 AM to fly to Atlanta.  We would be meeting the rest of the team in Atlanta for the flight to PAP later in the morning.  Lynn Steele, Victoria Smith, Christy and I would be traveling together on the first leg.  In Atlanta we would meet Brock, Kevin, Nayia, Ke Ke, Jason, Kojak, Shauna, Breezy, and Grampsie.  Billy was flying American and would go through Ft. Lauderdale.  There were 14 total.

Christy and I had barely slept.  We were very excited and could not wait to get going.  We checked in at the counter, went through the security screening, and then had a seat at the gate just waiting on our departure time.  We boarded the plane and found our seats and just sat back for the ride.  There was a weather system moving through Atlanta  so our flight was a bit bumpy but we made it safely to Atlanta.   Christy went to Starbuck's and got us some coffee and we settled in to wait on the rest of the team.  Our flight for PAP would be leaving at 11:30 AM.   The rest of the team made it safely to Atlanta and joined us at the gate for departure.  We spent the morning sharing stories and eating our last American meals for 7 days.  Then it was time to leave.  We boarded the plane and the final leg of our journey to pick up Berline began.

The flight to PAP was uneventful.  It is amazing that I get the same feeling every time on approach to PAP.  You look out the window, see Haiti and you feel like you are home.  It is a feeling of excitement and adventure knowing that God is solely in control of the experiences you are going to have.

Toussaint Loverture airport is best described as chaos.  You get off the plane and then move to a ground transport vehicle which takes you to immigration and the terminal.  Once in the terminal you gather your bags and say "No" to 10 different Haitians who want to carry your bags and then move out of the airport into the waiting parking lot.  On the walk out you pass by at least 100 Haitians who stare at you.  It is arguably the most difficult part of any trip to Haiti.  I have done it 5 times and it still is a challenge to negotiate things smoothly.

I was last to make it to the PCAP truck.  I stopped and purchased a Digicel phone in the kiosk near the end of the walk way.  The phone cost about $20 US.  When I got to the truck everyone was standing around saying their Hellos to Mona, Alfred, Jean Luc, and Deltha.  It was good to see old friends.  We boarded the PCAP truck and started on our way to Mme Samuel's house.