Hi from Leogane!
Don, Betty, Raine, Khiya and I landed in Port au Prince just after Noon. At the airport, we were greeted by a local band of musicians, playing upbeat, Haitian music....I was amazed at the joy on their faces. Later, I realized it was like the false front on a movie set. Exiting the airport was a harrowing experience - porters posing as employees of the airport basically took over our baggage carts - which seemed like a good idea at the time.... until they, en masse, asked for a huge sum for their services! I was really glad to get in our waiting vehicle. Two vehicles met us, a van, and an rickety, old Toyota - Betty & I got the Toyota. There are no rules of the road, no lanes, no lights, whoever's there first wins. Very scary.... but our driver definitely knew what he was doing.
Driving through Port au Prince was an unforgettable experience: the devestation unbelievable; the poverty heart-wrenching; the living conditions unimagineable. My heart breaks for them.
It took a couple of hours to reach Leogane, which we were told was really good - many take 4 hours or more (I'm not surprised - our driver waited for nothing!). Jenny, the base manager, gave us a tour of the base. Our sleeping quarters are in bunks within the building - some sleep in tents on the roof as well. The accommodations are co-ed - so I'm expecting some heavy-duty snoring (for which I am accustomed thanks to my hubbie, Bob!) The building is gated, and locked in the evening. We have guards - armed at present because of the unrest, so I feel safe. Leogane is not involved in the demonstrations that are making the news, so there's no worries in that area.
After dinner, we sign up for work duties for the following day. Betty & I chose Baby Orphanage in the morning, and rubble clearing in the afernoon. Khiya & Raine are on BSF - which stands for bio-sand-filters ( I think). They will be putting together filtering systems for water which is being distributed to the Haitian people. Very cool.... Don is on the truss crew, so will be doing some building. The long-term volunteers will teach you everything you need to know, so, who knows - maybe I'll even be swinging a hammer :) (Don't laugh, Bob).
It's all very overwhelming, but I know Jesus is covering us and is with us every step of the way. My strength is in Him.
Thanks for allowing us to use your blog Tracey... just a small addition from Khiya and I... We thank everyone for their prayer cover for our travels... we had a huge delay in edmonton that made us miss our connecting flight in Texas... we ended up on a 20 passenger plane to miami... very scary... as we knew we were well overweight and size.. the ticket agent in miami was awesome and didn't charge us oversize but had to charge us overweight but asked us to reorganize our bags so only one was overweight. as i told people the US customs does not like or allow medications from canada on their soil... we were opening our bags and moving medications, iv fluids, and needles from one bag to the other with security looking over our shoulder without seeing or commenting on our supplies. God is so good... the other small glitch was khiya's passport fell out of her bag in the small plane to miami in the dark. we never noticed until this morning. Although her passport was NOT turned in and the plane had left the airport, God had her passport waiting for us... What a mighty God we serve. What plans the enemy tries thwart, God is already ahead of him...
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting us know that you arrived safely. Take care and know that you and the people you are serving are in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteRalph and Mary
Sounds challenging.. glad you made it! I look forward to hearing more..
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