Update from Haiti - repost

Well, today is Sunday. Pastor Michel and Louise have been away and are returning on Tuesday. We have a whole new appreciation of their work and the respect that they have. It has been challenging for us to keep things running, and we are really only dealing with a very small part of the workload that Pastor Michel would normally handle. Much of the supplies, the services etc were all put in place by Pastor Michel prior to their departure.



We have been tested a bit and I think that we've learned a bit about the culture as well through this experience. The first week ran a little rougher, but we were able to make some adjustments and the program seemed to run much better this week than last. We needed to show that there were still certain expectations while Pastor Michel was away. The team under him is very good and they needed to know the expectations and also that they were being fully supported.

At the end of last week, we were getting overwhelmed with so many things on the go. In addition to the program, we were also getting ready to finally move into our new house. Things that would have been handled very easily by us back home were not easy at all here in Haiti to accomplish. The process is much different and our inability to communicate in Kreyol is a huge stumbling block right now.

It took a lot of effort, countless hours driving from here to there, appointments, missed appointments, finding offices etc.... but eventually it all worked out. By the end of last week, we had our security guard in place, we now have the first of two guard dogs, bought some furniture, did a little more work around the house and moved in. Our first night at our new house, we got the batteries charged, moved a few circuits around, and greeted our new security guard.

Remember kerosene lamps - some of you likely don't or at least won't admit it. They are now big item on our list. You buy kerosene at the gas station and they pump it just like gas. 2 lamps, plus a few windup flashlights were our source of light the first few hours in our new house until the hydro finally came on.

We still have a few wrinkles to iron out - okay maybe a lot of wrinkles - but that will all happen with time. I think actually in Haiti that its the norm to have wrinkles that need to be attended to. Keep them on a priority list and deal with what you can as you can. Last night I hooked up the gas stove and we had our very first breakfast here this morning.

Our plan is to get language training back on the agenda again next week. We had to put it on the side burner for a few days and focus on getting moved. Even prior to that, we always seemed to be too busy to give it the proper attention that it needs. It takes a lot of energy to learn a new language and we need to prioritize this as the language is a huge barrier to us being effective here.

Now that Pastor Michel is back, we will also pick up the pace with respect to the new site. There is apparently a large church here in Haiti that was built in 8 months by the congregation. We are planning on visiting to see how that was done. It would be great to tap into some of these resources as well.

There are a million (I exaggerate not!) other personal stories that I could tell. Like for example, the ant colony in our refrigerator. Perhaps a few will eventually be told, but we'll have to save that for another time.