Dear Family and Friends,
We arrived home Friday night from our adventure to Haiti. We were exhausted from a long day of traveling, dirty from a week of limited showering and electricity, BUT are hearts were full of joy from new friendships, new experiences, and a passion to serve Haiti. We want to thank-you ALL again for supporting us on this trip. . .your prayers were appreciated as we had safe travels and felt very protected while we were there. We cannot wait to share the details of our adventure as Haiti as a story to be heard.
FIRST GLIMPSE OF HAITI
To paint a picture of Haiti for you is a difficult task, as words cannot really describe the devastation of this country. As we drove from the airport to Grace Village we were amazed at the piles of garbage flooding the streets…the pigs, goats, chickens, and dogs eating and swarming through the garbage…the people sitting and walking amongst the garbage…huge tent villages on our left and our right packed full. . .smells of burning garbage, dirt, and waste…designated cholera camps…children running everywhere…busy markets full of vendors. .. and ruins of buildings destructed during the earthquake.
They had tried to prepare us for what we would see, but nothing could truly prepare us for the poverty and living conditions in this country. They were ten times worse than we could have ever imagined. It is ironic because some of our group members had been to Haiti on previous trips in the last 6 months and they said the conditions had improved. This was unbelievable to us. Our eyes were wide and fear gripped us…how could we ever make a difference amongst this chaos? What could we really do for these people? Little did we know our first day in Haiti that, by the end of the trip, we would learn many things about this country, their culture, and that there IS hope for their future.
GRACE VILLAGE
We arrived at Grace Village where we would be staying. It is a compound including a hospital, girl’s home, church, and a field where 15,000 Haitian people are living in tents. A Haitian couple that is well known through out Haiti runs Grace village. Their names are Bishop Jeune and Madam and they have four sons. They have started 278 churches in Haiti and they have also started numerous orphanages where they help care and raise children in God’s love. After the earthquake the people flooded their property and slept on their lawn for almost two months without shelter. At this time there was more than 25,000 people. Bishop Jeune felt that it was his calling to help these people so he allowed them to stay and begin to set up a system of organization. His son Danny Jeune runs the tent village. Today, it is known as the best-run tent village in Haiti. We had a full tour our second day and we were amazed at the organization amongst the chaos. The tents are set up into districts and each tent has a number. There is outhouse, shower, and laundry area in the middle, vendor tents, barbershop tents, and even a movie theatre tent. It is a busy place where it seems the people never sleep. . .music, worship, children, dancing, and crying. It is truly astonishing how these people live. . .they live in close quarters with no privacy, but they make it work. Below is a link to the website for Grace International. . . where you can find out more about this village. http://www.giinc.org/. They are doing amazing work for the people of Haiti and their love for God is very evident.
We stayed in the second floor of the hospital at Grace Village. The first floor of the hospital is a children’s hospital ran by Doctor’s Without Borders. Children come from all over Haiti to seek care at this hospital. We did not have any access to this hospital nor did we ever see anyone from it, as the entrance was located outside of the village. We stayed in rooms with cots and bathrooms. They were concrete dirt floors, limited running water and electricity. We had wonderful Haitian women cooking for us...three meals a day. The food was very tasty and consisted of lots of rice and beans, soups, fruit, salads, spaghetti, hot dogs, ham sandwiches, and porridge. The biggest hit was the giant pancakes they served for breakfast 3 of the days. Pete refers to them as the “best pancakes of his life”.
WHAT WE DID WHILE WE WERE THERE
Hey everyone, Pete here. Before we left for Haiti, our team leader Scott told us over and over again that the most important thing about being there was to be flexible. One thing about the Haitian culture is that they do things as they come and aren’t real structured when it comes to keeping an agenda. This was evident by the end of our first full day and our group had a running joke that said, “this is the plan, but that could change in a couple of minutes”, and it often did. One area that Solid Rock Church has been able to help is by providing temporary homes for some of the people living in the village. Our church has donated 50 homes, which have a metal frame and have plywood for walls. They are specifically made for areas that are prone to hurricanes and high winds. Our team was fortunate to have 4 men who are all in the construction business and in just 4 days of working we were able to complete 5 homes from start to finish and also finished several that we not complete. It was a blast to work with everyone including many of the Haitian families whose homes we were building. We wanted to include the families in the building process so that they could take ownership of their home. This is considered to be one of the big issues with the Haitian culture is that they don’t take care of what they have and expect people to come in and help them. I saw many of the young Haitian men work hard and eagerly and I could see a sense of pride in them when we finished. The homes were spread over a large area outside of the village. One home was way up in the mountains on a hillside and had the most amazing view I have ever seen. It was quite an adventure getting there. At one point, the truck overheated on a hill and we had to quickly get out and put rocks behind the tires because the emergency brake wasn’t strong enough to hold the truck from rolling. We also went out to a piece of property called Lambi that Bishop Juene purchased. It was about a 25-minute drive thru one of the busier and most dangerous areas of Haiti. The truck rides we took were always invigorating as we would have anywhere from 10 to 15 people crammed in the back of a truck with nothing to hang on to except each other while we bobbed and weaved down the streets. Let’s just say that if you want to show your kids how not to drive, taken them to Haiti! It is crazy there; I can’t even describe it. All in all, it was a blessing to meet the Haitian people and help them begin the process of starting over with a small and simple home.
Another thing that Maggie and I were a part of was the Lord’s Kitchen. Every week Monday thru Thursday some of the local Haitian women make food that is donated by Solid Rock church. The food is for the kids in the tent village and usually feeds around 500 kids starting with the youngest first. One day while we were there, the guards let too many kids in at one time and chaos ensued as the kids were fighting and rioting with each other to be first to get food. It was very humbling to see what these kids will do just to get a small meal.
I, Maggie, did not participate in the home building. I came to Haiti hoping that I could work in the hospital below us and help through using my nursing skills, but this was not an option because to work with Doctors Without Borders, you have to come through their organization. I was a bit disappointed a first, but quickly realized that God had other special plans. I volunteered to teach English to the girls at the orphanage. I have no teaching experience, but found this to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Myself and two other team members would teach two English classes a day one to the older girls and one to the younger girls. We were so impressed at how much English the girls already knew. We were really able to build on these skills. We taught them body parts and incorporated the hokey pokey dance (which was a huge hit). We taught the older girls verb tense, directional phrases, opposites, and much more. My favorite was teaching the little girls to sing “This little light of mine” and “Deep and Wide”. Their voices were like angels and listening to them sing will stick in my heart and mind forever.
I also had the opportunity to do some preventative health care for the children of the village. One day some of us cleaned the ears of the children while they were in line to receive food. The next day we assessed and cleaned their cuts and put band-aids and antibiotic ointment on. Many of the children run around barefoot with limited clothing and receive many cuts on their feet, legs, arms, and even their little faces. One little girl had a gash on the back of her leg that was so infected that it was swarming with gnats and maggots. It broke my heart that many small wounds that would heal quickly in clean conditions become infected and turn into health concerns for these precious children. Our second day in Haiti, as some of us were helping with The Lord’s Kitchen, a two-year old boy fell off a picnic bench and hit his head on a rock. I ran to him and quickly noticed a bleeding cut on his head followed by lots of swelling. I attempted to clean the cut, but there were some communication difficulties with the parents and the father was attempting to shave the hair around the cut with a razor blade while the child was screaming. Our group leader and I ended up taking this little guy to a clinic inside the tent village. This was an extremely interesting experience as it was a small clinic in a shack with 50-100 people waiting to be seen. We were allowed to go right in and only had to wait an hour while some of the other Haitian people had probably been waiting all day. There were limited resources and supplies and a different standard of sanitary conditions, but the Haitian nurses and Dr.’s cared for this little boy with compassion and kindness. They assessed him and bandaged his cut and I changed the bandage each remaining day I was there. I grew close to this little guy (his name was Whitson) and his family. When I think of Haiti I will think of their faces and smiles and the impact they had on my life.
LASTING IMPRESSIONS AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
Our favorite things about Haiti were the amazing children we met. They would run to our group when they saw us shouting “Hey You! Hey You! What is your name?” They would hold our hands and hug us and follow us as long as they could. It was sometimes hard to communicate with the children and adults, as Creole is their first language. After the first couple of days we were able to learn some key Creole phrases and they knew some basic English phrases. We made it work and were able to have small conversations with them. Their smiles were beautiful and their excitement for life heart-warming.
Another meaningful part of the trip was when we went to a Haitian church service the Sunday we were there. It was three hours long, but it was wonderful to be part of. They people sang and danced and praised God with all their heart. After communion, it is tradition for the elders of the church to wash the congregation’s feet. They insisted upon washing all of our feet and it was a unique and special experience. After the service, many members of the congregation came and shook our hands and hugged us. They told us that they were happy to have their brothers and sisters in Christ among them.
We also became very close to the group of people we came to Haiti with. There were 23 of us total. We had lots of sharing time each night and developed a special bond through the amazing experiences we encountered. Pete and I made some great friends through this trip and we look forward to continuing these friendships back in Portland. The last day of our trip we were surprised by the opportunity to drive north to a beach on the Caribbean ocean called Bellisimo. We all swam in the ocean and had some good laughs. In addition, on the way home we had to run to catch two of our connector flights. It was pretty hilarious all 23 of us running in the Florida airport and then again in the Texas airport. We made it home safe and sound and did one final count off in the Portland airport.
Pete and I were impressed by the attitude of hope from the Haitian people. We were able to listen to the Jeune family speak on a couple of different occasions. They are really trying to initiate change in the country through getting the people involved in the CHANGE itself. The three things they are trying to teach the people are organization, communication, and responsibility. They explained to us that for so many years Haiti is used to other countries coming in and giving them things. They want Haiti to start understanding how a country runs and playing a part in this process. The Jeune family understands that it will take a long time to change this culture, but they are hoping to start teaching the younger generations these values so they can make a difference for Haiti, as they grow older.
There are so many more stories and details we wish we could share with you. It is hard to put everything we experienced into words. It has been nice to have the last two days at home to recover and reflect. We’ve found our thoughts drifting to the Haitian people we’ve met and to all the things we take for granted. We’ve noticed how wonderful it is to walk or drive down clean streets, take a hot shower, or have the luxury of choosing what we want to eat. I am sure many of you realize just how blessed we are here in the United States, but we never realized just how different our lives are here than the lives of those who live in Haiti. We ask that you continue to pray for this country . . . for the healing, rebuilding, and change that needs to happen. Both of us would like to stay involved in helping Haiti and we would love to talk with any of you if you would like to get more involved too. There are many, many ways we can help from afar and up close!
Thank-you again for all of your love and support and for sharing in this experience with us!
We hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start!
God Bless,
Pete and Maggie Moormeier
