It's been ten days since my last update. Trying to get something out each week but it's not always possible.
This past week was something else. We didn't have any teams here last week, but that didn't slow things down. A couple teams had to cancel due to the political unrest, but that has appeared to settle down so we are almost back to normal. We have, however, set up 24/7 armed guards at the Base Camp and Church property "just in case". People are so friendly here, but there is a level of "desperation" that runs under the surface that you can see once in a while. People tied up in abject poverty sometimes do desperate things and with mostly Americans at our Base Camp and working on the church property, can make us a possible "target" of that desperation. Better safe than sorry.
As I mentioned last week, we continued getting the 500,000 packets of seeds delivered to the church property this past week. If you can imagine, 500,000 packets of seeds fills about five pick-up trucks !! We are beginning to distribute them and will start doing something we call Promise Gardens in the orphanages, schools and other places. A Promise Garden is a small starter garden that people can do almost anywhere and that we want to connect to the Word about planting seeds and harvesting fruit in our lives as we commit them to Christ - as well as provide an opportunity for people to grow food for themselves. We are just developing the idea and if you have any thoughts we would love to hear them !! You just can't imagine what's it's like to stand in the middle of 500,000 packets of seeds - and then to think all the vegetables and other things it will grow !! If God drops some ideas in your heart or if anyone wants to make some Promise Garden signs with scriptures and a border design, you can email them to me and we can print them here to put on each Promise Garden we start. Last Friday I had our Haitian labor crew build and finish two small Promise Garden beds on the church property for the school children to plant. I talked to the school master about it and he was "stoked" about the idea. Yesterday we planted the garden and the children loved it.
Last Wednesday the 9th was an experience to remember. I posted something on Facebook about it, but you can't do that experience justice in just a few sentences. Wednesday afternoon, I took Pastor Casamajor (pastor of our Jeremie church and orphanage) to the docks to ship supplies to his orphanage. When we arrived near the docks the entire area made our base camp road with its trash and debris look like a surgical hospital room in comparison to the filth and debris in this area. The road had once been a very nice concrete brick paved road, but now it was a complete mess. This dock area is for smaller ships that go interisland and down the coast like Young Bros would do in Honolulu, but this dock looks like no one had picked up trash for a few years and nothing had been cleaned or repaired ever ! The main dock for international shipments - “Matson” type stuff - is in another area of the coastline and supposedly much better. As we approached the “docks” (which turned out to be piles of dirt and gravel built against some type of barrier to raise the ground up close to the boat deck level at the shoreline) we pulled to the right side of the road near the end of a row of run down concrete buildings. We were almost to the end of the road which just "ends" like they were going to build it another mile, but decided not to. Beyond it was more “dump land” - piles of dirt, debris and finally the ocean. On the left was a street market with at least 500 people in the open or in little stick huts with tin or tarp roofs that sloped down toward the water about 100 yards away behind the market toward the loading area for the boats. It seemed like everything, including the stuff being sold, was either black or some shade of grey and filthy dirty ! Pastor Casamajor got out on the sidewalk (a dirt path) and phoned someone who suddenly came out of nowhere to talk in person. Casamajor gave him some money and the guy got in with us while Casamajor stayed behind. I found out that Casamajor is well known at the docks and people know he is a pastor. So whenever he goes to the dock, they want him to give them some of the stuff he is shipping to Jeremie. So now, he hires this man to oversee the loading and Casamajor stays hidden out of sight by the market.
We drove on to the end of the road and turned left onto a dirt “driveway” in between containers sitting on the ground. People mixed with pigs, goats, chickens, children and tons of trash debris were everywhere. We honked for the animals (and people) to get out of the way and drove about 200 feet down a bumpy slope toward the water. Then we turned again to drive behind the market and on the edge of the water. We were now only about ten feet above the ocean water level and about 100 feet from the water’s edge (no waves in this area if you surfers are wondering). The debris increased somewhat, but here there was also some minor order to the chaos. We stopped by piles of dirt and a couple huge mud puddles that were black with the color that raw sewage makes when it is mixed in with water (ugh !). I maneuvered around those to get closer to the ship. A line of vehicles was in front of us waiting to get on the ferry / barge / ship “thing” that was being loaded. The ship was about 70 feet wide and maybe 200 long and about 50 feet tall with numerous levels above the deck where all the vehicles were loading on. Not very seaworthy looking but that’s what they’ve got ! A huge ramp had been lowered onto the "dock" so the trucks, other vehicles and people could get on the boat. Next to the boat was two other large vessels that looked somewhat like regular Hawaii long line fishing boats, but they were wooden and in such poor repair I would not have gone with any of them with out a life preserver and the coast guard close by ! A half dozen kids were swimming naked in the ocean next to us and spitting water at each other just like kids would do anywhere, except that this water was oily and you couldn’t see into it more than an inch or two. They finally got out and ran barefoot and naked across the mud/debris ridden area through the line of vehicles waiting for the boat and then to somewhere in the backside of the market. Pretty funny sight watching six naked black Haitian kids running through the line of vehicles, people, animals and debris. No one seemed to pay them any attention except me. I turned around at the back of the line of vehicles and backed up so we could be unloaded to the side of the vehicle line. The man Casamajor had hired organized the unloading and the truck was empty in just a couple minutes. Boxes, 100 # bags of rice and other bags of supplies disappeared into the ship on the heads of a line of dock workers. As I was standing there waiting and watching, a tap-tap (a pick up truck with a covered back to carry people in) filled with sodas came racing down the dirt road and ran right through the huge mud puddle spraying a number of Haitians with the black "sewage looking" water. A huge shouting match erupted, but then quickly quieted down as the driver backed his truck up and they started unloading that as well.
It’s impossible to fully describe the sights, sounds and smells I encountered here. But suffice to say I’ve never experienced anything quite so filthy, so loud, so smelly, so unique, so different - but also so interesting and exciting all at the same time. I wish I had pictures of it, but that's not a place to be taking pictures like a tourist - especially for a white guy (and the only one for miles !!)
Last week Tuesday, again on Saturday and yesterday, Aaron and I taught English to bunches of our Haitian church members and community neighbors. It was so much fun !! But it's crazy how complicated our language really is ! Yesterday we started the class and there were a lot of students. I had to leave to take care of some other business and Aaron finished the class. By the time it was over there were over 80 students sitting there listening to Aaron ! We were amazed at the interest of these !!
That's it for this past week. Yesterday we sent the lumber to Jeremie for our orphanage & church. A team is coming tomorrow to begin building the building there. I will most likely be going to Jeremie myself tomorrow - if I can get on the flight - NOT on the ship !! More next time !
Love you all
Mark
Teaching English class
No comments:
Post a Comment