Almost finished...

The team has been working REALLY hard.  Every day I stop by with lunch I can't wait to see what they've accomplished.

When I stopped by today, the cement floors had been laid, and the walls and windows were almost done.  I look forward to stopping tomorrow to see the finished project.

The team was also able to assist with a food distribution this morning.  They helped pass out the food and met many of the families who will be benefiting from the work that they are doing.

We are so thankful for the work that the team has been able to accomplish during their time here. We are thankful they had good health and good spirits throughout.  We will definitely miss them when they leave tomorrow!

We are also very thankful for the safe arrival of Karen Lodder.  She arrived yesterday and will be here for one week.  Lord willing, she and Maia will return to Haiti permanently at the end of April.

We praise the Lord for His many blessings and ask that you continue to pray for us as we move forward in our work here.

Serious Progress!!

Often in Haiti, things do not go exactly as planned. Since the first day the team arrived they have been waiting for a front loader to come and level the entire yard. As of today, it still has not arrived. This truck did arrive however, and ran out of gas directly in front of the gate, nicely blocking the entryway:)
As you can see in this picture, the team has been hard at work!! These are the future offices, one for the pastors, and one for the school.
I am sure thankful for these guys willing to put up a hot tin roof in this heat!!
We were able to borrow a cement mixer, the next step is laying a concrete floor for the offices.

Weekend

We decided the team had worked hard enough to enjoy a treat! Friday night we were invited "up the mountain" to a friend's house for a swim and some pizza.Here John and Eric are enjoying a well deserved break.

We played a card game called "Golf" I was tempted to post the final scores but I don't want to embarrass anyone:)
Saturday morning the team begged us to let them work some more. We grudgingly agreed. Half of the team went down to the new property and kept building while the other half fixed the road in front of Randy and Karen's place so it's passable once again.

Group shot, from the left: Derek, Derek, Eric, Randy, Peter, John
Saturday afternoon we did some sight seeing. We went downtown to look at what is left of the palace and the parks that have been overtaken with tent cities. Next we went up to Fort Jacques.
I was very saddened by the damage that Fort Jacques sustained. For anyone who's been to Fort Jacques before, this is the spot where many groups get a group shot taken, you can see that the outside wall that we usually stand in front of or sit on is completely gone.
This is the inside of the Fort. I'm so saddened by the destruction because there are so few historic sites left in Haiti and I don't hold out much hope that it will be rebuilt.
Overall the team is doing very well. They are surviving the heat and sun amazingly well. They are all in good health and spirits. It's great to have them here. The one thing I most appreciate about teams is the opportunity to see Haiti through fresh eyes. The longer you're here the easier it is to forget what an amazing place Haiti is and how amazing the people are who live here. It's nice to be reminded of that from time to time.

Tools? check!

The team's missing suitcases have arrived and that means tools! Riding in style!
Here the team is having a morning meeting to discuss which tools to bring to the site.
Life in Haiti is difficult on vehicles, we are borrowing a truck from a neighbour and it requires a lot of assistance to get started each morning.
This is the side wall, where a lean-to will be built, most of the classrooms will be against this wall.
This is the future site of the offices, one for the school, another for the pastors. The team is attempting to level the area in order to lay a concrete pad.
This is the back wall of the property. There will also be a lean-to built here as well to provide additional classrooms.

Work Team

Sorry the pictures are out of order and I cannot rearrange them.

This is what we call "team work"!

The "Before Picture"Yesterday we had a lot, and I mean a lot, of dumptrucks come by with some fill for the hole

The work team arrived safely yesterday afternoon, unfortunately a lot of their luggage didn't arrive with them. We considered leaving them at the airport since their lugguage held the tools needed for the construction... just kidding! I'll try to get a group shot in the near future to introduce everyone on the team, but we are very happy to have Derek, Derek, Eric, John and Peter.

I stopped by the worksite today to make sure everything was going smoothly (and to bring them a little bit of food). They decided the first order of business was to set up a tarp to provide a small amount of shade, since there is currently none to speak of.

Progress...

I haven't been writing about the school situation because there wasn't very much to say.
We still have not been able to find a backhoe that is able to knock down the existing school structure. Even after the building is removed from the site, the yard is not big enough for a new temporary school structure to be set up.
Therefore we need to set up a temporary school location elsewhere. I didn't realize how difficult it would be turn out to be. We have decided not to do anything permanent at this time, as we are waiting to hear more about the long-term plan for Port-au-Prince. Today I read an article that stated their will be an committee set up in Haiti that will design a master plan for the reconstruction of PAP, all schools, hospitals, etc. must consult this committee to make sure they fit in with the master plan.
This being said, we are making some progress in regards to the temporary location. One of the pastors that we were working with before has agreed to let us use the property he purchased to build his house. He hadn't started building yet, but he did put in a huge hole for the foundation of his house, a hole that we now have to fill back in!! We have had several builders and an architect from Canada stop by the site to give us some advice about how to set up temporary shelter(s) and how to lay out the site. Today we have a team coming in to start the building of the first shelter. We feel so blessed to be able to start this process and ask you to pray for the team and the work that they will be doing.
Below are pictures of a group of volunteers who helped prepare the section where the first shelter will be built.

Port-au-Prince, two months post quake

A day in the life of Randy....

Only in Haiti would one wake up early for the exciting opportunity of going to.... wait for it... a hardware store!! That's right, I woke up at 5:30 this morning in order to tag along to the new hardware store in town. Traffic has been crazy lately in PaP, due to all the extra NGOs, the international armies, and extra UN personnel, and the new hardware store is on the opposite side of town. So we left early to beat traffic, and were so successful that we were 20 minutes early. Thankfully there was a nice 'garden centre' near by and I was able to buy some new plants. Let me explain about the hardware store, first of all, 90% of my time is spent with guys these days and 80% of their time is spent talking about tools:) so therefore I've heard a lot about this store, it was described to me as a replica of Home Depot, and who doesn't like Home Depot??? (okay, well I did boycott for a bit, but that is a story for another day) Now, don't tell any of the guys I know in Haiti, but I was a bit disappointed by the store, it's more of a man's store, it has all the serious stuff (cement, large pieces of wood) and none of the fun stuff (things that are functional but also pretty).
Now going anywhere with Randy is always a bit of an adventure. One errand always turns into many more and we often run into people that he knows and MUST talk to. We left at 7am and didn't finish until almost 4pm with a short pit stop in there.
However, we did have a successful day. We managed to buy a fair amount of stuff, we met up with a team that is working with Ben Hopp, we had a meeting regarding our new temporary location of the school, we got a ton of great pictures and we even managed to squeeze in a visit to Epid'or (Haiti's version of Subway and McDonald's) Overall a good day. Tomorrow I think I'll sit at my desk all day and work on paperwork, too much excitement for me:)

Day Trip

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to tag along with some CRWRC disaster relief staff. They were going to a small village near Leogone, the epicentre of the earthquake. They have decided to work in the villages nearby Leogone and were beginning by asking each family or household to complete a questionaire in order to access the needs. I thought it would be a neat opportunity to get out of PaP and see a bit of the rest of the country.
Many people in this village lived in mud or tin houses so there were very few casualties, however, most people were still living in tents or under tarps.
At first we were able to walk around from house to house, then people started to get nervous that we wouldn't visit their house and started to surround us and share their stories with us all at once in an attempt to have us visit their house next. We let the village leaders take care of it and quickly disappeared.

Toni and I were given the gift of a coconut. We did our best to finish them but had to share with some adorable girls sitting watching us.


There was an orphanage/school in the village. We walked by and they were sitting idly so I asked the pastor in charge if I could play a game with them. I started to teach them "7 up" but they already knew it so all my instructions and acting were purely entertainment for them:)
I did a few surveys but every question I asked was repeated by everyone around just in case my creole wasn't understood. It started to drive me crazy so eventually I asked the 'crowd' to disperse so I could speak only to the person I was interviewing.
This was a pretty sweet tarp structure that a family had built. They even had carpet inside. I asked if I could stay with them and they agreed, however, when I discovered how hot it was inside and that they didn't have any fans I said I prefered my place:)
I couldn't resist holding this adorable baby, he didn't even cry, however, when he started to spit up I quickly passed him back to his mother.
It was a very interesting day, I enjoyed getting out of the city for a day. As you can see I forgot to put on sunscreen so I got quite the burn, thank goodness for aloe vera. I learned a few new cultural things, for example, if you didn''t eat rice or corn meal on a given day you didn't actually eat that day (bread, spaghetti and fruit do not count as eating). I also learned that some people think that the earthquake released harmful gases into the earth and it can no longer be used for planting vegetables. Overall it was a very interesting day and I'm glad I was able to tag along and see a different part of Haiti.