Haiti

Hey Friends

So as many of you know, I traveled to Haiti this past March with Greensboro and Raleigh Young Life. I figure that I should probably post some about Haiti. The following is excerpts from my Haiti Report to my supporters.

We arrived in Haiti on Sunday, March 6. We spent the first two days in Port Au Prince. We visited the Good Shepherd School, which is a free school operated by Chedrick Caneus. Chedrick, in addition to being the headmaster of the school, is also the national director of Young Life Haiti (or Jenn Vi as it is called in Haitian Creole) and the pastor at the Good Shepherd Church. School was not in session that week because of Carnival, but there were still about 100 kids that hung around the school because they didn’t have anything better to do. At the school we led crafts, played games, and generally loved on the kids. While in Port Au Prince, we also visited The Sisters of Mercy Children’s Hospital which was set up by Mother Teresa. The hospital is run by the Sisters, and several volunteers who are mostly elderly Haitian women. We helped in the infant ward, and helped with feeding the infants porridge. This was the point in the trip when God broke my heart. Seeing these sick and suffering babies in horrible conditions, neglected by their families brought tears to my eyes.

            On Tuesday, we traveled into the mountains to a town called Maissade. Maissade is only 70 miles from Port Au Prince but the drive took five hours due to the poor road conditions. We stayed at the town priest’s house, which was the only house in the town to have electricity. In Maissade, our main project was working at a community center that Jenn Vi was building. Our job was to move a large pile of dirt from outside the site into the site to be the foundation. We also painted a school, library, church, and outhouses. During the afternoons we played with the street kids and led them in crafts. One night we were able to attend a Young Life club which was an incredible experience. The Jenn Vi leaders and other Christians have such a complete trust and faith in God that is refreshing and amazing. I was talking to one teenager named DaJohn and he asked me if I loved God, and I said that I did. He responded with “I love God too, because without him I have nothing.”

            On Saturday, we left Maissade and traveled to Kalico which is on the beach. We spent the afternoon on the beach and debriefed about the entire trip. On Sunday we left Haiti and flew back home.

That is the general overview of the trip. Hopefully later I will post some more stories and pictures.

In His Name

Andrew