So my goal is to be done blogging Haiti by the end of the weekend.
Wednesday night when we returned from the pipe life had started to resume around the house. The atmosphere was still quieter and more subdued than it had been the rest of the week, but more people were congregating and working around the house than there had been that morning. Actionnel and the other men still hadn't returned from their trip to Port-au-Prince, so we all had some time to hang out before dinner.
Most of us were just chillin in our rooms and washing up while we waited for dinner. Tyler, Eyleen, and I decided to try a couple of the spigots around the house to see if the water had made it's way to the house yet. As we got to the steps of the house, Actionnel's truck was pulling up to OFCB. The three of us were just frozen for a second, we watched as hundreds of people followed the truck to the house. We decided to give everyone a minute and just continued to the back of the house to check the spigot.
As we had kind of expected, the water still hadn't made it's way to the spigot. We started to head back to the house and while we were a few steps off the gate we heard screams erupt from the crowd in front of the house. Right away, we weren't really sure what to think, were those good or bad? We kept walking back toward the house and as we made our way though the front gate, women were running past us throwing their arms in the air and screaming in Creole. Tyler and I looked to Eyleen for something, any kind of translation, but she had nothing.
It didn't take long for us to figure out that this was not good. There was no way that this was a celebration for the homecoming of their students. We made our way to the front of the crowd and Demielsant was trying to quiet everyone down so he continue giving them the update from Port-au-Prince. Eyleen interpreted as best she could for us; he said again that they couldn't find either of the students, that their school had collapsed, and even though they were only able to take their truck down a couple of streets, from what they saw the city was 90% destroyed and would take years to rebuild. With every statement, the wails from the community got louder and more desperate.
The three of us just sat there on the side of the house, while the community continued to fall apart around us. At some point, Michael joined us too; right before Actionnel had made it home he had walked down to the pipe crossing. I don't really know what else to say about that night. At the time, I had no idea what to think, and I'm still trying to figure it out a little.
Honestly, I just sat there, going between watching what was happening around me, taking everything in and closing my eyes with my head in my hands. What do you do, really what do you do? What are you supposed to pray for, what is there to say? I was desperate for God to do something, but felt like there was nothing that could make it better. At one point, I know I asked God just to end, seriously, I have never anticipated Heaven, never truly desired an end to the suffering of this earth, more than that moment. I don't want to sounds over-dramatic, but that's what I truly felt in the moment.
I think we sat outside for about an hour. Once the crowd thinned out enough for us to get through the door to the house, we went inside and talked to the North Carolina guys. We decided that it would be best to get out as soon as possible. The longer we stayed, the more resources we would use, the odds of us getting home timely went down. It was such a blessing to have the support and help of the North Carolina churches and the leaders in Bayonnais. We decided that Actionnel and some other community leaders would drive us to the border of the Dominican the next day. We would leave at 4AM and catch a bus at the border to Santo Domingo.
So that's what we did. We all left the NC guys room to pack. We had a plan for travel, but we didn't really think travel would go as planned, so we packed in such a way that we could drop bags if we would have to. Most of us left what would help at OFCB and put the essentials in our backpacks and things we could afford to lose in the rest of our luggage. It was so weird getting ready to leave.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Probably the Longest Day of My Life: Part 1
Ok, before you even say it, I know I did not blog every day or every other day last week. This is taking a little longer than I expected, so rather than hold onto this post until it's done, I'm posting what I have and will hopefully finish soon
Wednesday morning was pretty surreal, I think that's a good word for it. I woke up a little later than I had the previous days, but that seemed to be the norm for everyone. When I finally made my way out to the main room, the activity that normally accompanied the morning wasn't present. Some of the Carolina guys had left early that morning for a hike they had planned at the beginning of the week, so they weren't around, most of our team was sleeping a little late and none of the Haitians seemed to be around either. I went out to the front steps to sit and watch the kids come in to school like I had the two previous mornings, but by 7:45 no one had entered the school gate. I found out a little later that school was canceled for the day.
Eventually the morning started to move forward. Even though the kids didn't have school that day, they still began to roll in to hang around the guest house. Most of them still didn't really get what was going on. The adults walked around with sad faces that reminded me of the days following 9/11, while the kids sat at the dominoes table trying to be as intimidating to eachother as their dads did every night. They were just having fun.
Pretty soon the North Carolina guys came back from their hike and we all sat down for breakfast, without Actionnel though, Yoland told us that he had gone into Port-au-Prince with some other leaders to look for two students from Bayonnais studing there. After breakfast we headed out for what we planned would be a pretty short day or surveying, it seemed a little futile to go out an survey while the country was in an official day of emergency, but it's what we came to do, so that's what we did. We only had one survey station left, so we figured we would be back at the house early.
As we walked to the pipe crossing, Tyler tried one of the water spigots along the road, just to check that the pipe was maintaining its pressure since being fixed Monday. Instead of water shooting out of the high pressure nozzle, a few drops dripped to the ground, bad sign. We got a little closer to the crossing and ran into a couple of the "sub-contractors" who had been working on the pipe earlier in the week. We started to talk with them, communicating mostly through Eddy, one of the NC guys who was born in Haiti and spoke Creole fluently. The men said that the pipe had broken some time during the night. They still had a lot of steel pipe left over with threads didn't match up. They were going to try to fix the pipe with that, but they didn't know how they would do it. We told them that we had brought a coupling with us that might be able to help them get around the problem. Eddy had been thinking about staying Haiti for a couple more weeks, so he said that he would keep the coupling and help the guys fix it later.
Work at the pipe looked like the 6 of us brainstorming, planning, and making plans, while the men implemented the plans. Having Eddy at the crossing was such a blessing, communicating without him would have been rough. Eyleen did a great job too, her Creole just keeps getting better. Finally, after a few hours, we had a plan with all the bugs worked out. We were going to be able to use the coupling we had brought and the fix would be the most permanent fix the pipe had seen yet.
You can see in this picture the local men who were working with us.
Wednesday morning was pretty surreal, I think that's a good word for it. I woke up a little later than I had the previous days, but that seemed to be the norm for everyone. When I finally made my way out to the main room, the activity that normally accompanied the morning wasn't present. Some of the Carolina guys had left early that morning for a hike they had planned at the beginning of the week, so they weren't around, most of our team was sleeping a little late and none of the Haitians seemed to be around either. I went out to the front steps to sit and watch the kids come in to school like I had the two previous mornings, but by 7:45 no one had entered the school gate. I found out a little later that school was canceled for the day.
Eventually the morning started to move forward. Even though the kids didn't have school that day, they still began to roll in to hang around the guest house. Most of them still didn't really get what was going on. The adults walked around with sad faces that reminded me of the days following 9/11, while the kids sat at the dominoes table trying to be as intimidating to eachother as their dads did every night. They were just having fun.
Pretty soon the North Carolina guys came back from their hike and we all sat down for breakfast, without Actionnel though, Yoland told us that he had gone into Port-au-Prince with some other leaders to look for two students from Bayonnais studing there. After breakfast we headed out for what we planned would be a pretty short day or surveying, it seemed a little futile to go out an survey while the country was in an official day of emergency, but it's what we came to do, so that's what we did. We only had one survey station left, so we figured we would be back at the house early.
As we walked to the pipe crossing, Tyler tried one of the water spigots along the road, just to check that the pipe was maintaining its pressure since being fixed Monday. Instead of water shooting out of the high pressure nozzle, a few drops dripped to the ground, bad sign. We got a little closer to the crossing and ran into a couple of the "sub-contractors" who had been working on the pipe earlier in the week. We started to talk with them, communicating mostly through Eddy, one of the NC guys who was born in Haiti and spoke Creole fluently. The men said that the pipe had broken some time during the night. They still had a lot of steel pipe left over with threads didn't match up. They were going to try to fix the pipe with that, but they didn't know how they would do it. We told them that we had brought a coupling with us that might be able to help them get around the problem. Eddy had been thinking about staying Haiti for a couple more weeks, so he said that he would keep the coupling and help the guys fix it later.
We got to the pipe and saw the break. We were pretty disappointed to see the pipe broke, we knew this meant no fresh water for 10 miles of community, just another thing to go wrong. But, we still went on to finish our surveying. Alysen, Michael, Eyleen, and surveyed while Tyler finished his scouting around the river for other projects we are working on.
Work at the pipe looked like the 6 of us brainstorming, planning, and making plans, while the men implemented the plans. Having Eddy at the crossing was such a blessing, communicating without him would have been rough. Eyleen did a great job too, her Creole just keeps getting better. Finally, after a few hours, we had a plan with all the bugs worked out. We were going to be able to use the coupling we had brought and the fix would be the most permanent fix the pipe had seen yet.
You can see in this picture the local men who were working with us.
Check out the homemade "scaffolding" they're standing on!
Finished Product and the whole team:
We walked home from the pipe SO excited! We had left the house that morning feeling almost useless, we went out to survey because there was nothing else to do, but felt like it was nothing. Now we felt like we had all been part of something so much bigger, like we had helped bring a solution to a real problem.
We walked home from the pipe SO excited! We had left the house that morning feeling almost useless, we went out to survey because there was nothing else to do, but felt like it was nothing. Now we felt like we had all been part of something so much bigger, like we had helped bring a solution to a real problem.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tuesday--Post -Quake
Once we got back to the house, it was just about dinner time. They took care of us so well in Haiti, Actionnel's wife, Yolande, is such a great cook! So we sat down for dinner with Actionnel and the North Carolina guys. We all traded stories of the day, not the least of which was where everyone was during the earthquake. Actionnnel confirmed that the community didn't experience any structural damage. He did say that the two-story school shook quite a bit and the kids bolted out.
After dinner John was the first person to grab his computer and check the headlines for the day, nothing was the same after that. John went to the NY Times website, the front page story was the earthquake in Haiti. Most of us were still stalling at the dinner table chatting when he came in and told us the EQ was at least a magnitude 7, it's epicenter was really close to Port-au-Prince, a hospital in Petionville had collapsed. When John stopped reading the article, Actionnel brought his hands to face and asked out loud, "God, haven't we had enough?"
From this point on, time began to crawl. It seemed the hours just kept going. I don't know if we really noticed it at the time, but looking back, we couldn't seem to understand how 3 days seemed to last 3 months. Also from this point on, details get a little shaky. I remember just about everything that happened, but a few things may be a little out of order.
Once we realized that the EQ was a much bigger deal than we had first realized, we got online, sent out some quick emails and updated blogs. Internet had been spotty all week and we figured it would be even worse now, so we conserved the time as much as we could. It got dark pretty quickly after dinner.
Normally nights around the guest house were full of life. There was a table under the overhang of one of the school building that the men always played dominoes on. You should see Haitians play dominoes. It looks and sounds awesome. They don't just set the dominoes on the matching numbers and keep going quietly, it all about intimidation. They're slamming and sliding dominoes, hitting the table, shuffling tiles in their hands and on the table, and making sure everyone else at the table knows who's boss; I think it's probably more fun to watch than to play. Normally groups of the high school kids would hang around with us trying to practice their English by just making conversation. I spent most of my time at night with the littlest kids, I loved playing clapping games with them, you know life Miss-Mary-Mack, of course they sang sweet Creole songs I couldn't understand, (man I really want to learn that before I go down next).
None of that really happened Tuesday night. Dominoes was the last thing on the men's mind as they gathered around Actionnel's big, white pick-up truck, with the radio blasting the only news available being broadcast from Gonnaive. The station was pretty much just broadcasting phone calls they were getting from people close who had information about Port-au-Prince. Most of the high school kids stayed at home that night, but a couple of the older boys had come out to Actionnel's truck too. Most of the young kids didn't really get it. They seemed to notice something was up, they hung around the guest house just a little less active than usual.
That morning we had planned to do a hand washing clinic with some the kids. It didn't really seem like high priority any more, but we figured it would at least keep the kids out of the adults hair, so Eyleen and I did that. I got to take pictures and hang around watching her work while she taught in Creole. After the kids finished the class, they all got a sweet Bucky Badger magnet. They didn't quite understand the concept of a mascot, but they had fun.
Quick side note: That night it was really windy and really unseasonably cold. As soon as we went inside, I put on sweats and a sweatshirt. None of the kids we spent our time with that night had that option.
Once the kids all headed for home, Eyleen and I joined everyone back in the guest house. We talked with the North Carolina guys for a bit. We still didn't really understand the extent of the earthquake yet. We had been able to see some pictures of structural damage, but we didn't have the live video feeds you were all getting. At this point we were still hoping that American Airlines was going to open up flights on Thursday and we would be leaving Thursday out of Port-au-Prince exactly as we had been planning.
As if got later, numbers in the computer rooms dwindled. Eventually it was just Tyler, John, Eyleen, and me. Tyler decided to check his email before we shut down the computer for the night and waiting in his inbox were 3 emails from news stations who had figured out that we were in Haiti. We were pretty amazed, honestly. We worked together to reply with something short that wouldn't be able to cause much of a stir on any news report. We hung around together for a while and eventually got to bed late.
After dinner John was the first person to grab his computer and check the headlines for the day, nothing was the same after that. John went to the NY Times website, the front page story was the earthquake in Haiti. Most of us were still stalling at the dinner table chatting when he came in and told us the EQ was at least a magnitude 7, it's epicenter was really close to Port-au-Prince, a hospital in Petionville had collapsed. When John stopped reading the article, Actionnel brought his hands to face and asked out loud, "God, haven't we had enough?"
From this point on, time began to crawl. It seemed the hours just kept going. I don't know if we really noticed it at the time, but looking back, we couldn't seem to understand how 3 days seemed to last 3 months. Also from this point on, details get a little shaky. I remember just about everything that happened, but a few things may be a little out of order.
Once we realized that the EQ was a much bigger deal than we had first realized, we got online, sent out some quick emails and updated blogs. Internet had been spotty all week and we figured it would be even worse now, so we conserved the time as much as we could. It got dark pretty quickly after dinner.
Normally nights around the guest house were full of life. There was a table under the overhang of one of the school building that the men always played dominoes on. You should see Haitians play dominoes. It looks and sounds awesome. They don't just set the dominoes on the matching numbers and keep going quietly, it all about intimidation. They're slamming and sliding dominoes, hitting the table, shuffling tiles in their hands and on the table, and making sure everyone else at the table knows who's boss; I think it's probably more fun to watch than to play. Normally groups of the high school kids would hang around with us trying to practice their English by just making conversation. I spent most of my time at night with the littlest kids, I loved playing clapping games with them, you know life Miss-Mary-Mack, of course they sang sweet Creole songs I couldn't understand, (man I really want to learn that before I go down next).
None of that really happened Tuesday night. Dominoes was the last thing on the men's mind as they gathered around Actionnel's big, white pick-up truck, with the radio blasting the only news available being broadcast from Gonnaive. The station was pretty much just broadcasting phone calls they were getting from people close who had information about Port-au-Prince. Most of the high school kids stayed at home that night, but a couple of the older boys had come out to Actionnel's truck too. Most of the young kids didn't really get it. They seemed to notice something was up, they hung around the guest house just a little less active than usual.
That morning we had planned to do a hand washing clinic with some the kids. It didn't really seem like high priority any more, but we figured it would at least keep the kids out of the adults hair, so Eyleen and I did that. I got to take pictures and hang around watching her work while she taught in Creole. After the kids finished the class, they all got a sweet Bucky Badger magnet. They didn't quite understand the concept of a mascot, but they had fun.
Quick side note: That night it was really windy and really unseasonably cold. As soon as we went inside, I put on sweats and a sweatshirt. None of the kids we spent our time with that night had that option.Once the kids all headed for home, Eyleen and I joined everyone back in the guest house. We talked with the North Carolina guys for a bit. We still didn't really understand the extent of the earthquake yet. We had been able to see some pictures of structural damage, but we didn't have the live video feeds you were all getting. At this point we were still hoping that American Airlines was going to open up flights on Thursday and we would be leaving Thursday out of Port-au-Prince exactly as we had been planning.
As if got later, numbers in the computer rooms dwindled. Eventually it was just Tyler, John, Eyleen, and me. Tyler decided to check his email before we shut down the computer for the night and waiting in his inbox were 3 emails from news stations who had figured out that we were in Haiti. We were pretty amazed, honestly. We worked together to reply with something short that wouldn't be able to cause much of a stir on any news report. We hung around together for a while and eventually got to bed late.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
How to Blog Haiti
Hey Everyone,
It's been almost 3 weeks since the earthquake in Haiti and just over 2 since I've been home. I am on the brink of being done recoding everything that happened the week we were gone in my journal, and I'm contemplating the best way to blog it all.
Here's what's gonna happen, the thought of telling you everything all in one post seems overwhelming and like it would never get done, so I'm going to try to blog a little bit every/every other night this week until I get everything I want to say out. I'm going to probably mix up a little what happened with what's going on in my life/heart now and what was going on in my heart/journal when I was in the moments too.
So here's a post I had started the night of the earthquake in Haiti (Tuesday) and finished tonight. When I started, we had just gotten back from the field and I thought I would try to post quick before dinner. I only got through the second paragraph or so before dinner had been put on the table, after dinner everything changed and this post seemed pretty insignificant.
Last night the internet was down so I wasn't able to blog, so get comfortable and get ready to read a lot :)
Yesterday (Monday) morning Alysen, Michael, Eyleen, Tyler and I set out to do some surveying right after breakfast. it took us a little while to figure out the specifics of the equipment we are using, but we figured it out slowly but surely. We were able to take a lot of points before we went back to the house for lunch, but because it was raining after lunch we weren't able to take any more data the rest of the day. However, there was an upside to staying in for the afternoon, Actionnel ( the Pastor of the the church down here) held a meeting with some staff from the church and school and with the missionaries who came down from NC. We got to meet many new people and hear the plans on both sides of the ministry to improve organization and communication.
Tuesday started out just like Monday had. We woke up about 7ish and watched the kids all flow in from the community for school. The school is right next to our house, so we get to see everyone come in with their uniforms and books, ready to learn. The kids are so eager to go to school here. After breakfast with the North Carolina guys I joined the North Carolina guys for their morning devotional. It was such a blessing. Up to this point on the trip I had really been struggling with hopelessness. As we drove from Port-au-Prince to Bayonnais, the need in Haiti was so apparent, there is so much to do, it's overwhelming, and here I am surveying, really. But through Psalm 27 and some things the guys said, I really found a peace and hope in where God had me. I was doing what He's calling me to do and He's in control of the rest.
Something I had forgotten to mention about Monday, was that when we were at the pipe crossing Monday, the pipe had been completely repaired. We really had mixed emotions over this, it was good to see that there is at least some infrastructure developing in Haiti, enough that as needs arise they are being dealt with, not necessarily in a quick matter, but dealt with at least. At the same time it was kind of a bummer to see the project we had been designing for months done for us, it made us all feel a little irrelevant, and the project had been finished with PVC and not steel pipe, which presented, in our opinion, a lot of problems, not the least of which was durability.
Anyway, we went to the pipe to continue surveying Tuesday. We figured that that was what we had come to do, so we were going to finish it. We knew that even though the pipe was fixed now, the information a topographical map created without surveying could be very useful in later projects.
Tuesday when we came home for lunch about noonish, the pre-school kids were just getting out. As I walked up to the house, a whole group of them just engulfed me. It was great, they grabbed my hands and walked me right up to the house. When I told them I wanted to talked a picture and I needed a second to get my camera out (of course not so eloquently because neither of us can understand the other) they started singing to me! Loved it!!! Not a huge important detail, but this is one of my favorite pics from the trip and I really wanted to share it.
An average day for us was each of the six of us spread out working on something else, normally Alysen, Michael, and I would be at the pipe surveying, John would be working his Electrical engineering magic at the house, while Tyler and Eyleen bounce aournd from surveying to researching the area, to talking with the locals. Normally we would all get together at the end of the day at the pipe to walk home.
Tuesday we all got together about 4:30, we had a little surveying to do so we were all chillin and finishing up work for the day together. about ten to 5, the earth started to shake. It was really weird, I was standing behind the survey scope and all of the sudden, I felt like I was shaking. I had been only feet most of the day, so I though maybe my legs were just tired or something, then I looked at one of the girls who was watching/helping us (we never were out in the field without at least a small crowd watching) and I could see they were shaking too. All at once we began to realize we were going through an earthquake, it was kind of like "Hey are you shaking, because we're shaking" back and forth.
The earthquake was pretty weak by us, from a map I found I'm thinking what we felt was somewhere between a 4 and 5 magnitude. Consequently, it was more amusing right away than anything else. None of us had ever really felt an earthquake before, so as we packed up and headed for the guest house, we were all a little excited to have felt an earthquake and surveyed through an earthquake and had a new story to tell when we went back home.
This is where I'm gonna wrap up tonight, I really hope I keep this up tomorrow, I'm going to try really hard!
It's been almost 3 weeks since the earthquake in Haiti and just over 2 since I've been home. I am on the brink of being done recoding everything that happened the week we were gone in my journal, and I'm contemplating the best way to blog it all.
Here's what's gonna happen, the thought of telling you everything all in one post seems overwhelming and like it would never get done, so I'm going to try to blog a little bit every/every other night this week until I get everything I want to say out. I'm going to probably mix up a little what happened with what's going on in my life/heart now and what was going on in my heart/journal when I was in the moments too.
So here's a post I had started the night of the earthquake in Haiti (Tuesday) and finished tonight. When I started, we had just gotten back from the field and I thought I would try to post quick before dinner. I only got through the second paragraph or so before dinner had been put on the table, after dinner everything changed and this post seemed pretty insignificant.
Last night the internet was down so I wasn't able to blog, so get comfortable and get ready to read a lot :)
Yesterday (Monday) morning Alysen, Michael, Eyleen, Tyler and I set out to do some surveying right after breakfast. it took us a little while to figure out the specifics of the equipment we are using, but we figured it out slowly but surely. We were able to take a lot of points before we went back to the house for lunch, but because it was raining after lunch we weren't able to take any more data the rest of the day. However, there was an upside to staying in for the afternoon, Actionnel ( the Pastor of the the church down here) held a meeting with some staff from the church and school and with the missionaries who came down from NC. We got to meet many new people and hear the plans on both sides of the ministry to improve organization and communication.
Tuesday started out just like Monday had. We woke up about 7ish and watched the kids all flow in from the community for school. The school is right next to our house, so we get to see everyone come in with their uniforms and books, ready to learn. The kids are so eager to go to school here. After breakfast with the North Carolina guys I joined the North Carolina guys for their morning devotional. It was such a blessing. Up to this point on the trip I had really been struggling with hopelessness. As we drove from Port-au-Prince to Bayonnais, the need in Haiti was so apparent, there is so much to do, it's overwhelming, and here I am surveying, really. But through Psalm 27 and some things the guys said, I really found a peace and hope in where God had me. I was doing what He's calling me to do and He's in control of the rest.
Something I had forgotten to mention about Monday, was that when we were at the pipe crossing Monday, the pipe had been completely repaired. We really had mixed emotions over this, it was good to see that there is at least some infrastructure developing in Haiti, enough that as needs arise they are being dealt with, not necessarily in a quick matter, but dealt with at least. At the same time it was kind of a bummer to see the project we had been designing for months done for us, it made us all feel a little irrelevant, and the project had been finished with PVC and not steel pipe, which presented, in our opinion, a lot of problems, not the least of which was durability.
Anyway, we went to the pipe to continue surveying Tuesday. We figured that that was what we had come to do, so we were going to finish it. We knew that even though the pipe was fixed now, the information a topographical map created without surveying could be very useful in later projects.
Tuesday when we came home for lunch about noonish, the pre-school kids were just getting out. As I walked up to the house, a whole group of them just engulfed me. It was great, they grabbed my hands and walked me right up to the house. When I told them I wanted to talked a picture and I needed a second to get my camera out (of course not so eloquently because neither of us can understand the other) they started singing to me! Loved it!!! Not a huge important detail, but this is one of my favorite pics from the trip and I really wanted to share it.
An average day for us was each of the six of us spread out working on something else, normally Alysen, Michael, and I would be at the pipe surveying, John would be working his Electrical engineering magic at the house, while Tyler and Eyleen bounce aournd from surveying to researching the area, to talking with the locals. Normally we would all get together at the end of the day at the pipe to walk home. Tuesday we all got together about 4:30, we had a little surveying to do so we were all chillin and finishing up work for the day together. about ten to 5, the earth started to shake. It was really weird, I was standing behind the survey scope and all of the sudden, I felt like I was shaking. I had been only feet most of the day, so I though maybe my legs were just tired or something, then I looked at one of the girls who was watching/helping us (we never were out in the field without at least a small crowd watching) and I could see they were shaking too. All at once we began to realize we were going through an earthquake, it was kind of like "Hey are you shaking, because we're shaking" back and forth.
The earthquake was pretty weak by us, from a map I found I'm thinking what we felt was somewhere between a 4 and 5 magnitude. Consequently, it was more amusing right away than anything else. None of us had ever really felt an earthquake before, so as we packed up and headed for the guest house, we were all a little excited to have felt an earthquake and surveyed through an earthquake and had a new story to tell when we went back home.
This is where I'm gonna wrap up tonight, I really hope I keep this up tomorrow, I'm going to try really hard!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Back Home
Most of you know this already, but I thought I'd officially post it, I'm back home safe in Portage. I got back to our house Saturday morning about 1 in the morning.
I know there's a lot of our trip you still haven't heard about yet, so much happened the last few days we were there and while we were leaving, but it will probably be a few days before you get the updates. I'm still working on sorting through everything myself. On our plane ride home Tyler, Eyleen, and I just sat and ran through the last few days, checking facts and working on a timeline of some stuff that just all seemed to run together.
Thanks so much for all your love, support, and prayers.
I know there's a lot of our trip you still haven't heard about yet, so much happened the last few days we were there and while we were leaving, but it will probably be a few days before you get the updates. I'm still working on sorting through everything myself. On our plane ride home Tyler, Eyleen, and I just sat and ran through the last few days, checking facts and working on a timeline of some stuff that just all seemed to run together.
Thanks so much for all your love, support, and prayers.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Safe in Haiti
Don't have a lot of internet time, we're trying to conserve as much as we can because situations are uncertain right now, so this post will be quick.
We're all safe in Haiti. The earthquakes that have devastated Port-au-Prince were only tremors in Bayonnais. Praise the Lord we are safe and the school and community are unaffected.
Please pray for the people of Haiti, many lives will be affected and lost as a result of today's tragedy. Also, we would appreciate prayers for our travel plans. We do not et know how or if the airport in Port-au-Prince has been affected, but are working to contact the embassy for more details.
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Love,
Randall
We're all safe in Haiti. The earthquakes that have devastated Port-au-Prince were only tremors in Bayonnais. Praise the Lord we are safe and the school and community are unaffected.
Please pray for the people of Haiti, many lives will be affected and lost as a result of today's tragedy. Also, we would appreciate prayers for our travel plans. We do not et know how or if the airport in Port-au-Prince has been affected, but are working to contact the embassy for more details.
Thanks for your prayers and support!
Love,
Randall
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Initial Assessments
Today we walked to the site where the communities water pipe crosses the river. This last summer a boulder hit the pipe during flooding and broke the pipe. We have been working on plans to repair the pipe, and it appears like some other organization may also be doing the same thing because there is some recent progress on the pipe.
The pipe is a short distance from the school, but the source of the water is a hike up a baby mountain. We hiked up to the source after taking some pictures of the pipe. I haven't been hiking since CO, it was so great! Being surrounded by mountains again offers a constant reminder of the Creator.
Tomorrow we will be doing some surveying around the pipeline so that we can look into erosion and use computer simulations back home to predict future erosion. Some of the locals have told us that the people working on repairing the pipe should be back tomorrow, so hopefully we will get to talk to that work crew as well.
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