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!
