St-Marc, Haiti Mission Trip

Finally, at 4 am, I rested my head on the pillow.  What a marathon day it turned out to be.  We were up at 5:15 am, packed the bus, stinking hot, lunch was late, plane to Atlanta was delayed, plane to Charlotte was late, Bus to Columbia, Judy delayed to pick us up due to stalled train and freezing cold at home.

BUT,  it was a fantastic trip.  This was my first attempt at planning and helping manage a foreign missions trip.  I have also learned to expect the unexpected and this trip was no exception.

The view from our hotel was spectacular, looking out over Saint-Marc and the blue ocean.  We ate breakfast and supper at the hotel and the food was great; lots of rice & beans, fish, chicken legs, goat and more goat.

Lunch was served at a house near the church and was excellent.  Plantains, snapper, conch, lobster, barbecued chicken and of course a lot of goat.

We even had delicious home-made deserts and ice cream.

********

Thousands of little shacks and hovels of all varieties dot the country side as people struggle struggle to eke out a living after the devastating earthquake.

Our work consisted of laying block, forming and pouring concrete columns, tying rebar, installing electrical panel, running wire, installing switches, lights and outlets.  Toilets were installed, a kitchen work table built and a kitchen planned.

Metal windows and a huge bi-fold door were also installed.

We had 2 or 3 young men from the church serving as translators since most of the people spoke Creole or French or a little Spanish.

We were greeted at the Pont-Ambour Church Sunday morning.

 Pastor Meat and Rev. Permis interpreting.

Pascal Permis was our Haitian guide and translator.  What a great man he is.

Of course we also had time for fun and getting to know and bond with our Haitian friends.

Looks like a future orthodontist, wire-bender!

 Pastor Paul Johnson

It was the end of Carneval ( Mardi Gras) in Haiti, so what do we do?  Ride on top of the bus waving hands to the people and Ra-Ra bands.  The US Embassy had issued a warning about avoiding Ra-Ra bands and that we were to not travel to St-Marc but we had no problems.

On Friday afternoon we challenged the church's soccer team to a match.  After our boasting we got wipped 7 to 4, but it really wasn't even close.  After the game we gave the coach and Pastor Meat soccer balls and uniforms for their teams.

Junior was a great friend & worker.

Here we are signing one of the beams we designed and built for the platform area.

Also simultaneously Dr. Jim Taylor held an eye clinic aided by his Sansbury Eye Center associates.  They diagnosed, examined and gave out over 500 pairs of glasses.  They set up referrals to surgeons for various problems restored vision to many for the first time ever in their lives.

On Friday night the hotel gave us a going away thank you dinner up on the penthouse level courtyard.

Saturday we loaded back on the bus one more time heading back to Port Au Prince and our flight back home.

On the way to the airport we stopped at a resort to unwind a little and just relax.

A fisherman setting his traps form his dugout.

It was a bit sad to leave our new friends but are already planning the next trip.