Treks to the clinic...

Hey guys!
Sorry this post doesn't come with pictures, but I haven't been able to take a whole lot recently and in the episode that I want to recount I didn't have my camera. Things are going well in Titanyen, and I've gotten to know a lot of the locals and am coming along with learning Kreyol. Mwen capab pale piti Kreyol. Actually, I even interpretted for the team last week! It was a rough translation, but I got the job done.
So, I want to write about my experience in the clinics today. Normally, I don't go with the medical teams to the clinics. However, on Tuesdays, they come to Titanyen, the village where we construct the houses everyday. Well, a recent friend of mine is Bwinel. He is 16 years old, his father is dead and his mother is very sick. He has worked with us for the past several weeks on a voluteer basis--he's volunteerin his own free time to help out his village. He's told me for the past few days that he's having trouble seeing. When I told him he could come to the clinic on Tuesday, he was very excited, but a little scared because he had never been to a doctor before. So he asked me to go with him, and I did. He and I skipped work this morning to go to the clinic where he received medicine for his eyes and sunglasses to work in. He told me that he was very happy that we could go to the clinic.
Well, later on today, and little boy ran up to me and grabbed onto my leg to get my attention. This is somewhat normal in the village, as we are somewhat of a novelty. Except he grabbed me to show me, very calmly, a rather deep gash on the back of his head. I told him (in Kreyol!) that there were doctors in the village and I could take him up there. So, he climbed onto my back and I carried him, piggy-back, to the clinic. His name was Vila. There me and another man from our team helped calm him down when the Dr. Francis cleaned his wound and put several stitched in his head. I took him back to his house and he introduced me to his mother and sister. They all live in a hut (if I could even call it that) made of random sticks and cloth tied together. I'm glad Vila was ok, and even if I didn't accomplish anything for the rest of the day, meeting him made it a day worth living.
I hope to have pictures soon, but until then, take care and God bless!
;^)

Into the city...

Alo everybody!

Sorry it's been a while since i've blogged, but the internet on the compound has been a little funny for the past few days. Last week we went into Port-au-Prince with the team for dinner after we knocked off early from working in Titanyen. Here are a few pictures from the city. As you can see, the presidential palace is still in ruins, and I think demonstrates the state of Haiti as a nation: even the presidential palace hasn't even begun to be rebuilt. The other building is a large Catholic church that was also reduced to rubble after the earthquake. A lot of tent cities have popped up around the city. For example, the public parks around the palace now house several thousand people living in tents and improvised shelters. The poverty you see breaks your heart, and you wish you could snap your fingers and it all be fixed for these people who have to live everyday in very humble (understatment!) conditions.

Scott, here at the compound has told us several times, "Haiti will do two things to you: it'll break your heart, but then it'll bless you." I've definitely had my heart broken for Haiti, and now working with the people in Titanyen, I'm starting to see how it blessses people too. I've had to privilege to work with several men and teenagers from the village building the houses, and I enjoy working with each one of them. Sure, there's a lot of things we do that the other culture doesn't understand, but in the end we're able to laugh (and even sing!) while we work.

anyways, the other picture is just a p icture I took at sunset here on the compound; the sky was gorgeous.

Well, stay tuned, and I hope to have more pics soon!

Matthew ;^)

Rainy season: part two

Sak ap fe? (What's up?)

Things are going pretty good around here, but still hot as ever! The team from last week left on saturday, and I was a little sad to see them go. They were a very good team to work with, and Amber and I were glad to have them as our first team. One guy on the team, William, left me his boots to wear out to the construction site--thanks Will! After we dropped them off at the airport, we went with Scott and Janet (the missionaries who run our house on the compound) to buy groceries in P-au-P. The traffic was crazy--and that's saying a lot considering the traffic i've seen in India! It is by far the most congested city I've ever seen, with the biggest lack of organization to their traffic (but what else can you do in a developing country after a devastating earthquake?). The rest of the weekend was rather relaxed, because our team this week only consists of one man named Roy...he's a nice ol' guy.

This week, since we only have one other team member, we teamed up with Global Outreach, another relief organization on the compound, to build a few shelters up in the mountains north of P-au-P. So far things have gone pretty smoothly, and they are a good group to work with too. Today the bottom dropped out of the sky while we were working, and not for the first time in my life I found myself atop a roof working rather quickly to finish the rafters and tin roof as the monsoon hit. I rather enjoy it though, makes ya feel alive. On the way down from the mountains lightening was strking the hills around us and when we turned one corner the hillside had caught on fire! Luckily the heavier rains were right behind us and I assume the fire was put out.

So I managed to upload a few pictures--I've been trying for a couple days now. These are just a few that I've taken around the Port-au-Prince.
The first is of me and Jesse a team member from last week (you'll have to forgive his facial expression, he wasn't ready, he's actually a really nice guy). The second is quite obviously a collapsed building from the earthquake. I liked his guy on the bike in a suit, hehe. The last picture is of a tent camp that has sprung up outside of the city since the earthquake.

Well that's all for now, I hope you're all doign great back home, and God bless

Matthew ;^)

First sign of the Rainy Season

Bon Swa again!
The last couple days have been interesting. Let's see, the tarantula capturing count is only up to three, but I've got the rest of the summer, so that number can improve. Yesterday was a bit slow for the building team. I've been putting tarp up around the shelters and yesterday we only tarped two because I left to help the building team finish framing a few others and then the monsoon hit in the early afternoon. We decided to call it a day, but then a truckload of building supplies arrived and we had to unload it...at the worst part of the downpour. I was soaked to say in the least (but if you've kept up with my blogs of my past trips you know this now makes 4 monsoons in 4 different countries, so I kinda expected it). It was a crazy afternoon; the Haitian men on our team rounded up as many community members to help us unload as possible: men, women children, all grabbed something out of the truck and we had it unloaded in about 15 minutes. In the chaos I did manage to step in sewage as I helped a guy in the village carry some tin roofing units...se la vie (of course I don't know any French). Today however, we caught up from yesterday and finished 5 units.
It's really very heartbreaking to see the conditions that most of the people live in. It's rather common for a woman to have 5-8 kids, and many of them are undernurished (from what our medical team has told us they've seen). I've seen a lot of similar situations in India as well, and it really breaks your heart to know that you can't personally help everyone there. That's when I just have to rely on the fact that God will use me to help people I do come into contact with and many times I'm also left better off because of that "poor" person's presence in my life.
Well, I gotta run, but I hope to have some pictures soon!
Matthew ;^)

The Haitian Adventure Begins!

Bon jou! Koman ou e? Mwen tres bien, merci!
Wow, where to begin? I guess I'll start with the compound. So, we are livng on a compound that is owned by a group called World Outreach, but most of it is being leased by Samaritan's Purse, the NC Baptist Men, and a group called Friend-Ships (which brings supplies by ship to disaster areas). We've met a few people from other organizations but we are each very busy so there is little time to interact with them. The 82nd Airborne from Fort Bragg left dozens of crates of water bottles on the compound when they left, which is kinda cool being a native of Fayettenam. The man sleep on the back porch, while the women sleep inside the house. A past time of enticing tarantulas out of their holes in the ground has developed among the men (us boys will be boys). So far we've successfully pulled out three, though the back yard is full of their borroughs (don't worry ma, I aint got bit yet!).
We have been working with the construction and medical teams that are here for this week. I go with the construction team, and so far we have finished 6 houses with one left to be tarped. We start at about 6 in the morning and work to 12 when we eat lunch, then head out to work again until 4 or 5 pm. It is hot! But that was to be expected...this aint nothing after 2 summers in Delhi! We've been working with a team of Haitian men and women on the medical and construction teams. I've become friends with a few of them who are teaching me Haitian Creole. Two in particular are Freguens and Laurent. There are also a few teenage boys from the village of Titayen that have been helping us. One of them, Pierre, has especially fascinated me; he is deaf and still works as hard as any of us. He's been deaf since birth and only makes noises instead of any intelligible speach (ironically enough the noises he makes sound kinda like the word "hammer" some times). He amazes me everyday because he is the friendliest guy you'll meet. He demonstrates that he clearly has a grasp of what is going on and what he's doing when we are building. I hate to say it, but I think he shows that language isn't everything (yes I cringed a little as I typed that). He is fascinating to watch and work with and I am looking forward to working with him for the summer.
Welp, I think that's all for now. I'll write soon!
Au revoir,
Matthew ;^)