We made it!!
Aside from one instance of a quick
loss of altitude and the resulting spontaneous loss of cabin pressure (which automatically caused hundreds of oxygen masks to fall from the sky all over the
plane), the island hop from Miami to PaP (Port au Prince, Haiti) was fairly uneventful. Actually, the plane took off just fine, it
flew just fine, and, fortunately, it landed just
fine. (And, yes, I am just kidding about
the loss of altitude, etc. :op)
The bus ride from PaP to The Haiti Outreach Guesthouse just
outside of Bohoc was amazing. For those
of you who've never been to Haiti, Haiti is gorgeous. At one time, it was dubbed "The Jewel of
the Caribbean." Sometimes, it feels
like you're driving through the mountains of southern California, only for
things to suddenly look a lot like Costa Rica.
And then, strange as it might sound, "Costa Rica" is followed
by an hour long drive through what look like the plains of Montana only for things to then
transition back into Costa Rica again. Despite its numerous bouts with hurricanes
and devastating earthquakes, Haiti is, indeed, still one of the most beautiful
places on earth. (And I haven't even
talked about the people yet!)
The bus ride from PaP to Bohoc took us
about four hours, and there was only one instance where we had to get out and
push the bus through one of the several river crossings we had to traverse.
Ronald, our Haitian 410 staff
leader, is amazing. Soft spoken, and
always polite, Ronald carries a dignity within that is hard to miss. We are so looking forward to getting to know
him over the next few days. Tompy, I
understand, is working in one of the deaf camps this week. As such, we probably will not see much of him. On the Tompy/Tompy's cousin thing, though, we
did stop in Hechin to stretch our legs and to use the rest rooms in the home of
one of the villagers. Only after we'd been
there for a little while did we realize that the home belonged to a woman named
Mary, who is, of course, one of Tompy's cousins. And the reason this is the case is because
almost everyone in Haiti is Tompy's cousin.
Except for the 11 of us on the team from newhope (and maybe one other person).
Anyway, we appear to all now be comfortably
settled in at the guesthouse (two to a room), and we are so looking forward to
spending the week with each other and with all our Haitian friends. This is the same place we stayed in last year,
and the accommodations are fantastic. The
power comes from solar energy, and the well water is treated by reverse osmosis
(a state-of-the-art treatment system). As
such, we can drink the water without fear of getting sick from it.
Tomorrow morning will begin with a
team breakfast followed by a team devotion.
The plan (as it stands in this minute) is for us to spend the bulk of
the morning with the 90+ kids living at The
Matthew 28 Orphanage in Bohoc. After
breaking for lunch, we will have our first meeting with the leadership council
(LC). The Bohoc LC is a collection of
12-13 men and women who help to provide vision and leadership to the village of
Bohoc as it strives to become a village that is both sustainable and devoted to
the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Okay...dinner's scheduled for 6p, so
I think I'm going to sign off for now and head out to play with some of the
kids for a little while.
Please keep us all in your prayers,
my friends; may God bless you and the rest of your evening.
Dave (Team Haiti 2012)
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