Day Two--Saturday, 19 Jan

Day Two:  Saturday, 19 Jan

548a...

Good morning from Haiti!

The weather is so very pleasant here this time of year.  January is, typically, their coldest month as the temperatures can drop into the low fifties at night and rise only into the mid seventies during the day (at least, here in the mountains).

The roosters and I have been up since around a quarter to four.  I haven't yet posted yesterday's blog post as I don't have the password that will enable me to access the computer here on site.

I think the agenda for the day is something like...

6a...Coffee (As far as Haitian coffee is concerned, I've got just three words for all'y'all: (1) FAB; (2) U; and (3) LOUS!

7a...Breakfast

8a...Team devotions and preparations

9a...Get on the bus and tour the community

1030a...Probably do some other stuff that I'm not aware of

12p-ish...Lunch

3p...Visit either the Matthew 28 orphanage or Kris El Espwa school or both.

6p...Dinner

Sometime after dinner...Meet with the village leadership council

8p...Team debrief

830p...Either Greco-Roman Wrestling or Pin the Tail on the Donkey--Allison's choice

831p...Bed time for certain individuals who shall eternally remain unidentified

Ah...the sweet ladies from the village just arrived.  Looking into my crystal thumb drive, I'm seeing that coffee may be in my future.  :o)

God's peace, everyone; more later...

Dave

1133a...

We just got back from our visit to Pignon (pronounced PEEN-yoawn), the town right next to Bohoc.  While in Pignon, we visited three of Tompy's cousins.  Just kidding.  Actually, for those of you familiar with the whole concept, while we were in PaP yesterday, we met one of Ronald's spiritual fathers, a man who (and I'm not kidding about this) just so happened to be another of Tompy's cousins.  :o)

Okay...back to Pignon...

While we were there, we visited the Hospital Bientaisance De Pignon Hres Devisite, basically, the Pignon Hospital.  Nelta, a nurse-anesthetist, very graciously granted us a tour.  The hospital was founded in 1983 by Dr. Guy D. Theodore, M.D., a Haitian, who acquired his medical training while in the US Army.  A hospital in the U.S. partners with the Pigon Hospital and supplies it with medicine, medical equipment, and volunteer doctors.  This particular hospital serves the whole region, including Bohoc, and treats/provides surgical services to infants, children, and adults.  Essentially, the hospital has two main floors:  The bottom floor, which is for patients who can't afford treatment; and the top floor, which is for patients who pay for at least some of their treatment.  An organization called Five Loaves helps to pay for some of the services rendered to the patients on the bottom floor.

After touring the hospital, we walked through the market in Pigon, which takes place every Saturday morning.  This is where the locals bring in their animals and display all their wares.  Some of the "vendors" acquire many of their items from other such village markets throughout Haiti and then come try to sell what they've acquired at the local Pigon market.  Some also come over to the village market in Bohoc, which takes place every Monday morning.

Okay...lunch is about to start soon, so I'm going to end this entry and pick things up later.

In Him, by Him, and for Him...

Dave

635p...

This afternoon was great!  After lunch, we all had a little down time to recover from yesterday's long travel day.  Some of us played football with a couple young men from the village, some of us rested, some of us read or journaled, and Ramsay and Steve helped Tompy, Jedlain, and Edmund (Tompy's brother), who's on the Bohoc Leadership Council and who's now our driver) erect the most elaborate tent I've ever seen.  While I was writing earlier,  Ramsey walked in and asked me to come out and give it a look, which I did.  Just as I was stepping inside it, I heard someone walk up behind me and say:  "Hey!!  Here's the directions!"  I was quite impressed with how well they did without said directions.  I suppose their efforts to assemble the tent sans directions did explain the leftover pieces that everyone new went somewhere, but either couldn't figure out where they went or couldn't use them given the advanced stage of the tent's assembly.  The tent looks great, even if the central roof supports are missing.  For perspective, the tent is about as a large as a one-car garage, and it includes a covered porch and attic storage.  On a more serious note…this tent will serve as a home for a young man in town.  A really cool thing about all this is that the whole assembly experience, as Ramsay related, supplied a significant time of bonding between the US contingent (e.g., Steve and Ramsay) and the Haitian contingent (Tompy, Jedlain, and Edmund).  Stuff like that just makes everything inherently worth it, you know?

So...after our break, we grabbed several items for the kids at Kris El Espwa (a local [and informal] "school of sorts" in Bohoc, led by Madame Jacques, who is also on the Bohoc Leadership Council) and then headed across the street to the school.  What began as some face painting and coloring with about ten kids quickly ballooned into a whole array of activities from jumping rope to playing soccer to throwing the football to continuing with face and nail painting to playing Uno and Jenga to drawing and coloring to playing "chase me/tag" games to just sitting and talking with some of the older kids who came out just to be a part of things.  Toward the end, there had to have been at least 150 kids, and if you've never been around 150 exited kids clamoring for the attention of nine equally exuberant and strange adult "Blondes (e.g., white people)" from a foreign country, well, such a thing provides a wonderful, in-person definition of pandemonium.

755p

Tonight has been awesome!!  We just finished meeting with four of the thirteen people on the leadership council (LC).  We were supposed to meet with them last night, but since we got here so late, our meeting was delayed to tonight.  As such, because many on the LC are preparing for church services tomorrow, only four could come:

Jerome Greffard, the vice president of the LC and the father of Jedlin Greffard, our 410 leader

Edmund, Tompy's brother and the LC delegate to 410

Desum Isaac, a local pastor in Bohoc

Madame Jaqcues, the leader of the Kris El Espwa children

During our time with the LC, everyone introduced themselves and shared a little of their thoughts on things.  Toward the end, Jerome said, "We give you our community.  Bohoc is yours."  Jerome also shared a little of his dream for a trade school.  He shared how many years ago he spoke of how wonderful it would be to have a primary school in the Bohoc area.  He said that many around him laughed at him.  But now everyone's dancing...with joy, as not only is there the school he dreamt of but there's a university, too--right here in Bohoc, that just opened for classes this past year.  The university offers four-year degrees in Theology, Education, and Business.  If I recall, there are plans to eventually add Agriculture as a fourth degree program.  Anyway, returning to Jerome's dream of a trade school, we all agreed with him in prayer for it to become a reality just as his dreams of a primary school and university became a reality.

After the LC left, Allison lead us in our evening debrief, during which we talked more about the trade school as well as some of the concepts concerning healthy verses unhealthy giving.  Speaking for all of us, I think we have a lot on our minds where Bohoc is concerned.  Prior to coming on this trip, I was beginning to wonder if we should begin to extricate our involvement in Bohoc and consider initiating a relationship with another village.  In my heart, I'm not feeling that we should pursue that at this time.  Given where things are at, I think we should continue building-up our relationships with the people of Bohoc.  In four or five years, perhaps, we can revisit this subject.  For the foreseeable future, though, I see no reason to wind-down our time here.  In fact, I see many reasons to build upon what we've been doing and being thus far.  It is my hope that Pastors Benji and Amy Lynn will be able to come experience this beloved place someday soon.  Please join me in asking God to make this a reality as well.

Okay...it's a little after 9, and I've turned into a pumpkin.  I'm going to say goodnight to the team and head to bed.

Talk to you later,

Dave

Father...I want to walk before You in holiness, humilty, and purity all the days of my life.--YT