Day 1 of working at the school
The first day on the job was action packed and frustrating to many of us. It began with a 3-hour drive to the worksite. We dropped off those doing the VBS at the school, which took about an hour of travel time. Before we got to Good Shepherd in Port-au-Prince we had a devotion in the bus, a practice that we will repeat every day. It was a good time to reflect on what we're here for. The devotion referenced Nehemiah's help in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. First the foundation had to be laid, and when it was the people rejoiced. We talked about the foundations that we'd be laying, not just literally but spiritually. When this project is done many children will be able to hear about God's love for them through Jesus. That is the best part of this trip, knowing that we're helping to provide a place where God's Word will be taught and practiced.
Then we headed to the school work site.
First, Port-au-Prince is a city of nearly 3 million people. Needless to say the traffic is a challenge. Our driver, who is used to this, is about as aggressive driver as I’ve ever seen. But you have to be. If you’re going to let everyone get ahead of you, it’s going to take a long time to get anywhere. The roads are in pretty bad shape, too. One of the roads was so bad that we blew a tire on the bus and had to get it fixed later in the day. (Thankfully there are dual tires on the rear of the bus, so we still had one tire to get us to where it needed to be repaired.) We drove through Port-au-Prince and there were places that I’ve never seen such abject poverty.
People will sell anything to just make a couple of dollars in a day. In a country where the average annual income is $500 no American can understand being this poor. We drove through a part of the city that Pastor Bernard said was the biggest “slum” in the world – City de Soliel.
Hopefully we’ll be able to post our videos on YouTube so you can see for yourself. When the earthquake struck 4 years ago the world, and especially the United States, answered the call for help. Vast quantities of goods were sent over. Today, in the slum, were piles and piles of clothing that was sent that stretched for blocks, out in the open, that people were sifting through to find something to wear. Raw sewage was running down the street. Street vendors were selling food – fruits, vegetables, meats –that were covered with flies. Undoubtedly a bartering system is in place to get things that are needed.
It took us a while to process this.
The drive to Leogane took us along the coast where we could see the effects of the earthquake. Many homes were nothing but poles surrounded by tarps for walls, and a tin roof where there had once been an actual home whose remnants had not been removed. Some of the tarps still carried the “US Aid” logo on it. Other homes were concrete block with a sheet for a door. We even saw some threadbare tents set up that people lived in.
When we got just outside of Leogane we took a dirt road for about 8-9 miles into the country. Along the way were several small “neighborhoods”. In these areas was a system of concrete channels that had water running through them. And in these channels people were bathing and washing their clothes.
When we finally got to the site of the church and school we were glad to be off the bus and stretch. We formed groups, some on the foundation prepping it for the laying of blocks. But most of us carried concrete blocks about 50 yards to the school. Temperatures were in the upper 80’s/low 90’s and we all worked up a good sweat.
At the work site were several local workers, most of which are members of the church in Leogane. There is one man who shows up faithfully for work, according to Pastor Bernard, but does not believe in Jesus. We’ve been working on him for the last couple of days! I’ve taken opportunities to tell him that Jesus loves him (in Creole – a phrase we’ve learned while we’re here) and he just laughs. At least we’re planting seeds.
The pastor of the congregation in Leogane was on the site and worked with us today and is supposed to be there tomorrow, too. He actually is not ordained, yet, but is attending the seminary in Leogane and is working in his second year of training (I think), but has been an elder at the church for 17 years. His name is Pastor William and is married with 3 children.
We worked for about 5 hours and got about 650 blocks laid. We got familiar with the process of hand prepping the mortar that is used for connecting the blocks, and many of us helped with the mixing and carrying of the mortar to the school so the brick layers could use it. There has been a lot of manual labor and none of the conveniences like mortar mixers to make things easier. We carried the mortar in 5-gallon plastic buckets up a temporary set of steps. And today we got 3 of the 4 outside wall started and at least 4 blocks high. Some were 6 blocks high.
Tomorrow we will all be together – the VBS was only one day, and they had a blast. But we will begin attaching the names of those who have sponsored the blocks and helped provide the funding for this project. We will take individual pictures of every block with the names of the sponsors. I anticipate another productive day like today.
We’ve been told that never has a group come and gotten so much done in one day! That makes us feel good.
It’s been interesting that some of the children in the area walk behind the church and school property on their way home. Some of them came by today to check out to see what was going on. It was nice to be able to interact with them and even share some “goodies” with them.
The trip home took another 3 hours. We were very glad to get to the hotel to take a hot shower. A group of 18 went out for dinner tonight, and while the food was good, it took 2 ½ hours to be served! Needless to say we were spent for the day and all went to our respective rooms and crashed.
I've already heard people asking when we'll come here again. That is encouraging. People are being touched by this opportunity to serve people we've never met before.
7:00 will come early. These are only a few of my remembrances of the day. I could go on, but am tired. So have a blessed night’s sleep…Pastor Rodriguez
The first day on the job was action packed and frustrating to many of us. It began with a 3-hour drive to the worksite. We dropped off those doing the VBS at the school, which took about an hour of travel time. Before we got to Good Shepherd in Port-au-Prince we had a devotion in the bus, a practice that we will repeat every day. It was a good time to reflect on what we're here for. The devotion referenced Nehemiah's help in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. First the foundation had to be laid, and when it was the people rejoiced. We talked about the foundations that we'd be laying, not just literally but spiritually. When this project is done many children will be able to hear about God's love for them through Jesus. That is the best part of this trip, knowing that we're helping to provide a place where God's Word will be taught and practiced.
Then we headed to the school work site.
First, Port-au-Prince is a city of nearly 3 million people. Needless to say the traffic is a challenge. Our driver, who is used to this, is about as aggressive driver as I’ve ever seen. But you have to be. If you’re going to let everyone get ahead of you, it’s going to take a long time to get anywhere. The roads are in pretty bad shape, too. One of the roads was so bad that we blew a tire on the bus and had to get it fixed later in the day. (Thankfully there are dual tires on the rear of the bus, so we still had one tire to get us to where it needed to be repaired.) We drove through Port-au-Prince and there were places that I’ve never seen such abject poverty.
People will sell anything to just make a couple of dollars in a day. In a country where the average annual income is $500 no American can understand being this poor. We drove through a part of the city that Pastor Bernard said was the biggest “slum” in the world – City de Soliel.
Hopefully we’ll be able to post our videos on YouTube so you can see for yourself. When the earthquake struck 4 years ago the world, and especially the United States, answered the call for help. Vast quantities of goods were sent over. Today, in the slum, were piles and piles of clothing that was sent that stretched for blocks, out in the open, that people were sifting through to find something to wear. Raw sewage was running down the street. Street vendors were selling food – fruits, vegetables, meats –that were covered with flies. Undoubtedly a bartering system is in place to get things that are needed.
It took us a while to process this.
The drive to Leogane took us along the coast where we could see the effects of the earthquake. Many homes were nothing but poles surrounded by tarps for walls, and a tin roof where there had once been an actual home whose remnants had not been removed. Some of the tarps still carried the “US Aid” logo on it. Other homes were concrete block with a sheet for a door. We even saw some threadbare tents set up that people lived in.
When we got just outside of Leogane we took a dirt road for about 8-9 miles into the country. Along the way were several small “neighborhoods”. In these areas was a system of concrete channels that had water running through them. And in these channels people were bathing and washing their clothes.
When we finally got to the site of the church and school we were glad to be off the bus and stretch. We formed groups, some on the foundation prepping it for the laying of blocks. But most of us carried concrete blocks about 50 yards to the school. Temperatures were in the upper 80’s/low 90’s and we all worked up a good sweat.
At the work site were several local workers, most of which are members of the church in Leogane. There is one man who shows up faithfully for work, according to Pastor Bernard, but does not believe in Jesus. We’ve been working on him for the last couple of days! I’ve taken opportunities to tell him that Jesus loves him (in Creole – a phrase we’ve learned while we’re here) and he just laughs. At least we’re planting seeds.
The pastor of the congregation in Leogane was on the site and worked with us today and is supposed to be there tomorrow, too. He actually is not ordained, yet, but is attending the seminary in Leogane and is working in his second year of training (I think), but has been an elder at the church for 17 years. His name is Pastor William and is married with 3 children.
We worked for about 5 hours and got about 650 blocks laid. We got familiar with the process of hand prepping the mortar that is used for connecting the blocks, and many of us helped with the mixing and carrying of the mortar to the school so the brick layers could use it. There has been a lot of manual labor and none of the conveniences like mortar mixers to make things easier. We carried the mortar in 5-gallon plastic buckets up a temporary set of steps. And today we got 3 of the 4 outside wall started and at least 4 blocks high. Some were 6 blocks high.
Tomorrow we will all be together – the VBS was only one day, and they had a blast. But we will begin attaching the names of those who have sponsored the blocks and helped provide the funding for this project. We will take individual pictures of every block with the names of the sponsors. I anticipate another productive day like today.
We’ve been told that never has a group come and gotten so much done in one day! That makes us feel good.
It’s been interesting that some of the children in the area walk behind the church and school property on their way home. Some of them came by today to check out to see what was going on. It was nice to be able to interact with them and even share some “goodies” with them.
The trip home took another 3 hours. We were very glad to get to the hotel to take a hot shower. A group of 18 went out for dinner tonight, and while the food was good, it took 2 ½ hours to be served! Needless to say we were spent for the day and all went to our respective rooms and crashed.
I've already heard people asking when we'll come here again. That is encouraging. People are being touched by this opportunity to serve people we've never met before.
7:00 will come early. These are only a few of my remembrances of the day. I could go on, but am tired. So have a blessed night’s sleep…Pastor Rodriguez