I was up before dawn again, and spent my early morning under a palm tree and watching the ocean. Life goes on, and I watch the trickle of Haitians pass by on the beach and the fishermen go about their daily rituals. And I think about my experiences and the people I have met... and I don't want to go home. I don't want to talk to people, I don't want to write this blog or a journal, I don't want to eat... I just want to sit and pray. And cry, since that goes hand-in-hand with praying in Haiti.

Eventually the others got up, breakfast was eaten, and we discussed our options for this, our last day in Haiti. The decision is made to spend some time clearing and organizing the quonset hut at M.P.C.A. that mission possible uses to store supplies. I was against this, as I wanted to spend every possible minute I had left in quiet... but the majority wanted to do work (and it was, of course, the best option).  No one took any "before" photos, but I had a tour on a previous day and can show a video walk-through.
The quonset hut was filthy, crowded, and disorganized when we started into it... and incredibly warm. The construction team was in a rush towards the end, so they were forced to leave the construction supplies in a terrible state. As well, a lot of material was left on the floor, and signs (like rotting boxes and very rusted metal) were that the floor was not dry or safe for them.

After several hours of cleaning, organizing, and throwing out of junk we were able to make a huge difference! It was hot, dirty work, but I definitely was glad that we had done it. For my part, I mainly organized the construction counters, sorting nails, screws, bolts, electrical components, and whatever else was located there.


The west end of the hut, were the entrance was located, was left clear all the way to the centre. The north side, as seen above, contained wooden furniture, lumber, some partially assembled motors, etc. The back of the hut, to the east, orginally contains skids of water, lumber, and other large items. We consolidated them a bit to take up less space. The south side of the hut, as seen below, was left with the work benches (containing all manner of small items from wood screws and breakers to drill bits and lightbulbs), construction materials. When we were finished, everything that could be moved to skids was off the floor.


Hopefully, the organizing we did will help the medical team (I believe they arrive in January or February 2011), and any future construction teams.

After organizing the hut, we returned to the Mission Possible compound for our last few hours in Haiti. After showering, and eating lunch, we spent some time swimming and wandering on the beach. Ever since arriving in Haiti, I had an increasing need for solitude, so after some socializing I got away for some alone time on the beach to think and pray.


For me, it is hard to leave. I've never felt closer to God, or more torn inside than I have felt in Haiti. Live-changing, a trip like this. In the video above, I was alone on the beach with my thoughts, and I wanted to capture a moment so I would never forget how it looked and sounded... even if I forget how it felt and smelled.

Eventually it was time to go. We carefully packed (I had several painting I had purchased, plus Haitian vanilla and coffee), loaded into a pickup truck and headed back to Port-au-Prince. The trip was uneventful after a week in Haiti, but I did take some video which included refugee camps near the capital.


When we would drive past a refugee camp, I would smell the burning garbage and sewage and see the squallor... but I never encountered it directly. Visiting a couple of village homes was an experience I'll never forget... but those homes and those people are infinitely better off than the masses of hopeless people in these camps. Just seeing the toilet facilities, 45 gallon drums under elevated outhouses, makes me wonder what will eventually become of these people. Reconstruction is slow or stopped, and only international handouts appears to be keeping these people alive.

We finished our day in Haiti at the airport, passing through security and spending only a few minutes in a waiting area before boarding our flight. A few in-flight movies later, I was back in Canada.

I was up before 5:00am again, and feeling the need to be alone I went out and worked my way to the hammock near the beach. This was a nice, isolated spot that was not clearly visible to the rest of the compound, and as such was a great spot to think and pray. And I needed to do both, desperately.


Occsionally, a Haitian or a small group would walk by, but for the most part they ignored me. I remained there, until perhaps 6:30 am, when I was driven back to the common area by a persistant begger. I don't blame the Haitian for begging, but considering my struggle with the poverty versus my own riches, it wasn't helping me feel any better. I remained in the common area until other team members started waking... and not wanting them to see me crying, I returned to the isolated corner with the hammock. I skipped breakfast with the group, but managed to get enough control to see the American team members off... this was their travel day back to the U.S.A.

After we were left alone, I changed into the best clothing I had with me and waited. Eventually our team was all ready and we walked with Pastor Herve to the Lanzac church. We took our places towards the rear of the church, as we were somewhat late, then were asked to introduce ourselves. I was caught off guard and said something to the effect of "Thank you for having us, and you are in our prayers" when it was my turn. The service itself was quite and experience, beautiful and different what I had previously experienced.


I did not bring a video or still camera to the service, out of respect, but did record the music. Sadly, the volume in the church overwhelmed the tiny recorder, so the quality isn't fantastic, but the above sample should give you an idea what it was like.

After the service, we returned to the compound. I did not feel like eating, or conversing, or doing anything except pray by myself, but the others on the team were feeling more social so I didn't have much time during the rest of the day to think and pray by myself. We did get to spend a fair bit of time with Pastor Herve, which was amazing, and he gave us a tour of his library for the Bible school. We also moved into the married quarters, which were much better accomodations than we enjoyed in the dorms.


I did not take much in the way of video or photographs either, but after collecting sea shells and going for my last abortive swim in the ocean, I did take some photographs of the "pirate" sailboat (the one with the torn foresail).


We played Euchre in the evening, and I went to bed a bit early.

Haiti - Day 5: La Judee Orphanage in Gonaives Another beautiful morning in Haiti saw me up before most of the others... around 5:30 am, so I had plenty of time to wander around the compound by myself. The beach was deserted, as was the compound, so I sat on a bench and watched the ocean through our security fence. Back in Canada I live a rather hectic life, with little time to reflect on things... in fact, I actively avoided reflection since it only leads to trouble. But in Haiti, with the beautiful landscapes combined with the abject poverty, it is hard not to think about the experiences of previous days. And cry. Every morning I would cry for longer than the previous morning.


Around 6:30am, the group of three older gentlemen walked by, followed by some loose goats and a couple of teenagers in shorts. One stops to stare at me for perhaps 10 minutes, but he never says a word and eventually moves on. I wasn't sure what he wanted, but his watching me felt like an accusation of some kind and left me feeling even more uncomfortable than I had already felt. The walls of the compound were there to protect me from the impoverished Haitians, but more and more the walls felt like they were keeping me in.


At 7:00 am people started stirring for the day. This was the last day for construction work, so the construction team was eager to get started. About 7:30 am, I wandered up to the eating area to hear if we were still going to the orphanage in Gonaives. Some members of the construction team were joining us (a nurse and an EMT), while several of our team elected to stay behind and help the construction team. Considering the risk of cholera, and the fact that this orphanage had several infected children (and one death), it was probably a wise choice. For myself, I was not going to miss this opportunity for anything, but I must admit that I was also dreading the experience.

When we did finally hit the road, we loaded into a van instead of the open truck. We drove back to the M.P.C.A. school and loaded up with supplies donated by Pastor Herve and Mission Possible. Our team from Canada also brought supplies with us, but Pastor Herve's generousity was unbelievable! After loading the van with all the water and foodstuffs it could hold, we headed north along National Road 1.

North of St. Marc, the land appears wetter and flatter than it did where we spent most of our time in Haiti. Below is a photo of a flooded rice field, with the ubiquitous smoke cloud in the distance. The photograph is not the best, as we were moving quickly over very rough roads and I needed to zoom to the limit of the camera.


We continued past additional rice fields, small villages, plantain fields, construction (lots of construction) and finally crossed the Artibonite river. This river was the main vector for the introduction of cholera into Haiti, and even though it was definitely contaminated there were people bathing and washing their clothing in its waters. The following video shows a roadside market that was on both sides of the Artibonite river. Traffic was slow, due to congestion at the bridge, so I was able to take relatively stable video.


Eventually, we reached Gonaives, and I was surprised to see that it looked exactly like every other Haitian community I had seen. In my ignorance, I was expecting to see a city devestated by cholera, perhaps even bodies on the road side... or some kind of outward evidence that the people were concerned about the cholera epidemic. But no, just as anywhere else, life goes on and people make the best of their situation.


Pastor Ismorin Noel met and led us to the La Judee orphanage. We parked in the alley right outside the main gate at about 10:30 am, and were given a quick tour of the facilities.


The lower level of the orphanage contained washing, sleeping, and eating areas. After experiencing a Haitian home in a small village, I was expecting rather dire conditions in the orphanage, but was pleasantly surprised! It appeared that every child had a bed!


The upper level was a church/sanctuary/school for the use of the children and the community around the orphanage. There we were formally introduced to the children by Pastor Ismorin, and they sang several songs for us.


The following short video clip is of the children singing to welcome us to their orphange. Despite the fact that they are orphans and at risk of cholera (four children were hospitalized, and one dead when we visited), these children seemed very healthy and happy! It was obvious that Pastor Ismorin loves the children and takes wonderful care of them!

After the singing was over, we gave the children some presents (soccer balls donated from Canada) and enjoyed them playing for nearly an hour! We also unloaded a bunch of supplies, including foodstuffs and water. Because the children were in good health, the health professionals we had with us were not really needed (which was a Blessing), but they were able to identify some potential problems with the well that might help prevent illness in the future.

Pastor Ismorin surrounded by the children, with our donated supplies. Photo by Stephen Hermer

We left the orphanage and headed south to St. Marc on National Road 1, passing everything we had seen on our way north. In St. Marc, Pastor Herve needed to stop downtown to pick up some supplies. While we waited, members of the construction team handed out Christian literature in the form of small pamphlets. After a wait of about half an hour, we continued south to Lanzac and the Mission Possible compound.

Those of us who had gone to the orphanage were able to partially because other members of all three teams stayed behind to work on the construction site. We ate a quick lunch before heading to M.P.C.A to relieve the workers and finish up for them. They had made great progress, so by the time we arrived there was only cleanup left. I washed walls in the clinic, then helped load and organize the tools and remaining supplies onto the truck. We took the truck over to the supply hut and offloaded them before heading back to the Mission Possible compound for the evening.

We spent some time on the beach, and I had found several nice shells (which I ended up taking home to Canada).

After we ate supper, all the teams got together for a prayer and some social time (plus to celebrate a birthday). This was the last night in Haiti for everyone, except those of us from Canada, so they wanted to celebrate a bit. Later in the evening, several artisans/salesmen were brought to the compound so that we could buy some souvenirs. I ended up buying two oil paintings, three painted tin gechos, a couple of touristy boxes, and a wooden tray... all for the cost of around $50 U.S. dollars.

After making my purchase, I retired to the eating area to socialize until around midnight.

I was dressed and outside by 6:00am, so I missed the construction team's wake-up call. I spent an hour lying in a hammock between two palm trees, looking at the ocean and thinking. A few goats, with ropes trailing behind them, went past... probably headed to the river for drinking water. I also saw the three older men work their way up the beach with their plastic water buckets. A group of eight or ten Haitians wandered to the concrete pier and waited for about half an hour before moving on around 7:00am. I thought they were waiting for the fishing boat to bring a net to shore, but the only boats that I could see were rather far out from shore.


At 7:00am, I headed back to the eating area to meet the team from Ohio for breakfast. After Dave was up and the entire team was ready, we loaded into a truck for the long drive to Lahatte. This school was far enough south to suffer extensive earthquake damage, but that was the least of its problems. The school itself was up in the mountains, on what can only be described as an arid plateau. Sand, dry river beds, cactus, dry wells... it looked more like africa than the Haiti I had thus far come to know. After a fifteen minute drive south on National Road 1, we turned onto a dusty side road and drove past numerous homes and plantain plantations. After a time, we turned off the road into a drive river bed and followed it for another twenty minutes or so to reach LaHatte. I took a considerable amount of video, but the trip as so rough that it was almost entirely useless.


When we reached Lahatte, the students came out to great us with their teachers.  After a short time we setup in the shade of one of the buildings to take sponsorship photos, but as only a couple dozen students were being sponsored this was an easy job.


I was free to play with the students, take photographs and video, and explore. While exploring, I managed to step on a thorn that was long enough to go right through my shoe and into my foot! Considering the squalor and disease situation, I was a bit concerned to get stabbed by something on the ground... but it also hurt enough for me to limp for the next few days.


The above photograph shows the basic layout of the school, with two long concrete buildings housing classrooms. In the middle is a set of temporary classrooms built because of earthquake damage. The near room can still be used, but the rest of the building is unsafe-enough for the classes to be held outside in the dust and wind.


In the next photo, I am showing some students how they look on video. In some cases, the students were shy and just looked, but more often than not they mugged for the camera in some way! The boy in the blue shirt has lesions on his face, which you can just see in this photograph. I had seen evidence of skin problems in other schools, but it was more common at Lahatte... further evidence of the poverty and lack of medical access despite all the work of Mission Possible.


Still, even with the poverty at Lahatte, appearances of disease were an exception and most of the students were healthy and seemed happy.


After we had finished, we were taken on a short walking tour of a nearby village. All of the homes appeared to be woven stick and mud construction with palm-leaf roofing and dirt floors. If I had been watching a video instead of walking through this arid village of stick huts, I might have thought it was in africa instead of Haiti.


We continued on to see something called a Moringa oleifera tree. This plant is fast growing, nutricious and is almost entirely edible for humans and animals. For an impovrished community like this village, moringa trees have the potential to change and save lives. After viewing the tree, we returned to the truck for the arduous trip back to the compound.

I spent spent some time with the Ohio team members at the compound, then we headed out for a trip to St. Marc to see Pastor Herve's church. Two members from the construction team came to do a presentation on cholera and hand-washing techniques. 


Afterwards, we loaded into the truck and returned to the compound in the dark. The roads seemed chaotic during the day, but were just as bad after dark. I spent the evening talking with team members at the compound.

I was shaken by my experiences the previous day (actually walking inside some village homes), but visiting Lahatte and the church in St. Marc helped a bit. Life goes on, we get over shocks... and I should have been better prepared.

I get up with the construction team, at 6:00am, and wander down to the fence to watch Hatians go about the start of their day. A number of people bring goats to the river just north of us, and every morning I see three older gentlemen walk by. All three of them are slow, bent, and dressed poorly, but the oldest is without shoes and carries a sack and a stick. As they slowly work their way up the beach, he uses the stick to steady himself, and occasionally to push at an item on the ground. When he notices something edible (I did not see exactly what) he stoops to pick it up and put it in his sack. The other two carry small plastic pails. Half an hour or so later, I see them work their way back the way they came.

This morning I see an interesting thing... the fishermen row their boat out and then wait. They sit or stand in their boat until nearly 7:00am, then (as if there was some signal) they start to work. Not sure exactly what this means.

Today should be a short day, as it is a Haitian holiday (the start of their war of independance from France) and children do not have to go to school. That said, students at Degeance were asked to be there for their photographs as it is the only chance we have of taking them. Degeance is a school in a village up in the mountains, so we will have to hike part of the way in. Unlike M.P.C.A, are about three-hundred students at Degeance, so there will always be team members free to take photographs.

 We drove as far into the mountains as we could, then hiked the rest of the way in. The school itself is build on a slope, at the bottom of a village, surrounded by mountains and plantain trees. There is only partially concrete school-house (for four classrooms), a cinderblock principal's office, and a few school-huts made of woven palm leaves.

As we arrived, we were shown into the four-class school house to rest (it being very hot in the sun) and wait for the children. A number of children arrived, and we witnessed the Haitian flag raising ceremony that they perform every morning. Afterwards, we set set up to take photographs under the shade of the large central tree.

We were surprised to discover that almost all of the children showed up, even thought it was a holiday. I believe we only had six absentees.

These kids were obviously happy to be going to school, bright eyed and smiling most of the time that I saw them. Like the students at M.P.C.A., they were very friendly and appeared to be healthy and well-nourished. Because this is a smaller school, there were not so many grades and very few older children.

After the sponsorship photographs were finished, we were introduced to Pastor Herve's discipleship boys. These boys may end up in Bible school or as leaders in their community, but for now they are a shining example of what hope and faith can do in a community.

Pastor Herve offered to give us a short tour if the house of one of the discipleship boys, so we walked up the mountain a little more to visit his home.

This home was two rooms, perhaps 3m x 10m in size, made of cinder blocks, with a sheet metal roof.

The village is basically a cluster of small homes, spread out across very uneaven land. There is no running water, no sewer, no garbage pickup, no mail... no road... just dirt and people. It was a surprise for me, I knew people lived in huts and were very poor, but I also saw the children in their clean school uniforms, and teachers wearing dresses and suits. How do they do it? How does someone live 9 people to a dirt-floor hut and manage to have clean and ironed school clothing?

After seeing the home of the discipleship boy, we moved further uphill into the village, and visited another home. This one also consisted of two rooms, but was made of cemented stones instead of cinderblock. Inside, we met the owner of the home, a friend of Pastor Herve's.

This was the first time I got to see how the Hatians live, I mean up close, really live. I'm not sure what I was expecting, except maybe that people lived simply or had less "stuff" than we do. But it went far beyond that, people don't have floors. People sweet the dirt in Haiti. When they are thirsty, they either get water from a container, or they walk to the nearest supply... which might be a polluted stream, 30 minutes away.

The above photo is an example of a water jug that would be located in a Hatian home. Keeping water in such a jug is convenient, and would keep the water cool, but it doesn't solve the problem of clean water. People do their washing and cooking outside, of course, with small cook-fires being located outside the homes we visited.

We hiked back to the truck, and drove back to the compound in the early afternoon. We had the option of joining the construction team for the afternoon, but everyone elected to remain at the compound to relax and perhaps reflect on their experiences.

For my part, I spent some time on the beach, and went for my first swim. I also spent some time on my own, thinking and trying to reconcile my experiences. It seems strange to me, sitting in the compound with a bed, showers, safe water, hot food... all the comforts of home, while Hatians walk past to get water from the polluted river just a little North. I start to feel like the compound is a problem, almost a symbol of Western failures. Here we are, rich and white, staying in a resort on the beach, eating wonderful food and swimming in the beautiful ocean... all within sight of the poor Hatian's that fish and travel past. They must resent us.

It is one thing to see the good work that Mission Possible does, but it is entirely another to visit someone's home, and to see how they really live. I have a lot to think about, and I don't feel like eating anymore.