Haiti - February, 2018 - Team 3

February 18, 2018

Sunday – Some of our group went to St. Marc for church – Pastor Lynn Thompson preached and Pastor Herve translated. It was a great service, and many of the women from St. Marc who had attended the sewing classes last week were so warm and friendly when they greeted us.  Mark, Pam, Jeff, Heather, and Jean went to Dupin to church. Heather sang  “It is Well With My Soul”. What a treat to hear our Mission Center guard, LeFette, preach on John 9. There was no one to translate, but they were able to decipher that God is faithful, mighty, and strong in times of trouble.  After lunch we had a relaxing day at the Mission Center, swimming, reading, resting, and talking, except for Heather and Jeff. They didn’t consider it working on Sunday, as they were varnishing and drilling holes in tables under a tree by the Caribbean Ocean listening to worship music.

February 19, 2018

Monday – One construction crew worked on the storage shed here at the Mission Center. Others painted and finished putting the tables together. Adam poured a slab of concrete in the new storage room after mixing the cement by hand. The Haitian guard “President” was a big help. 

Heather made 14 beds on her birthday getting ready for the new team that will now not get here until tomorrow. Please continue to pray that there will be no flight delays tomorrow. We sang to Heather all day. She has spent her last 8 birthdays here in Haiti. 

Jeff will also be working on a storage peg board for tin cups for Lanzac. This project was initiated by Shirlene, our community agent at Lanzac. She did her capstone presentation on health promotion and the importance of having a clean cup every day for the children to drink water. Before we leave, we hope to have it installed for the school.

Another construction crew teamed up with the Haitians – to finish the third roof at MPCA. They are now known as the Ebony and Ivory Construction Company. Except for a little clean up – we are now finished with the roofing project at MPCA.

The sewing group went to Chardene to teach the ladies how to crochet a tote bag made of T-shirt yarn.  It was challenging to say the least but thrilling and exciting to see their faces when they “got it”.  The ladies were intrigued by Wendy’s support hose. They took her shoe off and pulled the knee-highs down. They were truly amazed!

The medical team went to Lanzac to follow up with a few students. We fell in love with this sweet little boy pictured below.  Throughout the day, the medical team worked on completing tasks from last week’s OB teaching and prepared for physicals that will begin tomorrow.

February 20, 2018

The highlight of today was that our Week 3 Team finally was able to fly out of Ft. Lauderdale this  morning and arrived at the Mission Center at 2:15 PM. They looked amazingly well considering that some of them had not slept since they left early Monday morning. After eating a quick lunch, the medical providers, pharmacist, and nurses were whisked off to MPCA to do physicals on approximately 60 kids.

Deb and Heather went to Degeance with Anite, the school nurse, to do some follow-up checks on students. We have passed the baton to Anite to give the hygiene seminar to young ladies. Previously, all of the hygiene seminars were conducted by US teams.

The construction crew worked on the storage shed at the Mission Center. They got the roof on, the storage racks moved inside, and then leveled up. Lighting is the next stage of the process.  BJ modified a Lifestraw table to accommodate the preschoolers at Lanzac, making it reachable for them. The finished round classroom tables were delivered to a happy group of preschoolers at Lanzac.

The sewing team went St. Marc to begin instruction in crochet to over 30 women. The ladies went away knowing how to crochet (hopefully). They started out learning how to do a slip knot and by the end, they had a good start on the bottom of their purses.

February 21, 2018

Construction: Today the construction team completed several projects that have been in the making over the past two weeks.   They cleaned the rust off of steel tubing, in other words, the day was engaged in corrosion control. Jennifer is our designated organizer for the week. She worked on labeling the shelves in the new tool shed.

  

Bible School – Lynn finished teaching at the Bible School. Their session ended in an exam, and then the students surrounded Lynn and prayed for him. The students were so sweet in sharing their appreciation for Lynn and his teaching.

Sewing – Liane and Wendy.  We were fortunate to have two new people join us today, Julie and Michelle from St. Marys.  We enjoyed a fantastic afternoon crocheting purses from the T shirt yarn the Haitian ladies had made on our last session on Monday. It was our last session at Chardan so we took pictures of the quilts they made and recognized each of them for their participation.  There was lots of hugging and congratulating and Merci, Merci. We all were sad to part company and hope to see our ladies next year!

Medical – The medical team went to Dupin to do physicals in the morning. For the afternoon, they came to MPCA to finish the physicals there. Deb and Deb spent the morning with the Community Agents at MPCA and treated a few children with some skin issues.

After supper we had a time of praise and worship in the gazebo. Several shared of how God has brought them to this point. We are all so blessed.

February 22, 2018

It was another great day here in Haiti with everyone going different places. Our menu board made us think of home. Too bad the fine print stated “just kidding”. Fortunately, we have had amazing meals here and no one is losing weight.

Our new sewing machine was put into service today and Herta made her very own quilt. She was so proud.  Liane taught her how to use the machine. She will be able to sew the reusable hygiene pads more efficiently.  The sewing group had a catch-up day here at the Mission Center sewing hot pads and preparing yarn for the ladies of St. Marc.

The medical team saw over 70 students at St. Marc for physicals. We had a bigger team today-which meant lots of help and high efficiency! Sabine, Travis, Ben, Greg, Tom, Madison, BJ, Ellie, Pam, Amanda, Myra, Julie, Alicia, and Crystal guided the students through foot checks, vitals, examinations, treatments, and getting them medicine if needed. With so much help we finished up earlier than scheduled and got to play a game of futbol (but with a tennis ball) and hung outside with the students. Sabine and Amanda played “Ring Around the Rosey” with several of the smaller children.

Josh and Mirlene (Community Agent at St. Marc) took a Tap-Tap and a moto to 4 different schools to get water samples from the Lifestraws. When then got back to the Mission Center, they began the water testing process to check for E-coli.

Deb and Michelle went to MPCA to spend the day with the Community Agents. We had a little bit of an intense situation. A teenage girl was brought to where we were treating some minor injuries, carried by the principal and other workers at the school. It was apparent she was having some type of seizure. The Community Agent got her VS’s and they were normal. She continued to have what looked like a seizure about 3 times. She would not respond verbally, but was able to follow commands. While we were waiting for her aunt to arrive to take her home, we surrounded her and prayed for her. About 3-4 minutes later, she opened her eyes and was able to sit up and drink some water. We found out that she was very sad because her father had passed away 2 weeks ago. We thank God and give Him the glory for intervening for this child. Both of the Community Agents conducted themselves very well and Deb was very proud of them.

The construction team delivered a new Lifestraw table to Lanzac. The kids were so excited. More progress was made by Jeff on the peg board that will be used to store individual cups for the kids at Lanzac. Jennifer, Debbie, Lynn, and Mark worked on inventorying and labeling tools for the new storage shed. Kevin and Steve worked on a special project.

Our evening concluded with a wonderful time of worship in the gazebo with Ballack (one of our translators) and his friends leading us. As in previous weeks, this was such a special treat and sweet time of reflection.

February 24, 2018

Today was a very active day for the team! All the Haiti “newbies” got to see the sights and visit a few important places.  The medical group plus some bounced and swayed all the way to La Hatte bright and early to finish a few physicals, then enjoyed a hike through the village, holding the hands of precious, little ones along the way, returning back hungry and sun burnt.  In the afternoon, the same group went to Degeance to hike up to the school as well as preview the land for the new school.  Everyone agreed it was amazing to see the beautiful, scenic view and appreciate the beauty of Haiti. 

Josh and Mirlene (Community Agent at St. Marc) gave a seminar about maintaining the Life Straws. Responsible persons from each school as well as all of the community agents attended.

               

Pam and Deb conducted an afternoon training session for the community agents.  The community agents were very gracious for all they had learned and the teachers are encouraged by all they learned. They enjoyed learning how to use the new thermometers and in Lanzac, they are thrilled to have the new cup holding peg boards that Jeff made.  The time wrapped up with some sweet worship, Jezi renmen.

The construction team took lumber and supplies to Dupin to set up to complete the new roof next week in the remaining few days of work.  The walls were completed on the tool storage shed so everything can be put away into a new organized space next week.  A couple guys finished a screen for rat prevention in the supply room.  Hooray! The rest of the day was spent sorting supplies to keep in Haiti and packing up things to take to Findlay.

Some of the team will be leaving bright and early for the airport tomorrow AM. Thank you, Lord, for this amazing time in Haiti. May we never forget what we have experienced and take Haiti home in our hearts!

Haiti - February, 2018 - Team 2

February 10-11, 2018

What a wonderful weekend we have had! Saturday, the core team remaining here celebrated Deb’s birthday with singing, Haitian hot chocolate, and cherry crisp for dessert after supper! It made her feel very special! We had a wonderful time playing Fizz Bo and singing in the evening.

Sunday we stayed at the Mission Center and had our own church service. It was a great time of worship in song and sharing of testimonies.  At noon, five of us went to Pierre Payen where four of our Mission Possible students met us to be seen by an ophthalmologist. We were able to tour the hospital. We are so blessed to have a relationship with Pierre Payen to treat our students when needed.

Tomorrow the medical team will go to Dupin to start the OB seminars. The construction team will be doing some LED lighting for the Bible School, welding of shelves and painting here at the Mission Center.

February 12, 2018

The rest of the week 2 team arrived around 11 AM today - Jean, Travis, Wendy, Lynn, Kent, Dan and Rachel. After unpacking and eating lunch, they joined the construction, sewing, and OB medical teams.

Sewing – the ladies at Chardene came with their quilts and continued working on them. Liane gave a lesson on grace to the sewing ladies. Even though there wasn’t any school, the place was buzzing with kids. A highlight of the sewing was that Madison and Wendy pitched in to help a pregnant lady nearly finish her quilt, as she wanted it done before her baby comes.

Today there was Boot Camp, a youth-oriented program alternative to the Carnival. 200 + kids from Mission Possible churches met at MPCA and are participating in a 3-day event that involve scripture reading, worship, prayer, and recreation. Their day began at 4:00 AM and is concluding late tonight with Christian movies. A highlight today was swimming in the ocean at the Mission Center. Travis really enjoyed watching all of the kids having fun.

The Construction team worked on welding shelves on which to store tools and supplies at the Mission Center. This afternoon they went to Dupin and worked on the perimeter of the playground fence. This project is nearly done, with just a few more tweaks on the gate and swings.

The medical team started OB training with 25 pregnant mamas. They learned about a normal delivery, newborn care, cycle beads, and diseases. Deb, Sabine, Shari, Pam, Emily, and Ellie taught the classes. Rachel joined us in the afternoon.

February 13, 2018

Sewing was an adventure today! Wendy, Deb and Liane went to St. Marc. There was some confusion about a key, and we were not able to get through the front gate. We entered through the back gate which involved a short steep hike up a rocky road.  We put tarps down on the ground to work on the quilts. The breeze felt wonderful, but was a bit of a problem as it blew up the tarps and quilts. 

Nevertheless, everyone seemed to enjoy working on their projects. They are coming along very well. The Chardene ladies will start crocheting tomorrow. St. Marc ladies will begin on Friday.

Part of the construction team remained at the Mission Center.  Sam and Kent continued to build and weld the table frames for the wee little tables for the preschool classrooms. They were students themselves as they were learning how to use a mig welder. As they worked they enjoyed having conversation in Spanish.     Jean and Dan painted the frames for the shelves that will go into the tool storage building and began cutting the boards for the shelves.  Mark and Lynn installed new LED lighting for the bible school.

Three members of the construction team Jeff, Travis, B.J. and a stellar team of nurses set out for the small village of Dupin – an established school house – located up a bumpy dirty road 30 minutes from Mission Center Haiti.  There amidst the school house and children, the builders hung four swings, completed the perimeter of the fence, and installed a gate at its entrance. In addition, they tightened down the metal screws and sealed the roof of the cook house (sealing the leaks that previously existed).

Above mentioned stellar team of nurses were Pam, Sabine, Ellie, Shari, Heather, Emily, Rachel, and Madison. They finished up the two-day OB clinic with 25 Haitian women in attendance. They taught classes on topics such as infant CPR, labor and delivery, and breastfeeding. The team got the pleasure of meeting one of the Haitian midwives, Sylvadina, whose been helping mothers deliver their babies since 1973!! As the clinic wrapped up, each mother got to leave with a delivery baby care kit stocked with diapers, blankets, medicines, and cycle tracking beads. We are so thankful for the time put in by those back at home putting those kits together for them; everyone left smarter, healthier, and happier.

The team is enjoying the special candy bar treats that Jeff and Heather are sharing in the evening. We had a yummy dinner together and ended the day with our evening devotional under the stars.

Thank you to everyone who are praying for us. God is in Haiti!

February 14, 2018

The medical team (Rachel, Deb, Shari, Emily, Heather, & Sabine) went to LaHatte to hold OB seminars for the pregnant mamas in that village. It started out with only about 10 ladies attending, but as the day went on, we ended up with 21. If you see the picture below, you will notice that someone is missing. That’s right – Mother-Hen (Pam) cut the cord and let us go to LaHatte without her today. Mother-Hen and chicks survived and are doing well – reunited at the Mission Center this evening.  Anite was “the boss”. The mothers looked healthy and are anxious to return tomorrow for their last 4 seminars. It was a great adventure bouncing back and forth in the back of the cattle truck on the way to and from LaHatte.  Thanks to Sergo,(Jeff was busy sewing) we had a safe ride.

Another amazing day teaching the ladies of Chardon a new craft!  Today they cut up T shirts into strips to make a purse or tote.  It is certainly a little complicated but after 4 hours of explanation and trial and error everyone caught on, Yippee!! The ladies are so appreciative and proud of their accomplishments. They are to finish cutting up their shirts and making the 5 balls of T shirt yarn over the weekend and we will share the crocheting technique on Monday.  We even got Jeff in on the ball winding! The ladies sing praises to the Lord as they work and laugh with us as we try to communicate. Liane, Madison and Wendy were on this team.

Today the construction team worked with both metal and wood.  It was a hot day all around at Mission Central with welding shelves, sanding shelves and painting shelves to include making several steel tables with adjustable screw in feet - to assist with stabilizing the load on uneven ground. This was to include making (6) steel tables that were finished off with five-foot round wood tops. The rest of the construction crew traveled up the road to Mission Possible Christian Academy (MPCA) and filled in a section of no roof – 26x28 ft open span in the school house – more so – conjoined, notched out, placed and leveled roughly (18) 12ft 2x6 boards – twelve feet up in the air. It was a good day all around for learning new skills.   

  

We are now getting ready to enjoy an evening playing Fizbo and  eating popcorn.

February 15, 2018

Our day began as usual in a circle of prayer and singing with the translators.

Deb, Shari, and Jean stayed at the Mission Center today and met with the Community Agents. They were all present along with Anite. We worked on documentation and reviewed blood pressure. They were gracious as they always are. We are amazed at how far they have come since the program started.

The medical team (Sabine, Rachel, Emily, Ellie, Pam, & Madison) went to LaHatte today to finish up the OB classes. 23 women graduated and received a beautiful OB kit. We had one mama who left yesterday because she did not want to participate in CPR. She returned today and was an awesome participant, giving 100% effort. She was able to graduate with the other women. Sabine had such a unique experience. She was teaching an OB class and all of a sudden a chicken appeared and flew up into the rafters of the room and proceeded to lay an egg. At that point a mule walked by outside the window. Needless to say, Sabine was distracted, but the students saw nothing unusual about the situation. I guess the chicken wanted to demonstrate childbirth for the class.

Adam, BJ, Travis, & Sam and Mardochee (a young man who Jeff and Heather have sponsored for many years) also went to LaHatte to replace PVC pipe used for the water cistern. Water is very limited in LaHatte. Several men in the community went home to get pick axes to help with the project. We are hoping this will improve their situation of a lack of water in LaHatte.

The ride to LaHatte was improved today because of Jeff’s ingenious idea of putting wooden jigs at the base of the picnic table to prevent it from sliding during travel. The passengers today really appreciated this modification.

Liane and Wendy went to Lanzac and measured for a new fence around the perimeter of the property. This will be a future project for another trip. Wendy met 5 children there and had fun learning their names and playing with them. Lynn, Liane, Wendy, and Mark worked on inventory. Dan and Kent worked along side each other at the Mission Center welding on table feet and grinding the rough edges.

The mother of Dan’s sponsored child works at the Mission Center. She brought all of her children to spend time with Dan. What a nice time they had together.

Jeff and Heather worked together today, which they were excited about – a post Valentine’s date. They stained round tables which will be used at the preschools.  

This great day ended in a beautiful time of praise and worship with Ballack and his friends, Ruth and Maxi. Ballack is one of our translators. He has a wonderful gift of leading people in worship. He taught us Bondje, Ou Fidel – God, You are Faithful. There was a sweet spirit as we shared testimonies and prayed for each other.

PS – Fizz Bo picture below from last night! A great time!

February 16, 2018

Pics tonight are from Degeance and sewing at St. Marc.

February 18, 2018

The OB team did a great job this week......The ladies loved the seminar and delivery packs.  The diapers were a hit.  Thank you to all you have been a part of the kits. Each instructor taught 4 x day.

A new shop to store tools in when we leave.....Heather enjoyed getting to know Maddy.

Finally got Jeff away from sewing.

More bags of rice for our students.  Thank you for being a part of our fund raiser.  We plan to continue and will shoot for 100.

Consider it a joy to serve together.

These ladies are the most fabulous women to serve with..

Not sure what to say.........lolol

Six leaving, 14 staying and 15 joining us on Monday.