Timon & Pumba

In Haiti we have witnessed and made memories of many new things.  We have made some amazing new friends.  Most of all we have been welcomed with open arms into a new community. 

            Walking away from the plane and what was going to be the last air conditioning we would have for the week we were all humbled to sense what surrounded us.  We piled into a van that had a window broken only minutes before and were in for the ride of a lifetime.  Horns blasting and motorcycles flying all around and in between cars with up to 4 passengers and luggage, we were on our way.  We were on sensory overload with the smell of stale air mixed with burning trash.  Sites of tent cities and rubble surrounded us.  Almost 3 hours later, we arrived. 

            On the second day the guys were all hanging out in the room, with a bit of cabin fever, we ended up assigning Disney characters to our entire team to match each person’s personality.  They are as follows:
Jacob = Pumba (lion king)

Eric = Timon (lion king)

Kevin = Mougli (jungle book)

Kasey= Nala (lion king)

George = Russell (up)

Heather = Jane (tarzan)

Bill = Professor (tarzan)

Kathi = Elisabeth (pirates of the Caribbean)

Rachel = Miss Bianca (rescuers down under)

Zoe = Tinker Bell (peter pan)

Chelsea = piglet (Winnie the pooh)

Ashley = Dory (finding nemo)

Leah = Duchess (aristocats)

Kelli = Repunzel (tangled)

Hollie = King Louie (jungle book)

            Yesterday our on site leader, Alex, took us to a nearby river bed to show us how the community has come together for work that will better the community by protecting it from erosion and providing income.  We came upon one of the main work sites and saw 15 by 5 by 3 foot cages filled with rocks lining the river bank to protect the town.  Individuals of all ages were around us collecting rocks and putting them in piles.  Every pile that they collected was worth approximately $6 US.  In the midst a group of children came up to Jacob and wanted to play catch with a rubber ball.  It began with one child and grew to a swarm of children playing catch.  Every kid wanted a chance to play, and was calling “You!” begging for their chance to play.  They were all so starved for attention.  Their eyes lit up with excitement every time the ball went in their direction.  This lasted for about 15 minutes before we had to leave, and they had to go back to work (in order to pay for schooling). 

                Today in the morning we were able to put the roof on a house we hadn’t worked on yet.  After lunch we were able to go to the big market and see another part of the community.  We took a chunk of the afternoon seeing the market and ended up not going on the job site for the afternoon.  We changed and talked or guide and friend, Junior, into taking us to go play some basketball and soccer.  Although we could not connect with many of the locals through words we were able to have an emotional connection with them through playing with/against them in sports.  During each match we didn’t have to speak the same language but we all laughed together and sweated together.  Before we had to leave we all smiled, shook hands and said or bilingual goodbyes.  Even with a language and cultural barrier we were able to bond with a group of Haitians over a common interest.  It was an experience we will not soon forget, and I believe that the others won’t ether. 

-Jacob and Eric

The work we do...

Sorry it has taken us so long to get the blog up and going.  There are good reasons for this: 1) when we have time to post - we don't have electricity.  We found out that the government turns off the electricity in the entire city if enough people haven't paid their taxes.  We do have generator for these times but during the day they don't always run it because there is enough light to do work.  Being on the computer is not considered work.  2) In the evenings, when there is no electricity but the generator is going and we have down time - we are so exhausted from the day's work we all go to bed.  Seriously, we are in bed by 8PM. 

That gets us to what we are doing in Haiti.  First the "Us" - Us is Campus Compassion, a group of Barton College Students that are dedicated to service locally and globally.  The Us is also - 12 students and 3 non students.  They include:
Kasey Byzewsky
Kathy Shaner
Leah Farmer
Ashley Denton
Rachel Moore
Kelli Williams
Zoe Taylor
Chelsea Hassell
George Negron
Eric LaRoque
Jacob Cobb
Kevin Toth
Heather Brewer
Bill Moore
Hollie Woodruff

We are working with Conscience Internations and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  I sould say, they all work together to make Haiti Rubble Houses - an organization that utilizes the rubble from the 2010 earthquake.  We are working side by side with the Haitians to help them build houses.  So far, they have built 160 + homes.  We are working on two this week. 

There are two other groups here - one from New York and one from Canada.  Our day usually consists of getting up around 6AM, eating breakfast around 6:30, off to work at 7:30.  We come back for lunch around noon and head back out to work from 1:30-4:00.  It's hard work - but we take lots of breaks and have many laughs in between.  After work, we take showers, eat dinner, debrief about out day and head to bed! 

Words and pictures can't capture the beauty of Haiti. There is poverty here -but one cannot focus on what Haitians don't have but what they do.  Most have what they need.  The young go to school.  They have food to eat.  There is a roof over their head.  Their standard of living is not what we are used to but they are happy.  It's time for me to go.... signing off.... -  Hollie Woodruff, Chaplain.

Here are some pics so far....  

How to build a roof in Haiti:



Jacob passes time by working on his carpentry skills:


Kasey learns how to do masonry work while Kathy cheers her on!




 

We Made It!

We made it!! We finally made it to Haiti after months of planning, fundraising, and anxious worries, we made it. To fully understand what we- 12 students and 3 adults- are experiencing, I believe it is important to understand the history and culture of Haiti. There are so many neat and inspiring stories that are in Haiti’s past. The first thing to understand is where Haiti is located. Haiti is in the West Indes, is the western third of the Island of Hispaniola and shares an island with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the first successful slave revolt resulting in the first independent republic of a majority black population. This slave revolt occurred against the French and started in 1791 until 1804 when Haiti gained its independence. 

Another important part of Haitian history is the devastating earthquake. Most people recall in 2010 when the massive 7.0Mw hit Haiti and killed 316,000 people and leaving 1,000,000 people homeless. I believe it’s fair to say that no one in the group was expecting to see what we saw when we were in Port- Au- Prince. The massive amounts of people, the traffic, garbage in the rivers, and the tent-cities were jaw-dropping. Never have I seen so many people along a partially paved road walking to the market or trying to cross the street. It was hard for me to look ahead when I saw another van or motorcycle coming right for us honking to get our attention. I will never take for granted traffic in a city while in an air conditioned car after what we saw today.

After about a two hour trip to our destination, Grand Goave, we settled into our rooms in the compound. We then put our working gloves on and went out into the city. Assembly lines were formed by shoveling rubble into buckets, carrying buckets to the dump truck, and dumping the buckets into the truck. The back breaking work has just begun for this week but we could not be more excited and happy to help. This experience has brought us all closer together and it has only been one day. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from our Spring Break Haiti Trip. 

-Kasey Byzewski
Barton College SGA President