Walking Around Balan

Yesterday we left here in the morning to go to Balan for the rice and beans distribution. Jennifer and I, along with our five kids and my mom set out at about 8:30 a.m. Right then I called Jean Claubert and told him to go ahead with the rice and beans and get started, and we would be there shortly.

Well, traffic was pretty bad, and we didn't end up getting to Balan until 11:30. It took us three hours to get there, and as we pulled in to Balan, Jean Claubert pulled out with the big truck. Unfortunately, we missed the rice and beans distribution, which was too bad. I really wanted my mom to see that. So instead, we decided to park at the church, and walk around the village visiting people.

We went from house to house, visiting people, inviting them to church, and handing out vitamins to kids. Actually, Christa, Hannah, and Wilson handed out the vitamins. We offered them the job, and they took right to it, scoping out every house for the kids. They ended up giving the adults vitamins, too. They definitely need them!

In case you don't know what the village of Balan is like, I will attempt to describe it for you. It is the absolute poorest place I have ever been. The people live in little one or two room mud houses. They make a basic structure out of wood, then slather it with mud. They actually even paint the mud on the outside with something to make it look nice. People in the U.S. wash mud off of their vinyl siding. People in Haiti build their house with it. Here's a picture of some people smearing mud on their house.



Some of the houses have thin corrugated steel roofs, and some have thatched roofs. All of them leak water when it rains. Almost all of them have dirt packed floors, which turn into mud in the rains. There are very few concrete structures in the village, our church being one of the few.

The water situation in the village is deplorable. Water is piped into the village from a neighboring village, but it is definitely not clean. That is the water they drink and cook with. Here's a picture of the inside of the village water reservoir. It's not the best picture, but that is the water they drink, note the scum on top.



There is so much need in the village, both physically and spiritually. There is a witch doctor that lives about 150 yards away from the church. Scattered throughout the village are various voodoo symbols, such as crosses planted in the ground with bottles of drink offerings tied to them.

A few weeks ago we were able to go inside the voodoo temple at the witch doctor's house near the church. The syncretism between Catholicism and voodoo are very apparent. Pictures of Mary, Jesus, crosses, various Saints, are hanging in the voodoo temple. I'll post some pics of the inside later. Very disturbing.

In the meantime, I'm glad to announce there were 86 people in church there on Sunday! The bad part is, there are only 7 benches, all of which are falling apart. We are in desperate need of some new benches and chairs. We have resorted to taking our own chairs, and many of the people in the church have begun to bring their own chairs, too. Last Sunday we had to send some people home to get their chairs. I think that is probably not considered "seeker-friendly." It is a good problem to have, but one we hope to solve very soon.


Here's how the church looks now, standing at the entrance. Note the benches in front of the other doors to keep out the goats and sheep during the week...they like to poop in the church!

Why don't you come and see what we are doing here? We would love to have you!

Can't Think of a Title

Having a hard time coming up with a title. If I write "She's Here," or "Finally Here," you might think I'm talking about the container. But I'm not. I'm talking about my mom. She was supposed to fly in on Sunday at 4:00. Well, Sundays we go to the village, Balan, for church, which is about 2 1/2 hours from where we live. It would have been a waste of gas and time to come back to the orphanage, so we decided to make a day of it.

After church in Balan, we sat around and talked for a while, before heading out for the Visa Lodge, a pretty nice hotel in Port-au-Prince where we were going to have a late lunch. By the time we got there, the buffet was closed down (which is good because it's like $14.00 US per person). So we all got cheeseburgers, banan peze (think smashed fried plaintain) and a little rice and beans. Oh yeah, and a bottle of Pepsi for each person (they were out of Coke). We had a nice relaxing meal, and met a guy from Minneapolis who was here on a Dental mission. I got so confused, when he talked about going to Jeremie, because I totally thought he said Germany. I couldn't figure out why he was going to Germany. I even asked him where he had to fly to connect to Germany. Incredible. I can be a little slow at times. It was when I mentioned Luftansa, a German airline, that Jennifer finally elbowed me and said, "He's going to Jeremie, not Germany." I'd like to think it was because I spent a month in Germany back in 1995 that I heard Germany and not Jeremie. In actuality, it's all just a lesson in humility.

Back to the story. My dad called me, to tell me my mom's plane was delayed. So we hung out at the hotel a little longer. Finally we left for the airport, which is not too far from the hotel we ate at. While we were waiting, my dad called again to say that her plane was delayed again, and was scheduled to arrive in PAP at 6:30 pm. Supposed to be there at 4:00, it was about 5:00. So we decided to go back to the Visa Lodge for ice cream. We just got back to the restaurant, and he called again, saying that her flight was cancelled, and she would be coming the next day, Monday.

So we left to go back to the orphanage, without my mom. I felt bad when we got to the orphanage. I should have called and told them we weren't bringing my mom, but it totally slipped my mind. When we pulled up, all of the orphanage kids were dressed in nice clothes, waiting outside to welcome my mom. They were a little surprised when we all got out of the car, without her.

So the next day, Monday, I went to get her. Her new flight was scheduled to get in at 10:25 am. I was there at about 10:00. She came walking out at about 11:45. No luggage. Not even her carry on, which she had to check last minute. So we either had to wait all day for her luggage (they promised it would come at 4:00, and it did) or we could come back to the orphanage, eat lunch, and I could go by myself to get her bags later.

Well, my mom is pretty friendly, and she made some friends. One of them in particular was a guy named Matthew Goodwin. He hailed from South Carolina, just finished his PhD, and had decided to start medical school in the fall. He is volunteering at an AIDS clinic in PAP for the next six months. He had never been to Haiti, spoke no Creole or French, and no one was there to get him at the airport. Well, we couldn't just leave the poor guy. He had a phone number for the place, but there was no answer. He had an address, but I had no idea where the street was. I called Jean Claubert, and he suggested I bring him back to the orphanage, and let him go back down with me to the airport to look again for his ride. So we did.

We all came up to the orphanage, had a nice lunch, and relaxed a little. Then Matthew and I left to go back to the airport to find both his luggage and my mom's luggage. We found his, and even found a man holding a sign with Matthew's name on it! So he was on his way, I found my mom's luggage, and everyone lived happily ever after.

We spent today (Tuesday) in Balan, but I'll have to write more about that another time. Until then, Eric

Container!!

Hey again ya'll.

Two posts in one day...I'm on a roll.

Just thought I would update you all on the container. It is supposed to arrive in port TODAY!!!! I don't know if it actually will, and I assume it won't be released to us for some time still. I'm guessing we'll get it in a couple of weeks. We have already begun filing the paperwork in PAP, so hopefully that will speed things up!

Thought I'd share the good news. Okay, GREAT news!

Eric

A Shout Out

Hey everyone. Eric here. I thought that I should give a shout out to all you faithful readers, all four of you that is, (just kidding, I have no idea who follows our blog).

First of all, Happy Birthday to Hannah, our daughter, who is 7 today, and also Happy Birthday to my mom, and to Jean Claubert's wife! We should have a party!

Things at NHHM are going pretty well. Yesterday we sent Lucson home to his family in the states. We had a good visit with Brooks (his dad), Tim (his grandpa) and Telius (his uncle). Brooks and Lesley have been so patient in the process of adopting Lucson, they actually started the process three years ago!

On another note, we said goodbye earlier in the month to Wilson and Medja Innocent, and their son Jean Daniel. They answered God's call to return to the states, and did just that! They will be missed, but we know God will take care of them (and us). Their departure has left Jennifer and I in charge of the day to day overseeing of the orphanage. It has taken the kids a little while to get used to our style of doing things, but I'm sure they will adjust soon.

This Sunday we will be going to church in Balan, and will be starting to teach Sunday School. Jennifer is going to teach the young kids, and I am going to lead a class for men. This week I am teaching on Galatians 3:10-14. Come join us!

Also on Sunday, my mom is flying in for a visit. We are excited to have her here with us!

Keep looking, I'll continue to post, hopefully with more regularity (in the posting, that is)

A Very Busy Week

This past week, we had the honor of hosting a group of guys from Commonwealth Chapel, Richmond, Virginia. There were six guys in all, and for four of them it was their first time in Haiti. One of our board members, Scott Salvant, a member at CC led the group in with the pastor from the church and four other guys.

Commonwealth Chapel had a special program this past Christmas at their church. They hosted something called Advent Conspiracy. Basically, they bought fewer presents for Christmas and gave what they would have spent to NHHM for our Balan feeding program and water problem. It will definitely be a huge blessing for the people of Balan. The video is very cool, definitely check it out!

Also with them was a professional videographer named Ryan. He came with a professional video camera to capture footage of Balan, the feeding program, some interviews, and even inside people's houses in Balan. He's going to turn it into a 5-8 minute video we can show people to highlight the main emphases in our ministry in Balan. Also very cool!

Tuesday we went to Balan to do the feeding program. We distrubuted over 1300 pounds of rice and 600 pounds of beans. I am always amazed. It never seems like there will be enough for everyone, but everyone received a good portion.



The group left on Friday, and that evening we had a wedding to go to. So after getting back from the airport, we loaded up our five kids, Jennifer and I, a staff member, and two kids from the orphanage into the Trooper, and went to Petionville where the wedding was at. It wasn't in a church, but at someone's house. Can I just say, the house was amazing!! It was in this bourgeois district, compete with a gated community, armed guards, and the whole shebang. The house was very nice, even by American standards, complete with an in ground pool in the back. Pretty funny though, we pulled into the driveway, and there was a generator running to power the house. Even the rich in Haiti are affected by the lack of infrastructure.

Oh yeah, it was one of our employees, Jasmine, who got married. The people who own the house are somehow related to her, I never quite heard the whole story.

The whole time during the wedding, I was thinking about the poverty in Balan. Here I was at a beautiful house, better than many houses in the states, and just fifteen miles away there are people living in the kind of poverty most people only see in a National Geographic. In front of me was a swimming pool with sparkling clean water, and in Balan, there is no clean water at all. Not enough to wash clothes, dishes, bathe, or even drink. Very sad indeed.

New! Oatmeal Cookies With Extra Protein

This entry is sort of a continuation of Eric's Jingle Bells entry:

The New Hope Haiti Mission Christmas party was held Christmas Eve for all the staff and the kids. It was a fabulous party-everyone received gifts, ate a bunch of food, sang and praised God for His provision for these kids through the orphanage here.

In order to prepare for the party, Medja and I had been working feverishly. Baking cookies, cakes, and turkeys filled much of the three days before. Here lies the continuation of the Jingle Bells entry...Eric failed to mention that he and Mr. Wilson killed the rat behind our oven, the oven which is a notorious rat hide-out. Medja and I made a huge double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. My girls were helping along with a couple of girls from downstairs. The first two cookie sheets full were done and looked beautiful. The second set were in the oven baking. All was going smoothly and the kitchen smelled wonderfully.

Suddenly a loud bang crashed, the broiler door flew open, the oven door came open and small amount of smoke poured into the room. Immediately an unexplained stink flooded the kitchen. My first and only thought was that a rat exploded inside the oven. I couldn't look-I wasn't going to find an exploded rat inside the very oven where we cook all of our food. We were going to throw out this oven a buy a new one. I was never going to use this oven again.

Upon closer inspection (by Eric and Mr.Wilson) a can of tuna was found in the broiler. You see, Wilson and Medja have a sweet, sweet 18 month boy Jean Daniel. We believe he was the culprit who placed the can of tuna in the broiler. (We lost our dustpan a couple of weeks ago to melting in the very same place!) Needless to say, we didn't want to serve the oatmeal raisin tuna cookies at the party. I took them downstairs to see if the kids might want to eat them...They loved them!!

Oatmeal Raisin Rat vs Oatmeal Raisin Tuna--Neither sound very appetizing to me, but I guess I will still use the oven...

The Real Problem with Haiti

Saturday began just like any other Saturday. We got up, got dressed, made coffee, had breakfast, and started doing some cleaning. That was when things got "weird."

There was a LOUD noise coming from the street, it sounded like hundreds of people were walking past the orphanage. We went out on the balcony, and sure enough, that is exactly what it was. For a good hour, a solid stream of people went past us up the mountain. I would estimate the number between two and three thousand people. Some on foot, some in vehicles, some on horses, and some on stilts, yes, you read that correctly, stilts. Mind you this was not a parade, but more of a pilgrimage.

As it turns out, it was some sort of a voodoo celebration day, and everyone that went by was involved in a voodoo ceremony. In the video you can see many of the men dressed in red, and the women in blue dresses with a red cloth belt. That is the witch doctor and voodoo priestess dress code. You can also see all of the baskets piled high with fruit, vegetables, and other foods that were given as sacrificial offerings. In a country that is literally starving, people would rather waste it in a sacrifice than give it to a malnourished child.

Jennifer and I had both seen this sort of thing before, but for our kids it was a first. We explained to them that this was the very reason that God brought us here, there are so many that do not know Christ, and we are a light to them. I told the kids that these people not only don't know God, they actually don't like Him, maybe even hate Him, and their affairs that day were a slap in the face to the Almighty.

This is the real problem with Haiti. This is what keeps Haiti in bondage to Satan, people who openly and proudly march down the street professing their allegiance to voodoo.

I've been driving in Joplin before, and have pulled up behind a car with a "Wiccan" sticker in the back window. That alone has given me the shivers. I can't even tell you what I felt like watching all those people march past us. It was incredibly sad, heartbreaking, and very, very dark. I want these people to turn from their futile gods and embrace the one true God. Only He can give them abundant life.

(Sorry the videos are such large files, hope no one is still on dial-up)