Day 8: Coming to America

Call time this morning was 6:30 since we had a lot to cram in before out flight back to Miami. However, our last day in Haiti, with no problems at all, it finally hit - diarrhea. It hit Matt early. Jonathan followed, though never really ended up with a full case. I had some rumblings, but took some preemptive immodium and successfully avoided any unpleasantness.

With our roll of toilet paper and meds, we set off to meet the drill company for our first adventure in water well drilling. (As usual, 2 up front, 3 in the middle seat, and the back packed with gear - this time plus our personal stuff, as we were not going back to campus before we left.) They are a Mennonite group, and were nice enough to let us use the bathroom at their base of operations.

We drove a little ways out and turned onto a dirt road (at this point, dirt roads aren't any surprise). We ended up at this compound of sorts and met up with the drilling rig. There was an existing well there, but it only went down 60 feet or so and wasn't producing. Mike, the driller, predicted at least 180 feet before they'd hit water. We attracted quite the crowd, but that also gave us opportunity to shoot a quick HWP video piece.

Since the drilling would take several more hours, we headed off to our next location. This was a church with an existing well just a little bit outside Port au Prince. We set up and did our last sign concept.

We loaded up one more time and headed for the NCM warehouse to do one last interview. I apparently was tired and took this nap.

We set up at the warehouse and interviewed Pastor Lucien, a pastor in Haiti and serves several other important roles in the Nazarene church.

The location of the warehouse was in some kind of recycling / scrap yard where people could come sell items they'd collected. (A big item is re-bar, which is easy to find with all the damaged buildings.) It wasn't quite OSHA-friendly, but seemed decently organized.

It was a short drive to the airport. Our flight was at 6:15, so we had to be at the airport by 4, and made it by 3. The red caps swarmed us again and of course wanted more money than we wanted to pay them. They follow you all the way inside to the first security checkpoint. They scan your bags and you go through a metal detector. Then comes ticketing and bag check. Then you head to immigration. I went through first and the not-so-friendly Haitian lady wanted to see the small part left over from our immigration form we got upon entering the country. I explained I didn't have it. She said, "You have to have it." I said I'm sorry, it's in my checked luggage. To which she said again, "You have to have it." And then she rolled her eyes and stamped my passport. So I guess you don't HAVE to have it, but if they ever do an immigration audit, the government of Haiti will think I never left. Shhh. Don't tell.

We then went through the second security checkpoint - another metal detector and xray scanner. We decided to go upstairs to the lounge area and wait out our time. We had some cokes, bought a souvenir or two, and tried to ignore the bad Latin soap opera overdubbed in French. (Which all the Haitians were glued to, oddly enough.) About boarding time we headed back down, only to discover we had to go through security again.

With no wi-fi, we just waited it out until we boarded our Airbus to Miami. Row 10 this time, fairly removed from first class and the disdain it casts on us economy travelers. Next, a flight attendant walked down the isle holding what looked like an air freshener, spraying it at the top of the cabin. Turns out it was insecticide. We'd never felt so much like animals before, but I supposed nobody really wants bugs.

The flight was an easy 2 hours. We even had a meal. Topics discussed included: NYC prep, the Haitian drive to succeed, if a plane that landed in water would float, if the plane lost all it's engines is it possible to land in water and survive at all, would you rather crash land in the ocean during the day or at night (dusk is the correct answer), the HWP video, our story to tell customs if we got questioned, if a famous Haitian band was on our plane (they were), and various other items. We landed and promptly fired up our cell phones, dormant for the past 8 days.

Immigration was a breeze. We grabbed our bags and headed to customs. Apparently, squarely in the category of "we don't tell you this, but you should have done it anyhow, and now we're gonna hassle you because you didn't," we didn't register all of our video gear before we left, so they had to inspect it all with Jonathan. They gave him a hard time, saying they could seize it, but they didn't. Thanks US Border Patrol for your vigilance in being suspicious of lots of expensive video gear coming back with three American citizens from the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

Jonathan's brother picked us up, we swung by McDonald's (mainly for me and my sweet tea fix), and have crashed in his living room for the night, where we are enjoying fast internet, cool A/C, and showers with our mouths wide open.

We have to be up early to catch our flight back to Nashville, so this is the end of the road for me. If you've made it this far, we appreciate your interest, prayers, and support to all of us in this project. The video will take about a month to edit and finalize, but hopefully we can post it here when it's complete.

If you ever get a chance to visit Haiti, do so. It will open your eyes to a world of need, but also to a wonderful people living in a beautiful place.

Day 7: Church Hopping

Previously, on the Nashville Haiti Video Project, we were going to start out early (5AMish) to get everywhere we needed to get today, as well as make up for our weak day 6. But our driver had a meeting at 8, so we ended up leaving about 10.

Today we were working on the Haiti Water Project video specifically. The idea is to educate / emotionally resonate with audiences about the need for clean water in Haiti. Thus, we needed to visit several water resources around the area. Our first stop was a church near downtown Port au Prince, which we later found out is either the oldest church in Haiti or the oldest in Port au Prince - nearly 60 years. We'd call it "First church."

This church was in a rough neighborhood that had been hit hard by the earthquake. There were lots of tent dwellings and demolished structures.

The old church had been heavily damaged, but Work and Witness had already been in and built an entirely new church.

The premise behind the video is to have a child holding a cardboard sign that says something about how water used to be (in a negative location), and then move the child in front of the water resources where they hold another sign saying something about how water is now. (WARNING: The photos from here on will be a spoiler for the video as well as slightly disillusioning to the reality of the situation. But trust us, they are real Haitian kids who have honestly been impacted by the HWP. We're just making them look pretty on video.)

Church 1 had a cistern, so we got a kid out on the street, then several in front of their water resource.

We loaded up, cozy as usual, and headed off to church 2. It seemed forever away, but likely wasn't that far. We drove mostly on pavement, then suddenly turned off to this dirt path. Shortly we found a Nazarene church. The old church had been badly damaged in the earthquake, and the building next to it (a school I believe) was destroyed. Work and Witness had rebuilt a brand new church on the site of the destroyed school, and it looked amazing.

It was LeeAllie's turn at this church. At least they had a restroom.

This location had a well, so we found a little girl to help us. It started raining at the end, hence Jonathan using the reflector as an umbrella.

One thing Matt commented on was how far the Nazarene church actually reaches. Sometimes, driving to our local church while passing that Baptist or Methodist church along the way, we tend to think locally. Maybe at a district event we see the church in a larger form, but we still don't see that as expansive. Yet going to some of the places we've been, way way off the beaten path, we were soberly reminded of how far our denomination reaches, and how large it really is.

We stopped right down the road and Frantz bought us some fried plantains I believe. They were real good.

We drove for a while and finally got to church number 3. It was in a much more urban area, and a rather large church building. They had a well, but also seemed to have some kind of professional or nursing school meeting there as well.

We were supposed to get to a fourth church, but by the time we ended at church #3, it was too late to head out there. We loaded up in the SUV (I drew the short straw and was allllll the way in the back. That pretty much means no leg room.) and drove off up some mountains, got stuck in traffic, and went through a pretty nasty rain storm. Flooding seems to be a problem here as well, as the drainage was pretty bad during the storm. (Interestingly, due to flooding, most Haitian graveyards are all above ground in sepulchers. They also apparently rent them, so your body only stays in there as long as the family makes the payments....)

We got back to the campus, cooked some dinner (chicken wings, mac and cheese, and french fries. Yep, we're health nuts.), traded tips about digital SLR cameras, transferred files around, pushed Google maps to its Haitian limits, and packed up our bags for our flight home tomorrow. The plan is to get up early and hit that last church, and possibly another school. We may also squeeze in one last interview, but that remains to be seen. Our flight is at 6:30, so we'll be at the airport by 4.

The next and final blog entry will be from the States. Looking forward to being home, but sad to leave this beautiful country. Until tomorrow...

Day 6: Island Time

Today we got hit with that age old Carribbean problem, island time. People here are on their own schedule, and when something happens, it happens, and what the clock says doesn't matter so much. That's hard for us Americans, especially because we're the types who go all the time. But patience is a virtue, right?

We got up at a decent hour, ready to go by 9 or so. Our hosts had some meetings and things to do, so we then were expecting to leave about 10:30. That turned in to noon, and we soon realized we weren't going to get anywhere today. We spent part of that time concepting the Haiti Water Project video, but otherwise not much happened.

L to R: Jonathan, LeeAllie, Jason, Frantz, Jen, Matt

About 3:30 we rounded up one of the local Haitians on the campus and shot the first two quick images in the series we'll use for the HWP video. That only took about half an hour, then we were back to nothing.

Jason, the other HWP guy here, was bored and restless as well, so we coerced a vehicle out of the campus and went exploring. He had been to an old French fort built around 1800 high up in the mountains, but wasn't quite sure how to get there. So we just started driving up. And up. And up. Some of the streets were nearly 40 degree inclines, and a lot of it towards the end wasn't paved - the 4-wheel drive Nissan was our savior on that one. We loved it - a great way to solve our cabin fever from the day.

We asked directions a couple times, but finally got to the fort around sunset. Jonathan snapped some great shots.

We found a much easier road back down (it was paved), but got a little turned around once back in Petionville. One interesting phenomenon we've all noticed is how alive the streets come at night here. There are very few street lights and many buildings don't have electricity, so you'd think as the sun went down, people would disappear to their homes. Yet, it seems the numbers only increase. Vendors come out, people selling anything from shoes to electronics to medicines to fruit to meat (cooked and uncooked). The sidewalks and even streets are just packed with Haitians.

We hit some awful traffic, and made it back to the campus about 8pm, well after sundown. Jennifer had warmed up some spaghetti for us so we chowed down. We were then planning to head for bed due to our 5am start time tomorrow when the work and witness coordinator and our driver, Frantz, told us he couldn't leave until 9:30. So we don't have to rush to bed, lucky for you.

Here's hoping tomorrow is more productive than today.

View from the library balcony on campus

Day 5: Sunday Sunday

When LeeAllie told us we'd have to be at church at 8AM this morning, we all commented how we're really more second service kind of guys. She said "Oh don't worry. It lasts long enough for both." She was right.

We left the campus about 7:30 and headed for a Nazarene church close by in Port au Prince. It was a typical Haitian building, all concrete walls, open windows, wooden roof supports holding up a metal roof. We got there a little after 8 as Sunday school was wrapping up.

By the time service started around 8:30, the place was packed with probably 150 in attendance. Jason, LeeAllie, Jennifer, and Matt all took seats near the back while I headed up front on one side with a camera and Jonathan headed up front on the other side. They sang for a while, then read scripture, then sang some more. Then they had some announcements, then testimonies, then a couple special choirs sing, then more congregational singing, then an offertory, then the guest speaker got up and went for an hour straight. We wrapped up with some final singing about 11:30.

It really was a great experience. Sure it was hot, crowded, and everything was in a foreign language, but the people worshiped with passion and you knew God was there, and that we were still one family. (In fact, the pastor came up to us following the service and actually apologized for the message not being in our language. But then he laughed and said one day when we get to heaven we'll all be able to finally understand one another.)

Since we knew Applebees would be packed, we headed back to the campus. We used some leftover taco meat and cheese to make quesadillas. Then we took it easy for a bit until our next interview was ready, Frantz. (pronounced "Frawnz") Frantz is the Work and Witness coordinator in Haiti, and we'd tried to interview him on our first day, but it was too noisy. We found a good spot near the workshop on campus and were able to do it there, despite some technical difficulties.

One issue we had during taping was this club-like music and announcing coming from outside the campus. It sounded like a street party, but it wasn't constant. Jason was curious, so he convinced Frantz to drive us around to see what it was. Jennifer, Matt, and I went along for the ride. We discovered it was a football (i.e. soccer) match at a neighborhood field. They had a full sound system and were announcing the game. We watched for a bit, then headed off to the Beverly Hills of Haiti. I think Frantz told us this was the nicest neighborhood in the whole country. The streets were in better condition. The homes, while still very Haitian and concrete, were very nice and large. They had yards and some had landscaping. They'd probably be multi-million dollar homes in the US. An interesting contrast to everything else we'd seen.

When we got back to campus our American bellies and American habit of eating out got the better of us so we walked about a mile down some Haitian streets to this place called Hot and Fresh. It was an outdoor cafe of sorts sharing the parking lot with a gas station. You could tell it catered to an upper-scale audience, though the prices were reasonable. There were even guards with shotguns.

We got cheeseburgers and fries, which were all pretty good actually. Our meal, with a citron juice, was each about $8. Money here is interesting. The official currency, for which there are bills, is the goud. About 40 gouds equals one American dollar. However, there's also the Haitian dollar, which is this made up, in-between currency. Five Haitian gouds is always 1 Haitian dollar, so that makes 1 Haitian dollar worth about $0.20. So to get from gouds to US dollars, you divide by 40. To get from Haitian dollars to US, you divide by 5. To get from gouds to Haitian dollars, you divide by 8. Confusing, no?

The walk back was a little interesting, as they don't have street lights on anything but the main roads. So we're just strolling along these Haitian back streets towards the campus. It wasn't unsafe, and we had 3 people who'd done it before (including Frantz, a native), but it still made you think twice: Dark. Back alley. Haiti. Probably not what mom meant when she said "be careful." Sorry mom.

Everyone was back up here doing internet while Jonathan, LeeAllie, and Matt worked with Frantz to translate some of the garden interview we shot on Day 2. Hopefully we'll have a rough outline of the video before we get back.

Until tomorrow, here's the view from the balcony where we are staying. Haiti = beautiful.

Day 4: Wahoo Bay

First, a few things I failed to mention.

1) When we went the grocery store, I threw in some Lipton tea bags. Along with some sugar, I've been able to make myself some sweet tea and keep my addiction at a reasonable level. You can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the boy.

2) Last night we had a couple guys from NYI come crash in our room. Uneventful, but we had to rearrange a bunk or two.

3) For the gearheads, despite Canon's best efforts, we successfully figured out how to log and transfer footage off the T2i / 550D in Final Cut. The iPad slate is working quite well and makes it easy to sync audio. We did have some overheating issues this morning, but a couple of white rags fixed that.

This morning we got up a little early (7ish) to get set up for an interview with Bill Dawson, Field Coordinator for Haiti. He was a little tardy, but we got what we needed. He was an easy interview since he's a laid back guy and American, so no language barrier. We were resourceful in our setup, but had all the comforts of home:

After we wrapped with Bill, we ate some sandwiches and headed out for Wahoo Bay Beach Club and Resort. Jason, a Haiti Water Project guy here, drove us, LeeAllie, and Jennifer (another mission corps volunteer) out there in the SUV. This time however, with less gear, we spread out a bit.

Along the way we stopped at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, or a tent city. We've seen a lot of tents through our few days here - some nicer, like camping tents, and some nothing more than a tarp on sticks, or just pieces of clothing strung together. Bill told us there are more than 1 million Haitians homeless or displaced by the earthquake. In some of these tent cities they literally have nothing. Each dot you see on the hill is a separate tent with probably several people living in it.

While we were stopped, several of the Haitians came up to the car and talked to Jason and LeeAllie about getting water. Hopefully they can help them out at some point.

And Jonathan did his thing.

We were off again towards the beach. This place was very much geared towards American tourists. It was a $10 US cover to get in, but it was a pretty nice beach with some great views. We swam a little and just hung out under the shade. Jonathan bought live crabs from the local guys and they cooked them for us. We ate them right there on the beach.

We went up to the restaurant to get some drinks - 3 12oz citrons (like lemonade), 2 12oz fruit punches, and one Pepsi - for a grand total of $18. They obviously knew we were a captive audience.

About 4:30 we got back in the SUV and headed back to town. This time, it was Matt's turn.

We got back to the campus and cooked dinner - chicken and noodles with Alfredo sauce, green beans, bread, and some brownies. We had a noodle fiasco with the first batch, and then discovered the second batch had insects in it, but finally got some food in us. It was all actually pretty good.

Now we're prepping for a 3-hour church service tomorrow and updating the blogosphere on our world. Life is still hot but treating us well in Haiti.

May the Lord bless you and keep you on this Sabbath, wherever you are.

Day 3: Belaire

No, not like Fresh Prince.

Today we got to sleep in a bit and had a lazy morning. Bill Dawson, Field Coordinator, had to run one of the mission corps girls to the hospital to have her ankle x-rayed. (No fracture, luckily.) When they got back we loaded in Bill's SUV, cozy as usual, and headed to downtown Port au Prince.

Heading downtown let us really see a lot of the devastation from the earthquake. So far we'd seen some, but not as widespread as downtown. It's really surreal seeing all these destroyed buildings, broken walls, and piles of rubble still around over 6 months following the earthquake. Even the presidential palace is in ruins (next to last photo). Here's some photos.

We arrived at the Belaire Church of the Nazarene. We hauled our gear up to the second floor. The church was three levels: the bottom, or basement level was a school for children, though today they were not in session. The main, ground level was a church with seating for 350 or so. The upper level was a balcony that wrapped around the room, leaving the middle open.

On the balcony were three main sections. One side was a pharmacy where they stocked most medicines, one side was a waiting room, and one side was a checkin space for patients along with 2 "exam rooms" and one wound / trauma treatment area. The entire time we were there more than 50 people were waiting to be examined.

I walked around with LeeAllie and got b-roll shots of the clinic and church while Jonathan and Matt headed up to the roof for some great views of the city.

Jonathan took his shirt off.

Once we'd seen it all (and gotten pretty toasty), we headed back to the car where Bill was nice enough to buy us all Cokes. They do taste better in the bottle, no doubt - though we did have to return the bottles before we left.

We drove around a little bit on our way back to the campus. Once there, we got some b-roll of the area, Bill talking, the entrance, some leadership training, some crafts Haitian kids had made following the earthquake, and animals being fed.

The rest of the afternoon we spent being lazy, catching up on internet, logging and transferring footage, and debating the finer points of healthcare reform and capitalism in the Bible.

For dinner, we were asked to join the Work and Witness team who had been here all week for a traditional Haitian meal. It consisted of chicken, goat, plantains, beans and rice, squash, avocado, and that Haitian staple, french fries. It was all very good, and we met some nice folks from the Seattle area.

And that's about it. We're back upstairs doing some prep work for an interview tomorrow, sweating while typing this blog.

So until tomorrow. We're headed to the beach! (LeeAllie tells us we need to be more enthusiastic about things. Hence the exclamation point.)