alex is going to haiti!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok so since the earthquake, our hearts have been so sad, just trying to figure out the best way we can help our friends that are in so much need.  pray for them – check.  send money – check.  tell people about what they can do to help and advocate as much as we can – check.  but there must be more, and there is.  alex is going back to the mission of hope which is just outside of port au prince to document the process of rebuilding haiti.  brad, the president of moh has a vision for the book to be called “a return to hope”.  i have heard people say that haiti is a lost cause, that it is too far gone, that they are not worth the effort.  what do you think?  do you believe this is true?  do you believe they deserve this disaster and let me ask you this, what if it was us?  would you want people to come and help us?

so alex is going.  i wish we could all go (me and the boys with him) but logistically that is not the best idea right now.  he is going mid february and here’s where you come in.  we would love to send medical packs down with alex, full of gear and medicines that they need right now to help save lives.  can i ask you to consider logging onto the gallery we have set up with photos of our october trip to haiti.  when you purchase any of the images, 100% of the proceeds will go to helping haiti recover.  any amount will help so please log on to:

haiti image gallery – donate now!

i have decided that over the next few days, i will be posting images from our trip and telling you a bit about the people and the projects that we were lucky enough to be a part of.  i hope this gives you a better idea of how haiti was before the earthquake and maybe insight into the lives you will be helping if you donate.

our daily schedule :

5am – wake up, watch the sun rise (not exactly by choice, around this time the generator that keeps the ceiling fan running through the night shuts off.  the sound of mosquitoes and the heat wake you up).

7am – breakfast prepared by haitian cooks.  great coffee in haiti!

8am – group discussions and off to the first activity. i will tell you more about what activities along the way.

12noon – lunch – usually just sandwiches and fruit that we packed with us

1pm – afternoon activity

4pm – clean up/wash relax and try and try to make sense of what we saw that day

5pm – dinner (yummy food!  haitians are great cooks!  they tried to give us some authentic haitian food while we were there but lots of “normal/american” homecooked meals as well.

6-7pm – sundown is very early and without power, most of the city stops working by this time.

8pm – group discussions (most evenings i ended up crying as we shared stories of the days events.  a great time of learning and growing as a team)

10pm – bedtime! (and no need to be persuaded, after a long day in the heat and with all the emotional energy spent, i was tired)

so hopefully that gives you a short overview of our 10 days in haiti.  as i said, i will tell you all about our daily activities as the photos will help tell the stories better.  here are some photos from our first day there, sort of a tour of mission of hope for you.

hatian flag:

this was our bus driver who picked us up at the airport.  a no nonsense kind of guy.  he took his job seriously and rightly so – the roads there are craaaaazy!  busses & trucks passing cars, swerving, loud horns, near misses.  wow, a heart thumping ride as an intro to haitian transportation!!!!!!!

this is the front gate to the mission of hope.  a solid iron gate with 6 armed guards 24 hrs a day. one of the guards told me that it was mostly for theft reasons.  they have a warehouse full of supplies (that feeds 14,000/day) so if anyone was to try and break in, it would usually be out of desperation for food.

the view from our room.  it’s amazing to think that at one point this was a lush rainforest but unfortunately, people have cut the majority of trees down for firewood, to cook.  so much of haiti looks very barren.

this building is the orphanage on site, it is called the hope house!  when we were there they had 60 orphans with 10 “mommies” to care for them.  i am not sure if those numbers have changed since the earthquake.  i know that they were trying to finish a huge kitchen project so they could get those numbers up to around 240 but the quake hit before that was complete.  i am sure that will be on the forefront of fundraising efforts now with so many children loosing their families in this disaster.

this is mr. mark.  he was a haitian diplomat but now works with the mission of hope. he is a respected man in haiti and has helped m.o.h. in so many ways.

school yard:

currently moh has a medical clinic that services the area.  this clinic is not meant to be a hospital but with the nearest medical care being an hour away, the clinic sees more and more crital cases.  obviously since the earthquake, the clinic has been non-stop and so crucial in saving the lives of people injured.  for photos and a bit more info specifically on the clinic click here

this photo shows the biggest project yet.  a full service hospital with an er.  it is obviously in construction stages, they need 100,000 more to complete the building.

a haitian farmer watching the sunset: