Missionary Flights International

Thanks to Missionary Flights International (MFI) I made it back to Ft. Pierce Florida, and thanks to pilot Ric even had a place to stay for the night before my Ft. Lauderdale to Kansas City flights. The 7 hr flight on a WWII DC3 took us from the airstrip in Pignon to Cap Hatien on the north coast where we went through customs, to the Caicos Isalnds where we refueled, to Ft. Pierce FL. Ric took me to his house in West Palm Beach to stay overnight (got to bed around midnight), then his wife Beth took me to the train station in the morning to catch a train to the airport. It was wonderful to be taken in like that. My friend Rick was waiting for me at the airport (glad to see a familiar face) and he took me home where my dogs and cats were waiting for me. Everyone was happy and healthy thanks to house/pet sitter Kim. The earthquake changed everyone's plans and made my visit much richer, as I was thrust into the daily lives of not just my host family but other familes facing this crises. And 19 people accompanied me to the Pignon airport on the UCI bus!

Photos show: The 554 lbs of supplies that UCI received (along with my friend Barb the art teacher! Barb & Jim had to leave Haiti last summer due to lack of funding, but now are back). The trip to the airport. The medical mission team on the DC3 with me.
Layover on Providenciales of the Caicos Island.

Click here for videos on youtube.

Nutrition centers

UCI runs nutrition centers where kids get food and Bible stories. Each has about 40 – 60 kids, and some take their food back home to share with families. Kristie said most kids didn’t have clothing before the centers began. I visited 4 during this trip (LaPleids, Caiman, Lot bo Bohoc, and Laboc) and gave an hour long presentation about the importance of birds to Haiti. Many parents also attended. JeanJean took time out of his busy schedule to translate (I started with a hired translator until the quake hit). Lot bo Bohoc invited me back to teach the adults. It’s amazing how much basic ecology people didn’t know, and how excited they were to learn more. My general outline was:
1. Why I came to Haiti –
a. To see the birds, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.
b. To teach people about the birds so they can make a difference the natural resources of Haiti and in turn their lives.
2. Game – names the parts of a bird in Creole and English.
3. Where birds live (parakeets live in the holes of woodpeckers, etc.)
4. What birds eat (hawks eat rats, hummingbirds drink nectar and pollinate flowers which produces fruit, etc.).
5. All these things that birds do are good – they’ll help spread tree seeds and gardens will have more vegetables and fruit.
6. Gardens also need water to grow – review the water cycle with a Creole poster (evaporation, condensation, precipitation).
7. Trees will help prevent water from evaporating from the soil.
8. Back to birds help the trees and visa versa, and tourists pay to see both (Dominican Republic has ecotourism).
9. End with butterfly life cycle game using a poster written in Creole.

Families from Port-au-Prince

My new friend, 7-yr old Myriam from Port au Prince (PAP), took these photos of the family and friends staying here at UCI (in the dorm and with the brother across the street). There were 34 people here the weekend after the quake. They all spent 3 nights sleeping in the streets of PAP before they made it here. Some of the 34 have moved on to families elsewhere. UCI has brought 837 out of PAP and reunited them with families in this region! Pastor JeanJean is the one hamming it up for the camera.

World Water Monitoring Day

The World Water Monitoring Day organization sent me 4 water testing kits and 50 pamphlets written in French. Louiders, his sister Soyrina, and I have tested water at 4 sites, plus the tap water from the UCI cistern. (The plan was to distribute the kits among the schools that I visited, but schools and meetings are canceled due to the earthquake). We tested the tap water here at UCI where I could more thoroughly explain the kit to Louiders, and he in turn used the kit to teach 7-year old Myriam (in yellow) about water quality. Myriam is from one of the families displaced by the earthquake. She is very smart, can read English even if she doesn't know the meaning. I have been teaching her ecology using the worksheets that I intended to distribute at the schools. I have also been sharing my other teaching resources (books, binoculars, coloring activities) with the kids who are now living here.

The photos show the river crossing north of the Bohoc market, and a well from which people get their water.

Yep, felt the 6.1 quake

Felt the quake this morning, and we're all still fine! Here's some pictures from this week. My friend Chimene in the yellow served as child control yesterday while I taught the kids and some adults how birds are good for their gardens and for spreading tree seeds. One of the UCI workers said he kept the kids away from a bird nest this year and enjoyed watching the chicks grow! It's typical for kids to destroy bird nests here.

Relief efforts

I wish I wasn’t posting about the earthquake everyday but that’s our life here now. For those just tuning in, my trip blog starts with the posting of sight seeing in Port au Prince one week before the quake hit.

JeanJean & Kristie Mompremier don’t seem to be worried about the food or gas supply. JeanJean said supplies are coming in or they can go to the Dominican Republic for food (he’d rather give people money so they can buy food at the local market and keep the money in Haiti). Their main concern is accessing money from their bank account to feed the 25 or so evacuees they are hosting here in Caiman, a small community). Their bank was open yesterday but they couldn’t cash checks to access funds from their UCI account (see the how to help post). But the community is really coming together to donate food and supplies, a lot of people want give. All the missionaries in the area are coordinating relief efforts for evacuees coming into town. Those who have family somewhere JeanJean sends on their way to be with their families. The missionaries will keep a list of those who need help so that people can’t take advantage of the situation and go from missionary to missionary to receive handouts.

Most everyone here at UCI (staying in the dorm next to their house) is JeanJean’s family except for a family of 6, a coworker of his brother-in-law Jehu. Jehu and the father of this family returned to PAP. They work for and AIDS organization and their building wasn’t damaged, so they can still distribute medicines. Kristie is trying to get her 2 daughters back on their home school schedule, but all the kids here are a big distraction. Public schools in the entire country are canceled, I don’t know for how long. Students from the permanently closed ones in PAP and other destroyed communities (Petionville, Jacmel) won’t be allowed to start attending schools in other communities. Kristie is considering hiring a tutor for the kids here at UCI.

I’m still meeting with Louders to teach him ecology. My new friend Chimene has been teaching me Kreyol. She returns to Cap Haitien on the north coast tomorrow. Her and her husband were visiting family here (in Bohoc, the main small town right up the road) over the holidays. They were to return to Cap the day after the quake, but ended up staying because Cap was receiving so much rain there, and the tide was higher than normal (I might be confused on this).

To free up beds in the dorm where I was staying, I moved into a room in the Mompremier’s hosue they use as a local artist gift shop (there’s a bed in it). Since we don’t have tv and radio is in Kreyol, I’m not barraged with images from PAP so the initial shock has faded for me. Going on birds hikes I can almost forget the tragedy, until a truck drives by loaded with people and their overstuffed suitcases or garbage bags filled with their belongings, or I see a group of people crowded around a hand crank radio. Though we now eat rice and beens everyday to make the food stretch, it’s still great food. Last night we had fried breadfruit for dinner. The Haitians are a jovial people so there is still much laughter here. Louiders even gave me a present of about 4lbs of coffee this morning!

Louine's story

The memorial service for the 4 college men was this morning. It seemed to be as much a memorial service for the country as for the men.

Here is the story of Kristie's nephew, Louine, who was trapped in his school building. He is here now with his family.

My nephew Louine, that was buried under his school, still suffers from the shakes. He can't sleep through the night. But, his story is a story of grace. He was on the second story of a 3-story building. His class room faced the street. He was sitting in his desk when he felt the earthquake start. He stood up immediately. It didn't take long for the building to collapse. He fell onto his desk instead of being crushed in it like others of his classmates were. But, when the quake ended his head was resting on the folding chair and one arm was under his desk and the ceiling of the 3rd floor was less than a foot above his head. He couldn't even sit up or turn his body at all. For a long time, the students didn't even know that it was a earthquake, they thought that only their building had fallen. But, after a lot of time had passed and no one arrived to help, they believed it had to be a quake and the whole city was affected. They knew they had to help themselves. It was already dark by this time and they only had the light from their phones. They couldn't call anyone. The ones that were still living encouraged each other not to cry or loose hope. They touched hands or feet or any part of the body, if possible, and sang hymns to keep their courage up. At around 9:00 PM, their professor, who was talking up to that point, passed away. He was 'sitting' right behind Louine. Then the students nearest the door were able to move the broken chalkboard to clear a hole near the doorway. It took a lot of painstaking work with their bare hands to clear even a small space. As each person was freed, it opened a small route to reach the others. Louine was one of the last. He is a tall young man and the hole wasn't big enough for him. He had to take the rubble and make the hole larger. By this time, there were people that were helping from the outside. And he made it out. One of the things that struck me the most is when he talks about the period of time when he was waiting for the others to get out. The cement ceiling was less than a foot away but it kept descending. Louine says that he kept passing his hand over his head to see how close the ceiling was to him. When his turn came, the ceiling was resting on his forehead. When he got out, the first people he saw were his dad and our cousin. They had arrived at the same moment that Louine left the building. Praise the Lord! Louine attributes his class being saved because they prayed together. The class next to his had many who survived the initial collapse but they panicked. Louine said his class mates tried to help them to be calm and pray and not to scream but they couldn't seem to stop. After a couple of hours, these students succumbed to shock and their injuries. No one was able to leave. Louine also prays that his professor was able to turn to God in his last moments because he cursed and mocked his students efforts to pray. But, Louine emphasizes that God can change hearts, even at the last moment. When one of his fellow classmates broke down, the rest of the class was able to sing and pray for them. In this way, they were able to stay encouraged and united. Louine thinks that 12-13 students were able to walk out of the rubble and 8-9 had to carried out of the building. Three students died instantly and the professor died after several hours. In all the classes, Louine's had the most survivors. Again, he attributes it to God's grace. The earthquake was at 4:45PM and Louine left the building at 10:30PM. Others followed him until into the early morning hours. Louine didn't leave the scene right away. He knew how the shock left so many tremendously thirsty. He and others went to find water and lowered it to the trapped students below. He believes that saved many others.

Louine wants me to say this to you: I want to tell my story because I didn't know for a long time whether I would die or not. I checked the time on my phone often so as to know the time of my death. But, there came a moment when God spoke to me. He said, 'You will not die, I want to show you my greatness.' Louine says it is for this reason that he not only wants to tell his story, but is able. I can attest to that as he is sitting beside me shaking. I pray that remembering God's grace and love in the midst of all the horror will heal him as nothing else can. He pleads with you to never stop praying because God does not allow anything to happen for nothing. God gives VICTORY.

God bless you, Kristie

P.S. I just got back from youth group. The kids are going to go and pray and visit with as many families who have lost sons or daughters as they can. They are going to offer to wash clothes or clean the yard or whatever. They are also taking up an offering themselves. Many of them will be lucky to offer $.25 but it will be a beautiful and rich offering in God's sight.