Twelve days left, and it seems there's been a turn. Didn't exactly premeditate what I would write for this blog, but have felt an urge to for once just throw up a short blog...
There has been an unexplainable turn these past days in my heart for this place, these people. Again, I can't exactly explain it, but my heart seems to have developed more than a pity love for the Haitian people. Sure, pity still remains in areas, but at the core i feel a love more like that which our Lord might have for them. A hurt for those who are lost spiritually... being with them, serving them, even when they don't serve themselves. All the while my imperfections seem to shine all the brighter when standing next to theirs... so much in that statement.
I stood on the roof a couple mornings right after sunrise (as the stinkin roosters continue to crow!) meeting Him for my morning quiet time, and worshiping with some good tunes... The song "god of this city" came on, and as the words 'for greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city' were sung, I lost it. He absolutely is! He is God of this city too... He is God of my heart, my life, and yours... and yes, believe it.. greater things are yet to be done!
I sat the other night with our three little boys on my lap and to their entertainment thumbed through an album on my phone which has all my photos from the last year. I'm not sure the last time I had looked at these photos as a whole, if ever. But my heart overflowed with thanksgiving at the blessings which have come my way, people, places, experiences the like. Whether it was Vail, Peru, Costa Rica, Seattle, road trips, weddings, Denver, San Diego wherever. Then as the timeline progressed, remembering how all along the way it was in increasing measure that I trusted his hand in my life, and in increasing measure that he met me. When ever shall I not trust his providence? Always friends... challenge me on this.
Recently the water project has been put on hold as we're trying to get the units unlocked from the port... until then we continue teaching at the Orphanage (which has been awesome and given me a WHOLE NEW appreciation for my elementary teachers.. shoot). But as the end draws near, it seems daily new apprehensions about my return settle in my head (nothinghecanthandle), but its good... perfect actually.
Remember on this the day where so many conspired against our King, that He is in fact risen... For you, for me, for all. As I sat in as teacher with the first graders today, it was so raw hearing their understanding of easter as we did arts and craft time... all of the kids choosing the easter theme for their craft. So much to ponder... I need to catch it before it settles.
He is exalted! Pray not for a direction to be led, but rather that He would lead you.
Here's to a random blog post!
Cheers!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Floating On
Lets try and forgive, maybe even forget that it has now been just over three weeks since my last post, because believe me, as each day goes by I've felt an increasing pressure to throw up something to update y'all, but with each day also comes additional weight, more stories, and thus a thinner explanation of the many misadventures experienced since we last met. Reading my last blog over, I can't believe how much has happened... Ugh...
The sunspring project has continued along nicely, we've now done a total of nine installs, and have four more waiting in port somewhere, and will install two of them in PAP, one in Jacmel, and another in La Calle, once they have been released. Jack, our main Sunspring guy and now good friend, left on wednesday leaving all the maintenance, training, and additional installs up to Tyler and I... at least until we leave in three weeks. More here as it comes...
The orphanage teaching gig has been pretty sweet. We continue to remain flexible, filling the gaps where needed. I've continued to teach a weekly beginning english class (surprisingly difficult), and for a while there we both were teaching a bible class three days a week, not to mention an hour and a half of rec time with the little ones three days a week as well while the orphanage runs their feeding program for kids in the neighborhood.
Esperanza work, well, our main involvement here has been to solidify their long-term relationship with sunspring. For everything else we've mostly found ourselves on the sidelines.. which has been good. They had their big pastor conference two weekends ago for over 300 community church leaders, with the goal of helping them to have a greater understanding of what the bible says with regards to disasters and disaster relief. According to our main man here Joel, it was a great success! Neither tyler or I could tell ya though, as we took off for the weekend on the bikes up the coast to Wahoo Bay the first night, then the second night we found ourselves at Club Indigo, a ridiculously nice hotel which had been bought out for the time being by yours truly, the US embassy. Anyway, we had by chance met a woman there with the power to give us a room for the night, through the embassy... anyway, words (at least right now) can't describe how nice this break was... pictures to come later.
As I scan through my journal, obviously there is so much between the lines, but like I said, I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't want to leave y'all with a novel.
Oh ya, tyler almost died on the ride back, nearly hitting a bus head on, fishtailing his rear tire back-n-forth to avoid it... well done tyler.. that definitely would have ruined my evening. kidding.. i love you.
Other blogworthy stories, I'm not sure. This trip will at its end be defined by all the little moments which have burned their way into my memory, and reshaped my heart. Lately tyler and I have made an effort to spend more time with the people. Not your typical day to day throw all the little orphans in the air for an hour type of time, but rather meeting them where they're at, going to their place of living, at unexpected and certainly unusual times. Twice now we've wandered into the tent city right outside the Capital, both times well after dark. The first time we journeyed, our apprehension was met with equal amounts of excitement for what we were experiencing. This time we stayed mainly on the outer parts, but were quickly met with eager locals looking to 'just be' with us, sing with us, have a drink with us... and so it was... and it was perfect.
Our next journey to this same tent city, I'm not sure I am able to rightly describe what we lived that night... ill do my best. Walking alongside the high gates bordering the crumbled capital, we found ourselves in a paradoxical environment like i've never before experienced. Capital building crushed on one side, its people on the other struggling to survive in shanty tents.. unreal. Anyway, we dove into the 'city' and soon found ourselves wandering through hallways allowing only inches on each side for travel, walking along with the occasional light of a candle, burning coal, or maybe even a hand wound flashlight. The smell, I can't place it now with words, but should I ever smell it again my mind and imagination will surely carry me once again back to this place. *I should mention this is after a long dinner, a few drinks, a fateful KU loss, and a more than entertaining drive back (with our driver of course) that should you wish to hear about, just ask me over a bottle of wine and the stories will surely flow!* Allora... where was I. Oh ya, wandering. Minutes later we found ourselves at what - by tent city standards - might be considered a club... a reggae club of course! I don't even know where to begin describing this, all you need to know now is we spent over two hours singing, dancing, screaming Bob Marley lyrics at the tops or our lungs with these people... lyrics like 'get up stand up, stand up for your right' -or- 'one love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright'... if you know bob, you may have an idea just how powerful this experience was with his Best Of album rockin all night... and for that short amount of time we were there, it seemed that we all weren't... no longer were we in the very center of a torn and destroyed nation, no longer were we homeless or helpers, haitians or americans, we were people enjoying people. Again... perfect.
A very brief telling of a seemingly indescribable evening that simply cannot be replicated.
I guess I'll leave you with that... a hopeful story. You need know that these people, while suffering on CNN, bleed more joy as a people than we who sink our feet in the soil of contentment will ever understand. There are some things that cannot be explained, o'er blog or in person, and this would be one of those.
We go now to say bye to a friend leaving tomorrow so I have to sign off... but if/when I have more time (soon I hope!) I might tell you more about our bike journeys and how we got pulled over the other day and had to bribe the cops (apparently they dont like it when you don't have plates and try to run away from them), or about one of my bible kids descriptions of heaven, "a place where there is lots of food, and we never grow thirsty".. hmm. I will most likely talk about my learnings and struggles with patience, among other things... where I need prayer. But He is good, and 'as the wind blows where it pleases... so it is with everyone born of the spirit'... so float on people.. jump into the wind and enjoy the ride!
Thank you all for your prayers which fill the silences, and for your kind messages that are nothing short of an adrenaline shot.
Shalom and love to you friends!
luke
The sunspring project has continued along nicely, we've now done a total of nine installs, and have four more waiting in port somewhere, and will install two of them in PAP, one in Jacmel, and another in La Calle, once they have been released. Jack, our main Sunspring guy and now good friend, left on wednesday leaving all the maintenance, training, and additional installs up to Tyler and I... at least until we leave in three weeks. More here as it comes...
The orphanage teaching gig has been pretty sweet. We continue to remain flexible, filling the gaps where needed. I've continued to teach a weekly beginning english class (surprisingly difficult), and for a while there we both were teaching a bible class three days a week, not to mention an hour and a half of rec time with the little ones three days a week as well while the orphanage runs their feeding program for kids in the neighborhood.
Esperanza work, well, our main involvement here has been to solidify their long-term relationship with sunspring. For everything else we've mostly found ourselves on the sidelines.. which has been good. They had their big pastor conference two weekends ago for over 300 community church leaders, with the goal of helping them to have a greater understanding of what the bible says with regards to disasters and disaster relief. According to our main man here Joel, it was a great success! Neither tyler or I could tell ya though, as we took off for the weekend on the bikes up the coast to Wahoo Bay the first night, then the second night we found ourselves at Club Indigo, a ridiculously nice hotel which had been bought out for the time being by yours truly, the US embassy. Anyway, we had by chance met a woman there with the power to give us a room for the night, through the embassy... anyway, words (at least right now) can't describe how nice this break was... pictures to come later.
As I scan through my journal, obviously there is so much between the lines, but like I said, I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't want to leave y'all with a novel.
Oh ya, tyler almost died on the ride back, nearly hitting a bus head on, fishtailing his rear tire back-n-forth to avoid it... well done tyler.. that definitely would have ruined my evening. kidding.. i love you.
Other blogworthy stories, I'm not sure. This trip will at its end be defined by all the little moments which have burned their way into my memory, and reshaped my heart. Lately tyler and I have made an effort to spend more time with the people. Not your typical day to day throw all the little orphans in the air for an hour type of time, but rather meeting them where they're at, going to their place of living, at unexpected and certainly unusual times. Twice now we've wandered into the tent city right outside the Capital, both times well after dark. The first time we journeyed, our apprehension was met with equal amounts of excitement for what we were experiencing. This time we stayed mainly on the outer parts, but were quickly met with eager locals looking to 'just be' with us, sing with us, have a drink with us... and so it was... and it was perfect.
Our next journey to this same tent city, I'm not sure I am able to rightly describe what we lived that night... ill do my best. Walking alongside the high gates bordering the crumbled capital, we found ourselves in a paradoxical environment like i've never before experienced. Capital building crushed on one side, its people on the other struggling to survive in shanty tents.. unreal. Anyway, we dove into the 'city' and soon found ourselves wandering through hallways allowing only inches on each side for travel, walking along with the occasional light of a candle, burning coal, or maybe even a hand wound flashlight. The smell, I can't place it now with words, but should I ever smell it again my mind and imagination will surely carry me once again back to this place. *I should mention this is after a long dinner, a few drinks, a fateful KU loss, and a more than entertaining drive back (with our driver of course) that should you wish to hear about, just ask me over a bottle of wine and the stories will surely flow!* Allora... where was I. Oh ya, wandering. Minutes later we found ourselves at what - by tent city standards - might be considered a club... a reggae club of course! I don't even know where to begin describing this, all you need to know now is we spent over two hours singing, dancing, screaming Bob Marley lyrics at the tops or our lungs with these people... lyrics like 'get up stand up, stand up for your right' -or- 'one love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright'... if you know bob, you may have an idea just how powerful this experience was with his Best Of album rockin all night... and for that short amount of time we were there, it seemed that we all weren't... no longer were we in the very center of a torn and destroyed nation, no longer were we homeless or helpers, haitians or americans, we were people enjoying people. Again... perfect.
A very brief telling of a seemingly indescribable evening that simply cannot be replicated.
I guess I'll leave you with that... a hopeful story. You need know that these people, while suffering on CNN, bleed more joy as a people than we who sink our feet in the soil of contentment will ever understand. There are some things that cannot be explained, o'er blog or in person, and this would be one of those.
We go now to say bye to a friend leaving tomorrow so I have to sign off... but if/when I have more time (soon I hope!) I might tell you more about our bike journeys and how we got pulled over the other day and had to bribe the cops (apparently they dont like it when you don't have plates and try to run away from them), or about one of my bible kids descriptions of heaven, "a place where there is lots of food, and we never grow thirsty".. hmm. I will most likely talk about my learnings and struggles with patience, among other things... where I need prayer. But He is good, and 'as the wind blows where it pleases... so it is with everyone born of the spirit'... so float on people.. jump into the wind and enjoy the ride!
Thank you all for your prayers which fill the silences, and for your kind messages that are nothing short of an adrenaline shot.
Shalom and love to you friends!
luke
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Bathing in glorious riches not of this world...
... my cup overflows.
"I keep asking that the God of our lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for those who believe." Ephesians 1:17-21
If you pray for me, let this be your prayer. I am in a strangely wonderful spot in my faith. Lately i've been struggling to figure the next level, how i'm meant to grow in my walk. I've birthed a new passion for the word... my favorite part of the day is its beginning, waking up far too early with the crow of the million roosters outside my window, stumbling out to the patio, and entering into Him, inviting Him to join me today, every day. I pray for a spirit of wisdom and revalation, but mainly that I may know... him... better. Knowing him better has meant a melted spirit, an aching heart... a love for the things He loves, and a keen awareness of the things 'not' of Him. Most of all, giving thanks... in every and all situations! Learning this more and more as the Haitians continue worshiping in the midst of a death count pushing a half a million. Welcoming Him in to melt me, bring me to tears with His word, and His perfectly unfolding plan for my life, for each of our lives, if only we will lift our hands in surrender.. pause... and listen. I just couldnt tell you why, but this morning I lost it reading Psalm 63... "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water... Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as i live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." I just kept on reading this.. then psalm 62.. "find rest, o my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress, I will not be shaken."
So much comfort in these words this morning...
I relate to Paul the best I think, often times feeling like the foremost of sinners. Lately I've had death on the mind... I don't fear death.. but i sure do think about it more than might be considered healthy. I've never actually seen a dead body.. but I pray now for strength when someone close to me goes home, as I think I might just lose it. I think equally about my salvation, and pray every morning that I would walk, He would steer me, towards a life worth boasting about, boasting the only way that boasting makes spiritual sense, in what He has done in my life... and that I may live in a way where I can stand confidently in front of Him, and hear those words 'well done my good and faithful servant'... entering into eternal awesomeness, where pain, suffering, sin and sorrow are just simply not welcome.
Speaking of death... we bought a brand new motorcycle the other day for $900, and have another on the way tomorrow!
:()
I haven't gotten too excited though cause on the ride back from the shop, the rear tire got a leak and was completely flat by the time we came back outside to take it for another spin. We got it fixed for 50 gourds ($1.25) and took it out for a test ride around the block after getting it home... another flat!!
God... are you trying to say something?
I shouldn't be surprised though, as I'm sure my mom, and probably her little prayer warrior friends have been praying for anything to prevent me getting on a bike... in haiti. Ha! I must say though that while i LOVE bikes, it is definitely a love hate relationship. More often than not, whenever I ride, something on me or the bike ends up breaking. Not to mention that driving in Haiti is as fun as it is freaky! Strange how that works... Also, we don't have our helmets yet, and I haven't renewed my health insurance... Hmm...
On another note...
This sunspring project only gets better and better. Today we did our sixth and seventh install, moving like a well oiled machine, it was great! These installs today were amazing... mainly the first. We set up the system at an evangalistic school/tent city, on the inside of a 10 or so foot wall, and ran a line to the outside of the wall, the public, giving them two spickets. We finished the job, went outside and and began ourselves drinking the water, and before we could finish our drinks (no joke) there were people running up the hill with 5 gallon buckets rushing to get in the already growing line!!
I can't remember having such a full spirit... a spirit of thanksgiving for the privelidge of being a part of this... a spirit of joy, experiencing these peoples joy as they realize they now have limitless amounts of perfectly clean water. And at 5,000 gallons/day, it was unreal looking out over the shackled city below knowing ALL will have access.
Jack Barker, the founder and inventor of the Sunspring, has been living with us the past two weeks, and what a priviledge it has been. Their company is based out of Colorado, so I hope (trying to manage my expectations/excitement at the prospect) to dive deeper into a relationship with this company. This type of work - purposeful, passionate, challenging work - is what gets my juices flowing... so for now i cross my fingers, and continue to trust that He will lead, and pray that if he wants to use me, my skills, to educate people, governments, ngos, corporations, on how they can put a dent in the over 1.2 billion who do not have access to what should be a basic, unalianable right, of clean drinking water, then I will do it, and I will do it with the same joy and thanksgiving I felt today. I get goosebumps thinking of the impact this thing could have on the world.... so cool!
I should end it here... so much more to share, but I'll leave you with some pictures below of the last few days... *ok i lied.. i just tried uploading 4 and it took over 30 min and then epic fail, it crashed... so i'll figure a way to get some up tomorrow because the pictures would really illuminate the story a bit*
Know my spirit is overflowing... my heart daily being melted for the things He cares about... and as for now, I do not have access to a working motorcycle, so we can all just take a deep breath...
Love to you all!
Living deliberately,
luke
Shoot... did I forget to mention that I tought my first english class on wednesday?! Oh man.. i'll have to tell about that later!
"I keep asking that the God of our lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for those who believe." Ephesians 1:17-21
If you pray for me, let this be your prayer. I am in a strangely wonderful spot in my faith. Lately i've been struggling to figure the next level, how i'm meant to grow in my walk. I've birthed a new passion for the word... my favorite part of the day is its beginning, waking up far too early with the crow of the million roosters outside my window, stumbling out to the patio, and entering into Him, inviting Him to join me today, every day. I pray for a spirit of wisdom and revalation, but mainly that I may know... him... better. Knowing him better has meant a melted spirit, an aching heart... a love for the things He loves, and a keen awareness of the things 'not' of Him. Most of all, giving thanks... in every and all situations! Learning this more and more as the Haitians continue worshiping in the midst of a death count pushing a half a million. Welcoming Him in to melt me, bring me to tears with His word, and His perfectly unfolding plan for my life, for each of our lives, if only we will lift our hands in surrender.. pause... and listen. I just couldnt tell you why, but this morning I lost it reading Psalm 63... "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water... Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as i live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." I just kept on reading this.. then psalm 62.. "find rest, o my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my fortress, I will not be shaken."
So much comfort in these words this morning...
I relate to Paul the best I think, often times feeling like the foremost of sinners. Lately I've had death on the mind... I don't fear death.. but i sure do think about it more than might be considered healthy. I've never actually seen a dead body.. but I pray now for strength when someone close to me goes home, as I think I might just lose it. I think equally about my salvation, and pray every morning that I would walk, He would steer me, towards a life worth boasting about, boasting the only way that boasting makes spiritual sense, in what He has done in my life... and that I may live in a way where I can stand confidently in front of Him, and hear those words 'well done my good and faithful servant'... entering into eternal awesomeness, where pain, suffering, sin and sorrow are just simply not welcome.
Speaking of death... we bought a brand new motorcycle the other day for $900, and have another on the way tomorrow!
:()
I haven't gotten too excited though cause on the ride back from the shop, the rear tire got a leak and was completely flat by the time we came back outside to take it for another spin. We got it fixed for 50 gourds ($1.25) and took it out for a test ride around the block after getting it home... another flat!!
God... are you trying to say something?
I shouldn't be surprised though, as I'm sure my mom, and probably her little prayer warrior friends have been praying for anything to prevent me getting on a bike... in haiti. Ha! I must say though that while i LOVE bikes, it is definitely a love hate relationship. More often than not, whenever I ride, something on me or the bike ends up breaking. Not to mention that driving in Haiti is as fun as it is freaky! Strange how that works... Also, we don't have our helmets yet, and I haven't renewed my health insurance... Hmm...
On another note...
This sunspring project only gets better and better. Today we did our sixth and seventh install, moving like a well oiled machine, it was great! These installs today were amazing... mainly the first. We set up the system at an evangalistic school/tent city, on the inside of a 10 or so foot wall, and ran a line to the outside of the wall, the public, giving them two spickets. We finished the job, went outside and and began ourselves drinking the water, and before we could finish our drinks (no joke) there were people running up the hill with 5 gallon buckets rushing to get in the already growing line!!
I can't remember having such a full spirit... a spirit of thanksgiving for the privelidge of being a part of this... a spirit of joy, experiencing these peoples joy as they realize they now have limitless amounts of perfectly clean water. And at 5,000 gallons/day, it was unreal looking out over the shackled city below knowing ALL will have access.
Jack Barker, the founder and inventor of the Sunspring, has been living with us the past two weeks, and what a priviledge it has been. Their company is based out of Colorado, so I hope (trying to manage my expectations/excitement at the prospect) to dive deeper into a relationship with this company. This type of work - purposeful, passionate, challenging work - is what gets my juices flowing... so for now i cross my fingers, and continue to trust that He will lead, and pray that if he wants to use me, my skills, to educate people, governments, ngos, corporations, on how they can put a dent in the over 1.2 billion who do not have access to what should be a basic, unalianable right, of clean drinking water, then I will do it, and I will do it with the same joy and thanksgiving I felt today. I get goosebumps thinking of the impact this thing could have on the world.... so cool!
I should end it here... so much more to share, but I'll leave you with some pictures below of the last few days... *ok i lied.. i just tried uploading 4 and it took over 30 min and then epic fail, it crashed... so i'll figure a way to get some up tomorrow because the pictures would really illuminate the story a bit*
Know my spirit is overflowing... my heart daily being melted for the things He cares about... and as for now, I do not have access to a working motorcycle, so we can all just take a deep breath...
Love to you all!
Living deliberately,
luke
Shoot... did I forget to mention that I tought my first english class on wednesday?! Oh man.. i'll have to tell about that later!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Settling In
Well, patience has definitely become our specialty as we continue to wait for things - tasks, schedules, routines - to develop... Meanwhile we're trying to be as proactive as possible without knowing the language well enough to really converse, or having a car to get around. We've been looking into getting motos, and have been spending some time each day to learn the language (actually the most simple to learn that i've encountered, its understanding them thats impossible), and i'm finding i'm getting a bit lazy as far as settling with the little english that they do know, and feeling good about 'helping them' learn english, when really I need to be making a strong effort to learn their language, so i can speak in their culture.
The past few days, while we haven't felt like we've got much done, it's been hardly uneventful. In our lack of assigned tasks, tyler and I have began to wander a bit more. This has led us to a few awesome places, one being Child Hope orphanage which is right down the stinking street from where we're living! Child Hope is the organization Tyler and I had been talking with for several weeks about coming and helping, until three days prior to our departure they said that 'they didn't need us'... enter esperanza, who on saturday, two days before we left, said we could come help. Anyway, I could literally throw a rock from our house to theirs its that close! We got to talking with some of the volunteers there, played some basketball with the boys, then went home all gitty at the prospect of being able to come and hang out with the kids when we have downtime. Sooooo I got an email that night saying they wanted to talk with us tomorrow about the possibility of teaching there on a temporary basis while they find more long term personell! Ha! So... tyler and I have a second get together with them today to discuss starting on monday. Hahaha.. and you should see these classrooms, with TINY teacher desks.. we decided we're going to go all out if they want us.. suits, pocket protectors, bi-focals.. Don't worry people... the highest grade we'd be teaching would be a 7th grade equivalent, and just reading, writing, arithmetic. CNN is at the orphanage for a few days as we speak gathering content for a documentary they're going to be airing on this place (it is really sooo cool.. www.childhope.org). I'll keep you posted here as we know it..
So then two days ago, a day after our Child Hope discovery, we decided to wander onto the UN headquarters and look for a meeting we were meant to attend for esperanza regarding the cooperated effort to distribute food packs. Anyway, what an experience! We pretty much walked right on in past security (apparently pasty white skin gets you places in this country), and were free to wander pretty much wherever we wanted.. i say pretty much because at one point we may have gone a bit too far, and an arab soldier made sure we understood this. Ha.. While this place seemed like chaos defined, it was pretty sweet being a bystander and just observing globalism at its finest.. ha. We probably saw at least a dozen nations represented on the base.. and the arab guy, not sure exactly where he was from, he just said in scratchy english that he was arab.. creepy. Anyway, if you haven't figured it by now, the meeting was cancelled, hence the reason we wandered around for what seemed like a few hours.
We tried to go back the next day for another meeting, but the traffic would have put la rush hour to shame as we turned what should have been a 7 minute drive into 45min, making us already 30 min late, so we decided to turn around. We TRIED to leave earlier, but again, communication is key and our driver doesn't speak but a lick of english.
Yesterday was pretty crazy as we've since turned our home into a hostel for NGO workers... we have two volunteers from Rainbow International (a team of surgeons that goes into diseaster areas after everyone has left and operates for free on anyone that needs it) who are evaluating hospitals for future involvement. Also late last night we had two guys from another water filter company come by and are going to be shacking it here for the next two weeks or so. This is so cool! One of the guys is the inventor of the technology (totally different from the other water purification i spoke about earlier). They brought 10 or so filters... now I only know a little about these systems, but they're large weighing 900lbs, and can provide 5,000 gallons of clean water down to .02 microbes, also cleaning viruses (key). Great stuff! I think he's working with GE on this project, or their funding it. I still have more to learn here (duh)... Excited to learn/help though.
In my down time I've also been working to understand the coordinated effort to begin excavation. I've talked with Catepillar logistics, as well as their philanthropic department, and then their head guy in Miami who is responsible for the efforts on the ground in Haiti, Juan. They've donated a butt-load of money, but only 5 pieces of equipment! And sure, they don't own the equipment being a manufacturer, but certainly have relationships with dealers to move equipment. They have one dealer in Haiti, and are running steep discounts on rentals, and then donated 5 pieces for two months at no charge. They're not interested in getting good press out of any efforts to help, they just want to help. They re-routed a shipment of loaders and excavators that was meant to unload in panama, to the DR, and trucked them to PAP. Since this they've been granted access to Seaboard, a port to the north, and will hope to get equipment in through there. As it seems, there isn't any sort of activity on the ground as far as excavating goes, and the purpose of my calling them was in imagining how powerful (from a hope standpoint, as well as marketing) it would be to run a fleet of 50 Cats through the streets of PAP making unbearable amounts of noise, clearing all the crap that right now is being broken and moved with nothing but hammers and shanty wheelbarrows. Long story short, this lead to a conversation with CHF (the largest NGO in haiti), who has a pretty close relationship with CAT and is currently occupying the majority of their equipment. The point in calling them is to figure a way to get my good ol' buddy Branton down here moving concrete around, and they might just have a spot for him! Ha.. oh man.. branton in a tractor powering through the streets of PAP.. thats hope if i've ever seen it!
So, as you can imagine, it seems that finally the storm is forming over the hills and we're about to see a load of work sent our way, whether its setting up water filtration systems and learning how to install them after the GE guys leave, teaching our classes of 6-7 each, continue to distribute the loads of food packs we have coming in soon, or just simply wander around UN headquarters, we're sure to moving! Whohoo! Oh, the storm i was speaking about metaphorically, but its also quite literal as the rains started up about two days ago, turning the tent cities into disease infested mud cities. With the rain came a whole new wave of desperation and helplessness... please pray the rain would hold off, and that the people in the areas most affected by the rain would use their resoursefulness to get out, make better tents, or something so they aren't sloshing in 3 inches of mud. Gahh..
Thats gotta be it for now...
More as it comes!
Shalom,
luke
The past few days, while we haven't felt like we've got much done, it's been hardly uneventful. In our lack of assigned tasks, tyler and I have began to wander a bit more. This has led us to a few awesome places, one being Child Hope orphanage which is right down the stinking street from where we're living! Child Hope is the organization Tyler and I had been talking with for several weeks about coming and helping, until three days prior to our departure they said that 'they didn't need us'... enter esperanza, who on saturday, two days before we left, said we could come help. Anyway, I could literally throw a rock from our house to theirs its that close! We got to talking with some of the volunteers there, played some basketball with the boys, then went home all gitty at the prospect of being able to come and hang out with the kids when we have downtime. Sooooo I got an email that night saying they wanted to talk with us tomorrow about the possibility of teaching there on a temporary basis while they find more long term personell! Ha! So... tyler and I have a second get together with them today to discuss starting on monday. Hahaha.. and you should see these classrooms, with TINY teacher desks.. we decided we're going to go all out if they want us.. suits, pocket protectors, bi-focals.. Don't worry people... the highest grade we'd be teaching would be a 7th grade equivalent, and just reading, writing, arithmetic. CNN is at the orphanage for a few days as we speak gathering content for a documentary they're going to be airing on this place (it is really sooo cool.. www.childhope.org). I'll keep you posted here as we know it..
So then two days ago, a day after our Child Hope discovery, we decided to wander onto the UN headquarters and look for a meeting we were meant to attend for esperanza regarding the cooperated effort to distribute food packs. Anyway, what an experience! We pretty much walked right on in past security (apparently pasty white skin gets you places in this country), and were free to wander pretty much wherever we wanted.. i say pretty much because at one point we may have gone a bit too far, and an arab soldier made sure we understood this. Ha.. While this place seemed like chaos defined, it was pretty sweet being a bystander and just observing globalism at its finest.. ha. We probably saw at least a dozen nations represented on the base.. and the arab guy, not sure exactly where he was from, he just said in scratchy english that he was arab.. creepy. Anyway, if you haven't figured it by now, the meeting was cancelled, hence the reason we wandered around for what seemed like a few hours.
We tried to go back the next day for another meeting, but the traffic would have put la rush hour to shame as we turned what should have been a 7 minute drive into 45min, making us already 30 min late, so we decided to turn around. We TRIED to leave earlier, but again, communication is key and our driver doesn't speak but a lick of english.
Yesterday was pretty crazy as we've since turned our home into a hostel for NGO workers... we have two volunteers from Rainbow International (a team of surgeons that goes into diseaster areas after everyone has left and operates for free on anyone that needs it) who are evaluating hospitals for future involvement. Also late last night we had two guys from another water filter company come by and are going to be shacking it here for the next two weeks or so. This is so cool! One of the guys is the inventor of the technology (totally different from the other water purification i spoke about earlier). They brought 10 or so filters... now I only know a little about these systems, but they're large weighing 900lbs, and can provide 5,000 gallons of clean water down to .02 microbes, also cleaning viruses (key). Great stuff! I think he's working with GE on this project, or their funding it. I still have more to learn here (duh)... Excited to learn/help though.
In my down time I've also been working to understand the coordinated effort to begin excavation. I've talked with Catepillar logistics, as well as their philanthropic department, and then their head guy in Miami who is responsible for the efforts on the ground in Haiti, Juan. They've donated a butt-load of money, but only 5 pieces of equipment! And sure, they don't own the equipment being a manufacturer, but certainly have relationships with dealers to move equipment. They have one dealer in Haiti, and are running steep discounts on rentals, and then donated 5 pieces for two months at no charge. They're not interested in getting good press out of any efforts to help, they just want to help. They re-routed a shipment of loaders and excavators that was meant to unload in panama, to the DR, and trucked them to PAP. Since this they've been granted access to Seaboard, a port to the north, and will hope to get equipment in through there. As it seems, there isn't any sort of activity on the ground as far as excavating goes, and the purpose of my calling them was in imagining how powerful (from a hope standpoint, as well as marketing) it would be to run a fleet of 50 Cats through the streets of PAP making unbearable amounts of noise, clearing all the crap that right now is being broken and moved with nothing but hammers and shanty wheelbarrows. Long story short, this lead to a conversation with CHF (the largest NGO in haiti), who has a pretty close relationship with CAT and is currently occupying the majority of their equipment. The point in calling them is to figure a way to get my good ol' buddy Branton down here moving concrete around, and they might just have a spot for him! Ha.. oh man.. branton in a tractor powering through the streets of PAP.. thats hope if i've ever seen it!
So, as you can imagine, it seems that finally the storm is forming over the hills and we're about to see a load of work sent our way, whether its setting up water filtration systems and learning how to install them after the GE guys leave, teaching our classes of 6-7 each, continue to distribute the loads of food packs we have coming in soon, or just simply wander around UN headquarters, we're sure to moving! Whohoo! Oh, the storm i was speaking about metaphorically, but its also quite literal as the rains started up about two days ago, turning the tent cities into disease infested mud cities. With the rain came a whole new wave of desperation and helplessness... please pray the rain would hold off, and that the people in the areas most affected by the rain would use their resoursefulness to get out, make better tents, or something so they aren't sloshing in 3 inches of mud. Gahh..
Thats gotta be it for now...
More as it comes!
Shalom,
luke
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The beginning...
It's now been just over a week since I last threw up a blog, and not sure how I'm going to, but I'd like to at least catch you up to speed with where we're at. So lets see, I arrived in santo domingo late the night of the 8th after all three of my American Airlines flights were delayed (whoohoo), as it turns out, if ALL your flights are delayed, it works quite nicely. haha. Tyler arrived tuesday, and we spend the next 24hrs getting ourselves acquainted with Esperanza, the organization we were to be working with... we also made some time to tour the city a bit, seeing the first church of the new world, as well as Columbus' house.. I also shared a few beers with a one legged jamaican man, would like to share that story later. ha. Thursday morning we were loaded onto a bus pointed towards the long awaited port-au-prince. Half of the 8 hour drive was on the dominican side, although it was 3/4 the total distance... arriving at the border, or should i say shanty gate, it was immediately clear the cultural disconnect. We waited at the border for just over an hour while they looked over our passports which they had taken at the bus station (i know, i broke the cardinal rule of traveling, to NEVER let go of your passport (sorry dad!)... i apparently had no choice. believe me, I asked around and wasn't happy about it). So as I said, crossing the border it was immediately obvious that we were in a 'different' place. The border areas were crowded as we'd expected, but they were also inhabited. The roads, not meant for the amount of traffic they'd been experiencing, were less than impressive even for a third world country. It took over 4 hrs to travel from the border to pap. The trip was never boring as the roads were scattered with groups of people, groups of the displaced most likely working their way toward the border, toward hope? We arrived in pap late, after passing by the US embassy, which let me just say how rediculous it was. Still standing (duh) this place was nothing short of an oasis... I had to blink several times as we'd gone from destruction, destruction, PARADISE, destruction etc.. It's all marble, palm trees everywhere, soldiers, hummers, and all sorts of other impressive military equipment littered throughout. The place cost 90 million to build.. seeing the embassy made me want to learn more about it and our involvement later.. oh, and puke.
Finally arriving we were met by our friend Joel who took us to the place we would be staying. It wasn't until the next day that it hit me... Driving around in the light, man (even re-living this day sucks)... We drove all over the city, visiting the most effected areas of Port-au-prince, carrefour, leogane, and jacmel... we drove up to the mountain sides to see it from another angle, we drove down to the port to see the military handing out food. This day, friday, marked the beginning of the three day fast for the people of haiti. See normally these three days were days of celebration, partying, and thanksgiving... instead, in light of the circumstances, as a nation they decided to fast for three days. Apparently to do this they need to block off the good majority of the streets, shut down the gas stations, eliminating any chance of our doing much of anything for this time. So we wait...
I'm glad I didn't blog friday night... I'm not sure I've ever felt such a deep depression in my gut as I did after driving around all day. It was like watching a real life slide show in fast mode showing nothing but depressing images. I was overwhelmed to say the least... SOO much NEEDS to be done it makes me sick to think about. Generously, I would estimate that maaaybe 5% of the damage has been cleared, and a lot of the times its not even cleared, just swept off into a less intrusive spot.. if the death count to date is 250,000, it'd be a safe bet to 'at least' double it.
I just don't know... I have such a 'macro' minded approach to things usually, that I couldn't possibly do anything but lose hope for these people. Lose hope for them because they don't seem to have any interest in helping themselves, instead taking the historical route and relying on international aid. Teach a man to fish people! And while it sounds bad, I fear that while our american efforts appear strong now, they just won't in the long run. And thats just it, they 'appear' strong, when in reality they're all just sitting in the port handing out food, addressing the immediate need sure, but attacking the 'big' needs.. no. I haven't seen a single piece of excavation equipment. Long story short, I lost hope, was depressed, and completely lost sight of 'why' i came, and that was for the person in front of me, the micro. A few timely reminders and words of encouragement from precious family and friends, and I was back in the game.
I'm sorry this seems so jumbled (as it usually does to me), I just wish i hadn't waited this long to update you guys. I need to go to blogging school...
Before I sign off, I'd like to share just a little about the organization we're with... they're doing some really great stuff! Esperanza (Hope.. in espanol) is a micro-finance plus organization that seeks to build sustainable lifestyles for the poorest of the poor. They're supporting over 15,000 families in the DR, and 4,000+ in Haiti. Since the quake, their efforts in Haiti have been focused more on the coastal/border towns. They are NOT a diseaster relief organization, but have in their own uniqe way stepped up to the plate in light of the circumstances. In PAP now, our main focus is working with the network of churches they've built relationships with. We place responsibility in the hands of the pastor, giving them the food packs and water filtering devices, and then keep them accountable as to their proper distribution. Tyler and I have been working with a water cleaning system (pure water foundation). Basically, its a device that turns salt water into concentrated chlorine by running electrical currents through it. A one liter bottle of chlorine (which takes about 7 minutes to make) can clean 500 gallons of water! So cool imagining the possibilities! And because we're giving them out to the churches, people have to come to the church (most are anyway) to get the water(life!). So cool. Empowering the haitian people to sustain themselves.
Prayers. Pray that we would be put to work, that we would be patient and flexible. That hope would be found in the most unlikely of places. Prayers also for safety (they've already got us driving in this crazy city! aaand there's talk of renting motorbikes for 'better mobility' ut-oh :)).
I better go... hope to dive into more detail later! Love to you all!
Shalom!
luke
Finally arriving we were met by our friend Joel who took us to the place we would be staying. It wasn't until the next day that it hit me... Driving around in the light, man (even re-living this day sucks)... We drove all over the city, visiting the most effected areas of Port-au-prince, carrefour, leogane, and jacmel... we drove up to the mountain sides to see it from another angle, we drove down to the port to see the military handing out food. This day, friday, marked the beginning of the three day fast for the people of haiti. See normally these three days were days of celebration, partying, and thanksgiving... instead, in light of the circumstances, as a nation they decided to fast for three days. Apparently to do this they need to block off the good majority of the streets, shut down the gas stations, eliminating any chance of our doing much of anything for this time. So we wait...
I'm glad I didn't blog friday night... I'm not sure I've ever felt such a deep depression in my gut as I did after driving around all day. It was like watching a real life slide show in fast mode showing nothing but depressing images. I was overwhelmed to say the least... SOO much NEEDS to be done it makes me sick to think about. Generously, I would estimate that maaaybe 5% of the damage has been cleared, and a lot of the times its not even cleared, just swept off into a less intrusive spot.. if the death count to date is 250,000, it'd be a safe bet to 'at least' double it.
I just don't know... I have such a 'macro' minded approach to things usually, that I couldn't possibly do anything but lose hope for these people. Lose hope for them because they don't seem to have any interest in helping themselves, instead taking the historical route and relying on international aid. Teach a man to fish people! And while it sounds bad, I fear that while our american efforts appear strong now, they just won't in the long run. And thats just it, they 'appear' strong, when in reality they're all just sitting in the port handing out food, addressing the immediate need sure, but attacking the 'big' needs.. no. I haven't seen a single piece of excavation equipment. Long story short, I lost hope, was depressed, and completely lost sight of 'why' i came, and that was for the person in front of me, the micro. A few timely reminders and words of encouragement from precious family and friends, and I was back in the game.
I'm sorry this seems so jumbled (as it usually does to me), I just wish i hadn't waited this long to update you guys. I need to go to blogging school...
Before I sign off, I'd like to share just a little about the organization we're with... they're doing some really great stuff! Esperanza (Hope.. in espanol) is a micro-finance plus organization that seeks to build sustainable lifestyles for the poorest of the poor. They're supporting over 15,000 families in the DR, and 4,000+ in Haiti. Since the quake, their efforts in Haiti have been focused more on the coastal/border towns. They are NOT a diseaster relief organization, but have in their own uniqe way stepped up to the plate in light of the circumstances. In PAP now, our main focus is working with the network of churches they've built relationships with. We place responsibility in the hands of the pastor, giving them the food packs and water filtering devices, and then keep them accountable as to their proper distribution. Tyler and I have been working with a water cleaning system (pure water foundation). Basically, its a device that turns salt water into concentrated chlorine by running electrical currents through it. A one liter bottle of chlorine (which takes about 7 minutes to make) can clean 500 gallons of water! So cool imagining the possibilities! And because we're giving them out to the churches, people have to come to the church (most are anyway) to get the water(life!). So cool. Empowering the haitian people to sustain themselves.
Prayers. Pray that we would be put to work, that we would be patient and flexible. That hope would be found in the most unlikely of places. Prayers also for safety (they've already got us driving in this crazy city! aaand there's talk of renting motorbikes for 'better mobility' ut-oh :)).
I better go... hope to dive into more detail later! Love to you all!
Shalom!
luke
Sunday, February 7, 2010
~ Haiti Bound ~
Leaving in 12 hours for Haiti, what’s going through my head? People have been asking me this all day, and you'd think I would know. Not so much. It helped me to re-read my blog entry I wrote the night before I left for Peru... the condition of my heart is in a similar spot. I don’t know how to describe whats going on really, i DO know that I’m ready. If you’ve talked to me at all these past weeks, especially the past couple days, you would surely know how providential this whole journey has been, a journey that's led me to quit my job and buy a one way ticket to this beautiful place of suffering... He is so good, so present, so real! I’ll later share the story of how the holy spirit has had his finger slowly stirring the events of my life, all for His glory.
Fear... excitement... joy... anticipation... nervousness... uncertainty... all words I could use to describe how I feel. Some a bit contradictory i suppose, but there’s certainly an underlying confidence in it all, a confidence in His providential hand having a firm grip on my heart, my salvation, my life, wherever that may lead. None of this makes sense, i know... it just doesn’t. I might be a bit crazy... But for the glory of God...
As I said in my first ever blog before leaving for Peru..
“I’ve in sitting here decided that given the unknown audience, nothing would be more appropriate than to on this journey be completely transparent and real with you all along the way. If there’s one thing i can’t stand its writers block, a subject i’ve unleashed pages of disgruntlement towards. I want you to know what I see, but whats more I want you to know what I feel, and for this I need to let down my guard and just be...”
The hope would be to effectively bring you all, my family, my dear friends, into the experience... I want the raw nature of working with these people to drip down and touch each one of you. I pray that, while i’m not the best writer, my words might be more than just words, that they would maybe evoke in you something more, that they might cause you to really beg the holy spirit to speak to you as He has me... and that you might listen, and then act.
I have such a heavy heart right now, all good, just heavy. I hope to share in more detail with you all later the story of these past weeks... although i'm sure it will be outweighed by my experiences there. However, its a story worthy of nothing less than all my capacity to give praise and thanksgiving to Him who orchestrated it all. And every day, I need Him more than i did yesterday.. its lovely!
Its late... I’m exhausted... but ready.
I would ask for your prayers... I feel them. The prayer support I’ve felt here has been unlike anything... friends/family laying hands on me in prayer, over the phone, or even through email... they are felt.
As my eyes fight a lame fight to keep me awake, I would leave you with this... a verse a dear friend of mine shared with me, one she held close to her heart as she traveled to Uganda, a verse which helps me make sense of this all.. it reads
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem (haiti?), not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Acts 20:22-24
Shalom and love to you all!
luke
Fear... excitement... joy... anticipation... nervousness... uncertainty... all words I could use to describe how I feel. Some a bit contradictory i suppose, but there’s certainly an underlying confidence in it all, a confidence in His providential hand having a firm grip on my heart, my salvation, my life, wherever that may lead. None of this makes sense, i know... it just doesn’t. I might be a bit crazy... But for the glory of God...
As I said in my first ever blog before leaving for Peru..
“I’ve in sitting here decided that given the unknown audience, nothing would be more appropriate than to on this journey be completely transparent and real with you all along the way. If there’s one thing i can’t stand its writers block, a subject i’ve unleashed pages of disgruntlement towards. I want you to know what I see, but whats more I want you to know what I feel, and for this I need to let down my guard and just be...”
The hope would be to effectively bring you all, my family, my dear friends, into the experience... I want the raw nature of working with these people to drip down and touch each one of you. I pray that, while i’m not the best writer, my words might be more than just words, that they would maybe evoke in you something more, that they might cause you to really beg the holy spirit to speak to you as He has me... and that you might listen, and then act.
I have such a heavy heart right now, all good, just heavy. I hope to share in more detail with you all later the story of these past weeks... although i'm sure it will be outweighed by my experiences there. However, its a story worthy of nothing less than all my capacity to give praise and thanksgiving to Him who orchestrated it all. And every day, I need Him more than i did yesterday.. its lovely!
Its late... I’m exhausted... but ready.
I would ask for your prayers... I feel them. The prayer support I’ve felt here has been unlike anything... friends/family laying hands on me in prayer, over the phone, or even through email... they are felt.
As my eyes fight a lame fight to keep me awake, I would leave you with this... a verse a dear friend of mine shared with me, one she held close to her heart as she traveled to Uganda, a verse which helps me make sense of this all.. it reads
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem (haiti?), not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” Acts 20:22-24
Shalom and love to you all!
luke
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