Feb 13, 2012 - au revoir Haiti

The end of a journey, or is it just the beginning. The last stop on this whirl wind tour was back to DuBuission to visit the school of the Good Shepard. All things happen in the order that they do for good reason. Had the students been at the school the first time we visited, I'm not sure we would have been able to recognize some of the things that seemed obvious to us today. Since we have visited 4 schools that Star of Hopes is actively helping, we could see the difference in this poor little country school in comparison to the others....

Feb 12, 2012 - Mass with Fr Roderick

We left bright and early this morning so we wouldn't be late for mass at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help in Dubuisson. It takes over an hour to get there. When we pulled into the gates we evoked much curiosity. Father Roderick knew we were coming and why, but I don't think many others were aware of the reason for our visit. It was such a moving mass service. Even though we could not understand many of the words being spoken the order of the mass was exactly the same as it is at home and delivered with so much spirituality you can't help but be...

Feb 11, 2012 - You can't get there from here

When we started off on today's adventure Barry said, "you realize you can't get there from here". The truth of the matter is that you have to drive out of the city and around, then back towards the city to get the short distance to our destination. When we were making our loop we came upon a huge area of land that has been cleared and row after row of cement houses are being built. The first section of the land that they are building the houses on has over 100 little 3 room 400 sq ft houses. The houses have a small living space and 2 small...

Feb 10, 2012 - Four-Wheeling in Haiti

I am sure that you are tiring of hearing me say "what an amazing experience" but I just can't help myself. Today started with a trip to Dano Christian School in the southern part of Haiti. It took us at least two hours to get there. Haiti only has 2 major roads in the entire country and as of today we have driven on both of them. Driving and riding In a car in Haiti is an experience all its own. Normal rules of the road do not apply. People drive on either or both sides of the road, passing and jockeying for position continuously. After...

Feb 9, 2012 - A Look At Both Worlds

We started our day today at 7:00am and didn't stop again until after dark. Today was such a contrast of worlds! Our first stop this morning after a 2 hour drive was at a school in Jeanton. It is near the town of St Mark but too remote to be on a map. When I tell you that the last part of the drive was on a bad road you have no idea! Most any cow path in a pasture is a smoother ride then this was. Once again, when we arrived at the school we were treated like royalty. This school has 375 students and most all of them walk more than an hour...

Feb 8, 2012 - First day in Haiti

We arrived in Port Au Prince at 9:20 on Wednesday morning. It was immediately obvious that we are in the true sense of the word foreigners. Barry Borror our very capable escort guided us through the airport and managed to procure men to collect and haul our bags for us. No small task since we had 8 50lbs bags between us plus our carry on. Tony Boursiquot was there waiting for us with his car. Tony took us to his home where we will be staying. He and his wife Myrtha have a beautiful home which Tony built himself. He had brunch ready and...

May 8, 2011 - Sunday visiting 2 Churches and Schools

Sunday morning began with a breakfast of delicious sausage and pepper omelets, and sweet slices of pineapple. The coffee in Haiti is excellent. After breakfast, Zachary played with Lucky a bit. After breakfast we spent a few minutes relaxing on the roof. It is remarkable how many people live in the area immediately surrounding us. Many live in tents, some live in dwellings with cinder block walls and corrugated tin roofs. We got ready to go to the Bethesda Church in Cabaret. Cabaret is a town about an hour and a half northwest of...

May 7, 2011 - The Trip Begins!

Our trip began at 3:45 am on Saturday morning when the Collins arrived at the Wicks house. The Collins drove with their full-size van. With the back bench seat removed, there was still room for the 7 of us, and a lot of luggage in the back. But in order to maximize the materials we brought with us, we fit all our personal belongings into personal backpacks and five carry-ons, and use the other two carry-ons, as well as our 14 checked bags, to bring supplies to Haiti. The checked bags consisted of 11 crates each weighing approximately 50...

Dec 7, 2010 - beach redux

Back in Labadee, Haiti, only a few days after we were here on the last cruise. Even though it’s just a small spit of land, having a second day gave us a chance to thoroughly explore all the nooks and crannies that we missed last time cameras in hand. As we looked for interesting photographic possibilities, we kept getting in trouble. A Haitian policeman retrieved Ken after he hopped a barrier to get a better angle on the cruise ship. And I got thrown out of the dock area when I went under a chain to do the same. After that we stuck to the...

Dec 3, 2010 - on the beach

One of the first places we cruised to in the early 1970‘s was Haiti. It was a beautiful, but desperately poor country then and is far more desperately poor now. Even then it was surprising how much better life was on the other half of the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. Certainly Haiti has had some bad luck at times; the recent earthquake is the most dramatic example of this, but our country has sent bazillions in aid over the last forty years and indulged in our favorite military maneuvers in an effort...

May 26, 2010 - Reverse Culture Shock

Wednesday, Day 8 Reverse Culture Shock Today we fly home. Its 7:50 am and we are waiting for our plane in the departure gate at the Port au Prince airport. Peter warned me about it: The reverse culture shock is already hitting me. People are bragging about getting upgraded to first class for $150. People are changing $5s and $10s so they can buy souveniers. Missionarires are swaggering around the departure gate feeling good about themselves in their matching tee shirts. Rich is upstairs getting some water and food and we’ve started to...

May 25, 2010 - Delivery Day

Tuesday, Day 7 Delivery Day Day 7 (Tuesday) Today we left to make water filter deliveries at 6 am. We spent most of the day in the Arcahaie area of town which is south of Pierre Payen. Arcahaie is a maze of single wide dirt roads with tons of homes crammed in there in haphazard ways (no neat grids like in the states). I'd be surprised if anyone had running water. Our first delivery was at a home just off the main highway so we parked on the shoulder and walked in behind the buildings that lined the highway where some homes were located....