5 people = 10 checked bags + 5 carry on bags + 5 fit-below-the-seat-in-front-of you-bags.
Bags filled with medical supplies, LOTS of hand sanitizer, gifts & clothes for children & adults, snacks, bug spray, flashlights, water bottles, sun screen and passports.
We are meeting tomorrow to weigh the suitcases making sure that we do not go over the 50 pound limit and make sure that all medication is NOT expired & clearly labeled or we could have our entire medical supply confiscated! Getting SO excited now, getting very close! Trying not to be concerned about the well-being of my family while I am away; drama tends to "just happen".
So thankful for all the prayers we've received for the trip! Off to bed to get rest for a busy day tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
4 Days Until We Leave!
I have decided that I do not have enough time to know enough Haitian Creole to be able to converse with any great depth. Glad we will have the 2 interpreters working with us at our temporary clinic, they will be worth way more than the 300 we are paying for their services.
Today as I am packaging up little hair supplies for the girls and toys for the boys I am praying over each precious child that they will go to. Praying they know love, safety and the Creator who made them believing there is a special plan for their life.
I'm off to buy some more snack size ziplock bags. Preparing...praying...packing!
Today as I am packaging up little hair supplies for the girls and toys for the boys I am praying over each precious child that they will go to. Praying they know love, safety and the Creator who made them believing there is a special plan for their life.
I'm off to buy some more snack size ziplock bags. Preparing...praying...packing!
Packing up gifts for the boys and girls.
Friday, March 26, 2010
One Week From Right Now!
Yikes! I have so much to get done before we go and at this moment in exactly one week the 5 of us will be at the airport waiting to board our plane. I am nearly packed, which is great, though there are those odds-n-ends of things that need to still get done. Such as planning for leaving a teenager behind with good friends and the possibility of tragedy or destiny "happening" and our demise takes place. Just in case I don't get our will done everything goes to our 4 boys just so everybody knows! I fully intend to return home because I fully intend to return to Haiti again and again!
I am desiring to do more with my life, to help others more; to live out the life my Creator and Savior intended me to live. I am believing and praying that this trip will open my heart and mind to the direction I am to be walking on this earth.
Preparing my home... preparing my heart...
I am desiring to do more with my life, to help others more; to live out the life my Creator and Savior intended me to live. I am believing and praying that this trip will open my heart and mind to the direction I am to be walking on this earth.
Preparing my home... preparing my heart...
Friday, March 19, 2010
Two Weeks From Today-What WAS I Thinking?
OK, so this picture is almost 7 years old now, it is still one of my favorites. Not just because the wind is gently blowing my hair in the right direction & I'm 25 pounds thinner but because it marks a time in my life when I was starting over. Starting a new marriage after the tragic end of another, starting a new career having just graduated with my Bachelor's degree in nursing and moving to the 'homeland' of my birth family to work and get to know them better and continue the mourning and healing of losing my brother, Mike. That was a long sentence. That was a lot to experience not to mention the pain, burden and guidance needed in connection to my boys and their future & healing. I just chatted online this morning with a wonderful friend who just arrived in Romania to work for 2 1/2 years. I am planning a trip for ONE week! This is no commitment in comparison to hers.
Still, who knows what this experience will open the door for me to? One day, one snapshot as we gaze into the future (and the wind), we can never know where life will take us.
Today I have decided to take a step of healing and pack some brand new clothes that have been waiting here for a little boy to wear and give them to Haitian boys who need them. God, please protect the little ones.
So, if I can type with tear-filled eyes I will finish by saying that I know I am already changed in just preparing for going to Haiti. Though I have never lived through an earthquake, I have experienced loss and deep pain. I look forward to embracing the hurting, hugging the lost and listening to the stories of heartache.
This was the journey that was waiting for me as I gazed into the future....
Thursday, March 18, 2010
15 Days Before We Leave
Yesterday we had an informative meeting with a member of the organization we are going through. All our questions were answered like...how many and how big are the mosquitoes? Answer: there are MANY and they are very small and leave large welts on some. Yep, that will be me! This explains why we will be sleeping under mosquitoe nets. Also, the electricity where we are staying will only be on when we request the gas powered generator be turned on such as when we want to take a shower. Oh, and there is no hot water; we were told that it will be very refreshing after a day in the 90 degrees or hotter temps and as soon as you get out you dry off and put on bug spray with DEET to kill the mosquitoes especially the ones that might be carrying malaria.
After all the warnings about bugs, the heat and "don't drink the water" and "don't eat food from street vendors" or "wear ear plugs at night because the roosters start crowing at 2 am" we were told that about 98% of people who go to Haiti with this organization, VOHM, return often again and again. This makes me believe that whatever hardships we may face the return that we will receive will be beyond compare.
I have one suitcase nearly packed with the clothes I will be giving away and am ready to start a second one for the nursing scrubs and the clothes I will be wearing in the evenings after the shower and the reapplying of 40% DEET.
Today I purchased some beautiful hand made jewelry from a student of mine. I will be giving those as gifts to our host family and to others I feel led to give to-from one tribe to another- they will be beautiful on the Haitian women! Thank you "V" for your beautiful handiwork!
We haven't yet received enough money to pay for this amazing opportunity but as the Creole saying goes: Si se Bondye ki voye, Li peye fre ou. "If it's God who sends, He'll pay your expenses".
Getting VERY excited now! Ou gen bagay kont marengwen? Or as they say in Creole "Do you have something for mosquitoes?"
After all the warnings about bugs, the heat and "don't drink the water" and "don't eat food from street vendors" or "wear ear plugs at night because the roosters start crowing at 2 am" we were told that about 98% of people who go to Haiti with this organization, VOHM, return often again and again. This makes me believe that whatever hardships we may face the return that we will receive will be beyond compare.
I have one suitcase nearly packed with the clothes I will be giving away and am ready to start a second one for the nursing scrubs and the clothes I will be wearing in the evenings after the shower and the reapplying of 40% DEET.
Today I purchased some beautiful hand made jewelry from a student of mine. I will be giving those as gifts to our host family and to others I feel led to give to-from one tribe to another- they will be beautiful on the Haitian women! Thank you "V" for your beautiful handiwork!
We haven't yet received enough money to pay for this amazing opportunity but as the Creole saying goes: Si se Bondye ki voye, Li peye fre ou. "If it's God who sends, He'll pay your expenses".
Getting VERY excited now! Ou gen bagay kont marengwen? Or as they say in Creole "Do you have something for mosquitoes?"
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Learning Creole & Haitian History
M'ap arann kreyol. (I am learning Creole) It is a beautiful language and listening to a c.d. is very helpful to get the correct pronunciation. I have a list of some of the best-known proverbs which apparently form an integral part of Haitian culture. One is; Sa ki pa touye ou, li angrese ou meaning That which doesn't kill you, makes you fat. Interesting! I thought that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger but I rather like the sound of this since my weight gain in these past few years can be a visual sign of 'being made stronger'!
I have been saddened to learn, once again, of a beautiful culture with beautiful people being transformed after being "discovered" by those from another country. From what I've been reading the land was inhabited by the Arawak Tribe and was virtually all wiped out through disease, war and being made slaves. Then when the French came in and needed more slaves to work for them they went to Africa and basically got them and sadly the harsh treament caused the slaves to die rather quickly. Eventually the slaves came together and fought for their freedom and won. Yet the country has had civil war, harsh and cruel leadership and is the most impoverished country in the western hemispere today. I feel bad that I never realized this country's struggle until the earthquake made the news.
Those who've been helping in Haiti for years do want our help now. "Our" meaning any of us that have more than the average Haitian. That pretty much includes every one of us on the rez. What they don't want is for us to come in and just try to fix everything; what they want is for the Haitians to be trained to fix things for themselves. I have seen the long term problems when government and well meaning people come in to fix and "help" the poor people on the rez. Many will become a people that no longer know or want to care for themselves. Many learn a sense of entitlement meaning that they think they are owed food, owed money, owed a place to live and will stand in any line or fill out any paperwork to get what they are owed. It becomes a way of life.
Right now Haiti is in survival mode and truly need to be given food to eat and water to drink and even clothes to wear. As quickly as we can we need to come alongside of them to help them learn to care for themselves once again so that they may never learn to depend on a government or even well-meaning people.
There is a Haitian proverb meaning "there is no way fully to comprehend another's pain" (Woch nan dlo pa konnen doule woch nan soley) As I prepare my heart for this brief trip I do realize that there is no way for me to fully understand the reality of their world or of their struggle to survive. I know that I am blessed for even today with what little we own we have more than a typical Haitian will ever see in a lifetime.
As I continue to pack items I will leave in Haiti and learn a few more phrases and words in Creole I seem to be spending most of my time preparing my mind and heart.
Ki kote wout sa a mennen? Where does this road lead? Hmm, I wonder....
I have been saddened to learn, once again, of a beautiful culture with beautiful people being transformed after being "discovered" by those from another country. From what I've been reading the land was inhabited by the Arawak Tribe and was virtually all wiped out through disease, war and being made slaves. Then when the French came in and needed more slaves to work for them they went to Africa and basically got them and sadly the harsh treament caused the slaves to die rather quickly. Eventually the slaves came together and fought for their freedom and won. Yet the country has had civil war, harsh and cruel leadership and is the most impoverished country in the western hemispere today. I feel bad that I never realized this country's struggle until the earthquake made the news.
Those who've been helping in Haiti for years do want our help now. "Our" meaning any of us that have more than the average Haitian. That pretty much includes every one of us on the rez. What they don't want is for us to come in and just try to fix everything; what they want is for the Haitians to be trained to fix things for themselves. I have seen the long term problems when government and well meaning people come in to fix and "help" the poor people on the rez. Many will become a people that no longer know or want to care for themselves. Many learn a sense of entitlement meaning that they think they are owed food, owed money, owed a place to live and will stand in any line or fill out any paperwork to get what they are owed. It becomes a way of life.
Right now Haiti is in survival mode and truly need to be given food to eat and water to drink and even clothes to wear. As quickly as we can we need to come alongside of them to help them learn to care for themselves once again so that they may never learn to depend on a government or even well-meaning people.
There is a Haitian proverb meaning "there is no way fully to comprehend another's pain" (Woch nan dlo pa konnen doule woch nan soley) As I prepare my heart for this brief trip I do realize that there is no way for me to fully understand the reality of their world or of their struggle to survive. I know that I am blessed for even today with what little we own we have more than a typical Haitian will ever see in a lifetime.
As I continue to pack items I will leave in Haiti and learn a few more phrases and words in Creole I seem to be spending most of my time preparing my mind and heart.
Ki kote wout sa a mennen? Where does this road lead? Hmm, I wonder....
Saturday, March 13, 2010
20 Days until we leave for Haiti
Our departure date is officially under 3 weeks away! Day one of the blog to journal this amazing priviledge and adventure I am on to go to Haiti and do what I can to help. I will share bits and pieces of my preparation in these next 20 days.
Right now we are trying to gather the 'right' clothes to wear meaning it must help me to survive the 90 degree high humidity weather yet be practical as I work in a makeshift clinic. The clothing I bring will be left behind-at least 90% of what I bring-so I am also trying to choose colors that reflect the beautiful culture and people who may be wearing what I leave behind.
I am also attempting to learn some Creole in order to not HAVE to depend on an interpreter for the entire time we are there as well as doing alot of reading about the history and culture of the Haitian people. We have our vaccinations on board and just have to get our anti-malaria pills which we will start a couple days before we leave.
Lastly attempting to prepare my heart for what I will see, for the people I will reach out to and for how I will be changed by this experience.
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