Priceless remembrances: Haiti 10 premier

Finding ourselves in the midst of cosmetic repairs of the new house recently, has been moving in many ways. We are blessed by the home & the refuge that it represents for us here. We finally feel truly settled & “at home” in Haiti, though we’ve only been in it a few weeks.

At the same time we are cleaning up and painting over remaining stark reminders engraved into our walls from the tragic event that occurred 3 years ago this month. Life for us is familiar in Port Au Prince now, day in and day out.  We go about our work, meet up with friends, grocery shop and spend time with family like everyone else. Every once in a while though, the 5pm hour draws near and a wave washes over me…as the thoughts come, “What if it had happened now…?” “Where would I have been, what would it be like for me? For us?”  It was a Tuesday late afternoon/evening, very much like today, very much like this moment.

I am a part of this society now, of this place, of these people, that were wrenched apart in a few short moments by utter loss, terror and brokenness, yet I cannot fully comprehend it.

While we repair the few cracks and crevices left behind in this place, the constant reminder of all that was lost for some sits right next door. We have a lovely balcony. We do EVERYTHING out there. We pass most of our days that are at home, eating, talking, working, planning, worshipping, praying and relaxing up there. Yet a few feet below on one side, lays our neighbor’s house in ruins. He sleeps in a tiny outbuilding in the far back. It is just barely big enough for his freshly made bed. He washes in the front area near the gate and cooks there as well. It has been THREE years. This is how he has lived since his large beautiful home collapsed that day. I try to picture how it must have looked before, but I can’t know. I can’t understand or fathom what he has been through and how he has managed to live facing the evidence of his losses every single day since.

(there is a small glimpse of it to the right in this photo)

JPHRO, Sean Penn’s relief organization, came this week. The owner has finally been brave enough to break his home up into pieces over the past few months. It was still just as it fell, when we came here for the first time back in September. They measured the lot and the depth of rubble.  I think they plan to return and load it all away one day soon. It has to be done…if he’s ever going to have the chance to start again. The job of taking it down is monumental, let alone the work and expense to rebuild.

This week was also the premiere of Haiti 10, the documentary based on one of our church community partners. We weren’t able to attend the special presentation hosted by Victor Wooten just now, and neither were most of the family that it was about. Pastor Pierre and Ron represented everyone here. Jonathan Moyer was good enough to share this clip from the event for us to watch on Facebook.  It was astounding!!!  Victor re-enacts the day of the earthquake in a pure & absolutely MOVING musical performance. What a humble man…

We have been re-focused and re-energized for the work at hand, while remembering the events that God used to call us to this remarkable place, where we live and work and learn something new about ourselves, the world, or God Himself, each and every day!

2013 - off to a good start!

Wow, the holidays flew by... Ted, Tynan & I all met up a week ago yesterday in south FL & then flew down the next morning to prepare for our first team of the year. Emma arrived Wednesday morning & Callie on Thursday, so everyone is back “home” and happy to be here. We each were refreshed by our visits with family & friends and returned very ready to get back to work!

WORK

Wheaton Academy is one of our favorite teams to host, because they are HUGE & full of energy, but most of all because they are some of the most amazing teens that we’ve ever met. The team of 43 arrived Weds afternoon with smiles on their faces & servant's hearts.  I am always blown away at the way that this group is willing to embrace the huge change in culture so readily. I never hear complaints, just worship, prayer & praise out of the mouths of these students the entire week.

This year their stay seemed to fly by so fast! They had a packed week with two very big & busy medical clinics, a children’s program, art class, home visits, helping in a local orphanage, and painting the brand new classrooms that they raised the funds for & had built last summer.

It was a tearful goodbye for many this morning. The seniors will graduate at the end of this school year & not be coming back with the group. We are thankful for the the legacy that they hand down to the students that will follow, and for the sacrifices that they have made on behalf of the children in Pastor Thimote’s church OVC program.

HOME

In addition to coming back to our first team, we landed immediately in our new home – THANK YOU again to those of you who helped make that happen. (You know who you are!) It’s unanimous that we LOVE it!

Even though we pretty much camped out on the dining room floor this first week with pads & mattresses, had no electricity or running water, and spent all of our spare time scrubbing, scraping concrete, paint or who knows what off the tile floors & prepping walls for paint – we slept soundly and woke up smiling every morning.

We have felt welcomed by our neighbors, who seem to find it interesting, rather than “entertaining” (like our last neighborhood) to have a “blan” (white) family move in. As far as I know we are the only American Caucasian family in this general area. We have had people pitch in to help out in several ways, out of kindness, rather than a motive of compensation. It is a quiet, peaceful area, where everyone seems to be calm & friendly so far.

Ted had the first feeling of “pay off” for the tumultuous move, a couple of days ago, when he headed out early to make coffee and start breakfast at the guesthouse. As he left, he found that our vehicle had a flat tire. Normally this would have been a huge stressor – trying to figure out how to get there in time, having to try to change a tire in our tiny little parking alcove. Instead he walked the four blocks, which he had already planned on doing & dealt with it later when he had time,...in the breezy shade & spaciousness of our new drive way area!

Here is a look at our first day in the new house:

Renovation Realities - Haiti: First Look from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.

Watch for Renovation Realities – Haiti, first installments coming soon…

Art class for orphans - self portraits

World Orphans puts a high value on holistic care for the orphans in their programs - so going beyond the essentials and making sure that the kids' needs are being met spiritually, emotionally and physically.

It's been fabulous to have Callie Himsl here as our current long term intern. Callie came on a Journey 117 trip last year and had it laid on her heart to do more. At the end of August, she packed up life in So. California, left her job and moved here. She lives & works with us here as we reach out to children, churches, and communities to help stop the cycle of the orphan.

Here is a glimpse of her work in one of our churches yesterday:

 Art class - part 1

Art class - part 2

Art class worship

Art work slide show

The first Safe Birth training follow up

One of our goals this month is to get around to each of the churches that sent ladies to the Safe Birth training at the end of October.  I am hoping to meet up with them in a more personal setting to touch base and see what their feedback is from the training, what skills they have been able to use, what they are struggling with and answer any questions.

Today was my first chance to get to sit down with a few of them!

Meet…the Safe Birth team from Pastor Gaston's church:

(left to right) Mickerline, Ginette, Celiane & Jeannise, known as “FiFi”

So, I opened our time together by asking them how things were going.

Celiane, sitting in the middle, quickly, but timidly raised her hand. Her face lit up as she stated that 8 days after the training...she delivered her niece’s baby. Wow!  

C's niece considered going to the hospital, but didn’t because she was scared (the hospitals here are known for extremely rude & disrespectful treatment of patients) Then her labor progressed too far for her to travel safely. Celiane said that she was nervous, but remembered everything, even how to deliver the placenta which was "a little challenging". It was her first time even attending a birth!! She glowed as she shared the details of bringing her “great niece” into the world.

Two other women had been using their blood pressure monitoring skills. Ginette helped her neighbor who had mild blood pressure issues. Mickerline said that her mom (Ginette) wasn’t feeling well, so she took her blood pressure and found it was dangerously high according to what we had taught. She knew to take her mom to the doctor immediately & said that the MD confirmed the BP reading, gave her medicine & now she is much better.

We talked further about various health issues, continuing skills development, and teamwork. Then I prayed over them and asked God to go before them with wisdom and protection as ministry opportunities arose. One of their greatest concerns is that while they are willing to serve, they have seen others in their culture blamed & killed when something went wrong - even when it couldn’t be helped. They know not to offer any care beyond their basic training and only as a last resort for women that would otherwise be delivering alone. Yet they boldly trust God with the fact that every circumstance of providing help may put them at risk for retaliation.

Please keep all of these brave women in your prayers!

What a fabulous follow up. I can't wait to hear what the other 60 women have been up to now...

Rebecca