Thurs. - Grace Village

Today we are going to Grace Village and will be serving the elderly, meeting and playing with the orphans and doing some service projects, including painting the basketball court.  I'm looking forward for the team to experience the hope and blessing of the impact on these people's lives.  The first day on the ground during the water truck deliveries was the most intense and eye opening experiences we encountered.  Gradually, the team is seeing hope and a future for the Haitians with some of the programs offered and developed with and through Healing Haiti and other organizations.  It is and honor and a privlege to co-lead this group of Bell/Alamco employees.  We came as co-workers, however, we are bonding in a special way that we truly are becoming a family.  It is special to see how each one in the group is contributing and being vulnerable and open.  I really am enjoying the word of the day at the end of each day.  Sharing about our experiences and helping each other work through the difficult things we've seen is very healing.    This trip is not for the faint of heart.  It is gut wrenching at times and at other times it is the most fulfilling, joyful experience.  My prayer today is that we continue to press in to what the Lord may have us learn, understand, and absorb into our lives. 

Haiti Teen Challenge visit - Wednesday

Today was a day where progress was shown. Yesterday was a very difficult day for the team and me. We witnessed the worst starvation and poorest districts I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t understand why Haiti is this way. I’ve had trouble thinking about how it could get this bad and why we can’t permanently change the country overnight. I’ve fanaticized about having super powers so I could lift the entire county up and carefully place every single structure, man woman and child down on the ground in a new paradise. But I can’t, no one can and I now understand the reality of true hardship… Hardship is not enough. Survival! Real survival. This is not a movie, not a bad day at work, not the type of difficulties most of us go through because we can’t afford what we think we need. This is true survival and it tore me apart yesterday. Yesterday my word of the day was disappointment. It was the only thing I could think of because I couldn’t (still can’t) understand how a place full of so many people can be such a hard and miserable place to live. However, today my word of the day is progress.

            Today I traveled with part of my group to Teen Challenge, an organization from Minnesota that expanded its efforts to Haiti. For those that are not aware, Teen Challenge runs a program that helps people conquer alcohol and drug addiction. In Haiti they do the same but also put a great emphasis on helping the next generation break the generational curse. It was explained to us that in addition to drugs and alcohol an extremely significant aspect of this country’s troubles are rooted in broken homes. It is a normal way of life for men to have multiple children with multiple women and then never take responsibility of those children. It’s been going on for generations and seems to be the rule, not the exception. Most young men in this country don’t care about family, don’t care about morals and think the only way to break out of poverty is to do it immorally. To rob, cheat and steal is the fastest and easiest way to earn a buck. Many do all of these through the drug trade and become dealers, users, or both; and on top of that don’t respect a family life that could save their children and guide them in a moral direction. It’s one of those “I saw my dad do it so I can too” type of scenarios. In order to break this generational curse this next generation of young men needs to understand that you can live with integrity, moral guidelines and still make it out of poverty. It may not be the easiest way but it is the correct way.

            Teen Challenge educates these men how to live morally through teachings of the bible. This two-year program also provides education for specific trades in mechanics, computers and science etc. When they complete it, they will have marketable skills in an extremely poor job market. They assist the men in building personal relationships with business owners so they become next on the hiring block once a job position opens. They also graduate respecting the importance of raising their own children so their sons and daughters grow up with a solid moral foundation built on integrity. What is better, getting out of poverty fast with evil, or a little slower the right way?

            I didn’t get the story of all the men I met today but I can say with my own integrity attached that the ones I did meet are good men. They have a chance for a future and if they can stay on track and live the moral life that the bible teaches this generational curse will eventually be broken.

The progress I witnessed today was unexpected and amazing. I now know not all of Haiti is broken. Healing Haiti and Teen Challenge have so many years of hard work ahead of them but I can at least fall asleep tonight knowing that progress is indeed being made.

Dustin Imholte

More pictures from water truck and FMSC day

A few pictures from yesterday (May 20).

More will be posted tonight. Such a great day! 

May 20: Water Truck Delivery and Feed My Starving Children

Day one of serving is complete! We went to three locations to deliver water in Cite Soleil, the poorest slum in Port-au-Prince. Our first two stops were in two districts and a tent city within Cite Soleil.  It was very difficult to see the level of poverty. Immediately when we got off the truck, the kids swarmed us. They wanted us to hold them, and we did all we could to hold as many of them as we possibly could at one time. We saw the suffering and devastation they live in and it was immense - so sad, and just so much of it. We learned before we went that some of the kids are child slaves, and so it was real privilege to just give them as much love and attention as we could. We pray for them, and are thankful that there are other organizations that work to rescue them and provide a better life for them. 

The suffering seemed to go on forever. The kids were incredibly sweet. We discovered the world's most beautiful smiles on the faces of children in Cite Soleil. While some of the team played with the kids, a few others helped fill all the buckets with water. Long lines formed immediately, and one by one we filled the buckets as fast as we could. In fact, at our last stop in one of the tent cities, there were so many people that we had to change our plans, go get another water truck, and come back and serve them. 

After our last water truck stop, we went to visit a Feed My Starving Children location. We were able to help serve lunch. It's an after school program through Haiti Initiative, and the kids have to go to school in order to get lunch and then play soccer. Many of us have packed food through FMSC, so it was phenomenal to see the food be distributed and eaten.

Dustin - Today was overwhelming, because it was so sad to see what the people have to face. There's no way to comprehend this until you see it. The best part of the day was when we ran out of water at our third stop because there were so many people, and we changed plans going back to get another tank of water because there were so many people who showed up.  

Shane - the funniest thing that happened to me was that the kids would scratch at my tattoos and then look under their fingernails to see if any of it got under thier nails. 
 

Brian - It was beautiful because they were coming out of everywhere. The kids were fantastic. They all worked together which was impressive considering they all need water so much.
 

Pam quote (after admiring the level of filth and mashed mango that covered her t-shirt): "I've got love all over me!"

We're having a little trouble with our wifi, so we will post pictures tomorrow.

Day One - Settled in and Ready to Start Serving!

We're wrapping up our first day, and we are so happy to be here!  Traveling went smoothly, and we got through customs easily, even though we had 18 large suitcases FULL of donations. We have had unprecedented donations surrounding this trip. Each bag was tapped out at the maximum of 50 lbs of contents, so that means we brought 900 pounds of donations!  Thank you to all our friends and family who were so generous. We are incredibly privileged to be the messengers of your generosity.  And, we had about $4000 in financial donations (we'll get you the total soon). You, our friends, smashed our goal of $500.

After we landed in Haiti, we loaded the tap tap (covered truck) and headed straight to our guest house. It's a wonderful home for us to stay at. We settled in and then had a great taco dinner together. Elisa, the  Operations Director, shared with us about the ministry of Healing Haiti and her heart for being a missionary here. We're all so impressed by the intentionality and devotion of Healing Haiti to serve the people of Haiti and work towards progress and empowerment of the people.

What did everyone think of today?
Pam - What I liked the best is that even though we don't know each other that well, it already seems like we've known each other a long time. And, I'm so glad we didn't crash and burn. (Pam, we're proud of you for overcoming your flying fears!) I'm eager for tomorrow when we'll deliver water and start really serving.
Jay - I can't wait to play soccer with the kids tomorrow afternoon! (We played soccer with some neighborhood kids this afternoon as a warm-up).
Brian - The ride here reminded me of my off-roading days.
Shawn - First plane rides today, and it was a little rough, but glad it all worked out.
Mark and Jim - we really enjoyed a swim in the rain after a long day of travel.
Mark - There are some AMAZING potholes.
Shawn - Yeah, we have nothing to complain about.
Mark - Minnesota's the land of 10,000 small potholes.
Pam - Yeah, it makes you thankful for how incredibly spoiled we are, and we don't realize it until you see what it's like here.

Tomorrow morning we will deliver water to Cite Soleil, the poorest slum in the Haiti. It promises to be an intense morning where we will be with people who are suffering greatly.  We can't wait to help deliver such a basic need. In the afternoon, we will play soccer with a team of kids, and then head to the Apparent Project, an organization dedicated to employing and training adults with practical skills. We will have so much to serve after tomorrow - our first day of serving.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.
Here's to a good night's sleep!

The team