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We are back in Holland. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. More photos to follow. Maybe a few videos too.

Day 8, Saying Goodbye

Today we visited the children that will be occupying the school that we helped build. They are known as the pink school because of the uniforms they wear.

Next we toured the CRWRC disaster relief efforts. We visited two new homes and heard the stories of tenets after the earthquake. There were very pleased and grateful with the assistance they received.

We had lunch at the worksite where we met up with our new Haitian friends for one last time. We had the opportunity to take pictures and share our thanks as well as hear of their gratitude for our assistance and how we will be missed.

Day 7

Today is the last day for working in the village of Flon. Wow the week has gone by so fast. The day started out cloudy and almost cool in relative to the hot mornings we have had.

We broke into groups and got right to work. Some pulled nails, some took forms down while others cut wire and worked on making forms for the columns. After a few forms were made we started to carry buckets of cement. A little information: it takes 88 buckets of cement to fill a column. We filled six columns this week.

The CMRC group photographer took pictures of the Haitian work team throughout the week and made prints to hand out to them. The Haitian team was very excited to receive pictures of themselves.

Day 6

It was another beautiful day in Haiti. Most of the day there was a gentle breeze. The crew was at the site by a little after 8 a.m. The Haitians of course had been there for a while already. They took forms off the top of the walls and were starting to make forms for the columns. Some of us pitched in to help remove nails and screws from the lumber that was removed from the forms. We carried buckets of cement from one side of the worksite to the other. The cement was used to finish filling in the forms on the top of the walls and to start working on the columns. (You can tell by the picture that our arms are getting longer and shoulders are drooping.)

A word about our meals of the day; we had a snack at the worksite that consisted of pumpkin soup that had cabbage, carrots and onions among other things. With the soup we had a pate, which is a Haitian pizza. It was a piece of dough that had a filling of vegetables and then it was deep fried. Lunch was smashed corn. We had lots of ideas about what it was, but we never did confirm it. Dinner tonight was mashed potatoes, with rice, a cream sauce to put on either one, watermelon, salad and mangos. There are a couple Haitian women that work in the kitchen that make some really great yeast rolls, buns and bread. All in all we are eating very well. It sure would be great to have an ice cream sundae!

Day 5

After a day of worship and rest it was back to work on the school. Once again it was quite hot out in the sun with a RealFeel of 98. Today's tasks included putting up the forms to hold the cement, hauling countless buckets of concrete from one end of the worksite to the other, shoveling rock to mix with the cement and finishing tying the rebar.

Foods today included two different types of mango and some fresh coconut which was the highlight of the day for Dany.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Marc Antoine Clément treasurer  of the CRECH Board. It was important for him to be there and see the good progress as he was the one who met with Steve and proposed this project.

It was another great day of collaboration.

Day 4 Worship and Sea Bathing

Today, the Lords Day we worshiped with the Haitians. We were separated into two groups. One group went to the Paradis Church, while the other group went to worship at Caceusse Church. The members that went to the Caceusse Church experienced something a little unusual. Chickens, yes chickens, strutted across the pulpit and down the aisle, with a stop everyone once in a while to eat some ants.  The second group went to the Paradis Church. This service included communion and a baby dedication. Both teams had a translator for part of the service. Both services were approximately 2 and a half hours. These services were held under tarp-tent structures.

After worship time we drove to a seaside place called Sunnybel Beach.  There was plenty of time to wade in the warm waters of Haiti. One of our team members purchased some cooked conch meat from a boat vendor. It was a little tough and the sauce on it was quite spicy. The boat had it's own grill and a bottle was used as the cash box. There was a pleasant ocean breeze. There was a restaurant that served us a buffet meal of fried chicken.

A tidbit or two: Our guest house does not have a water heater. We have power for a limited time during the day; a few hours in the morning and from six o'clock in the evening to about eight thirty and then the generator kicks in. We use limited lights so that we don't use up our battery power. A nice bonus is all the stars that are visible at night.

The day started with Christian singing a song for us which he had written.

Day three, touring through the streets of Haiti

This day was set aside for an earthquake tour. We were all up bright and early, the roosters and the chickens made sure of that. A member of Christian Reformed World Missions, Jennifer, was to be our tour guide and personal driver. Jennifer was flexible, she would take us where ever we wanted to go. She made a suggestion about going up the mountain and stopping at a few overlook spots, go to a museum and then stop for lunch. It sounded good to all of us. What she failed to tell us is that the roads we were going to take were not very smooth. There was a lot of turning, bouncing and sliding and this was inside the car. The streets of Haiti are hard to describe. It appears that there is not a speed limit and the other lane can be used by the car behind you or the car that is coming towards you. While you are wondering what the car in front of you is going to do a motorcycle will weave around you. The motorcyclist will beep their horn as a warning sign. Another thing about the roads is that they are very rough, no matter if they are paved or dirt.

The view from one side atop the mountain was gorgeous, winding roads through green hills. The view on the other side of the mountain was very different, it was the city of Port-au-Prince. The city seemed to go on forever, it looked like a city of cement, it was hard to tell if there was any green trees or grass down there.

We spent a little time at a museum, where we learned about Carnival which is going to be starting in just a few days. Jennifer told us a little bit about Vodo and how people are starting to believe that it is people like the Christians that are getting rid of Vodo. We didn't feel too bad about that.

After the museum we went for lunch at the Baptist Mission. We could all order what we wanted and that made some of us very happy. Just ask Kelly.

Later in the day we were introduced to the Fish and Egg mission. A gentleman by the name of Christian showed us the chicken coop that he has. He has enough chickens to lay 1500 eggs every day. He also has a fish hatchery that has hundreds of fish in each little cement pond. What does he do with all this stuff you might ask? He feeds the children. What a awesome man.

That pretty much wraps up the day. (Internet not working so well. Pictures later.)