October Trip Recap - Church and Beach

We were fortunate that our trip to Haiti was over a Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to attend both morning and evening services at Eglise de Dieu Vivant.  The church may look very simple from the outside, but inside it is packed to the rafters with people, music, more music, and so much joy and love for God.  In addition to the church choir there is also a men's singing group, a young women's singing group, and the church band and sound system.

Front row of the choir

 

 

 

Check out these videos from the services: 

 

At the evening service I was given the opportunity to speak.  I gave a little talk in French (thanks to the congregation for listening to my rusty French!) about the importance of patience as demonstrated by the story of Jacob and all of the years he worked until he was able to marry Rachel (Genesis 29).  Haiti is a country that has been through so much hardship, and I saw so much patience and determination amongst the people that I met there.  Patience is a quality that is often lacking in the U.S. these days.

To give further testament to the natural beauty that Haiti offers, here are some pictures taken at a beach near Jeremie.  There is actually what we believe to be a submarine that ran aground at this particular beach.  The hatch is just above the water and you can climb on top of it.  We are still trying to investigate how long it has been there for.

 

 

 

Tom demonstrates the best way to get there!

 

October Trip Recap - Further Afield

The day after our work at the future site of the auto mechanic school, we went on a special trip to the countryside outside of Jeremie.  Accompanied by Pastor Carl and others from the church we were taken to visit a couple of "satellite" churches that are sponsored by Eglise de Dieu Vivant to minister to the local communities in these rural areas.  Pastor Carl has mentored and trained many of the pastors at these churches.  If you drive a ways outside Jeremie, after awhile the road ends and you are on your own!  It was a bumpy ride to say the least, up the mountain, down the mountain, and across the river....but it was SO worth it.  Here are some pictures to tell the story...

Country church it took us over 2 hours to reach

 

The congregation was gathered in an outdoors chapel and singing when we arrived.  In Haiti it is not uncommon for women to have their head covered in church.

 

The pastor of this church is in his 70s and walks into the nearest town once a month for supplies

 

On our way to a second church we stopped the van and got out for awhile to eat some lunch and admire the scenery.  Across the street was what looked to me like an abandoned building.  I went over to it and looked inside to find a blackboard on the wall with the date from a couple days prior written on it.  It wasn't an abandoned building but a functioning school.  We hear so much in the U.S. about underfunded schools with minimal resources, but that is a lot more than students have here.

 

Twisting mountain road

 

 

Simply beautiful...

 

School building

Interior

 

Some curious local children came up to the back of our van.  We asked our Haitian friends Wilbens and Guimy to give them the leftovers from lunch.

 

 

 

Andrew, Megan, and Wilbens with the local crew.  Notice the women in the background carrying sacks on their heads.

 

It was a long journey!

 

 



 

 

 

 



October Trip Recap - Future Site of the School

Happy 2014!  We are certainly looking forward to the awesome things that God will be bringing about in Jeremie this year.  It's gonna be a great one!  This past October myself, Tom, and five other Team Haiti members were able to travel to Jeremie to visit Eglise de Dieu Vivant and meet with Pastor Carl and the members of his church that we will be working with, as well as visit the future site of the auto mechanic school.  It was an amazing trip, and what really made it great was meeting the members of the church community, getting to know them better, and seeing firsthand how excited people are about this opportunity.  Haitians are nothing if not gracious and friendly hosts!

We got to Jeremie by a brief flight from the capital, Port-au-Prince, on the infamous Tortug Air.



Arriving at the Jeremie Airport on Tortug Air

The first place we visisted was the future site of the auto mechanic school.  It is going to be situated on a currently vacant lot that is next to a building comprised of several classrooms which can be used for community education purposes.  The school will probably start out using some of the classroom space in this building until the actual building in the lot next door is complete and fully functional.  When we got there the foundation for the back wall had been dug and more rocks, which fill the foundation for the wall, were being delivered.  They don't have a lot of the heavy lifting equipment in Haiti that we are used to seeing in the U.S.  You get it done by hand!

Unloading Rocks

 

After spending the night at our guest house we returned the next morning to help by working on the wall and clearing the site.  Before the rest of the walls can be built the site had to be cleared of all trash and debris and some trees had to be moved.  These pictures should give a better idea of the site and the work that was done.

 

Pastor Carl examines the foundation of the wall, which is composed of rocks and cement

 

 

Diani and Gisele hard at work lifting rocks

 

 

Tom learns how to make cement blocks.  There was no cement mixer so shovels were used to mix bags of dry cement with large buckets of water.

Andrew in action chopping down a palm with a machete.  The plan is to replant these palms elsewhere.

 

Stacy and some downed palms

 

The team in front of the pile of raked trash and palm fronds that are ready to be removed

 

We were blessed to be working alongside many members from the church and local communities who are very excited about the project.  One woman was especially eager to volunteer as she hopes to become a student at the school once it is up and running.

Some curious local children!  According to the CIA World Factbook, nearly 35% of Haiti's population is under age 14

 



 



 

 





A Bit of Background...

Welcome to the inaugral post of "An Auto Mechanic School in Jeremie, Haiti."  We hope you will come along with us for the ride of getting this school up and running.  First of all though, you're probably wondering who are "we," what is this school, and why Jeremie?  The "we" who are maintaining this blog are Megan and Tom, active attendees of Grace Community Church in Arlington, VA, and also members of Grace's Team Haiti group of volunteers.  Wanting to work with our Haitian brothers and sisters to enact positive and impactful change in Haiti, Grace created a partnership with the Eglise de Dieu Vivant (Church of the Living God) in Jeremie, Haiti, and it's pastor, Carl Dimanche.

Why the Auto Mechanic School?  After many discussions between Tom, Pastor Carl, and other members of Eglise de Dieu Vivant, it was decided that the best way Grace could help the community was to help in setting up an automotive training school that would provide students with a two year education culminating in a diploma that would allow them to seek employment as auto mechanics.  Tom owns an automotive repair company so this is his field of expertise.  Unemployment is a BIG program in Haiti and skilled auto mechanics are actually in need in Jeremie.  Our goal is to get the school up and running and then have the students provide low cost auto maintenance to customers, thus giving them pratical training and generating revenue to make the school self sufficient.  At Grace we are all about helping those we serve be able to stand on their own two feet and take pride and ownership in what they create.  Ever read When Helping Hurts?  We recommend it!

So that brings us to the city of Jeremie.  Jeremie is a remote city and the capital of the Haitian department of La Grande Anse.  It is a beautiful and sunny place on the coast with lush vegetation and warm and friendly people.  Often overlooked due to it's remote location it is the ideal spot for the auto mechanic school as there is actually no one there right now who is qualified to fix the cars that break down.  They are currently put on a ship bound for Port-au-Prince to get repaired, but that is gonna change!