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