Final Days

The last two days seemed to fly by. Friday morning I went with a group to the market to experience a shopping trip. It was a group of four: a Haitian cook, Fanel our interpreter, Emily the doc's daughter, and me. This wasn't some stroll through Walmart to pick up a few items. No shopping carts either! The cook seemed to have had a strategy as she visited multiple vendors, inspected the items, and haggled for the price. Sometimes she was successful; other times she walked away empty handed. I remember she talked about bananas with one woman for 10 minutes (all in Creole of course) and left with none. How much is there really to say about bananas? My biggest concern the whole time we were there was how the heck are we gonna take all this back with us? We finished with a potato sack and an army supply bag full of goods, a big box of fruit, multiple bags of bread, and 50 eggs in cartons. We took the Haitian equivalent of a city bus called a tap-tap, not the family size suburban. Well, Haitians think of everything. There are men running around with wheel barrows waiting to help haul groceries away. Excellent! Total shopping time: 3 hours.

The weather Friday night was beautiful. Constant breeze and a little cool. Bob, whom I traveled with and the director of Hands and Feet, and I went up on the roof to get a view of the area and look at the moon and stars. He got this wild idea to sleep on the roof under the stars. I liked it! We set up cots and mosquito nets and camped out. We shared some stories and laughs and hit the sack. It was great!

Saturday, my last full day, I worked on one of the house mother's computer for a few hours troubleshooting a few issues and cleaning it up from viruses and such. I ended up taking it totally apart and putting it back together. Not sure what that did but it fixed it! And I didn't have any screws left over. Then I wrapped up my accounting project by documenting everything and writing out a step by step process. Later we ventured out downtown to shop for souvenirs. The rest of the day and into the evening we played and sang songs with the kids.

My time in Haiti has come to an end, for now. I've made lasting relationships with the staff of Hands and Feet. I don't know how or when, but I know God will bring us together again to continue His work in Haiti. And yes, God is at work here. He has not forgotten the Haitian people. In fact He has become more real to some since the earthquake. My prayer is they would continue to rebuild and in that, find hope that will allow them to persevere through theses hard times. Most of all, that they would find peace and comfort in knowing Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Another Great Day!

Today was very productive! We worked the kinks out of the process I mentioned in the previous post. I worked with the doc who is the head of the orphanage. For now, he will also be the bookkeeper here and will soon hand that over to an intern. This afternoon I found some scraps of wood left over from a bookcase project some other guys have been working on. I built a little receipt box to hang on the wall in the doc's office. Receipts will be collected there to be scanned.

After the day's work, we visited the downtown market. That is an adventure in itself. Vendors are basically stacked on top of each other. People are everywhere driving motorcycles, pushing wheelbarrows, or just walking around like us. What was even more interesting was a truck trying to squeeze through an intersection where all this was happening. It was nuts! The meat section... well it was... um, how do I put it, not very appetizing. Looking at it made you wonder how many days it has actually been sitting out with the thousands of flies flying all around. And the smell? It was one of a kind. Trust me.

From there we went to a restaurant at this nice hotel with another incredible view of the ocean. Check it out below. I was very impressed with some of the ocean views and beaches. Didn't expect that from Haiti. I've always just thought of the poverty. Well, the food was decent overall. I had to get something different just for the experience. I got grilled cabri which is Creole for goat. The first two pieces were pretty good. Very meaty and had a good flavor. The other pieces were stringy and full of fat and gristle. Now I can say I've eaten goat. That's about the only good thing that came from that meal.

I can't believe I've only got 2 full days left. This week has flown by. I'm really enjoying my time here. The people here are great and are very serious and focused on their mission. It's cool to see that, especially in a place that really needs it.

Working in Paradise

So I got a few days behind on my updates. I made some great progress on my work here. Without giving too much detail I want to document and share the process I came up with. If this will bore you to tears, go ahead and skip the next paragraph. You won't offend me.

We decided to set up a document scanner here. Every receipt/hand written note for a purchase will be scanned and categorized using the organization's chart of accounts. NeatWorks is the software used to maintain the scanned images and data pertained to each receipt. The database files will be stored on DropBox, an online data storage application, so it can be accessed anywhere. To do this, I also had to use a program called Junction. Can't really tell you what it does other than allow me to sync NeatWorks on DropBox. You can google it like I did! The bookkeeper in the US will also have NeatWorks and DropBox on her computer and will be able to access the same scanned documents the orphanage will create. On a routine basis the bookkeeper will export the receipt info from NeatWorks into Quickbooks. This process will keep all the data in one central location and stop duplicate data entry for the US bookkeeper. It may sound pretty simple but it was a lot of thought and conversations to get to that point. Without access to an IT professional or servers, accounting systems can be tricky, especially if you are trying to automate processes.

OK I'm done with the nerd talk. Now to the fun stuff. Tuesday we had the opportunity to drive over to the other orphanage site operated by Hands and Feet in Grand Goave (pronounced gwauv). Currently there are about 30 kids living at a school compound. Some temporary housing was built for them after the earthquake while a new site is being built just 5 minutes away. The site was incredible. It is up on a mountain overlooking the ocean. It's a million dollar view! Once finished, this will be a thousand times better than their current conditions. Here's a pic of the view from their new site.


Today (Wednesday), after a full day's work, we headed down to the beach about 6 miles away. It was paradise! Really! I just wouldn't have thought Haiti would have such a beautiful beach. There was a little restaurant on the beach where we sat and had a Coke from a glass bottle. There's nothing like it! Check me out just chillin' out.

As I type this I'm sitting in a handmade wooden rocking chair out on the porch area of the main building. There's a light rain and a gentle breeze with the temperature around 72. The sound of Haitian orphans singing worship songs in Creole fills the compound as they practice for church this weekend. It is good to be here.

Keeping the Sabbath Real

Today was a pretty laid back day. Got up in time for breakfast and chilled out for a couple hours before church. We went to a Haitian church just down the road from the orphanage. It was all in Creole and French. With my high school French classes I was able to pick out a few words. Who am I kidding?! I didn't know what was going on! I did recognize a few hymns which they sung in Creole. I was hoping for the Chris Tomlin chorus add-ons but no luck.

Again we were just hanging around the orphanage and playing with the kids after lunch. We did get a little work done today. We had a preliminary meeting about the current state of the accounting processes. Just taking a look at where we are today. That gives me a little preparation for the week.

After the meeting a group of adults, 4 kids, and T-Bone, the dog, went to climb the 2000 ft mountain just football field lengths from the back of the orphanage. It was amazing! The terrain and climb was pretty tough. We climbed up for about an hour and decided to turn back before it got dark. Probably made it about 3/4 of the way. Watch later for a link to youtube for a video of the mountain climb.

We ended the night with a group praise and worship time with the kids. We had 3 guitar players and homemade drums. It was a sweet time of singing and worshiping God with everyone. Now I'm ready to get to working hard tomorrow.

We have arrived!

Today was a long day of traveling. I left my house at 7am and got to orphanage before 11pm est. We definitely did not expect the 2 hour flight delay in Miami. And I was not expecting a 4 hour drive from Port au Prince to Jacmel. But we are here safe and I'm thankful for that.

My initial reaction to Port au Prince was heart breaking and depressing. I was asking "God how can you allow people to live in this filth?!" It is astounding what people call home here. Plywood walls and tarp ceilings for miles lined the major roads of the city. It seems it would take several lifetimes to clean this up. But I realized we all live in our own type of filth and most times it's of our own choice. God can and does clean it up if we allow Him too. I pray He will do the same here.

Once we drove over the 3000 ft mountain to Jacmel, things started looking a little more like I expected. Very similar to the streets of small towns in Mexico. Even had a feel of Kathmandu, Nepal. I think I can get used to this.

Google Maps location - HAF Orphanage Jacmel

First Post & Haiti Trip Intro

So I want to try this blogging thing and see how it works out. I usually take a journal with me on mission trips to write down thoughts and experiences, so I can go back and read them later. It also helps to share with people if I can go back and refresh my memory by reading my journal entries. It hit me that blogging basically takes care of those two things at once and writing is so archaic :) so here I go blogging...

About 4 weeks ago, Bill Hampton, the Executive Vice President for my company who leads the Broadcast Division, approached me about an opportunity. A non-profit named Hands and Feet Project operates an orphanage in Haiti. We (my company) have sent teams to serve at this orphanage in the past. In conversation with Bob, the director of Hands and Feet, Bill asked him about his and the orphanage's needs. One of the things he mentioned was needing help with their accounting processes at the orphanage. Bill, knowing my mission experience and, of course, accounting experience, thought of me and told me about the opportunity. I had never thought of using my work skills for missions. I've always done music or manual labor. "What a great opportunity?!" I thought.

God's timing is amazing. From the time I met with Bob to talk in more detail about the accounting issues to now is 8 days. We are leaving tomorrow! This has all come together so quick that I've barely had time to think about it. It hasn't really sunk in that I'm flying to Haiti tomorrow. I am really excited about it and after meeting again today with Bob and the local bookkeeper, we have several projects awaiting us at the orphanage in Jacmel, the city in which I'll be staying.

Please pray for our health and travel safety. I'm flying down with Bob. We'll fly out of Nashville at 9AM to Miami. Then catch another plane from Miami to Port au Prince. From there we will drive to Jacmel which will be about a 3 hour trip. I will be there until next Saturday.

I hope you enjoy following my blog and feel free to post comments.