Complete and In Motion

Yay! The rest of the team arrived today ready and willing to hop right in. Today we ran around delivering water, picking up kids and trying to figure out how we could help in the chaos of water truck day. My eyes were opened in so many ways. I feel like I got up this morning, had a cup of coffee, then next thing I knew kids are running towards the truck ready to jump into my arms. What a day. Thankful to be able to spread the love I have for the Lord with people so open to accepting it. Onward with the rest of the week!! More adventures await. -Madi

Today was surreal. We honked as we pulled into Cite Soleil (the poorest slum in the Western hemisphere) with our 1000 gallon water truck. Women and children ran for us with every bucket they owned and did their best to stand civilly in a line that meant the difference between having clean water to drink, wash and cook with or not having water at all. Healing Haiti is one of the only programs to give out water for free and the average Haitian lives off one to two dollars a day.

Cite Soleil: no running water, trash everywhere, kids continuously yelling "hey you, hey you..." (the only English they knew) begging you to hold them. We made three different stops, each time having to refill our water truck. You were able to tell those who had gone longer without water because the lines were much more hostile, our translators had to shut down the water at certain points to once again tell them to "respect the line". We helped some carry buckets back to their house and spent the rest of the time filling containers and holding kids. Lots of kids. Naked kids.

I had a moment of panic as the first naked baby ran up to me begging me to hold her, I thought "umm, I can't hold you, you forgot your pants!" Then I took a moment, scooped her up, let another kid hop on my back and started walking around chatting with them as if they could understand me. Overall, today was like a tv commercial. The one where they show pictures of hungry kids on tv walking through trash.  But  I was also encouraged because even with nothing, they have joy.  And they seemed hopeful because someone was helping meet their basic need for water.  -Chelsea

Journey AND Destination

I often tell my children to enjoy the journey and not wish away the moment in desire to get to the destination.   For the last few days in Haiti, with new and old friends, we got to experience both an unexpected Journey with many twists and turns AND an unbelievable Destination.

 In route to Haiti, we had an aborted take-off at Dallas Fort Worth.  This led to a missed connection, which led to spending the night in Miami, which led to sleeping at the “free” hotel with no luggage and seven very tired travelers.  Needless to say this journey was trying even to the most patient travelers among us.  The final airport/rental car/hotel shuttle ride of the day (number 6 I believe), made this long journey worthwhile. 

The last 6 seats on our hotel shuttle that night were taken by a family of seven who had been traveling for the last 72 hours.  The five children were all under 12, but in surprisingly good spirts.  Disney Paris you ask with a long layover in London?  No.  This family had just escaped the violence of Baghdad, Iraq.  My journey got unexpectedly better with an appreciation for the freedom and security we enjoy every day.  That family made my day and will stay in my prayers. 

And if the journey wasn’t good enough, let me tell you about our day on arrival.  Our team of seventeen delivered free water to the poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere – Cite Soleil, Haiti.  About 3000 gallons (25,000 pounds) were given away, three and five gallons at a time.  We opened the valve on our 2 inch drain line and the mothers, daughters and children came running with their buckets, pails and pans.  And we filled them and filled them and filled them.

I have been in the Water Industry my entire career.  So I have a very good appreciation for water around the world, its cost and availability.  But nothing really prepared me for today.  When water does not get to you in a pipe underground it is hard.  It is hard to pour, hard to contain and mostly hard to carry.  Today we all got a better understanding for the importance and weight of water.   Every one of those 3000 gallons needed to be carried to somewhere else.   Let me put it another way.  It would be like buying milk at Costco and walking back to your car in the parking lot with two gallons.  Now do that 1500 more times. 

So hopefully I will not open a tap or faucet quite so often and never forget to appreciate that I can. -Craig