Final post

Here is the skyline of Santiago, DR from our hotel room. We ate dinner on the deck overlooking this beautiful view. I had sea bass, caprese salad and risotto. It was a great dinner with a bunch of new pastor friends from around the country. We dreamed up some great ideas and ways to engage churches in Haiti, I can't wait to roll it out. Thanks for your prayers. Blessings, John

Little Jacob

This boys energy and smile reminded me of my little Jacob. Jacob has been at camp all week, I can't wait to get him in my arms.

Cutest little girl from the trip

Children we met along the way - look at the smiles

Entering into Dominican Republic

One last picture from our drive

If you never rode in the back of one of these it is quite a challenge. The seats in the back are along the windows on the side so you ride facing the other passengers. The height of the benches are only about 10 inches so you really don't have anywhere to put your legs. In addition to all of this, there are no handles to hold on to or seat belts so that you are being thrown all over the place. It is very similar to the Indiana Jones ride at Disney without the lines and about five hours long.

Crossing the river

Here's an example of one the sharp terms

It may not look like it but this looks over a very steep cliff.

Long Drive

We drove 10 hours today from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. The first five hours was in Land Rovers on roads that were a little better than goat paths - no really. We drove through a lot of rivers and streams and up and down very steep hills next to very steep cliffs. It was quite the adventure.

Lesson from a tiny hand

No picture of a sunset tonight. This is a little Haitian baby’s hand who reached out and took a hold of my finger. Makes me think of the partnership that we have with the people of Haiti to rebuild and bring Hope together.

Me and the children of Haiti

Me and the children of Haiti

Haitian Teenagers

Loved these girls

End product

The molasses is boiled down to a thick paste and then placed in this tube. It tastes a little like caramel. They use this to sweeten their coffee, cook with it or eat it like candy. It has a nutritional value because it isn't fully refined and has a unique flavor. They gave us a tube that sells for about $1.50.

Molasses

Oven

Here is the oven where the "sugar juice" is cooked down to a thick molasses using the dried out sugar canes to make the fire.

What a job

How would you like to have this boys job. Riding behind the oxen and using a switch to keep them moving?

Catch basin

This is where the "sugar juice" is captured.

Sugar press close up

Does anyone know what this is?

I didn't before today. It is a mill that presses sugar cane. They oxen turn the gears where they feed the sugar cane between the wooden wheels. The sugar juice then drains off and is caught in a holding container.

The sun shining over top of the World Vision regional headquarters for the Central Plateau is another reminder of God’s great love and power.

Repost from WV website.

This was my highlight of the day so I'm putting it on both sites.
Today we met with pastors from the Hinche area. We talked with them about the challenges they face and what has happened since the earthquake. When we asked them how many of them were impacted by people moving in with them since the quake almost all of them raised their hands. They shared stories about where they were when the earthquake hit. Walter’s story is most powerful. Pastor Walter is the second one in from the left. He said on the day of the earthquake he was traveling to Port au Prince to meet his daughter who is in college there. She had a mid-term exam and needed money to pay the fee or she could not take the test. Walter spent a few hours looking for a ride or a taxi to drive him to the city. He could find no one. Around 4:00PM he gave up and went home. His daughter Jean was denied the ability to take the test and she went home as well. As they both traveled home the quake struck. The next day Walter found a ride to the city and found his daughter safe. They went to the college and found the four story building completely collapsed with teachers and students trapped inside, they had perished in the earthquake. Walter praises God for his daughter’s safety though grieves with those who were not so fortunate.

Lunch

The food has been decent on this trip. Not much of a selection but better than what I thought. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs and toast with homemade peanut butter and jam. The bananas here are so good. They are a lot sweeter than the ones we get back home. For lunch (see restaurant above) we had beef, salad and fried plantains (green bananas). It was served with the coldest glass bottle of Coke I've ever had - remember those days :) . For dinner we had grilled goat (did not taste like chicken) rice, fried plantains (yes green bananas - really), salad and some other spicy vegetables and a berry muffin for dessert.

UN Peacekeeping Force

Was surprised to see the UN with such firepower. They were visiting Arman's school we were observing. It felt a little intimidating and a little much.

Love this little girl

The David Durham of Haiti

What is better than California Family Fitness? Throwing around 100 pound bags of wheat. This guy is ripped.

Blog Posts

Most of my posts are on www.worldvisionchurches.org. I'm finding that I'm too tired to re-post on this site and I don't have fast enough internet although this is about the fastest that I've ever had on a trip.

Puppies

A new feature on my blog - a cute puppy. If you've followed me before I usually find a raggedy cat and take a picture but no more. I'm really a dog person anyways. I like this shot of mom looking over son. Today was a good day. I will be posting more pictures shortly, please check back.

Sunset over Haiti

It is amazing to be reminded that we are in the Carribean where my wife and I just vacationed a few short months ago. When we saw this beautiful sunset tonight it reminded us of that fact that there is beauty even in the face of tragedy. I saw this over and over again whether it was a smile from a pedestrian on the street or from children who were laughing and playing on the side of the rode. There is Hope for Haiti. Goodnight all.

Escaping Port au Prince

Here is a family that experienced some car problems while moving out of Port au Prince. From what we are hearing, people are moving back into the city to get access to relief supplies.

Bus

I was impressed at how people were able to hang on to buses like this for long periods of time and even up and down the steep hills.

Tent City

Tent cities like this are springing up all over town. I was told that more than half of our 85 World Vision staff in Port au Prince now live in tents.

Market

Because of building damage, stores like this are opening up on the streets all over town.

Damage - here are several photos that show the damage.

Lunch

If you follow my blogs I will often fill you in on the food we are eating on our trips. With all the problems in Haiti we were expecting to eat granola bars we packed and maybe some rice and beans. We were quite surprised for lunch to be treated to hot ham and cheese subs. They were very tasty.

By now most of you have seen all the pictures of the devastating effect of the earthquake. Let me just say that anything you've seen on TV does not do it justice. First of all, buildings are down everywhere, I mean everywhere. You don't have to go on a special trip to find downed buildings. Every road has downed buildings. Some streets have every building down. Second of all, these are 2, 3 and 4 story buildings that are now about 15 feet tall. They didn't topple to the side but literally they collapsed on top of themselves. Finally, it has been over two months since the earthquake and from the conditions of the homes and streets it looks like it was last week. The rebuilding effort is going to take a while. In this picture you will see a bank. One of the WV staff was telling me it was closing time for banks and many of the tellers where counting their money and getting ready to head home for the day. Imagine trying to survive if your bank was flattened and you had no money.

Here is our team at the World Vision National headquarters in Port au Prince, Haiti. From the left; John Volinsky, Paul Emeil, Mac Pier, John Hasse, Tim Boal, Marty Lonsdale, Mark Swarner, Mallory Jean-Pierre, Ronnie Guynes and Tim Martin. We are at our hotel in Hinche and just finished dinner. I do have access to decent internet service here and will have more pictures from our time in Port-au-Prince uploaded shortly.

The airport in Port-au-Prince

Landed

We are in Haiti waiting for all the members of the team to arrive.

Our Team

• Marty Lonsdale, Vice President WVUS
• John Hasse, Senior Director WVUS LACRO Region
• John Volinsky, Senior Director Church Relations WVUS
• Ronnie Guynes, Associate Pastor, Potters House, Dallas
• Timothy Martin, International Ministries Pastor, Woodsedge Church, Woodlands, TX
• Timothy Boal, Executive Director, Go2 Church Planting Ministries, Telford, PA
• Mark Swarner, Missions Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Menlo Park, CA
• Mullery Jean Pierre, Senior Pastor, NYC
• Mac Pier, Director, New York City Leadership City, NYC
  

Map of Haiti

Here is a map of Haiti. We are going to fly into Port-au-Prince. From there we are going to drive to Hinche. This is about a four hour drive or so and is the route that thousands of people took who fled the city following the earthquake. We will see the tent cities that have sprung up on this route. From there we will drive to Santiago, Dominican Republic for our flight home.

From the flight to Dallas

Haiti 2010

I'm at the airport in Sacramento getting ready to fly to Dallas and then on to Miami where I will spend the night. Tomorrow morning we will fly to Port au Prince to begin our adventure. I will post a basic itinerary later so you can follow along on the journey. Thanks for your prayers and support for this trip.