MTH Canada BlogMission to Haiti Canada

I apologize for the delay in posting yesterday’s blog; the internet was cutting out every few minutes and wouldn’t stay connected long enough to upload everything reliably even though it seemed to have uploaded at the time.  So to make amends and stay on schedule for our early departure tomorrow I am attempting to write and upload this blog and photos in the middle of the afternoon.  The construction crew is busy completing the tying of rebar in the second footing for the bridge.  The Haitian workers have completed the pouring of the concrete in the first footing and may end up pouring the second one today or within a few days at the latest.  Another crew is busy placing the stick framed truss and tin roof on the house.  The sponsorship team is busy wrapping up the final details with the sponsorship program following their morning of distributing gift boxes and taking updated photos in Faveau.  The medical team is still in Faveau providing assessments for the Haitians that attend their mobile clinic there.  In an hour or two an frenetic clean up and inventory will begin before and after dinner so that we will be ready to board the bus to the airport at 5AM.  As with previous mission teams we intend to participate in a talk around tonight where we all will have the opportunity to share our perspectives on how Haiti has affected us and what we have learned and shared and how this may have reshaped some of our thoughts and attitudes.  Please pray that we may enjoy this reflective time and that we may have safe travels home.  Thank you for following along with the events and special moments here in Haiti; we hope you will continue to keep the people of Haiti in your prayers and that you will continue to support and pray for us as well.   As you may have deduced, this blog was not posted on Friday and this was because the internet had crashed so we apologize for this.  We have since arrived home safely and thank God for safe travel.  To view photos from Friday click here.

Well I didn’t think it would be possible, but today was the busiest day yet and is being evidenced by the late posting of this blog.  Many of us were up before 6am getting prepared to start sharply after our 7am breakfast and there were Haitian workers already here and ready to start.  The construction team got immediately to work setting up forms for the house on the campus.  By about 3:30pm the forms and reinforcing rebar were set up and ready to receive cement.  We had two cement mixers running full time and two separate bucket brigades going; every available body was at work and it was an amazing display of determination and hard work.  The last details of construction site clean up was done by the illumination of some flashlights.  Another crew continued excavation on the second footing for the bridge and were able to tie in the first course of rebar as well.

The medical and sponsorship teams went into Cazeau again today and managed to see over 200 people.  Every child in the SAEDT sponsorship program was accounted for save for one who was killed in the quake.  This is the sad reality that so many Haitians are affected by; Joanne was able to embrace the mother of this child and give her the reaffirmation of the promise of salvation and that MTH Canada would continue to support their family.  The medical team experienced some unique cases today as a young boy presented with a recently broken femur (upper leg bone).  They were able to provide him with some crutches and some advice and money to help toward the surgery he would need to properly address this issue.  Another woman who had lost her house in the quake and whose husband had just had a stroke was given a new tarp for shelter and some money to buy food.  Again, the need is so great here and we are doing what we can for the Haitians but it is very obvious the aid deployment must continue for a very long time into the future.  We are all very tired but very content in the peace of doing what we can to help.  Please pray that we may use every last bit of our energy tomorrow to continue to move forward in our work.  Blessings and much love to all of our friends and family wherever you are!  To view photos from today click here.

Thank the Lord that it did not rain last night!!  This enabled our group to focus on pouring concrete into the prepared forms rather than spend a large amount of time removing water and mud from them.  As I write this blog at 4:15 local time it is apparent that the construction crew will again be working well past dinner time to fill the forms of the pad for the house and the footings for the bridge so that this job is complete as it is not possible to stop filling a form once concrete begins to be poured.  There are already a lot of (…)

Today began with fresh challenges as we woke to a courtyard with many large puddles due to the downpour that occurred as we slept.  This meant that the holes which had been dug for the footings of the new bridge were newly filled with water and mud and would have to be cleared before beginning any further work on this project.  Following a morning of productive work by the Haitian crew the one footing was clear of the “contaminants” by lunch time.  The crew has been working on tying and placing rebar in the (…)

Last night was highlighted by an eclectic mix of sounds as the donkeys, dogs and a torrential rainstorm competed to interrupt our sleep.  I know that Glenn had his wheels spinning wondering how he was going to redirect the construction crew from digging the footings for the bridge to some other project.  Praise God that we woke to clear skies and that they were able to move forward with that work today.  As I am (…)

We began our day with refreshed minds and bodies following a restful night of sleep. The worship service today with the Haitians was an amazing opportunity to share in the praise and worship of our great God. A choral men’s group sang and we also had the pleasure of singing as a group for the Haitians as we led the praise for a few songs. Per usual, the worship service was full of harmonious singing interspersed with roaring “Amens”. The community has welcomed us with open arms and we look forward to working (…)

Greetings to all from the campus in Messailler!  We are happy to share with all of you that we have arrived safely and have been welcomed most graciously by our Haitian brothers and sisters.  For those of you that have been to Haiti before, the landscape is quite different from what you have seen before.  There are many dense congregations of tents in both the city and the countryside where the Haitians have relocated due to the loss or partial destruction of their homes.   It is a sobering sight that helps to remind us of our (…)