MON 12/29/03

Just wanted to drop you a note to tell you that we have arrived in Haiti safely. We are all unpacked at Sam and Delores' house. Everything went well and we even got all of our baggage! It was quite a shock when we first got out of the airport. The amount of people was overwhelming, but our good Haitian guide got us to our taxi without problem. We then took two cesna planes from Purt-au-Prince to Hinche. Sam met us at the Hinche airport (well not actually an airport, actually more like a gravel driveway). It looked scary, but our wonderful pilots made a perfect landing. We had a wonderful meal at a local restaurant (more of just a room with a table). We were the only ones there. We had goat and rice and some sort of bannana type cakes (called plantain sp?). It came with Coke to drink. We also got a chance to buy some local handmade crafts. The landscape is beautiful. We got a great view from our cesna flights. Sam has already started educating us about the Haitian people. We arrived at Sam's house after dark so we are not sure how it looks, but he says that he has around 27 acres that are fenced in. We are looking forward to being able to see it in the morning. Of course Kim is anxious to go running. I think it drove her crazy to have to sit still for so long! Well we will stay in touch. We look forward to getting to work. We have some Peace Corps folks staying with us. Talk to you later.

WED 12/31/03

We all had a wonderful day yesterday (Tuesday). We all went to the clinic. Kim, Madeline and Joy worked in the medical side and the rest of us worked on the vision side. We helped fit people with reading glasses. What a blessing to have folks who said they couldn't see to read or thread a needle to be able to see with glasses. Their faces would just light up and they were so appreciative. Today we are heading out to do the same, but at a different location. Delores said that where we are going to day has more Vodou people there and that we may have some withdoctors come up and shout at us. Should be interesting. Kim was in heaven, she got to ride horses. She rode back from the clinic and then we rode them into town to buy some bread. I rode that time. I had to come all the way to Haiti to get kicked by my first horse. He got me above the knee, but I am fine. My leg swung with the kick so it was not bad. God was watching after me. Keep up your prayers! We also had an opportunity to try sugar cane. It is just the raw cane cut and then you bite off some of the fiber and chew on it. It is sweet, but not as sweet as refined sugar. The kids love it down here. We had an opportunity to get to know the peace corps workers a little better. It has been fascinating to hear their stories and to learn about the corps. It sounds like a great organization. I found out that one of the workers (he just arrived yesterday) is a civil engineer. He has worked in the states for 4 years and is working on his master's degree. He joined the corps to be able to come to Haiti to do research. He is working to help them (or try to help them) with their failing water systems. He says the task is monumental of course because the Haitians have not maintained their pipes at all and there are no resources to do so. Well at least he is trying. We are looking forward to another wonderful day today. We will write again soon. Everyone sends their love.

THU 1/1/04

We had another wonderful day. We held clinic at another location. It was farther out from the main road. We went down some pretty bad roads, but made it without any problems. On the way we stopped in a town called Thomonde. We stopped to get the flat tire fixed. While we were waiting we walked around and saw the town. We had to find some bread for sale. It wasn't as busy as it normally is because of the holiday, but there was still things to see. It was nice to get to walk around and see the area at a slower pace. I also tried the Haitian peanut butter. It tasted like peanut butter. I can't remember what they call it, but it was good. Tomorrow we go back to the same place to hold clinic again. I think we may be going back there on Saturday as well, but I'm not really sure. The area that we went to today was bel (Creole for beautiful). I'm picking up a little bit of their language. It definitely is a mixture of French and English. I'm actually remembering some of the French I learned in highschool. Not much, but a little bit.

FRI 1/2/04

Michael and I are going to do a few chores around the house to help Sam out. We are going to wire in a switch for one of the buildings and see what else we may need to do. I checked Sam's satellite and we can get the Peach Bowl on ESPN. I believe it starts at 3:30 so I may try to watch some it. Don't know if I will be able to watch it all because when everybody gets back they may not want to watch it, but we'll see. The weather here is just beautiful. It is nice and sunny and warm, but not too hot.

SAT 1/3/04

I just wanted to give you an update of our status. We have been busy all week. We have done clinics every day including today. Today was our busiest. We saw about 250 people and didn't leave until about 6:00 pm. We normally close up shop around 3-4. It's great to be able to help them though. Today was the last of three days at this same location and they wanted to try to see everyone who came, because some come from a long ways off and had to wait for hours. They didn't want to have to turn them away. Tomorrow we are planning to go to church with Sam and Delores. We are not doing a clinic and we will have some free time to goof off. I think as long as we have enough supplies we will continue with the clinics next week. Sam isn't digging any wells right now. He plans to start near the end of the month. He has been taking a break. Well, with the exception of a little diarrhea here and there we are all healthy and fine. Please keep us in your prayers! We will write again soon. Talk to you later.

SUN 1/4/04

This morning we went to church. It was nice. We had to drive about a half hour and then walk about 15 minutes to get there. It was on top of a mountain (well, a big hill overlooking other mountains). It was just wood boards for seats up under a shady tree. There was about 50 people there including us. There was a lot of children there and they sang several songs for us. Even though I couldn't understand much of what they were saying it was a good service. After we got back we had lunch and then went into the City of Hinche to go to the market to get groceries. It was nice to drive through the city and see that side of the country. We went through the marcais (market) which was an experience. Today isn't their big day so there weren't that many vendors there, but there were enough to get a feel for it. Most of it wasn't too bad except for the meat section. The meat is just sitting out with the flies buzzing around. Not very appetizing. We also stopped at a bar (not a drinking bar like at home) to have a coke. Some parts of the city are fairly nice, but other parts were very dirty and trashy. I took a lot of pictures of course. I believe tomorrow the ladies are going to do a small clinic while us guys are going to work on a dam (a small one as part of a well). Even though we enjoyed doing the clinics it will be a nice change of pace to go work on the wells. Well that is all for today. We will keep you up-to-date.

MON 1/5/04

We had a pretty good day today. We went to a spot where we are working on building a dam (about 6 feet across and 5 feet high. I was down in the creek helping to excavate. We had to dig out into the bank so the dam can be built. We just about got all of the dirt removed that needs to come out. Just up the bank the ladies held a clinic. This area was very poor and Kim said that it was sad because a lot of them have worms and didn't have any more medicine for that. Tomorrow we are taking the day off. We are going to a small town to see the market. Supposedly, tomorrow is a pretty busy day there. He said we could see around 3000 people there and they would be a lot of the people that we have seen at the clinics. That should be nice.

TUE 1/6/04

Today we went to La Post. It's basically a trading post in the middle of nowhere. It's where all of the people in this area go for the market. The cities are too far away for them to go to and they have a market at this location every Tuesday. They sell everything from animals (i.e. horses, cattle, goats, chickens, turkeys) to vegetables, grains, all cooking supplies, clothes, shoes, hats, you name it and it is there. We were joking that it was their super WalMart. Well it actually is, it's the only place for them to go and shop and they have everything they need. We got back at lunch time and after lunch we just hung out. I actually went up and took a nap. Kim and I just got back from a horse ride. Nobody else wanted to go, but we took the horses out and Tinana (Sam and Delore's little Hatian daughter, shes 4) and went back into the country next to Sam's property. It is very beautiful here. I took some pictures of course. We are getting ready for supper now. I think tomorrow we are going back to work on the dam some more. It's going to be great for them once it gets completed. We won't get it finished of course, but at least we got them started. Sam said he would send us a picture when it is completed. Only a few more days and we will be on our way home.

WED 1/7/04

We had a pretty good day today. We went back and worked on the dam some more. We got about 1.5 feet laid taday. We plan to go back tomorrow to work on it some more. The ladies held a clinic and I think they plan to have another one tomorrow. We finished around lunch time today and then went to Hinche to get some supplies. We had to get everything from food to Diesel Fuel for the generator to propane for his stove. We also had to get more cement for the dam. Well only one more full day until we will be on our way home.