On Day One we traveled from one side of Port au Prince to a town on the other side of it to visit a Haitian pastor named Pastor Fresnor in the town of Leogone. That was the epicenter of the earthquake and it got the worst of the recent hurricane.
We traveled in security convoy style because Haiti is one of the most dangerous places in the world for this kind of excursion. Our lead vehicle carried the shotgun in case we had to extricate ourselves from a mob. The following vehicle carried food for Pastor Fresnor, medical supplies in case of an emergency and three body bags in case we needed to assist in body removal, which has been the norm since the earthquake.
On the way we saw the worst of the worst. Whole sections of the city are leveled. Rubble has been cleared out of the roads enough to drive, but that is about it. Tent and tarp cities have been set up everywhere. Their national White House lies in ruins.
At Leogone we pulled over in a semi-rural area to eat our lunch, which consisted of Army Meals Ready to Eat. We had to stop where there were very few people to avoid creating a mob. Then we went over to meet Pastor Fresnor. The Pastor is 70 years old. His church and house were leveled. They run about 950 each weekend in worship. Some of their people were killed in the quake. Some were killed in his building and they had a very hard time getting the bodies out. The odor became so bad, the surrounding village almost rioted to force them to pay for heavy equipment to get in and clear enough of the rubble to get the bodies out.
Pastor Fresnor is a godly man. He is eager to rebuild and reopen their school. He has some young men in training who are ready to be the next generation of leaders. Their lot is cleared down to the original concrete floor and they are now meeting under a makeshift porch and tarp structure for worship. Before leaving we prayed for Pastor Fresnor and I gave him a donation from our church.
As we left this community, we drove down dirt roads in the village that were so packed with people buying and selling and going to and fro. The press of people was amazing. It reminded me of a few places where I traveled in India. The people were gracious and patient with our trucks coming through, but you could easily imagine it becoming an uncontrollable mob.
We drove back across Port au Prince taking a different route that went through the middle of downtown. It looks like a bombed out scene from World War II. Incredible.
We finally made it back to our base camp after dark. When the sun goes down, it is bad because there was no electricity. Very few people or businesses had generators for lights. There were a few people with oil lamps but it was very dark.
Despite the horrible conditions, there is still a spirit of hope. The people are on the move doing their daily business. The people do have food to eat. The non-governmental organizations like USAID and UNICEF are providing food, and water, and some sanitation services. The people wear amazingly clean and attractive clothes. That seems a miracle in itself in this dusty desperate place.
We were glad to get back to our base camp in Croix des Bouquets. To get there you pull off the main road you drive down some very bumpy and small dirt roads. The base camp is surrounded by a high concrete wall that is topped with concertina wire. When we arrive the security guard opens the big metal gate for us to drive in and shuts in and locks it. Whew. Inside we live in a very basic concrete house structure and we sleep in tents that are on the roof. That is the safest place in case of earthquake aftershocks.
On Day Two we had work to do. We visited Pastor Destini in our same community of Croix des Bouquets. His house and church were also leveled in the earthquake. Pastor Destini and his wife are living under tarps. Like Pastor Fresnor, Pastor Destini is an educated and intelligent man who has family in the U.S.. Both of them could move to the U.S. but they both stay because God has called them to minister to their people in Haiti.
Tom Franklin's immediate focus is to get a house built for Pastor Destini and to get his church rebuilt on a larger scale to take advantage of the great potential here. Pastor Destini will run a school again for the many children in the area who need it and he is capable of running a seminary to train future Haitian ministers. I would love to see some of our people go and help in those schools.
Tom Franklin was thrilled to have our construction manager, Dennis Mould, there. They worked out a lot of things for the construction projects. We spent most of day two working on how to install and how to figure the materials for the wall system that they will use in Pastor Destini's house. It consists of blowing concrete onto a preformed panel, then finishing it. It is a popular method of construction throughout central America. It is earthquake proof and it uses locally available materials.
That night we attended the Wednesday night worship service at Pastor Destini's church. His wife, Carmen, is a sweet and gracious lady. The ladies of their church had made crepe paper flowers and decorations for the little open air lean-two church where they meet. We were honored by their hospitality.
They speak and sing in Creole and they get with it. The have a little generator that ran two lights under the temporary structure and it ran their sound system, key board, and electric base guitar. Pastor Destini asked me to preach for them so I did and he translated. I brought a message of encouragement to them and they seemed to appreciate it. They have a lot of young people in their church that are smart and a great picture of the potential future of Haiti.
One little girl, about six or seven years old, was dressed in a pretty white satin dress with white fluffy socks, patent leather black shoes, and colorful bows in her hair. She sat there and flirted with me and pointed her finger at me during the singing. Afterward she came up to me and recited her French alphabet to me. I sneaked a piece of gum into her hand and she said, "Merci." Then, she wanted to hold my hand the rest of the time. What a little cutie. Her name was Christaline Joseph.
On day three we went into Port au Prince to visit a construction site that is using a new type of building material. The company is called Inno Vida and it is based out of Miami. They build houses, schools, and businesses using an amazingly simple but effective material. It is sheets of styrofoam that has sheets of fiberglass on both sides of it. It is lightweight, extremely energy efficient, earthquake proof, hurricane proof, and easy and fast to build with. Their company is building with and selling this material all over the world.
If it is competitive with the more traditional building materials, this could be an amazing material for the building of homes, churches, and schools that we would like to do. Later that day, Tom Franklin, sent the plans for Pastor Destini's new church to Inno Vida for them to give some quotes of materials and or them building it. I am hoping it is viable because I think this material could become a revolution in construction to rebuild Haiti. They are building a manufacturing plant in Haiti that will employ Haitians and it is easy to train and hire Haitians to be the builders.
We left Haiti with plans to make this our 2011 World Project at PHCC. I plan to lead a team of ten people to to Haiti to work for ten days in March. Then we will have other teams throughout the year. We need to raise funds for construction materials and we need to raise teams of workers. Our work will not change the nation of Haiti, but our work will change the lives of some key people in Haiti. If every church did what we are doing, we would change the nation. The growing Christian movement in Haiti is the most important factor in changing the destiny of Haiti. Our money and work will be going to the single most important thing to change the future of this island nation.
Next blog will include pictures and my sense of what is truly needed to rebuild Haiti.
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