What a Week

So when I got home and started talking with my wife, she said she enjoyed reading the blog and learning of our budding relationships.  But she complained that we didn’t really talk much about the work we actually did.  So here is a bit of a recap of the amazing week we spent in Cap-Haitien.  Sorry about the length; it was a long week.

We started a project at College Practique Du Nord, CPN, which is a high school owned by the Haiti Baptist Convention and works in conjunction with First Baptist of Cap-Haitien, FBC-H.  The project was installing an emergency escape staircase.  We worked with a Haitian engineer, the foreman from the Du Croix mission, Azer, and a number of other Haitian workers, including Azer’s son, Chris, and Wesley, who both worked with some us before at Du Croix.

On Tuesday, we went to the school to begin our work.  There didn’t seem to be enough work for all of us at the start of the day.  So the team found an extra project that day which spanned the week so that all were working on something.  Our work site was near the school’s sanctuary, and Pastor Rosa let us keep our daypacks in the pews.  Someone came up with the great idea of repainting the front of it.  The front was brushed down and some cracks were patched.  The job they did was amazing and the sanctuary now looks so good.  We began the staircase by cutting wood to make a frame or mold for cement to be poured into.  There was a lot of circular saw use.  I cut a lot of the boards, but we got the younger girls in on the action when they felt comfortable.  It was cool watching the Haitian workers, Wesley in particular, help them get comfortable with the saw.  That first day was filled with cutting and hammering.  The frame was built on bamboo poles.  Crazy right, it seemed like the whole thing might collapse.  But hold it did.

On Wednesday, we made our first couple batches of cement to pour into a couple columns, which would later in the week support more of the frame and much more cement.  We continued to saw boards and nail together the frame.  A few us started hack sawing rebar.  Some of the rebar was placed in the frame right away.  Little by little, the frame and cement support work was coming together.  The Haitians, though able to speak very little to no English, communicated with us very well.  Thursday was more of the same but with a lot more focus on getting the rebar cut, put in place, and tied down.  At one point, the Stockbridge girls wanted to get in on tying down the rebar, so I let them know they wouldn’t be in the way of the workers and told them the best way for the four of them to work together in a confined space.  It was really cool how the team worked together.

Friday was the hardest day we worked.  It was a day of concrete.  At home we can buy quickcrete or order a lot from a cement place.  Here, we mixed the cement by hand with shovels.  By the end of the day we had mixed 22 bags, which equates to about 2,000 lbs of cement.  Each bag was added to four buckets of sand, four buckets gravel, and enough water to give us a good consistency.  We literally moved a ton of concrete on Friday.  We had two mixing piles and a bucket brigade passing the concrete to the person pouring into the frame.  The whole team took turns mixing, adding ingredients, or passing buckets.  It was quite a sight.  I spent a lot of time pouring into the frame, so I was able to see the team working in unison.  God really pulled us together.  By the end of the day Friday, we had made and poured enough concrete to complete this first stage of the entire project.  And on Sunday we were able to stand on the stairs for a group picture.  It was really exciting to see what God had worked through us.

On Saturday, we visited UCNH, Christian University of Northern Haiti, and spoke at length with the university's president's wife, who is the dean and an instructor for the Fine Arts department.  Opportunities for some of our musically inclined team members were offered and contact information exchanged for summer projects.  Steve took us on a long tour and took pride in showing us his garden, which is his class project for this school year.  We later enjoyed lunch in the city at La Kay, a favored burger joint and spot for Blancs.  We then headed to Du Croix for swimming and for me, and I think Lynne, some reflection.  It is always a pleasure for me to head to Du Croix and see the progress that continues to be made after that first year.  You can really feel God’s presence and blessing there.  The waters there were warm and the ocean felt cleansing after such a hard work week.

Sunday morning we attended church at CPN, a service for and run mostly by the students.  Pastor Rosa is the chaplain for the school and invited us.  It seems that he merely gives a sermon, but the students take care of everything else.  It was pretty impressive.  They had put together a few songs for us in English and Creole.  Some of our group also sang for them.  After the CPN service, we jetted over to FBC-H for church.  We were so blessed to witness the christening of 7 little baby boys and girls.  The choir performed for us and we, as a group, went up and sang two songs for the congregation.  Cathye preached at both services and did a fantastic job.  After, we headed to Pastor Voltaire’s for a great lunch and change of clothes.  We were invited to watch a soccer match at the school between FBC-H’s men’s choir and some faculty of CPN.  It was intense and to us a little dangerous on a cement basketball court.  After the game, we played some basketball with students we had befriended.  We finished the night with a dive back to Pastor’s house through the darkening city.  I had never really been out that late and it was busy and vibrant for a Sunday night.

Other than some travel that was the trip.  It was amazing and fun.  Blessings were abundant.

Yours in Christ
Vince