Haiti Update

The following is an update from Brent, Debbie, Ben, and Josh.  


So first of all I have to do all emails from my phone, so they aren't going to be too long. Ill send out a long one to everyone when we get home.

So to start with ill tell you who we are associating with the most. Samuel is our best friend down here. He speaks fairly good English, along with perfect french and creole. He is hoping to come to pleasent grove soon, so I hope to have a lasting relationship with him. He is in the red shirt in the picture with just me and him. Carlos is our other buddy. He is just fourteen. Jeremy met him after the quake, and he said he was one of the best triage doctors there. When he grows up he wants to be a doctor. Samuel is a member of the church, but Carlos is not. We are staying with the laurent family. They are members, and the most gracios people I have ever met in my life.

So there are some huge cultural things that everyone should know about before I go into the day to day things. The first thing is that unemployment here is the inverse of what ours is; ten percent have jobs, ninety percent don't. So people will do whatever they can to get money. however I have not seen a lot of begging, most people want to do things for you, like carry your bags etc. Another thing is that there are just some things that in the states we would consider indecent, like standing naked on the street, and using the world as your restroom. Another thing is that none of the water can be trusted. You have to filter everything unless it has been boddled in the u.s. Another thing that is crazy here is the driving. Literally there are no laws. People drive on the same side we do, but you can pass whenever you want. There are no speed limits, but it is almost impossible to get over fifty. There taxis are called tap taps. They are just trucks with some covering, that people just pile into. There should be a picture attached. The joke goes, how many people can fit into a tap tap? Answer: one more lol. Another joke here is the u.n. Another bad joke is the police, can't trust them at all. I'm gonna wait until a little later to comment on how the damage and what not is, just because I want to see more of it so its more accurate. One more major thing for us is that we have to keep all the stuff on us that we need to just leave the country at any time. This includes pass ports, extras cash, etc. That's why you'll see us with vests on in some pictures.

So yesterday we arrived and had to wait through customs. Then we made it to church. That was an amazing experience. The church is true no matter where in the world you are ha. After we went to the place we are staying and unloaded all of our stuff. Then we went to take Carlos back to where he was staying. When we got back we met a bunch of 18 year old kids. Everyone here is so nice and open, even with the language barrier. That pretty much sums up yesterday.

Today we were at an orphanage called foyer de sion. It is ran by a man called Gomez. He is amazing. He is a bishop in the church too, quite an undertaking! He is building another orphanage. This one is going to be really nice, an emotional staple for the community. That's the goal at least. So today we were sanding cement walls so they can be painted. We also started to seal the roof, basically make it water proof. But in order to do that we have to move all these solar panels, paint it with the sealer, let it dry, and then reinstall them. So we'll work on that a little most days, and hope that we can finish it in time!

Anyway please email back with any questions or just with how life is going!

Look under original message at the very bottom for the pictures, they are attachments.