Haiti update #4 (a recap)

Day 1: i got to heathrow at 9:45 an hour earlier than we were meeting for our 13:45 flight. Luckily some of the group were already at the airport. The flight was all fine. We had vegetable pasta it was ok... Not the best flight food. When we got to miami we went for food. A lot of the group were hungry.. I was not it was about 2 in the morning gmt time.

Day 2: we got the flight to Haiti. We almost missed it but did make it safely. I was sat next to a Haitian lady and her son both of which were lovely. We got to Haiti at 9am EST. Then we went to the pantheon museum Port au Prince, we had lunch there and learnt about the history and culture of Haiti. We are driven in a mini bus by an amazing driver called Jonny. Whilst for translation we have anne one of the group leaders and a lovely Haitian lady called Angee.

Day 3: This day was action packed. First we had a disaster recovery workshop lead by a lady from action aid. This was with some Haitian young people so was in Creole. Translation was provided but so many people talking in creole was challenging. Then we lead a workshop for the young people. I did craft which went down so well, the crafts are coming back with me to show you how the Haitians feel about God and their future dreams.

Day 4: Today we had a 2 hour drive to Petit Goave a beautiful coastal community. We saw poor urban turn into green and we all felt Petit Goave is much nicer than Port au Prince in a sense more peaceful.We went to the church. This time we walked. Which was such a nice experience. We ran another session no craft this time as there was only a small group of young people, but it was still a really nice session. We then visited an eye clinic with the young people and behind the clinic was an amazing view where we just chatted with the young people. A little girl just wanted to lead me everywhere and get others to take pictures of her.

Day 5: I was not very well this day i had a terrible pain in my left side so ended up seeing a gynacologist who sent me for an ultrasound later that day. I am fine now but if the pain flares up when i am home i will go back to the doctors.To be honest this trip is amazing but i really havent coped with always being on the go in the heat. After my shenanigans i went back to the church for pictures with the group.

Day 6: beach day. We left petit goave and went to a beach resort half the way back to port au prince. It was so nice to relax. The resort was such a contrast to the sights, smells and sounds of previous days.It was like any other carribean beach resort. Whilst there we had fresh coconut which is so nice nothing like the coconuts in the UK. Fresh mango, fresh sugar cane which you bite and spit out its a bit strange. As well as fresh almonds the outside of an almond is horrible it tastes like green unripe plum. After this we went back to port au prince.

Day 7: Sunday. We went to a church service up to the sermon as creole is near impossible to understand even a little of in 35 degree heat. The songs and the readings and prayers felt a lot more spiritual.With the service addressing the whole trinity of God. Something i feel we dont do enough of in the UK.After this we went up to an observation restaurant which looked over port au prince and had lunch. After this we went to a sustainable farm which unfortunately for farming reasons was on the side of a massive hill. It was amazing what they did there with water conservation and growing crops. They even had a hummingbird pollinating flowers in one tent. I still hate hills.

Day 8:  today we ran another young people session but we had to think on our feet as they were similar people to who we did the first session with. Then later that afternoon we had a cultural session with youth leaders from Port au Prince circuit.They do similar things to us in the uk locally. However being a Christian means being a lot more conservative than in the uk. 

Miscellaneous: 

We do devotions daily. Which i personally dislike. I like bible studies by themselves more or a church service but not everyday.

Worship music not hymns is popular with the people i am with. This doesnt mean i like it. In fact the same song with a american singer gets very repetitive.

Angee our translator gets married in 2019. She works for the methodist church but attends a Pentecostal church which i find so nice. She is such a nice person i am gonna miss her a lot.

I have also learnt that you will not get on with everyone but you still have to have sympathy with them. 

I dont want to be a missionary. Its way too intense. But i still want to help people and will work with the church hopefully to share connexional opportunitoes better at a local church level. But i also think the church in the uk should try to help fill gaps where there is no longer what we need because that is the proactive approach the Haitian methodist church has and it really works. They also have moveable pews in the main Port au Prince church.

Pictures to follow later.