Adventures From Haiti

Overview

The last few weeks kind of flew by and I didn’t really have a chance to catch you up, well I guess I didn’t really have internet either but I figured I would give you the update on my latest adventure. 

Haiti was really beautiful. I was bigger and greener than I expected it to be. I went as part of my internship and logged hours for my degree. I worked with a really great organization that you should all check out, but more on that later. (Thebeehivehaiti.org)

I was there the same time as a mission group so that made for an interesting experience. We spent the first week on the farm, in the country location of the nonprofit. They have a guest house, beehives, garden, all kinds of farm animals, a school building for the village kids that can’t afford normal schooling, and are in the process of building a wood working classroom, for the locals that want to learn a trade. While we were there, they laid the concrete floor for the trade school classroom that Walla Walla University raised money for, so that was really fun to see. We did a VBS program at night for the village kids. 

I spent my days mostly taking pictures and video of the projects on the property, and helping prep and clean up meals. It was a nice little quiet time in the country, and I made some new friends.

We made the four hour journey into the city to take the group back to the airport It was quite the adventure, from getting stuck in the mud, to crossing rivers, to getting pulled over by an angry armed police, it was a long day and took us well over seven hours to finally get to the city, where we stayed in a hotel across the street from the airport. After we dropped everyone off the next morning, I got to see more of the city side of the nonprofit.

They have a wood shop that makes a lot of products for businesses in the port-au-prince area, there is an orphanage that is supported by them as well. The city was very beautiful in a different way, the little homes that are stacked on the hill side are breath taking, especially when the sun sets behind them. 

While I was in the city we did an evangelistic series and VBS program at a mountain side church that is in the process of being built. I got to go to the beach, explore the local markets, and see the daily life of the Haitian people. 

The day before I left I got stuck in traffic for 6.5 hours, and we went a total of 5 miles, it rained while we were sitting, and caused the roads to become rivers, carrying everything in their path. 

Life is hard for the local Haitian family and it is very obvious when you drive the streets, just the access food, water, and electricity is hard. Overall Haiti stole a piece of my heart and I hope to continue to work with the beehive and further the efforts they are doing there.