Haiti January 2013

Chicken Run Haiti Logo Designed
by my daughter Christine

I have found myself thinking about Haiti a lot lately. Some of this is caused, I am sure, by the fact that I am planning to go back to Haiti on January 12, part of this is, I am sure, that Haiti never completely leaves my mind.

This year, as you should know if you have spoken to me about the trip, we will be focused on construction of a chicken farm at the orphanage we have been working with over the last couple of years. I am a bit nervous about this because I literally have no experience with chickens other than thinking they taste good deep fried or rotisserie.

If you do feel moved to help me out either in prayer or financially for this trip any and all help is appreciated. If you are moved to help financially I have placed the details at the end of the post.

When I think of the orphanage we will be helping I wonder if Evan will still be there. He is the boy that helped me out last year while I was building kites. I remember him for several reasons including him helping to make Haitian kites the "right way" as well as him helping all the of kids at the orphanage as well. I remember that when one of the smaller children broke their kite he quickly and willing offered his. I wondering if I could be as giving in the same circumstances. Great kid, I hope and pray he is well.

I wish I could explain my pull to Haiti, I have tried, but the words really don't come. It is mostly just a pull I can't resist. If I could explain it better perhaps I would make more sense to my wife and kids. Until I am able I suppose I will have to accept their patience; as they have been very patient and understanding. I was hoping that I would be able to share Haiti with some of them this year, but I don't think it is going to work out. There is another trip in March, mostly medical, maybe things will change by then.

It will be good to see old friends when I get back to Haiti. I have been watching them afar via Facebook, but it will be good to greet them in person again. It will also be good to make new friends, both locals and those I will meet from other states that are participating in the mission trip. Now that I live in CA I do have a chance to meet anyone on the trip before touching down in Haiti. It is interesting flying solo into Port-au-Prince. Mostly there are groups that fly into Haiti, in my experience, along with people who have family. I am one of the few people, without family in Haiti, who travel alone. It is a different experience as you see groups chatting about going down either for the first time or that have been going down far long than I have.

I do look forward to going to Haiti. I miss my family terribly when I am away from them, but this trip, as opposed to other trips, somehow better justifies that time away. The hardest part about being away from them on this trip is I am not able to share the events as they happen.

If you have made it this far through today's rambling and you still are interested in helping with the trip financially, you can send any thing you can spare to the following address. Please also let me know in an email (davidk.bainbridge@gmail.com) so I can personally contact you and thank you as well. If you do send a check in please put in the memo that it is for David Bainbridge.

Please make out your check to "Union Church" and mail it to

Union Church
C/O Jonathan Wright-Gray
PO Box 7028
Ocean Park Maine, 04063

God Bless.

Chicken Run - Haiti

It has been nearly three years since an earthquake struck Haiti. And while there has been progress there is much more that needs to be done. Even before the quake Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world and in the 2012 rankings it remains on that list. Haiti continues to need help and while I am not foolish enough to believe my traveling to Haiti every year effects the "big picture", I do pray that what I do contributes in the slightest bit. I suspect that I get more from my work in Haiti than I give.

Condemned, but still in use

I am planning to travel to Haiti again this January. The purpose of this trip will be to help construct a chicken farm at the orphanage we first visited two years ago. At that time the orphanage was housed in a condemned building. They had little food and water. The children were not able to have food every day and the person running the orphanage had to turn children out at night for fear of being shut down by the government because they were only allowed 60 children at night.

New, more permanent housing

 The next year when we visited the orphanage it had a permanent building with a much better water supply. The food, while not plentiful, was much more consistent and the children were getting some education as the orphanage had an attached school. Durning the morning the school taught paying children and in the afternoon it was open to the children of the orphanage.

As I prepare to travel to Haiti for the fourth time, I again ask for your help. I am seeking donations to help cover the cost of the trip and supplies. The cost of the trip is approximately $2000 including travel, housing, food, supplies, payment to local translators and drivers.

I would appreciate any help people can give. I promise to post pictures and stories from the trip as I have in the past so that you can see how your contributions are being used. Please take some time to read my past blogs from Haiti, as I hope it will give you a "taste" or what your contributions help and also what Haiti means to my heart. You can also see a video of my first trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti about two months after earth quake on at http://vimeo.com/10870243.

If you are able to contribute you can send checks payable to "Union Church" and mail them to

Haiti c/o Wright-Gray

PO Box 7028

Ocean Park Maine 04063

Please put "Haiti" in the check memo and if you want to donate to support me, as opposed to generally support the trip, please also include my name, "David Bainbridge" in the check memo.

Even though I now live in California, I continue to work with east coast friends on these trips. If you have any questions or simply want to talk about the past or future work in Haiti I would be more than happy to speak with you about it. You can post to my Facebook page or email me at davidk.bainbridge@gmail.com.

Last Full Day

On Friday we visited the same orphanage that we visited last year. Last year the children were living in a condemned building on plywood beds. This year their housing situation is about 1000% better, but the food situation still requires much improvement.

The children are now living in a new building with a cafeteria, bathrooms, showers, and real bunk beds. They have a much better water supply. Chickens are also kept at the orphanage and the eggs are used and sold. The orphanage is joined with a school and it looks like the orphans are attending classes.

As I said, food is still an issue. It is unclear if the children get food every day and while we were there they had a mean of rice with very little beans. The doctors did note that they need more protein in their diet.




This was also the last day of the kite project. I had pre-made several kites and had partially finished many more. I spent the day out doors on the ground building kites and handing them out. In the morning I met Evans. He took right to the kites and not only showed me the Haitian way to string the kites but effectively helped me run the kite workshop. It would have been great to have my son W there to help as well as I think he would have had a great time.

Before we left for the day I made sure I gave Evan enough supplies to continue building kites after we left and asked him to make sure he takes care of the kids younger than he. As we were leaving he came over and gave me a hug and said, through a translator, that he would take care of the younger kids. Haiti needs more people like Evan.

Three Days and Two Nights

It is hard to believe it is already Wednesday. We have been busy since Sunday. On Monday we visited a very impressive school and orphanage. This location also houses a therapy clinic for children with disabilities run by D, a Baptist missionary. Currently, the orphanage houses 27 children, but has the capacity for about 50. Additionally, this same site provides occupational training to the older orphans as well as young adults in the area. Right now they offer sewing and tile installation, but are looking to start nursing classes in the next month or so. This site is to be a template that can be replicated in other part of Port-au-Prince.


It was at this site on Monday where we held our first medical clinic. This was also to be the first trial of the Haitian kite project that was started. So while the doctors and nurses whee doing their doctor and nurse things I set out with to Haitian helpers to work on kites and entertain kids as they waited to see the doctors.

Luckily the young Haitians with which I was working knew how to string the kites, so it was decided that while I entertain the small children they would start a kite production line and when they were finished we would start handing out the kites. This made since as for the most part the children with which we were working were very young.

Every now and again I would steal a kite from the production line and give it to a kids. And while I can't say if the kite flew or if it went up simply because the child held a string an ran, I will take any success I can get.


We have been having some issues with our transportation this week, in particular one van, but really a couple of different vehicles. The van has some transmission issues, alignment issues, perhaps a bent axle, and some breaking problems; but other than that it is fine. So it was decided that the van would get some repair work during the clinic. In Haiti this means that a bunch of guys would tear apart the van, fix what they could, and put it back together at the clinic site. We were hoping that would be back together again by the end of the clinic and it was. It was really kind of amazing given the tools and environment.




The next day, Tuesday, we were providing a medical clinic in another part of the city. We did not make kites for this clinic as there was no open ground to use the kites. After the clinic was set up an functional, M and I, went back to the site of the first clinic to do some painting at the orphanage. To be honest, I am not sure the site was ready to be painted, but I respect that the Pastor was attempting to accommodate some non-medical work. So after a brief painting session M and I spent some more time with the children. We also may or may not have took a walk around the block unaccompanied, where we may or may not have meet some very nice people who simply want to chat, meet some new people and practice their English. But again, that is only in theory what we might have done.

Today as the medical clinic was setting up, M, J, and I headed back to the first site to paint again, this time with a much more detailed plan by D to paint the rooms in which she provides therapy for handicap children. The idea being to brighten up the space and make it more child friendly. This took most the day, but I have to admit the rooms looked much more welcoming when the job was done; even if we had to put a 3rd coat on one wall and paint the top of another wall that no one was ever going to see.

It has been a busy couple of days and I am quite tired. Tomorrow we are going to an orphanage that we first visited last year to perform a clinic. My goal is to build a bunch of kites tonight to have them ready. I think it will work out better to have some pre-made and then also make some with the kids.

Location:Rue Roucourt,Carrefour,Haiti

Impressions

It is 8pm in Port-au-Prince and the day is drawing to an end. We have arrived at the site we will be calling home, as you can see from the picture. The trip down to Haiti has been long and tiring, but as always, worth it.

I have to admit when I saw all the mission groups boarding in Miami I was a little disheartened. It was somewhat depressing to see so many groups and their associated money flow into Haiti and yet still there is so much that needs to be done. There are many reasons for this and it helps to understand the history of Haiti as part of the context, but even with a little knowledge in this area it can be disheartening.

The airport in PaP is pretty much as I remember it from last year, it really hasn't changed. The baggage carriers are still attempting to get every dollar from you they can. "Hey, I touched that bag, you owe me a tip", is kind of the mentality. It was a bit frustrating that the guy that Pastor R sent down to help us kept asking for more and more money, now he didn't get it, but he kept asking. I know people are hurting here, but ...

The ride from the airport was interesting as we seemed to avoid the main road and we were not sure why. Some parts of the city seemed a little better, some parts seemed worse. In particular it seemed that there were many more tents surrounding the presidential palace than last year. When we finally did hit the main road it was evident why we were attempting to avoid it as it was going under major reconstruction. Gone is the makeshift center divider made from jersey barriers and they seem to be building a real median.

Seeing that there was progress on the road was promising. Don't get me wrong there is still piles of trash burning everywhere and evidence of the earthquake 2 years ago can still be seen, but progress is being made; ever so slowly.

I find myself looking forward to church tomorrow in hopes that I will be able to see the translators that we worked with last year and give them the Bibles they have been waiting for to help them teach English in their Easy English Club. We sent them Bibles shortly after last year's trip, but they did not make it to their intended target and I am not sure what happened. But this year we brought them down personally, so we know they will get them.

PaP still smells of diesel fuel and charcoal, but it is a smell I associate with Haiti and it brings back the memories of the past two trips: having to close the medical clinics even when there were more patients waiting, the family who lost their wife / mother in the earthquake with the 12 year old daughter heading the family because the father was essentially a ghost of a man, the children that couldn't be helped, the orphans living in a condemned building with some that had to be put on the street every night because the government would shut down the orphanage if they kept more than 60 at night, not being able to feed the orphans every day ... the smiles on the children's faces as they received stickers, playing frisbee with the kids while they waited for exams, making bracelets with the orphans, playing duck, duck, goose, the people that were treated and saved ...

Haiti is a quandary for me. It holds both incredibly difficult memories and feelings that can literal sneak up on me and break my heart, but it holds some of the most meaningful things I have done in this life. It has a pull, that won't let go and that I long to share.

Well, the lizard on the wall has chirped 6, which in lizard speak means that is time for bed ... I wonder what tomorrow will hold ...

Location:Rue Roucourt,Carrefour,Haiti

But Will They Fly

After an overnight flight from San Francisco, I find myself sitting in Miami International Airport at a rather early hour. There look to be 3 flights to Haiti this morning from Miami, so I suspect there will be lots of people going to Haiti to help. I have seen one team already. I assume they are a team as they have matching t-shirts.

Several things rapidly crossing my mind this morning: I am thinking of my family and hope they will be ok while I am away, I am thinking of the mission team and hope that we actually meet up in PaP as planned and all goes well, and funny enough I keep hoping the kites we are planning to build will actually fly.

The kites we have planned are those built from 3 chop sticks, some string, some plastic (for the skin), and a bit of tape / glue. They are modeled after Haitian kites and the design, in theory, seems sound enough, but I never really have done a complete practical tests. This makes me a bit nervous. I suspect we are going to have to leverage some local knowledge from the translators and perhaps even the kids to get things tuned just right, but I find my biggest fear right now is that they won't get off the ground.

So besides your prayers for safety, caring, and compassion, please pray for the kites to fly and the children to enjoy the simply pleasure of a kite.

Location:Miami International Airport, Gate D25

Mission and Family

In about 2 days my dad is leaving for Haiti. My parents have done mission work in many countries including Lithuania, the Philippines, the Bahamas, the US, and other places I can't think of right now. While I can't say their efforts are directly responsible for my interest in mission work, I suspect it has influenced me in ways I cannot quite understand.

My dad is going to Haiti with a different group than with which I am going. While in Haiti they are going to work on some construction projects for orphanages as well as look at some new construction sites in Port-au-Prince. I have to say I wish I was traveling with him. I have never been on a trip with either of my parents, but as my dad and I seem to share some common draw to Haiti in these past years it would be nice to work on a project together in Haiti.

My dad has a different perspective on Haiti than I as he first visited the country before the earthquake and has spent the bulk of his time on the island in the north outside Port-au-Prince. I, on the other hand, first visited the country after the earthquake and have spent my time in Port-au-Prince. Hearing his perspective helps me better understand the state of the country before the earthquake.

I wish him luck on his trip and my prayers go out for him and the team for their safety as well as the good work.

And as a shameless plug, I am still gathering funds for my trip to Haiti at the end of February. If you have any interested or desire to help support my mission trip to Haiti any amount is welcome and appreciated. Donations can be sent to:

David Bainbridge
C/O Haiti Mission
P.O. Box 54040
San Jose, CA 95154-4040

Or to the organization with which I am working at

Shantia Wright-Gray
WAYS Coordinator
Support for: David Bainbridge
P.O. Box 7028
Ocean Park, ME 04063

Or

GSMC (Good Samaritan Mission Council)
(Please specify “Haiti 2012” and support for "David Bainbridge")
800 Main St., Suite 126 • Holden, MA 01520
Phone: 774-364-1335 • www.laromana.org
IRS Info: 501(c)(3) Public Charity