Iowans, Canadians, and Networks ... Oh My

"Your from Canada? You can sing that Canada song for us then." That was the comment from one of the members of the mission team from Iowa. In response the Canadian team looked dumbfounded all pondering the same question, "the Canada song?". I suggested that perhaps what was meant was "Oh Canada", the Canadian national anthem. From there several comments followed including, "We only sing that at hockey games" and "Only if you sing that American song first".

All aside, there was lots of cross border jousting happening in Caïman; all in good fun. Including my gaff about the national symbol of Canada being the "oak" leaf. Followed by verbal stumbling, "I mean the maple leaf, or whatever". The Canadians didn't let me forget that for the rest of my time in Caïman. Each gave as good as they got and much laughter was had.

There were three groups at United Christians International (UCI) while I was there: a group of six from Iowa (with which I hitched a ride earlier from Port-au-Prince to Caïman), about 10 from Sardis British Columbia, and myself (a team of one).

The group form Iowa were doing Vacation Bible Schools at several locations, distributing food packages, distributing Bibles, and even purchased three goats which will be distributed to families with need (with a commitment that the first offspring be donated back for another family).

The group from Canada were doing construction, getting a well running, participating in youth groups, providing dental care to the university students, and distributing sports equipment and tools.

And there was me. I was still not quite sure why I was there, but welcomed and included by both the team from Iowa and Canada in extraordinary fashion. Both groups showed me the true spirit of Christ in action and prayer; for that I am extremely grateful.

Because I needed to head to bed early on the day I left Haiti, as I had to leave very early the next morning (think dark-thirty), I was not able to properly say goodbye to everyone from the Iowa and Canada teams. For that I apologize. If you are from one of those teams and you are reading this please take this as a grateful goodbye, thanks, and God bless your work and your travel. A special thanks to Zoli and Rod for the conversations and prayers.

Before I left Haiti I did find some practical work. The university at UCI has a computer lab which looked pretty much like it had been moth balled; mostly because, I think, it has no internet access. There are a group of people working to change this, so I was able to provide some on site recognizance.

The lab has about 30 to 40 desktop computers, some with ethernet cards, some with WIFI, an 8 port ethernet switch, a box for a WIFI access point (no actual device), a UPS (still in the box), and 200 AMPs worth of circuit breakers.  Using the UPS I was able to determine the the power to the university was 81 to 97 volts at about 57.4 Hz. You can see the lab in 360 degree here.

The university is meant to be getting a new internet connection from NatCOM. It looks like NatCOM has almost completed the cabling to the university. But, it seems to be terminated in the dirt and no one knows if or where it enters the building or if it is actually connected to any equipment. NatCOM was supposed to complete this installation the week before I arrived at UCI; this roughly translates in Haitian time to maybe some time the following week, or the week after, or the week after that.

I have to admit if felt good to have something practical to do. I don't believe this was the sole purpose God had me at UCI, but it was a small way to contribute.

The Other Side Of The Mountain (The Conversion)

The United Christians International mission in Caïman, Haiti is run by JeanJean and Kristie Mompremier. Kristie is from Iowa and married JeanJean who is from Caïman area. When we arrived in Caïman Kristie informed us that a local woman, who is a witch doctor, was ready to renounce witch craft (voodoo), accept Jesus Christ, and burn her voodoo artifacts.

At about 4pm we loaded the trucks and headed to the woman's village, which was not far away. UCI had started a nutrition center in this village. This is a center and program in which UCI provides meals for the children of the area. The nutrition center was an 8 posted structure with a corrugated metal roof and without walls. It was at this nutrition center that we were meant to meet the woman.

When we arrived we learned that the woman had gone to the market but would return shortly. We sat on the benches of the nutrition center, read some scripture, sang, and generally prepared for what was to come.

There were a couple of local women that JeanJean introduced. They were both x-witch doctors who had come to Jesus. The both gave their testimony, which were similar.

They came to be witch doctors after their husbands died. Their husbands were witch doctors and they sort of "took over" the business when they died. The spoke of the darkness of voodoo and how they had been paid to cast curses including curses that caused death.

They also spoke about the area and how voodoo once controlled the Caïman area. They stated that at one time it was not safe for a child to walk through this area alone as witch doctors would take them to "use" them, or parts of them, in voodoo rituals. They stated that since JeanJean had brought the love of Jesus to the area a light had come to remove the darkness.

Eventually the woman arrived. Her nick name was "Nanu" and her real name was "Amaz". The group circled around the woman with JeanJean and about 3 other local men from UCI directly next to Nanu. The group laid hands on Nanu and JeanJean began to pray over the woman and demand, in the name of Jesus, that the daemons leave.

About 5 minutes into the prayer Nanu let out a loud scream and started to physical fight against JeanJean and the others while the rest of us backed up a little. She tried to get away from JeanJean while shouting "Mwen pa vle!", which translates to "I don't want!". JeanJean continued to hold on to Nanu by the arm as she thrashed around and kicked. JeanJean called for someone to get his Bible and he began to read from Psalms.

After the reading from Psalms JeanJean began to call Nanu. At first she did not seem to respond and continued to fight, but eventually she calmed down and responded to her name. This was the signal to JeanJean that the demons had left her. JeanJean asked that she pray on her knees the confession prayer.

It was at this point that I happened to look at JeanJean's face and noticed that he was dripping in sweat. This caught my eye because during all my time in Haiti I have never really seen a Haitian sweat, let alone see them dripping in sweat; even when they are doing difficult construction work.

To be honest I am not quite sure what to make about what happened. I am naturally a skeptic and the whole situation was quite foreign to my north American context. In my context the spiritual battle between good and evil is relatively abstract compared to this experience.

After we got back to the UCI complex we did a bit of a de-brief. JeanJean said that this experience was typical, while some were more violent. This is when he walked through the experience describing what was taking place at each phase, the Creole, as well as what he was doing and for what signs he was looking.

JeanJean also gave us a bit of a Haitian education. He told how the Haitian revolution started at a voodoo ceremony in the north of Haiti and spread south. He spoke how this helped ingrain voodoo in the Haitian culture and psyche. He spoke how voodoo requires that to gain power it must be taken from someone else. It was quite interesting and allowed me to look at the situations I have seen in Haiti through a different lens.

As I sat pondering this experience back at UCI, I wondered why I felt God had called me to extend my trip to Caïman. I had no agenda at UCI; no plans. Was I sent there to experience this conversion? To see the spiritual battle manifested in the physical world? What should I have been learning? How should I be growing? I sat and listened. I tried to be open to God's voice and his urging.

The Other Side Of The Mountain (The Trip)

University at UCI

I left the Port-au-Prince guest house at about 9:40AM for the airport. Two members of the Hungarian Baptist Convention volunteered to drive me as the normal van and driver were being put to use taking the kids from the orphanage to the beach for the day. A beach day for the kids is something that Jonathan, the 22 year old missionary from Virginia, had wanted to do before he left. The ride was uneventful, but I was grateful for the ride and all the help the Hungarian team have given us this past week.

I was meant to travel to Caïman, an area just outside the town of Pignon; about 3.5 hours by car from the Port-au-Prince airport. I was hitching a ride with a mission team coming in from Iowa. This team was from the home town of Kristie, who married JeanJean and now they both serve the Caïman community. Again, very grateful for the ride.

This was the part of my trip for which I was the least prepared. I had very little money left and was traveling to a new location with people whom I had just met. And I was still not sure why God put it in my heart to visit this mission. I was anxious and nervous; but in complete dependence on God.

View on the way to UCI

The ride itself was long, uncomfortable, and without incident. What struck me was the change in Haiti as we climbed north of Port-au-Prince and up into the plateau region. The gray of the city unfolded into a lush green landscape of grasses, palms, trees, lakes, rivers, and life. There was breathtaking views that I had never imagined in Haiti. It was unexpected and caught me off guard. I was staring out the window in confusion and awe ... it was beautiful.

Agricultural Fields at UCI

After the paved road ended and just before the dirt road became un-passable we turned off and into the United Christians International (UCI) campus. At first glance the complex was very impressive and quite large. It houses a church, elementary school, university with male and female dormitories, and a village to house professors. Often professors live too far from the university so they must live separately from their families while they teach.

Elementary School at UCI

Time did not afford us a full tour of the complex, but on the shortened tour we saw the fields used for their agricultural program and the elementary school. What most impressed me about their elementary school is that all the teachers hold elementary education credentials. This is not something universal in Haiti and I would put forth it is actually rare for a school. Often teachers in schools have little to no training, let alone credentials.

The tour was cut short because there was a voodoo witch doctor that had decided to renounce voodoo and accept Jesus Christ. The plan was to pray over here and after she accepted Jesus Christ she was going to burn her voodoo artifacts. That story is for another entry.

Catching Up

I keep meaning to write about many things that have happened, but then life happens and I don't get to it. But if I don't get it done soon then it will just get harder. So hear goes:

• Last Saturday 3 of our group left for home; Brian, Jenna, Maureen. Each of these people had special gifts and they each made the construction week a joy:
• Brian - has the gift of giving pure joy to children and receiving the same joy in return without actually being aware he is doing it.
• Jenna - has the gift of sharing love and hope with children with special needs. 
• Maureen - has the gift of teaching and advancing education for the children
• Also last Saturday 5 new members of our group came to Haiti to participate in our medical mission trips.
• John - a physician with whom I have worked with in the past in Haiti.
• Rob - John's son and a medical person as well
• Sharon - yet another medical person who help education the young women she works with about themselves
• Julie - associate pastor and a wonder with children
• Liz - niece of Jonathan and Shantia and a medical person in her own right
• Last Sunday we visited Be Like Brit. This is the orphanage established by the parents of Britney, who was on a mission trip in Haiti when the earthquake hit in 2010 and was killed in the collapse of the Montana hotel. The Be Like Brit orphanage was quite impressive, both in terms of the physical building, but also in terms of their policies, practices, and goals. Just very impressive all around. Len and Sherylann, Britney's parents, gave us a tour of the orphanage and their love for the children and commitment to Haiti was obvious. Again, just very impressed.

Now I think we are basically caught up. Today was another medical clinic day. The site for the clinic was open which meant we had a nice breeze, but covered so we were in the shade. A rather nice place to hold the clinic if you could put out of your find the fact the huge and heavy heavy roof (picture a 50x50x3 foot concrete block) was being propped up on one side be floor jacks stretched to their limit and balanced on top of a pile of broken cinder blocks and a piece of rotting wood.

The clinic went well and we were able to see the baby that I wrote about a day ago. She is a live and a small bit better, but still not out of the woods. The mother's sister came today as well with in infant of her own that was about in the same shape and both completely covered with skin infections.

The doctors provided care and training to the mothers. We sent them home with some additional food, baby formula, and a 5 gallon jug of clean water (which cost only $7, but was more than the mothers could afford). Even this additional support doesn't guarantee the babies will survive, but it is what can be done. So please continue to pray.

I spent the day weighing people and managing crowd control. When that was under control I met "Trouble". Don't know his real name, but he was about 2 or 3 years old and tired of waiting, so he expressed this opinion by screaming and crying. I offered to take him from his father so he wasn't stuck in line and we ended up walking hand in hand for maybe an hour or so as the line progressed. I introduced him, as "Trouble", to the other members of our group and he seemed quite content. I guess I should mention he got his name not so much from the screaming, but from continuing to escape from his father and injecting himself between doctors and their patients. It did seem that people got some level of enjoyment watching as simply walk around, not sure why, but it was a good part to my day.