Haiti Happenings

One of the unique forms of art in Haiti is drum art.  Fifty-five gallon drums are opened, flattened and objects are cut out with hammer/chisel by hand.  Here is the latest one that I just received today.  This piece shows H A I T I being held up by children as they also hold hands.  This has immediately become one of my favorites.  Our house is filled with so many choice pieces that we have found over the years or have been give to us as gifts.   I love the creativity of the Haitian people.  This is just one more example of their incredible art.

This young boy was totally engrossed in drawing with sidewalk chalk.  He and his brother attended a recent VBS for our neighborhood kids and they were the best at coloring.  I liked this photo as a black and white.

It seems the folks in the neighborhood think I run a clinic.  Today I worked on a young man with a large boil on his neck followed by a young boy who had a nasty cut on his foot…in need of 2-3 stitches but I don’t do that.  I recommended a real clinic but the family will not do that.  Tomorrow I will check and re-do bandages.  Hydrogen Peroxide is one of my best friends, followed by triple antibiotic ointment.

The school at Delmas 33 has been in desperate need of expansion while waiting on the new school to be constructed. The folks from Christ Chapel in Kentucky recently built a ‘lean-to’ onto the church, allowing for 3-4 new classes to be taught on the new property next door. This will make a major difference in the quality of education the children receive since they will not be so crowded and the teacher/student ration will be significantly reduced.

I absolutely thought this blog was lost.  I lost my smithhaiti.com address and had tried to get back in to this blog but, after being unable to do so, I gave up and considered it lost.  Today I am wandering around in wordpress.com and decided to try once again and, lo and behold, it opened.  I just have to use the word ‘wordpress’ in the address.  I am so techie it hurts!  Anyone with half a brain could have figured this out long ago…or been more persistent.  Get ready for some new photos and posts!!!

Two dozen KK doughnuts!!  Our team members just brought us in LOTS of food supplies, but the KK doughnuts & bags of Starbucks coffee beans were over the top!  Did I mention a pound of See’s Candy?  I feel a sugar rush comin’ on.

This young man was playing with a box in front of our house.  I happened to be standing in the street watching the younger ones play soccer and snapping a few photos.  The box became a hat, a gun, a goal marker, and several other things as he used his imagination in his play.  No SPS, no Nintendo, no Xbox…just a cardboard box and an imagination.  That’s what it’s all about in our street.

Dorothy, colleague Cynthia Aldrich, and a group of ladies from the Haitian A/G Women’s Ministries prepared ‘relief kits’ for about 500 ladies in our churches.  The kits included hygiene items, as well as lightweight bedcovers and protein shake mixes.  Monies and donations came from the Colombian Assemblies of God churches and Convoy of Hope.

It was a LOT of work but the ladies enjoyed themselves and were so very grateful.

The neighborhood boys were wearing the T-shirts from the Camp Hill, PA team that was here last week.  As the rains started, it didn’t slow them down a bit.  They played as a ‘river’ of water ran down the middle of the road.  It’s fun to see them enjoy life, though they get a bit too serious at times with their soccer.  I provide the ball.  When they are finished they toss it over the gate and yell “mesi.”

Our team from PA is doing an incredible job as they have torn down our fallen wall and are replacing it with a new block wall that would meet the strictest building code.  Hopefully the new wall will help keep the rat population out of our yard.  At this point, the rats are taking over and becoming more aggressive.