I'm Here! I'm Here!

I made it! Back in good ol’ Haiti. Traveling went great and it feels good to finally be here at Mission of Hope. Everything at MOH is NICE for Haiti. I have been so pleasantly surprised with the food, property, and living conditions. God is good. I’ll give you a brief synopsis of our days so far.

On Wednesday we got in and basically rested and got to meet the long-term staff. There are about 14 North American staff members and around 200+ Haitian. One of the main things MOH believes in is indigenous mobilization. The people here love Haiti and the goal is for local Haitians to run as much of the organization as possible. My job will be to help organize and host the teams that come down for a week. I’m excited and ready for our first team to get here Saturday.

Thursday we got a tour of the property in Titanyen and the new Bercy property which is in the process of having plans drawn. MOH has great plans for the property which include and old folks home, school, guest house, medical clinic, etc. The Bercy property is ocean front! On the property there is a "clinic in a can". The school will be functioning this fall and there are ongoing plans for this 65 acre plot including an elderly/disability care home and a seaside hotel for North Americans to stay at as a means for revenue towards the care center, orphanage, school etc.When Joe was telling us about how MOH got started and all they have been blessed with, I was amazed. God has really provided for MOH in big ways. On the site where I live there is an orphanage which houses about 55 kids, a medical clinic, a prosthetics lab, school, church, and a headband/textiles making ministry for amputees called a Cord of Three Strands. Lots to do! MOH has so many projects that I feel like I am learning about new things every hour. After our tour we had free time to play with the kids and hang out. It’s super hot in our room when the power is off because the fans don’t work. We had a crazy rain last night and left some of our windows open. A flooded bed and floor taught us a lesson (it wasn’t my bed that flooded, but still)! The rain cooled it down though and I slept better last night!
Haiti is always shocking to me. Maybe after 3 months it won’t be, but I kinda doubt it. Riding though the streets the van is always quiet because we just look around. We drove through a market and it was like nothing I had ever seen. People EVERYWHERE!! We ate at a Haitian restaurant yesterday. It was good: rice, bean sauce, chicken and sauce. I enjoyed it. I like the other interns a lot. The 4 other girls are from Canada, Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas. The one boy is from Michigan. No southerners but really great people that I can tell will be great friends in the coming months. I still really miss y’all though. Friday night is movie night with the Mission of Hope kids! I'm excited :)

Love from Haiti,
Becca