Day # 1–Arrived

Very, early morning today.  Last night, we slept at the airport on benches, the floor, and air mattresses (why didn’t I think of that comfy option?!).  Pretty sure that the average amount of sleep among the team was about 3 hours – the airport announcements every 15 minutes, reminding us not to leave luggage, how to rent a car, etc., made deep sleep difficult.  We’ll write this off as an adventurous way to start the trip!

Our flight into Port a Prince went flawlessly, Willem met us before we even went through customs (his presence just seems to make everything go smoothly), and it was one of the smoothest times through the airport that I’ve ever had. 

The Haitian newbies experienced their first nail-biting ride to the guesthouse (we have no idea how the ‘rules’ of the road in Haiti work, but they’re definitely different than rule-following Americans!).  We then were welcomed by Beth and enjoyed breakfast  at the guesthouse before most of the team headed up to Gramothe for a chance to see the village and all of the new construction that has happened.  A few of the guys stayed back at the guesthouse and caught up on sleep. 

Brian, Micah, and Kim stayed at Gramothe for the afternoon and helped the U of I Chicago medical team in the clinic storeroom by counting pills & sorting/organizing medications.  The rest of us hiked down the mountain and back to the guesthouse.  We had a fun time taking the shortcut route, and laughing about the steepness of it.  Roxanne and I are pretty sure we won’t be attempting again because we were tired!  And humbled as we were passed by several young children and elderly women wearing old flip-flops.  We had a tag along of a little girl who followed  us from Gramothe.  By the end of the walk she was holding hands with Merv, chatting in her limited english and filling in the details with Morgan in french.

Those of us that didn’t take 6 hour naps (uhh hum, Strom, Esdras & David ) are headed to bed early now.  Tomorrow is church morning and then another afternoon around the guesthouse.  It feels good to be here.

Molly

First leg of travel complete

We have all made it to Ft. Lauderdale without any issues and are starting to get settled in for the night (in the brightly lit airport terminal!) before out next flight.  Will try to post again tomorrow from Haiti!

Heading to Haiti

Over Spring Break, Illini Life will be sending a team of 14 people back to Haiti for a week.  About half of our team are returning members while the other half will be experiencing Haiti for the first time. 

We will be be working with Mountaintop Ministries (MTM), which is located in the mountains about 15 miles out of Port-a-Prince.  Our work will be directly done in the village of Gramothe.  Check out our blog from last year to hear more about 2011's trip.

Our current understanding is that our team will focus on three different areas. 

• One group will be working in their school's computer lab to help maintain/clean/trouble-shoot the current equipment.  We hope to train at least one student to help maintain the computer lab as a technician.  We may also have the opportunity to teach some basic computer classes to teachers and/or high school students. 
• One group will be teaching at the high school.  They will be working with students, engaging hands-on with science labs (with a focus on chemistry).  There is also a possibility to work with the teachers as well.
• One group will be attacking MTM's to-do list with projects ranging from construction on sidewalks/driveway to building/painting houses, etc.

 

There will be a medical team from the University of Chicago overlapping our time there, so our team will get to observe how the clinic is run.

As long as the internet signal cooperates, we'll update this blog in the evenings while we are in Haiti.  Thanks for your support!

The pin shows where we will be in relation to the whole country.