Day 13 in Haiti

Since the kids are starting to get home sick for life in Canada we have calculated the days we have been here and the days we have left.  We are now on day 13 with 16 days to go. We missed a day in there somewhere, we must have been having too much fun!!! 

Somedays we all wonder why we are here, but we know God has guided us to be here and we are listening and obeying.  As we decided before we came, we will take it one day at a time.

Today was Church.  As I mentioned last time, church starts at 8:00 am with worship and prayer.  We are starting to live on Haiti time and made to service at 8:30.  We ended up sitting in the back of the church where many of the children sit.  Anica was the spectacle and all the little girls wanted to sit beside her and touch her.  Anica didn't like this too much.  Noah was trying to watch the service but the kids kept staring at him.  We are trying to explain the the kids that our white skin is very uncommon and they likely haven't seen any white children.  A whole new experience for all of us. 

At the service Pastor Marc talked to the congregation and asked the husbands to stand up.  When they did he asked them where their wives were?  Each man pointed of in different directions.  In Haiti, the men don't sit with their families, simply an old habit that has never changed.  Pastor Marc encouraged them to go and sit with the families.   Many had a good laugh when they saw how far away some of the husbands and wives were.

Halfway through the service it was decided that all the children would go the the school to have Sunday school.   Nicole and the kids went to participate, they sang and worshipped, then tried to teach the Lord's Prayer in French.  Amongst the loud singing and the large number of children it proved difficult.  It was a success and they are looking forward to doing this each Sunday.    This I think will be a good idea, as 3 plus hours sitting on a hard wood bench is difficult enough for adults let alone children. 

After lunch was relaxing time.  I read for a while, Nicole took a nap and the kids watched Mary Poppins.  Later in the afternoon we played a couple of games and just spent some quiet time together.  We enjoyed this very much.  In Haiti quiet time doesn't happend very often.

Tomorrow after lunch all of us from the compound are going to the beach, then out for supper at a restaurant by the beach.  It is run by a French couple and is apparently pretty good.  We are looking forward to it.

One thing I haven't mentioned that is pretty cool is when shut the light off at bed time.  With no outside lights shining I get to watch the fire flies dance across the ceiling then fly into the ceiling fan and zing to the wall.  It is quite the show to end each night.  I have no idea what the bugs look like as I cannot see them when the light is on, they must be tiny. 

Thanks again for your prayers and your emails and comments. 

P.S.  If any of you would like to text us we have a skype account under nicole.nowochin  We have our skype account open most evenings and would be happy to chat.  Go to http://www.skype.com/ and set up an account then search for nicole.nowochin to add to contacts.

Haiti Day 11

Here are some more photos.  The lady carrying the sword fish was amazing, she must have carried for at least 2 kms to get to the compound.

Anica and I studied James this morning; went to a craft shop to look at all the really amazing Haitian artwork, while Dad and Noah built a garage ( toy one for his cars) and built a step for the completed playground unit.  Its an amazing unit; fully used by all the 200+ school kids! 

Tomorrow is Halloween.  Its not celebrated here.  I asked around and was told it's when evil spirits are worshiped.  I never really gave Halloween much more thought other than kids getting candy and dressing up.  Anica was listening to an Adventure in Odyssey today and asked me to come and listen with her.  It was about why Whit did not celebrate Halloween.  After I listened I did a little research and soon realized that it is a holiday based on Pagan traditions.   If you are interested scroll down and click on link to the Christian web page. 

 http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?id=611&rc=1&list=multi

God spoke very clearly to our family on this matter.  It is no coincidence that  we listened to this particular Odyssey, that Halloween is tomorrow and that we were called to Haiti .  Charles and I  are now questioning many of the "rituals" that we fall into without really informing ourselves or even asking the Lord about it.  I know for our family there are many and on a personal level multitudes.  I thank Jesus for dying for our many sins!  What an amazing sacrifice that none of us of truly worthy of!

We ended the day with a swim in the Caribbean.  It is very beautiful and clear we can see the fish.    We are told there is a hurricane watch in effect.  We are watching its progression online.  The chances are low!  We are not worried...at worse case it will rain hard and be a little windy.

Charles & Nicole

 

Day 10 in Haiti

Today was a rest day....we played a few games and researched Haiti's history.  We had a nice chat with Pastor Marc on what his views are with leadership in his  church.  Here at Haiti Arise, he does not allow anyone who is not baptized, not living by the book, or conitnually repeating their sinful ways to hold title, represent, or participate in worship or leadership of any kind.  I am still digesting this.  Are we are North Americans so tolerant of each other or are Pastor Marcs views too narrow?  I am reminded of Matt 7:13-14
 "You can enter Gods kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to  life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." 

After lunch we went out to help put up a couple of walls on the medical centre.  This morning while we were inside they almost had major injuries as one of the 1700 lb pillars fell over and just missed a couple of the workers.   I met the guy who designed the building and I question whether they could have chosen a better construction method.  The Haitian works wear shorts and most where flip flops for safety shoes, so working with concrete pillars and panels that weight more than 1000 lbs might not be the best, but then I'm not the building expert.  And if the bobcat doesn't work, which is every other day, not much can be done to finish the project.

Nicole also helped out this afternoon.  The area where the are making the panels is muddy, so we grabbed a couple of shovels and threw rocks on the mud to level it out some.  Nicole should be sore tomorrow, more than she already is from the hard bed we sleep on. 

Tonight we decided it is movie night.  We are making popcorn and watching a movie on a big screen TV that they had still in the box.  It will be nice to relax and unwind.

Love from us all.

Day 9 in Haiti

Today was the last day for the Crossroads team as they will be leaving at 5 am tomorrow.  There was a few odd jobs to finish up then most of the team was done by lunch. 
The whole family walked to Lisa's this morning to do some school work.  Both kids had a pretty good day doing their school work.  It is difficult not only in the heat, but from distractions from the other kids in the house.  I walked back from Lisa's by myself, which is about a 1 km walk.  The people are very friendly. 

This afternoon Charles and I had a nap....finally felt I rested.  I have not slept well since our arrival....up 2-3 night...with really disturbing dreams.

Todays church was a baptism service. What an amazing one it was.  Pastor Dan would have loved the testimonies; the lost, the least, the little and the neraly dead which fit right into Crossroads vision for reaching others.  25 people invited the Lord as their Savior.   Most testimonies spoke of a hold on their hearts, vodoo was the commonality keeping them away from Jesus.  I cried as I listenend to all the people who spoke of  how God has saved them, cured them, and taken them out of misery, poverty and evils of all kinds. Once we finished we walked down to the sea to baptize in water.  The whole beach was full for Haitians praising God, singing as each person walked out to Pastor Marc to be received by the Lord.

Once we were back on the campus we continued to worship God!  They are truly amazing in their worship!  Anica and Noah had a really difficult time saying good-bye.  She is very homesick....probably seeing the team leave compounds her wanting home.  Only 21 more days we tell them.  We obeyed God by coming without really knowing what to expect.  Being here is exactly where we are to be!  Every day has thus far comfirmed that God called us here!  A new team will arrive in the next week.   The medical team will be different than the Crossroads team as both Christians and non Christians we be here.   Again, the Lord has a plan for us to be part of that; to support, provide and minister on His behalf.

 I am discovering that going into something without expectations, with prayer and God on our side, always turns out! 

Good night to all our loved ones
Charles, Nicole, Anica and Noah

Day 8 in Haiti

Finnally a cool breeze coming through the building.  This is the first night since being here that I am not sweating while I am typing.  We had a thunder storm after dinner tonight and it is now a cool 26C.  A nice change from 30C plus all day and night.

We did recieve an email from our house sitters with a picture of our back yard and the hill covered in snow.  Noah loved to see this and it did help us feel cool for a second. 

Anica was feeling a little sad today.  She misses her friends and some of the other comforts of home.  Any of you following the blog please have your kids send Anica an email if you can.  Send it to nicolen@telus.net.

Today many of us were exhausted from hauling rice the day before.  We did manage to finish the playground with only one minor set back.  The chain bridge we were building was not quite finished when recess happened and we had at least 25 kids on the bridge at once...the bridge chain supports broked and the bridge came down.  So we played with all the kids for until recess was over and then finished with a much stronger bridge.

Nicole and the girls hand painted with the preK kids.  They were not too keen on putting there hands in paint.  It took a while to get them interested; even then only about 1/2 participated.  While the boys worked on the playground; Anica and I began playing "Sur le Pont D Avigon"...when suddently there was a "large crowd of kids" gathered.  It was surreal....how many kids young and older wanted to play.  Our circle was soo big it kept in spot. The kids love having their photos taken and then looking in the view finder to look at themselves. 

Anica and Noah are also greatful that we built the equipment, so they now have something to play on while they are here.

The Crossroads team will be leaving on Friday morning early, so tomorrow is the last day for them.  We will miss them all very much.  Anica has made friends with the ladies on the team, Noah has been and great helper with the building and Nicole and I have made friends with all of them.  They are a strong team and are full of prayer for Haiti and everyone here.   They will be missed.

This afternoon we did have a chance to go to the beach to relax and cool off.  Anytime we go to the beach is it a great experience.  We have to walk approx 2 km on a path that passes by many peoples houses and tents.  We have had a chance to get to know some of them.  They are always very friendly and kind. 

The spectacle of the day was when Mr. Mike took off his sandals and started to climb up a coconut tree.  By the time we made it half way up there must have been 30 people gathered around to see this funny looking white man climbing the tree.  Climbing trees in Haiti is highly discouraged and I thought this was odd until I found out why.  If you see how power is used in this country, then you understand.  They have power lines running everywhere, through trees, tied to trees, tied in the middle of the power line to another spot.  So as a result nobody climbs trees for fear of getting electricuted. 

It is interesting that we are so focused on what we are doing here, that we spend little time following what is going on outside Haiti and more specifically the area that we are in.  We don't have newspapers and we use the internet mostly to communicate and blog.  We are learning to rely fully on God and that has been the most amazing part.

Thank-you all for your emails and comments it is good to hear from you. 

Charles, Nicole, Anica, Noah. 

 

Day 7

Today was an amazing day!  It started out a little slow.  The kids and Nicole went to Marc and Lisa's house to do school work.  Pat and I walked with them to ensure they made it safely.  

While we were at Lisa's house we had the opportunity to fix her sink in the bathroom.  Pat who was a plumber for a year had never seen a drain that bad. But  when you see how most of the Haitians live, having an clean sink drain is not high on the list and I'm note sure they would know how to clean it.  We ended up coming back and changing the sink taps too.

Todays temperature was close to 40 so the walk home was a "sweatty experience" which is about all the experiences here in Haiti.

This afternoon we went to a community up in the mountains called Tapillon to do a rice distribution.  We piled 30 50lb bags of rice with the first crew in small Ford Ranger for the ride up to the mountain where there is a childrens church called Tapillon. The plan was to encourage folks who had tents set up to dismantle them and move back into their homes.  Many of the tents were not lived in; they call these camps Zombie Cities.   They are tents set up with no one living in them, but when foreign aid organizations see them, they receive aid.  This is one of Haitis largest challenges.  The "hand out" mentality rather than a HAND UP!

Once we arrived there were @ 300 people at this church waiting for Lisa to explain what Haiti Arise and Crossroads were doing.  The crowd was retless; many looked distraught.   There were young and very old all waiting for directions.  We set up at the top of the mountain and started dividing the rice bags into smaller portions of 2 large coffee cans each of rice .  While half of the team was portioning the rice I ( Charles) was able to watch while the more than 150 kids aged 3 to 10 recite bible verses from memory.  It was amazing, they recited John 1:1-14. Then John 3:16-17. 

We distributed to the children first, then to those who had tickets which were given based on if you lived in a tent at Tapillon.  The whole process went relatively well, with many people recieving much needed rice. It was a really great time to see how we all worked together.  Getting to know each other a little more each day. 

Crossroads will be leaving shortly and greatly missed by our family. Especially Mr Richards contortion showcase that he entertains our kids with nightly ( even the adults participate). We will also miss Mr Pats calm and humourous personality,Mr Mikes photographing talents and  know how, Mr Simons jovial spirit, Mr Keith "getter r done" ethic  and Mr Lennick quiet but strong presence. Anica and I will miss the ladies Venta, Nelda, Kendra, Darlene and Katrina ( last blog I said Katilyn...that the other triplet ooops). They were a blessing to both of us to include us in many of their projects and always keeping a positive attitude.

At the time of writing this at 10:30 it is 30C and pouring rain.  Just when I thought I couldn't sweat anymore, the humidity is now 100% so it feel like 42C.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers.  Life is going well in Haiti.

P.S.  While Nicole and I were doing the rice distribution the kids stayed at the compound and played on the new monkey bars we had built yesterday.  They loved it!!

A new week!

Its been a week since our arrival!  In the beginning I really thought time slowed....but now I cannot beleive it has already been a week.  Today was very productive for all of us.  Anica painted the school with the ladies from Crossroads team ( Venta, Nelda, Darlene, Kendra, Katilyn). They completed the office and most of the outside.  Anica was loving being a part of it!  She is a "great little helper". 

Noah caught a ride in a bobcat with Mr. Pat.....all grins as he got to ride around.  Then the serious work began.  Pat, Charles, Mike, Lennick and Noah completed the monkey bars and platforms for the chain bridge for the playground equipment.  Noah counted chain links for his "math" class.  He loves that much better than paper math.

Charles was up and out; planning the project of the day with his "BOYS".  They are truly an amazing bunch....we call them the 3 stooges.....however, they dont know that  yet!  I am not sure who if the funnier stooge; Pat, Charles or Mike.  It was fun to watch as they worked together and laughed together.

I began the day planning ( yes, even here in Haiti I plan) then helped out in the kitchen.  We did some school from 10-12 then off to complete the painting of the school. 

I volunteered to "tag along" to youth in the evening ( which was Mike and Pats baby).  WOW!  I was so completely out of my comfort zone.  For all those who know ME....we divided those who came into groups.  I suddenly was a translator and a leader.  I had 5 kids in my group ranges in ages from 16-19.  Wonderfully gifted kids with an AMAZING love for JESUS!  They asked if I knew any hymns in French...which I do not.  So they taught me one and asked me to sing it ( all alone in front of people!!) YIKES!  Gods grace....I obeyed! We then prayed for one another, and tears came to my eyes and theirs.  It is amamzing how the Lord works through prayer!  I am only really discovering its true power.

We are all ready for bed!  Its 7.33 here in Haiti.   Tomorrow we will walk to Lisa's house to do school.  There are so many other distractions here...maybe we will be a little more focued there. 

Love Charles, Nicole, Anica, and Noah.

Cholera Update

Many people have asked if we are near the area where the cholera has broken out.  The cholera outbreak is in the Artibonite region which is closer to Saint Marc.  Saint Marc is North of Port au Prince and on the other side of the horseshoe from us.  Our water is from a well and is filtered.  All our dishes our washed with soap and water then bathed in bleach and water.  From what we know the area where the cholera cases are is part of some huge tent cities where sanitation is not very good.  The amount of garbage everywhere is quite amazing.  People just use it then through it out.  Cholera is a bacteria similar to typhoid that comes from contaminated water that likely has feces in it. 

I have uploaded some photos , sorry for the doubles but our internet is hit and miss.  I will try to upload more over the next few weeks.

Bye for now.  Charles.

Day 6 in Haiti

Today was Church day.  Church starts at 8:00 am with prayer, then some worship songs, then some more worhsip songs and pray.  Then we introduced ourselves to the Haitian congregation.  Keith spoke on behalf of the Crossroads team and I spoke for my family.  After this there was a baby dedication, the father was a real trooper, as he wore a two piece suit and tie.  We were all sweating with short sleeves.  Out of respect for the local folks the men have the privaledge of wear long pants, socks and dress shoes.  After the sermon and message Church was finished at 11:30.  No that is not a typo.  It was a great test of patience for the kids and for us as we sweat the whole way through.  Overall though is was a great service.  The Haitians have a passion for worship and are very enthusiastic. 

After service we had lunch and then had the afternoon to ourselves.  We found a nice spot at the back of the compound in the shade and plaayed some games and just talked.  It was nice to get a break and spend some time just as a family.

Some of you have been asking what the food has been like.  Actually it has been rather good considering.  As an example tonight we had lasagna, bbq beef, boiled potatoes and carrots and rice.  We have juice to drink at each meal.   Breakfast is Haitian bread which is like bagels but not round and sometimes porridge.  Noah has been living on rice, and bagels with Nutella and bananas.   The black bean sauce for the rice is quite good.   Nothing is wasted here as the refridgeration is just OK, so what ever we have for supper left over goes into soup for lunch the next day.  Try having hot soup when it is already 90 degrees.  I put extra hot sauce in mine since I cannot sweat anymore than I do already. 

I must sign off so the kids can what a movie.  There are 8 kids  running around wild and need to settle down.  Thank God for mobile technology. 

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Love all of us!!

Day 5 in Haiti

Nicole and Anica went to the village of Petit Goave today.  They have a Ford ranger pick-up truck that was used to get there.  There must have been 10 people in the back of the truck.  The drive is as exciting as anything just trying to stay in! NO really it was hang on for dear LIFE!  White knuckles included!!

When they arrived at the village it was blocks and blocks of people under tents and huts, selling their wares.  Nicole described it as a cross between value village and the dollar store.  The locals don't like to have people linger and window shop so the group was asked many times to marche, which means walk or move along. 

Anica wanted a sprite so Nicole went to buy one.  It was 30 haitian dollars or 15 if you drink it there and give him the glass bottle back.  It was really odd to have to stand there and guzzle a Sprite.

Charles, Noah, Pat and Mike (from Crossroads team)  spent the morning making another platform for the playground.  The kids will love their new monkey bars.  We had fun watching them work on it later in the day.  It went like this " how many white boys does it take to build a platform in the heat of Haiti" the number is 4!  Each on one end, passing the drill around....so they all were included. 

Off the the ocean for the end of the day!  The Carribean Ocean is so calm and beautiful.  Our host here, Rebecca, found some sand dollars for Anica to make a necklace!  Anica and Noah love going to the ocean....every day if they had there way! Marc bought some crayfish ( which they say is sort of lobster like) for dinner.  Its like "a minute steak" verses a sirloin! 

We are looking  forward to tomorrow....church at 8-11 or so then a day of rest! 

Now its crash time!  The heat sure tires us! 

A quick note of the money system.  I have yet to get a definite answer as to why it is the way it is, but they have two currencies.  Gourdes and Haitian dollars.  5 gourdes gets you 1 Haitian dollar.  Hatian dollars are 7 to 1 US dollar.  Yesterday we had to go to Masion D'aff, which means home stuff. 

Day 3 in Haiti

Guess what it was hot today!!  We met with the leaders Marc & Lisa last night, they wanted to touch base and see how we are doing.  There is another young couple that is here for a year and an architect who is here for 2 months to oversee building the medical centre.  They suggested that we do not try to do too much in the first week.  In Haiti there is no rush. 

The building team that came to get them started on the medical building will be leaving on Saturday, so they have asked me to watch and learn so I can continue to help when they leave.  That will leave the architect and myself to be in charge of the project.  I learned how to mix concrete, how to place rebar and hangers to lift the concrete out of the forms.  The bobcat had a flat tire, so everything shut down until this was fixed.  Because we are working with concrete and large chunks of it, we can do nothing without the bobcat. Tomorrow they will place the pillars and the first wall.  They taught someone else to drive the bobcat otherwise I was next on the list.  Tomorrow we will build some playground equipment for the school. 

Nicole spent some time with the kids doing school work.  They spend about 2 hours then came out on the compound to help out.  

After lunch Nicole went upstairs for a massage, as one of the ladies from the Crossroads team is a massuse.  Anica provided pedicures and painted toes for the little girls and herself.   So this really is just a resort, massage, pedicure, white sand, clear water.  You all should come for a visit!

This evening we went to the church prayer service.  Which is more like a worship service, they sing for the majority of it and pray in amongst the singing.  It lasts for almost two hours and is very difficult for us to follow.  One leader is speaking in Creole and another is following in english.  It is loud and lively, even charasmatic. You cannot help being affected by the all the energy and excitment they have for Jesus.  Although it is very hard to follow along.

Noah did his school work then came out to help me with some of the construction.  After lunch him and two other boys have a karate room, as they call it, in one of the upstairs rooms.  It must be 100 degrees in this room, but they will play and run around for hours.  Noah will lose 10 pounds in liquid while he is here.  He is having a great time.

Nicole is starting to settle in, it is difficult for all of us to not do anything.  And to have no expectaions to do anything.  Tonight Nicole made us all chai tea from scratch and everyone loved it. 

Keep praying for us,  we have 28 days to go!!
  

Day 2 in Haiti

We never slept so long.  Everyone is up at 6 am whether you like it or not.  You are exhausted from the heat by 8 pm so getting up at 6 isn't all that bad. 

This morning breakfast was at 7, then everyone mills around until someone decides to do something.  They have two seperate teams down here right now.  One is helping build the new medical clinic.  It is a difficult process to work with people that have little or no education. 

The design for the new medical clinic will be built like the big concrete walls you see along the highway.  Four corner pillars, then slide the 12 by 4 foot cement blocks in between them.  They needed to decide on a construction method that they could repeat easily.  I was able to help build some templates to help them build rebar frames for the wall blocks.  Once we did this they went from producing one every hour to seven every hour.  It was an experience to see how little they know about what we might call common sense.  Nothing here is common.

We waited for 3 hours for our bobcat to come back as the loaders at the gravel pit did not work.  So we sent the bobcat to load our gravel.  It was a 45 minute trip for the bobcat and amazingly the bobcat made it back before the gravel truck.  Haiti time teaches everyone that comes to visit what patience really is.

Noah after 12 hours of sleep has become just like one of the "natives"  he is running around with no shirt and no shoes and is covered in dirt.  He loves it.  Nicole will start school tomorrow and we will see how Noah adjusts back to this routine.

Anica as anyone who knows her is loved by all.  She played with Marc and Lisa's kids, got her hair braided and generally enjoyed her day.   She spent some time with the ladies from the crossroads team in the air conditioned room cutting out stencils to paint on the elementry school.

As for Nicole she swept the main compound area at least three times, cleaned a bathroom, had time to sit and read.  We went for a walk to see the goat farm and the site for the new Church and orphanage.  Nicole was great to have as an interpreter with M. Christoph.  With some effort she can understand creole quite well.  We met many of the local people, who were all very friendly.  We saw more people living in tents, huts and under tarps.  It is good to see that kids are all the same wherever we go.  All are happy, full of smiles and really just enjoying life.  The one interesting part was the 4 year old boy, completely naked doing cartwheels for us.  I'm thankful we didn't have the camera for this! He was a happy boy.

The last thing of our day was going to the beach around 4 pm.  We walked about 20 minutes from the compound.  The beach is beautiful and the water very clear.  Too bad for all the garbage on the beach.  The water was like a warm bathtub and soft coral beaches.  We spent almost two hours there.   I looked at my watch at 5:35 when we came out of the water.  By 5:50 it was pitch black as we drove home in the back to the pick-up.  I can see that being out of the compound at night would be a whole different experience.  We probably won't be doing this anytime soon.
 
It's now 9:30 and I'm sweating once again.  We should be fully climatized by the time we leave Haiti.

Sorry that we cannot post more pictures as we only have so much band width and once it is used up we have to wait the full twenty four hours for the bandwidth to start new. 
I will try to add a few photos each day, but will have a long slide show once I return.

We wish you all well.

Arrived in Haiti

Well we have finally arrived in Haiti.  Two days of long travel.  Nicole and the kids are exhausted.  The flights were long but OK.  The trip from Port au Prince Airport to Grand Goave compound was a long grueling and hot trip.  35C in a smal van, the trip only lasted 15 minutes Haitian time, which apparently is more than three hours.  

Our host came to pick us up at the airport.  He brought his own police officer to help us get to our destination.  In Haiti, there are no driving rules, red lights mean nothing, neither do green for that matter, it is first come first serve.  It is an awesome sight to watch and no accidents that we witnessed.  However, every vehicle has a large cow catcher bumper on it and the horn is the first thing that is repaired.  Honk to let people know when you are doing something.  When the right side of the road is jamed, use the left side if no one is there.  If you have a problem, the police officer gets out, pulls his gun if necessary and get you through.  This happened more than once (not the gun part). 

We travelled through entire city of Port au Prince.  Everyone lives the same way, many in tents, some inside broken houses, some under tarps.  Everyone is selling something on the street.  The people all seem relatively happy, since the earthquake they are all getting food.  The thing that was most amazing to me, was all the laundry hanging and that everyone we saw had cleaner clothes than many people back home.  There is still much garbage everywhere, but it is better than a few months ago.  If you have garbage in front of your house or tent, move it to your neighbors area and now it is his problem. 

The picture of the Presidential building on this blog sums up the issues with this country.  The government is in shambles.  I have seen organized chaos, but today was unorganized chaos, the whole country is in this state. 

We arrived at the compound just after lunch.  We left the airport at 8:30 AM.  Just as it was described, a 7 foot wall around 4 acres, metal gate guarded 24 hours and locked at 10 PM.  We are safe in here.  Will venture outside the compound in the next few days.

The number of people on the streets is staggering.  This will be an amazing experience and we are going to take it one day at at time.

Talk to you soon!

One week to go

We are on the final countdown, less than a week to go!  We are excited!  The kids are looking forward to flying on the big planes. 

Mom and Dad are... well we are going to take it one day at a time.

Please share this blog with others if you wish.  We will be posting pictures and maybe video if I can figure out how it works.

Talk to you soon.