off to Haiti for a Compassion Int. visit

Cant believe the day has come!! We are off to Haiti and Dominican Republic to visit our

Compassion kids. When we first started out with Compassion we picked random kids from around the world. We have kids in Colombia, Nicaragua, Thailand and Dominican Republic. 

After the Haiti earthquake we concentrated on the kids there and sponsored 17 kids. 

When I first started researching for our trip I couldnt find anything on the internet. I finally found one blog about Haiti she only had 3 photographs and didn't help me with what to pack, what gifts

to take, what to expect.

It gave me the idea to blog about our trip in case anyone out there is thinking of visiting their kids in Haiti or Dominican Republic maybe I could help.

We live in France and have a small Bible study group, it started as a 2 year study with the intention of going to Haiti at the end. We are 3 families, 2 French 1 American. We are the Americans.

The two French families sponsored kids in Dominican Republic. 

Before we can even think about going on a trip like this there are so many people to thank.

Our sponsors who graciously gave so this trip could be possible. Our church who prayed for us. Ian who house sat for us and took care of our chickens, dog and cat. Eric (E-Rock) who graciously flew to Haiti to video our trip so we can spread the word. 

Thank you, thank you with out you our trip would not have been possible. 

We had a super long flight

Bordeaux-Paris-Guadalupe-Haiti

                Arriving in Paris and meeting Mark and Joanne from Compassion France who will be
                                              joining us for the Haiti version of our trip.

Arriving in Guadalupe to change planes then flying to Haiti

Palm trees means its hot here :)

off we go

Finally arrived we are all tired! You have to pay $10.00 per person when entering Cash ONLY!

oops I guess no photographs

our driver 

we have lots of luggage, sunsets around 5:00 so its dark out

we tagged and pom pommed all our luggage

our bus 

seeing our video guy E-Rock from the states, he will be videoing our experience

first thing we see is a starving dog 

luggage goes through the back window

loaded and ready to go

off to the hotel

already we see the poverty

checking in

our room

Went down to dinner and waited over an hour to be served. We all ordered hamburgers, I dont know what happened. The kids fell asleep at the table. They kept telling us it was coming.

View from our room

                       

Looking forward to tomorrow

Compassion Tour Day 1 Haiti

First day we had time of prayer then had breakfast

I had been on a mission trip to India where I got a Bible verse daily. I really liked this idea,

I couldnt buy ready made verses in French so I made them

we meet every morning for prayer and discuss the schedule of the day

buffet breakfast

it was Jules 16th birthday

off we go to the Compassion Center 

most things are sold out on the street

poverty is every where 

you wish you could help all of them but what do you do with a colored iguana? 

its carnival time, we drove past too fast and the shot was blurry but you get the picture

amazed at the balance these ladies have 

First thing was visit the Compassion Office 

E-Rock at work

This was a sponsored child whom now works for Compassion

Eric talking to the President of Compassion who last name is Guibeau
and Eric's vineyard is Chateau Guibeau!

        He have us his testimony, came from extreme poverty and with the help of his sponsor has been              excepted into a top university and also works for the Compassion office.

This guy was the prize story, Judson Mesidor came from extreme poverty but has always been very smart, wants to be the next president and has already flown to the US and met President Obama! 

We pray one day he will become President and change the face of Haiti. Mapi was so excited 

she wanted her picture taken with him. 

           When you are here and hearing their stories you are holding back tears the whole time

                                         these guys are the ones who translate your letters

      meeting office staff, this lady is in charge of making sure Compassion children drink clean water

leaving the office, kids got a different tour a more kid friendly one

strong necks

we actually bought some fried plantains from him, he was just too nice. 

We didnt eat them we didnt know what kind of oil it was fried in. 

there is a lot to see on the bus

there is no infrastructure which is the biggest problem, trash is everywhere 

Haiti has many laws but no one to enforce them

you can buy anything with US $$

the local bus, we were happy to see Jesus written every where then we learned that Voodoo is the #1 religion and they are very superstitious. They believe if you write the name of Jesus on your house or car it will bring you good luck. They dont believe in who He is just that the name brings you luck. 

yup the clean up crew 

Jules and E-rock 

Ok now thats heavy!! 

quick stop for lunch and I mean quick, we had 30 min to eat otherwise we wouldnt get a house visit

due to traffic we couldnt do our house visit, you cant be out after sunset and with this traffic we still had an hour to go. We had to head back to the hotel :(

wow those stairs are barely hanging on!

so far our first day has really impacted us. We have learned how important it is for sponsored kids to receive a letter from their sponsor. Only 1% of sponsors ever visit their kids.  Some sponsors never even write. When its letter day and your kid is with out a letter it really hurts them. They have so few who encourage them. When they get a letter from their sponsor and they are encouraged it is huge for them.

I will be honest we were pretty bad at letter writing, we didnt write often and really didnt know what to write. We have so many kids that it became a chore. I will never see it that way again. My letter and what I say could change his life, I get that now.