The albums of Haiti mission--Monday Memories

We've been trying to look at our albums (about 70 of them) each evening. We aren't using any particular order, so we chose Haiti for Sunday evening. Bob has been volunteering in Haiti for 10 years with a team from our church, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. One of our pastors, Dave Mann and his wife Pam, were missionaries there for about decade, and are now back in Columbus working at our church with the large international community in Columbus. Huges Bastien is the director of the school, Institution Univers. In recent years the team has been getting smaller as attention to other destinations grows, so it's doubtful they will go this year, at least not in the spring.  The team is still looking at the possibility of a fall trip if you are interested.  Ten years of service means we have a lot of photo albums about Haiti, and we looked at 2007 and 2009. Two of the 2009 graduates, Zeke and Frandy, came to Akron to live and study after graduation, and visited with us twice, in our Lakeside home, and at Christmas that year. Six graduates of the school who went on to get college degrees have returned to work at the school. There are now 2,600 students at Univers, and each year they have to turn down applicants.  COCINA raises money to support the school and students.

Zeke and Frandy at Lakeside in 2009

Pam Mann and Huges Bastien, director of Institution Univers

Our guests, two Haitian teen-agers

My husband called yesterday to let me know we'd be having two guests for three days, two young men he met when he was teaching architectural drawing in Haiti. So my mind is looking through the cupboards and frig wondering what to feed them. It's been many years since I had a teen-ager in the house, and I seem to remember they eat constantly. Haitians actually appear healthier than Americans because most are not overweight. In fact, they are quite thin. From my husband's visits I know beans and rice, rice and beans, and the occasional chicken or goat are standard fare. You don't want me fixing rice anymore than you'd want my coffee, and well, goat meat's a bit scarce this time of year. E. and F., who speak 4 languages but are having some intensive training in English right now, are in for an amazing ride--they are coming to the U.S. with the help of Christian sponsors to become doctors. That's what--10 or 12 years of education? I guess no one from Communist Cuba or Venezuela offered. Their first Ohio winter should be a shocker to their systems. Right now it's hot and humid, with nothing to worry about except air conditioning. Not so Akron in February.

Last week I attended a seminar by Dr. Gene Swanger on Buddhism. He noted in passing that when he'd take college students to Japan for 6 weeks the first thing they'd notice were similarities, "They are just like us!" This is because we are all--everyone of us--mind restricted to the culture we know best. It's only after some familiarity that we notice and become comfortable (or uncomfortable) with the differences, which are so vast it could take years to really understand another culture. And you don't get this sitting in the classroom.

I've never seen a study on this, but I think we first notice color and clothing (or fashion if you are female) because everyone has skin and we all wear clothes! "They are just like us!" You see smiles, gestures, state of health, and then later begin to see that a gesture or movement doesn't mean what your culture taught you.

It should be an interesting three days of learning and sharing from both sides. If a Haitian woman found out on short notice she would be having guests, she'd also be thinking about what to feed them to make them feel at home and to put her family's situation in the best light. In that, we are very similar.

The beautiful children of Haiti

Please see the previous blog entry first so you understand why we have these photos. It's hard to hold the camera when they all want to see the picture.



Lunch time! There are many shifts, and the food is on the table before the children enter.





Girl's choir from 2007 trip

Scenes from Haiti 2009

On Monday afternoon my husband returned from a short term mission trip in Ouanaminthe Haiti. This was his third year to go, and he hopes to go again next year. He loves the people there. By our standards, they don't have much, but they are so joyful in their faith, and the students he works with are just delightful.
The 2009 team with Dave and Pam Mann (UALC ministers who serve there)

The container with the construction materials didn't arrive until Thursday, but God always has a Plan B, so the team busied themselves painting a room cream with salmon pillars.

Two of the team members have medical equipment backgrounds and were able to help calibrate equipment in the clinic which is now completely staffed with Haitians. The first few years of the clinic it was staffed with rotating teams from the USA.

After he was finished with his construction responsibilities, my husband taught a 13th grade class in model building. These are models of the buildings he has designed for the vocational school which will be built next to the academic buildings.