Back from Camp

We are back from camp. If we wanted to come back we had one chance because this was the last trip back to the mission until everyone left at the end of the week. Tina never really got better after being sick when we left. She had stomach troubles the whole time with occasional headaches and feeling wiped out. I didn't want her to stay another week and be out for the count because this illness was combined with much higher temperatures and a more difficult living situation. When we woke up the temperatures were in the mid 80s and it was humid all the time. By the end of the day it was easily in the 90s if not higher. The house was always hotter than outside and the fans didn't work very often because of the electricity, so there was nowhere for Tina to rest. She was also helping out during the camp by assisting with team building activities and being the first aid station even though she was sick.

The living conditions consisted of:
• random electricity from the city (the generator was run from 7pm until about 10pm)
• in-house plumbing - most plumbing fixtures (including all toilets) had issues
• most things were very dirty and gritty (and hard to clean)
• rather poor food (although we were happy to have food)
• various other difficulties

Here are a few shots of our room:







We slept fairly well on the beds, but had various interruptions. The worst of which was when two people barged into our room at about 10:30pm and we were sleeping with no sheets and just our underwear. Tina didn't have a bra on, but was fortunately sleeping on her stomach (she would cover up with a sheet so the kids weren't affected so don't worry). Our room contained the batteries to run some lights on battery/inverter power and there was apparently an issue with the batteries. Instead of knocking, a Haitian guy with one of two Americans who came to help with the came right in with flashlights. From a good sleep this was quite confusing and upsetting, but we didn't make an issue of it (we just locked the door to our room from then on).

We realize that many people living in Haiti would love to have what we had and are far worse off than we were at the camp, so it is very hard to complain. We were simply not used to it. It makes living at the Mission now feel a whole lot better than it did (which is one of the many excellent side benefits of going). Other benefits include a few new revelations that I had regarding my own salvation and walk with Christ. I learned these things about myself and my past during my preparation for a talk that I gave to the campers on Wednesday. What I learned was very positive and reassuring that I am on track now as opposed to where I was 3-4 years ago.

I was the official driver after the first day, going out with two Haitians named Johnnie and Sorel and various other people in the back of a caged pickup. We would go and get filtered water for the campers and Culligan water for the support staff. We would also get ice and whatever else we needed. We took one trip about an hour away to refill a large tank of LP. Toward the end of the week, the ice truck started delivering ice to the camp and it was cheaper. We used a wheelbarrow to bring it down.


Here is the truck I drove and one of the places we had to stop at (to get water). I had to back it in there from a busy road over a sidewalk with people and buses with crazy drivers.


Len and I worked on the plumbing every day the whole week and Len is still working on them after we left.

As the first aid station, Tina helped out with everything from headaches to sea urchin spikes in feet to numerous cuts and scrapes. We had one girl feeling so sick that I was asked to drive her to the clinic. She ended up having typhoid and malaria and went home after about three days of being at the camp.

Carter got stung for the first time by a wasp. It swelled up, but he was fine. He was very afraid of wasps after that, yet I think he is getting over it slowly.

The first week of camp was for the youth leaders and it appeared to be a great success according to the person running the camp.

I'll write more later...

I have to show you this - this thing dropped down on Tina's head when she opened one of the closets in our place. The scale/size is hard to see but it was 3-4 inches in length: