Day 5 - More Rock and Digging

Today was a busy day at the CHCH. We moved a lot of rock today. We even did some more digging. We had to go back to Metalec the hardware store and buy some more supplies. We bought a few more shovels because the ones we bought before are breaking. I was able to take a few pictures in the store.

The front of the hardware store

The guys negotiating the price

The front of CHCH floods when it rains. It is not just puddles, the entire area is a lake. I remember last year the kids rafting on a refrigerator door in the lake last year. So we brought in some rock to level the front the best we can.

The front, floods when it rains

The ladies moving some rock

We continued to move rock in the back to prepare for the playground. We moved ab out three full loads today. We already have two more lodes waiting to be moved tomorrow.

Working hard

Miranda getting a work out

Laughina wanted to help out too

The wet stuff was the first load moved.

We are putting block in beside the canal to reinforce the walls in order to place concrete slabs on top to cover it. In order to bring in the block we has to take the seats off of the truck. The blocks cost $1 per block. Ramone estimated about 465 blocks.

The truck without seats

The seats off of the truck

Jackson at the block "factory"

The block maker

Unloading blocks

Half the blocks needed for the job

Concrete will also be place in and on the blocks to make it stronger. Sand is needed to help make the concrete. We ordered a load of that today too. $400 Haitian or $50ish US. The currency used in Haiti is the gourde (pronounced goo-ed), but everyone uses the Haitian dollar to price and buy things. The Haitian dollar does not exist. There are 5 gourdes in 1 Haitian dollar. There are 8 Haitian dollars in 1 US dollar. Which means there are roughly 40 gourdes in every US dollar.

One load of sand

More trench digging

Some old heavy slabs needed moved out of the way

Our progress for the day

The canal walls has some leaks in it, so the water is running into the new trench we are digging. It is going to be fun to bail that water out.

Beautiful sunset over the mountain

After the work for the day, we were able to play with the kids again. Always an excited time, for us and the kids!! A couple times each week we will do a devotional for the kids. Tony taught the devo for the teenage boys tonight.

Tony teaching

The way of the Lord is narrow

The way of the world is easy and broad

Tomorrow is going to be another exciting day. We are going to a congregation where Jerome helps out a lot. We are going to assist them in their worship service.

Thanks for reading, I hope it was beneficial to you. Please ask any questions that you may have!

Trevor

Day 4 - Shoveling Rock

Today is Sunday. The day started off with us going to a local congregation to worship. We go to the congregation where the preacher is the husband of a staff member at CHCH. It was very similar to our worship service back home. We sang some songs, in creole of course. We partook in the Lord's Supper, for which the use wine. It is definitely different than back home. Gary gave the lesson for the day. He talked about 1st Corinthians 3. It was very well received lesson.

Gary giving the lesson with Mosses translating

After worship we had a truck load of dirt come in. Once again we used the old fashioned shovel and wheelbarrow to move the rock. The rock is being placed to sturdy the ground for the playground that will be placed. 

The dump truck, loaded by hand

Below is the site before any of the rock has been laid. You can see on the left a drainage canal. The canal needs to be covered with concrete slabs. Before that can happen the concrete walls need to be reinforced. We started to dig out on both sides of the canal.

Pre work

Putting rock into the barrow

Raking out the rock

Digging the trench

The kids love to help!

The area is almost ready for the next phases. But tomorrow will consist of more digging and more rocks. But here is our progress for one afternoon.

The rock half way back

The side of the canal almost there

It has been very hot down here. It's in the 90's, which probably isn't much different than what all of you are experiencing. We are all sweating a ton. We are also drinking a lot of water. We are going through about 1.5 of those water cooler jugs. So that is about 8 gallons for 9 people. The water comes in those containers because we have to go down town to get the water from a filling station that serves purified water for us Americans with stomachs that can't handle real Haitian water. 

I hope you have enjoyed the post for the day. Please leave me some comments.

Trevor

Day 3 - Shopping and some plumbing

Sorry this is a day late the power was not working last night. . .

Today was another great day in Haiti! Once again I would like to thank of you you who supported me or my team so that we could make the trip down here! Please continue to pray for us and the people of Haiti. Also, please send up a special prayer for Tanya as she was in bed all day today due to an illness.

This morning started off with going to the hardware store to buy supplies so that we could fix some of the plumbing and begin wiring to put up lights for the playground and basketball court. It is not like going to the Home Depot, grabbing a cart and going to whatever isle you need. The store we went to was a three room store, with supplies hanging all over the walls. I forgot to take a picture, but I'm sure we will be back, and I will take one then to show you. But it took us 3-4 hours just to go to the store to buy the supplies.

The back of CHCH is where most of our work has and will take place. The grass has grown up to be a lot of weeds. The sink and showers to the visitors dorm did not have very good drainage after it hit the floor.

Behind the visitors dorm - pre work

We started to mow the grass in order to make the area more work friendly.

Silas doing some mowing

Because the area for the drainage was not working, the area was very wet and muddy, therefore before we could fix the plumbing, rocks needed to be pout down. We had to move the rocks the old fashioned way.

Miranda and kids shoveling rocks into a wheelbarrow

spreading the rock out under the pipes

"We need more rock"

After the rocks were laid we could begin work on the plumbing issues.

Old plumbing with pipes broken off

Gary cutting some pipe

Tony cutting some pipe

Tony gluing some pipe into place

Ramone gluing some pipe

The plumbing is not quite finished. We will finish it tomorrow. It is looking good though. After the work we were able to play with the kids for a while. We all had a lot of fun just sitting around trying to have conversations with each other. 

Chedlyn and I

Louisna

I got a hair extension. Beautiful!

Hunter and Jerome had been working hard all day. They need to take a little nap. Where else but in the shop, on top of a work bench and a storage box.

Jerome

Hunter

I hope you enjoyed this update. Please leave me some comments and/or questions if you have them please.

Trevor

Day 1-2: Traveling to Haiti

Thursday afternoon 6 of the 9 people on the team started for the airport in Salt Lake City.

Silas, Brenda, Gary, Jami, Tony, Me

Our first flight was to Dallas where we met the other three people of our team. For the rest of the flights we were together as an entire team.From Dallas we flew to Miami, where we had a twelve hour layover. We stayed in a hotel so that we could get one last good nights sleep before staying in the heat of Haiti. We did have some rather long waits at the airports, especially when checking in at the Miami Airport for our flight to Port au Prince.

Tanya and Tony w/ Miranda in the back

View of the AA Wing

Waiting to Check in

On Our way to Port au Prince

But our longest wait was when we got to Port au Prince to check into our domestic flight on Tortug Air. The plane was a small plane, that only held maybe 24 people. 

Our Tortug Plane

We had a great view of the cockpit the entire flight. It was the shortest flight, taking only about 30 minutes to fly north to Cap Haitien. 

View of the cockpit

The Cap Haitien airport is not a very big airport, and it only has one runway, and that one runway is for small planes. 

Cap Haitien Airport

The Runway

Our good friend Jerome picked us up at the airport and drove us the 15 minutes to the Children's Home. On the way to the Children's Home we were surprised to see two new stop lights. These are two of only four that exist in the town of Cap Haitien. Once we got to the Children's Home we were warmly greeted by the many kids. I was able to give many of them hugs, including Louisna, Richard, and Jackenson!

Jerome and the truck

After a few hours of saying hello and catching up with the kids, we had our first dinner in Haiti for the trip. It was chicken, fried plantain, rice and beans, fresh pineapple!, and bread. It was delicious as always! It was very hot in the dinning room, so we decided to enjoy the dinner on the roof!!

Dinner!

Eating on the edge

Enjoying dinner

After dinner, the guys began to assess the land to determine how to begin our preparation for the playground that will be put in by the group after us. 

Assessing the grounds w/ Hunter on the left

I hope you enjoyed the quick overview of us getting to Haiti. Thank you very much for your prayers and support while we are down here. Please leave any comments or questions that you have. Thanks for reading!


Trevor

Yard Sale Success!

Thank you to everyone who helped out with the yard sale. Whether you donated items, helped move items, helped sell items, helped make pancakes, or anything else you did to help us out, thank you so much!! The yard sale was a huge success. The pancake breakfast did not go so well though... But overall, we were able to make about $2000 from the sale of used items at the yard sale. The items that were not sold were donated to Somebody's Attic in Logan. God is awesome!!

We're Having a Garage Sale!

Our mission team is holding a garage sale to help raise money to go to Haiti. The money raised will go towards the projects we plan to do while we are there. If you have anything you would like to donate to the sale, let me know. Thanks for your help!

2011 Haiti Trip Video

This is a video compilation of pictures taken from our 2011 trip. Thank you to Josh and Susan for putting this awesome video together. Visit their blog at http://brynersgotohaiti.blogspot.com/

Please Support Our 2012 Mission Trip

Dear Friends and Family,

Last year I had the opportunity to serve the Lord in Haiti at the Cap Haitien Children’s Home (CHCH). Thank you all so much for your support and prayers last year. The impact the trip had on the lives of the children at CHCH and on my life was something I never expected.

Louisna and I

A few days before our team arrived in Haiti, a young girl named Louisna arrived at the orphanage. When we arrived, she was immediately drawn to me. She would follow me everywhere. When I woke up in the morning, she would be waiting for me at the door. She was the last one to say goodnight to me before our team held our nightly devotional. Louisna spoke no English, and I only spoke a few words of Haitian. But we developed a bond that was only possible with God. I will never forget the impact that Louisna had on my life! Louisna and I spoke via Skype the other day; both of our days were brightened by the encounter!

2011 Mission Team with CHCH Staff and Kids

Because of people like you, we can spread the love of God to all parts of world! If you would like to read more about my trip from last year, please visit http://trevorinhaiti.blogspot.com. To learn more about the CHCH you can visit http://caphaitienchildrenshome.org/, or visit their blog at http://www.chchblog.blogspot.com/.

Richard and I

One building we painted

Many of us who went to Haiti last year, are once again going this summer. We will be in Haiti June 27th - July 13^th, 2012. Our work this summer will focus on the beautification of the campus of the CHCH. We are currently in the planning stages of building a lighted outdoor basketball court, and a playground. The children love their home, but we want them to be able to enjoy it to the fullest.

             

In order to make this trip as successful as possible it would be great to have your support.

Our budget (Per Person):

Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$ 1085
Food & Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$   460
Project Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$   250
Immunizations/Medical . . . . . . . . .	$   100
Total Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	$ 1895

If you are interested in participating with us financially for this trip, you may make your check out to Trevor Robinson or, for a tax deductible donation, Logan church of Christ and put “Robinson Haiti Trip” in the memo. Please mail to:

Trevor Robinson               or               Logan church of Christ

625 S 530 E                                        PO Box 691

Providence, UT 84332                        Logan, UT 84323

In Christ,

Trevor Robinson

Mission to Haiti 2012

I am excited to announce that I will once again be traveling to Haiti on a two week mission trip with my fellow Christians from Utah and Arkansas! The dates of our trip have been scheduled for June 27th - July 13th. That means we will be in Haiti for two weeks with one day of travel before and after actually being in Haiti.

2011 Haiti Mission Trip Team (Utah)

We have big plans for our trip this summer. We want to continue to improve the living conditions and the grounds of the children's home. This includes cleaning up some of the area behind the visitors dorm so that the children can enjoy more of the property of the home. We are currently in the planning stages for building a basketball court and playground unit for the children. There are many other improvements that we are planning to make, and I will tell you all more details once we know what they are.

I will continue to post updates during our planning process to keep you all informed of our plans! Thanks for stopping by and reading my update.

Trevor