Into the Airport

We arrived at the Port-au-Prince airport in shifts throughout the day. The first two from Saint John's got here early in the morning. The main group arrived from Miami, after flying the red-eye from Denver. The rest arrived later in the evening.

The truck—“canter”—brought us to the guest house. We rode in a caged-in section in the truck bed. A few people were brave enough to ride on the roof.

Touring the Facilities

John took the bulk of the group to Lifetree's ministry locations: the Maternity House, the School and the Women's Education Center. We'll be seeing much more of these through the week when we return to work.

A highlight of the tour, besides the tilapia pond, was the fresh-sliced mango that the staff at the women's center prepared for the group. Tasty—sweet, with an almost radish-y bite that you don't always get from store-bought mango in the States.

We couldn't walk back the whole way because of construction on a new bridge over a flooded canal. The workers, who allowed us over their rebar on the way, wouldn't let us cross on the way back. John called the bus again, and we had another ride back to the guest house.

Dinner and Sleep

We had our first official meeting tonight. John shared an overview of the week, some ground rules and "suggestions" on how to get by through the week.

Power is intermittent. The city grid isn't too reliable, so we've been running off batteries and the generator all day.

The staff at the guest house prepared a great lasagna dinner. Then we had a free night to chat, cool down with showers and try to find the mosquito nets.

Not too many bugs, so far. The bigger warnings were about keeping the doors closed to keep out the rats.

“Hesed” is a Hebrew word that means “kindness”, “mercy”, “loyalty”, “loving-kindness” or “steadfastness.” It’s the way God intends us to live together—a “love your neighbor as yourself”, active, selfless, sacrificial, caring-for-one-another brand of living contradictory to our fallen natures. The “Heseders” are continually looking to work together to share some small measure of God’s extraordinary love. Won’t you join us?