I will keep this collection of photos updated constantly here.

A nurse here was telling a story of when she went grocery shopping with pastor, and how she was going from aisle to aisle picking out things she needed. He was standing at the edge, talking to employees, pointing at his watch and bored out of his mind.
Nurse: It was so funny.
Pastor: Funny? It’s funny? I don’t understand. When I need peanut butter, I go to the aisle with peanut butter and I walk to the cashier and then I leave.

Me: You did a good thing, giving that newborn a safe place to stay tonight
Pastor: The baby was born yesterday, how could I not?
Me: That was very pastoral of you
Pastor: I know pastors, I don’t want to do what they do, they would not do these things. If Jesus was here though, he would help them. So I will do what Jesus would do not pastors.

Sunday was a true sabbath. I did nothing but sleep, eat and read books. It was excellent. Chris is trying to recover from some sickness on Saturday and I just did what he did by lying in bed and enjoying the rest.

Today was a pretty busy day and I’m exhausted. We woke up early and went and picked up Rachel and the team. So for all you readers who really care nothing about me but love my wife; she is here, safe and sound and already making people like her more than me. As soon as we brought her back, Chris and I jumped in a Tap Tap (what they call their taxis) and drove to the airport. We got a release form from ShelterBox, left the airport and went to a massive UN warehouse where there was craploads of supplies there and loaded up a bunch of ShelterBoxes into our truck. The warehouse was a bit much. There were so many supplies and things that we needed and we had to just leave when we got what we were allowed to take. Every part of me wanted to grab the blankets, and food, and medical supplies and bring them to our sites so people would be taken care of. This picture is only one of many, many warehouses that are all over full of supplies and aid that is ready to go out.

We have to go back tomorrow to pick up the rest of the ShelterBoxes because our truck could only pick up 18 of them. If it is too noticeable that you are carrying something of value then there is a good chance you will get looted (do you really blame them?). So we took what we could bring and cover up and we will get the rest tomorrow.

The first ShelterBox from our batch was setup tonight, in the dark. A lady who lives in the tent city out front of Martinez’s house had a baby yesterday and she had no safe/dry place to be with her child. So we setup a tent and she moved right in. Some nurses tried to bring her some stuff tonight to make sure she was comfortable but were told they could not come in the tent. It turns out that there is a Haitian tradition that you can’t see newborns at night because it will give them stomach cramps. So they left the supplies and came inside. The newborn and their mother are outside in their tent sleeping right now. To all you hippie moms out there, how does this fit into your understanding of being born into familiar surroundings? Crazy right?

Rachel is planning on keeping track of the trip from her point of view also, so I will post her posts on here. She also brought her own camera, so she’ll be able to take some shots also.

• Going to Haiti
• God Saved Those Two Houses Over There: Haiti Day 1-2
• The Earthquake Only Lasted 15 Seconds, Praise God: Haiti Day 3-4
• Haiti Day 4-5
• Helpful Links on Haiti Aid
• Haiti Day 5-6: Finally Some Communication with the UN and Getting Things Rolling
• Haiti Day 7 - Brazil Just Gave Us A Truckload of Food
• Haiti Day 8
• Haiti Day 11 and 12

In warm climate countries, time is different, they don’t work on tight schedules and time frames like we do. They aren’t controlled by the clock. I had an idea of this when I was coming to Haiti, and since I was away from home, uncertain if I would have Internet access, I knew I would have some extra time on my hands. So brought two books to read. One, which I just finished was called Stuffed and Starved, which was an excellent read and helpful book on the food industry.  The other is Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  I am 1/3 of the way through Pedagogy and I must say that I’m pretty happy that I brought this book.  This book is world renowned and it’s unfortunate that it took me till now to read it.    Here are some quotes that have stuck out to me from the book thus far.

The generosity of the oppressors is nourished by an unjust order; but because of their background they believe that they must be the executors of the transformation. They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages them in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in the favor without that trust.

Those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly. This conversion is so radical as not to allow of ambiguous behavior. To affirm this commitment but to consider oneself the proprietor of revolutionary wisdom–which must then be given to (or imposed on) the people–is to retain the old ways. The man or woman who proclaims devotion to the cause of liberation yet is unable to enter in communion with the people, whom he or she continues to regard as totally ignorant, is grievously self deceived. The convert who approaches the people but feels alarm at each step they take, each doubt they express, and each suggestion they offer, and attempts to impose his “status,” remains nostalgic towards his origins.

Conversion to the people requires a profound rebirth. Those who undergo it must take on a new form of existence; they can no longer remain as they were. Only through comradeship with the oppressed can the converts understand that their characteristic ways of living and behaving, which in diverse moments reflect the structure of domination.

The oppressor consciousness tends to transform everything surrounding it into an object of its domination.  The earth, property, production, the creations of people, people themselves, time–everything is reduced to the status of objects at its disposal.

This next quote I think does well to summarize what has happened to us in the west, and has convinced me even more that we truly are the oppressors.

In their unrestrained eagerness to posses, the oppressors develop the conviction that it is possible for them to transform everything into objects of their purchasing power; hence their strictly materialistic concept of existence.  Money is the measure of all things, and profit the primary goal.  For the oppressors, what is worthwhile is to have more–always more–even at the cost of the oppressed have less or having nothing.  For them, to be is to have and to be the class of the haves.

At this point I am sure there will be more to come.

In case you missed this on my twitter, this conversation is from the US border in Buffalo on our way to Haiti.

Us Border Guard: your going to haiti?
Us: yes.
Board Guard: you better be careful because your going to get torn from limb to limb
Us: thanks

Here are a few more zingers from Pastor Martinez.

pastor: that was a good prayer, because it was short

Bob is backing up and gets really close to a guy who wasn’t paying attention, the guy throws his hands up with a shocked laugh, and pastor yells out the window, “two inches” as we drive away.

As we drive down the road, there is a younger lady sitting in the lap of a younger man.  Pastor yells out of the window “its on you if she gets pregnant.”

pastor: I know someone who is tired, and it’s not me. pastor says this as he looks at Chris leaning on the truck falling asleep.

The last few days have felt a bit slower in terms of actually seeing results.  It was a lot of administration.  Making calls, setting up meetings, filling out forms and such.  However, around noon today things started to pick up.  I was working away this morning on some stuff and I was being serenaded by a loud group who was singing songs on the street.  I realized a few hours later that they were still singing, and they were getting louder.  So I went out and took some footage and pictures.  I gave my camera to one of the boys who also took some footage.  They were fasting for a good chunk of the day and when they fast, they sing the entire time.  There is nothing better than this.  This is right outside my front door.  If you look closely, you can see their tarps that is their homes.  That is all they have.  Yet here they are.

Then we went to meet with an engineering group who wants to help setting up some permanent water filtration systems for our sites.  Then we went to the airport and picked up a Shelterbox rep and she brought a tent with us, showed us how to set it up and we got to give it to a family.  She was impressed with how our site was setup and was confident enough to tell us that whenever we needed tents that we could just swing by their warehouse and pick them up.  This of course is extremely good news because these are long lasting temporary shelters, along with blankets, cooking utensils, water jugs and a few other things.  They are worth over $1000 each and they are just giving them to us.  So Monday morning we are going to pick up 30 and start distributing them to our most vulnerable families.

Tonight we are filling out a WFP form.  This form is going to help them determine which NGO’s they are going to partner with to distribute all their supplies.  We are hoping we can become one of those partners, and since EI has been setup here for quite a while and has good relationship with their sites and a good enough infrastructure setup to get food around, we are hoping that they see that and work with us.  The WFP has been a little unpredictable since we have got here.  They have changed their logistics around a few times, and we have yet to see any food from them yet.  However, they are runing a big operation and and are trying to deal with over 500 NGO’s knocking on their door for food all the while trying to be accountable for it and stay away from bad press.  Hopefully they figure things out soon, so our people can get the food they need.  We did a distribution of 170 bags of food today, and there was probably another 200 waiting who didn’t get any.  That sucks.

Chris got hit with some sort of bug today and is now laying in bed, streaming the Toronto Maple Leaf game.  Hopefully he is feeling better tomorrow.  Rachel is here in two days.  Daniel (pastor’s son) is working hard at putting together a entire plan for the rebuild over the next number of years and things are happening.  It’s exciting and devastating all at the same time.  However, when you have hungry, fasting Haitians singing for hours on end as your background music, you are strengthened and given hope.

I have withheld putting pictures online yet because I haven’t really had the means to do so, but here are a few that hopefully gives you a little peek of what I’m seeing from my point of view.  When I get  back I’ll post a more exhaustive album.

I will keep this collection of photos updated constantly here. But here are a few.

• Going to Haiti
• God Saved Those Two Houses Over There: Haiti Day 1-2
• The Earthquake Only Lasted 15 Seconds, Praise God: Haiti Day 3-4
• Haiti Day 4-5
• Helpful Links on Haiti Aid
• Haiti Day 5-6: Finally Some Communication with the UN and Getting Things Rolling
• Haiti Day 7 - Brazil Just Gave Us A Truckload of Food
• Haiti Day 8
• Haiti Day 11 and 12

nurse: we have a conference call with an organization tonight, is that ok for you to talk to them tonight?
pastor: i still have my mouth, so i will talk to them.

aid worker: what if we built the new houses with wood?
pastor: wood houses eat trees, we will build them with stronger cement and we could use machines to clear them if you wanted, but the the Haitians will die, they need to work.

Today was a bit slower of a day.  We went and dropped off the food from Brazil at a storage place to get divided up into bags.  Then we got dropped off at the airport again to see what other kind of connections we could build.  The main connection we made was with the UN Communications Organizer and he got us a driver and took us to find the chief of staff for the Canadian Military.  This was kinda cool and was the first air conditioning I have felt since being here in the car that drove us there.  When we got there we talked to a man named Mike who graciously explained how this entire operation is working and where not to get caught in the system.  He was a military man of some sort, I don’t think he was the chief of staff (who’s extension we now have) but he certainly knew what was going on.

Basically everything is being operated by the UN, so if we need escorting, security, equipment or basically anything that aid workers need we simply put in a request and within 24 hours they can get it for us.  It’s that simple.  There is an entire new organization that is only 5 days old that is joining all the logistics of all the operations and making things happen.  So we left the airport with that information and don’t think we need to go back for anymore logistical type stuff.

We spent the rest of the day booking flights and getting ready for the next team that is coming (yah Rachel!)  The UN is giving free flights from Santo Dominfo to Port Au Prince so we applied for the team to get on one of those flights.

We had a meeting tonight with Humedica, a german organization, who is willing to help rebuild Marbial (the village Rachel will be going to) and getting their school back up and running, boys home and hopefully some houses.

We also went on a hunt for Bishop Keith Elford of the Free Methodist Church in Canada who is in Haiti right now.  We had missed where he was at the Free Methodist land here in Haiti (not too far from where we are staying) .  We did get a tour by another pastor there who was pointing at buildings that still had people under them, including some missionaries that were there from the USA.  It was the first time we looked at a building that we knew someone was still under; it was heartbreaking.  They have a community of about 100 that are living on their land that they are trying to get food for and take care of also.

Rachel comes Sunday, so I’m excited about that.  We are hoping to get a helicopter over to Marbial to look at the village there; it would be nice to see it since I won’t be staying there at all.  I am starting to stay up too late, and am getting tired.  I also have bed bug bites all over my arms, you gotta love it.

• Going to Haiti
• God Saved Those Two Houses Over There: Haiti Day 1-2
• The Earthquake Only Lasted 15 Seconds, Praise God: Haiti Day 3-4
• Haiti Day 4-5
• Helpful Links on Haiti Aid
• Haiti Day 5-6: Finally Some Communication with the UN and Getting Things Rolling
• Haiti Day 7 - Brazil Just Gave Us A Truckload of Food
• Haiti Day 8
• Haiti Day 11 and 12

us: we have to be to the airport for 10pm (it is currently 9:30 and takes 30 minutes to get there)
pastor: (he calls over a third party) Bob, did we get these guys to the airport on time yesterday?
bob: yes
pastor: then why are they asking?  we will get them on time today.

We missed our meeting, because he thought it was an hour earlier.

pastor: i’m feel bad about this morning, sorry for not getting you to your meeting
us: it’s ok, it happens, we should have been more clear
pastor: not more clear, more pushy

So today we missed going to the airport to the meetings that we were expecting to go to.  We wanted to get into the Water/Sanitation meeting and the Food Aid meeting.  So instead we stayed back and started calling and e-mailing people.  We got on the Shelter Box agenda for tonight, so we will know tomorrow if we will get the 30-50 boxes that we asked for.  We found out a bunch of information for humanitarian aid workers getting free flights around the island.  We finally got the internet working and stable.  Teams can call home, we can call contacts and internet is working fast enough.

Rachel is now confirmed to come, she will be leaving Sat or Sun.  We’ll be using our information to get her and the team with her free flights from Dominican into Port Au Prince.  I got to call home tonight and talk to Rachel, Joe and Ron and just catch up.  It was good to hear their voices.  The Canadian military is giving free flights home for humanitarian workers that are Canadian, so I will be coming home on the 11th via military plane into Montreal.  That is the current plan anyway, and then Rachel will stay an extra week and come home with Chris.

Then, after all that.  A man who came with the medical team is Brazilian, so he walked into their embassy, brought a letter from here, somehow got into a conversation with their head general or something like that.  Then he ends up bringing home a truckload (and I mean a big huge truck) of food and medicine from their military.  It was truly the coolest thing ever.  Apparently he has military connections and Brazil were having a hard time finding organizations to unload food too.  Not anymore.  Awesome.

• Going to Haiti
• God Saved Those Two Houses Over There: Haiti Day 1-2
• The Earthquake Only Lasted 15 Seconds, Praise God: Haiti Day 3-4
• Haiti Day 4-5
• Helpful Links on Haiti Aid
• Haiti Day 5-6: Finally Some Communication with the UN and Getting Things Rolling
• Haiti Day 7 - Brazil Just Gave Us A Truckload of Food
• Haiti Day 8
• Haiti Day 11 and 12

us: so pastor, what is the plan for tomorrow
pastor: tomorrow? it’s today now. tomorrow will take care of itself.
it’s in the bible, i’m not going to add to that.

us: so should we spend all the money on tents?
pastor: well, you can, but then you will have dead people in the tents, we need food too, so half on tents and half on food.

pastor: i only go to homes where the pastor there says short prayers, i don’t understand why some have to do such long prayers for dinner, so when they do long prayers i teach them to do one word prayers, “Jesus” and do the rest in your heart so we can eat.

The pastor here has been making us laugh quite a bit.

The last two days have been remarkable. I really feel like I can serve in my gifts being here, or at least I absolutely love what I’m doing. So the last few days we have tried to look at the big picture; asking ourselves the questions, how is this going to keep going when we are gone? How do we tap into the World Food Program so we aren’t draining our funds on food when there is lots around right now for free? How do we find out what’s already being done so we aren’t working with the same people and overlapping? Where is everyone else and all these other aid companies who seem to be very quiet in on the ground? We found a website yesterday called logcluster, and made some phone calls, and realized that this was the central website for all the UN logistics for relief. Jackpot.  This should have been our first step all along, but at least now we have a very good idea of what exactly the sites are like that we are giving food too.

So we showed up at the airport this morning, that is currently being run by the American military and is occupied by the UN and NGOs. This place was absolutely amazing. Basically it is the hub for all operations happening all over Haiti, so if you have any questions, need any contacts, need any resources, this is where you go. So we walked in on a logistics meeting that was talking about transportation and getting aid to various places around the country. Everyone was extremely helpful, offering the use of their equipment and transportation to help the cause in anyway. The Canadian Forces were there and were saying the same things, however we needed their services we just had to ask. So how this would work is representatives from all the NGO’s (which there were hundreds at the airport) would show up to one of the 10 different meetings they had that day (shelter, food, water, security, medicine etc) then there would be a coordinator that would explain everything they know and then people would ask questions, give input and by the end of the meeting your organization should be fully briefed on the topics situation country wide and any questions you had answered. Wow.

We made a number of good contacts with different organizations that are hopefully going to play out including Global Aid Network (who happens to be one the organizations that sponsored our conference last yea for our conference) that is going to try to put is in contact with Convoy of Hope to help us transport our aid to the more remote areas. Shelter Box said they are looking for organizations like ours to partner with, which is excellent because most of the people we are working with are living with nothing but a tarp over their heads and a shelter box will give them a temporary shelter up to a year with a whole bunch of supplies. We also got us on a list for the World Food Program so we will become on the the NGO’s that distributes their food in their warehouses. We picked up maps and all the resources we need so we can successfully develop a plan to deploy everything that we have been working up to this point. And we ordered a hamburger and fries at the cafeteria.  Emmanuel International (who I am here with) has been hard at work raising money and sending different shipments of supplies/food as we need it, they have been excellent and extremely supportive.

Right now, Chris described it as setting up the domino’s so that when we flick one everything falls into place. The frustrating part is that we don’t actually have anything that we have been working towards, but we think we have figured out all the right steps to make it happen. So tomorrow we are going back to the logistics base to sit in on a food aid logistics meeting and a water/sanitation meeting, which hopefully starts to give us some answers of how we can make safe environments for our communities who are going without water and proper sanitation.

Seriously, what a day. Being there at the UN base was a mind blowing experience. Nations from all over the world, Chile, Canada, States, India, Italy, Peru, Paraguay and tons more were all there working together to help keep Haiti as safe as possible and meet their needs. We live in a time where countries actually work together to help other countries, it’s a beautiful thing. I realize there is corruption and greed all intertwined into the system, but there is still much good happening and it really does bring hope. The camp was full of people who cared and were doing their best to respect the Haitians and meet their immediate needs. It was great.

• Going to Haiti
• God Saved Those Two Houses Over There: Haiti Day 1-2
• The Earthquake Only Lasted 15 Seconds, Praise God: Haiti Day 3-4
• Haiti Day 4-5
• Helpful Links on Haiti Aid
• Haiti Day 5-6: Finally Some Communication with the UN and Getting Things Rolling
• Haiti Day 7 - Brazil Just Gave Us A Truckload of Food
• Haiti Day 8
• Haiti Day 11 and 12