Beginnings

Last week, Tyler, Bruce and I (Curtis) took a quick trip to Haiti to survey our newly acquired land and start working on our road to prepare the way for the drilling rig that will dig our well this summer. Leading up to every trip I take to Haiti, a sense of  excitement and peace always greets me. Haiti is a place where I feel completely comfortable being me. It is a place I know I was made for, despite the fact that I sweat buckets while I am there.

Leading up to this trip I was abnormally anxious. I felt the same way I used to before a big game in soccer back when I was in high school. I had knots in my stomach for at least a week before we took off. I felt a weird sense of pressure. I was worried about things I couldn’t really control. Eventually, once all the details I could control were worked out, that familiar peace about going to my second home greeted me again.

On Thursday morning, Tyler and I flew out of Miami happy to leave behind our long night in the frigid airport. Bruce, who was already in Haiti, met us with our partner Fabiola at the airport. We made a quick stop at the grocery store then made the trek over the mountain range to the northeast of Port-au-prince into the Central Plateau region where our property is located. Bruce and I have seen this area before, but it was Tyler’s first time meeting this beautiful part of Haiti. Whether it is your first or third time seeing it, it is breathtaking!  One of God’s beautiful pieces of art.

Once we made it to our land and the guest house we were staying in, we got situated then eagerly headed over to our property to check out part two of the property we purchased this winter. Gabriel, a local magistrate and the man behind the scenes helping Fabiola acquire land for us, took us on a tour of our property. Property in Haiti is a little different than property in the states. By a little I mean A LOT! It took us nearly an hour to find our boundaries and walk the land. Our land was marked with sticks, rocks, and concreted rebar in the corners. This may be alarming to some of you, but this is simply the way of Haiti. Everything is a little more complicated and often times has some interesting twists and turns. Why would our property lines be any different?!

After seeing our land, Fabiola headed back to the big city and left Bruce, Tyler, and I with our translator Jean Robert. The four of us ate the first of many scrumptious meals we would be served by our housekeeper, the one and only, Dadoune! After eating, we went back to our land to game plan for the next two days of work. Gabriel met us at the land again then invited us over to his to meet his family. This is a great honor so we took him up on it. Tyler and I hopped on the back of Gabriel and a local named OGe’s 125cc motorcycles. Bruce decided to take a pass stating, “those guys drive too crazy for me!” Tyler and I were ready for our next little adventure so we hopped on and went for a little ride!
Once at Gabriel’s house, he brought us right inside and introduced us to his wife, three daughters, and two sons. He was very proud of his family and home. We stayed for a few minutes and did our best to chat with his family. Just before we left, Gabriel gave us a little speech about legacy. He spoke about how the project with Ephraim and now Project 117 was part of the legacy he wants to leave. It is part of how he believes God is calling him to be remembered. “I doesn’t have a lot of money, but I can give my knowledge,” he wisely said. This is so true! He may not be able to fund a school (P117) and orphanage (Ephraim), but his knowledge of the area, land, and culture is invaluable! I absolutely love the way God masterfully weaves the stories of uniquely gifted people together! Hearing Gabriel speak and seeing the way he worked over the course of the few days we were there brought great reassurance to me as I saw and heard how God was at work!

After Gabriel finished is speech, Tyler and I hopped on the motorcycles with Gabriel and OGe again as it began to rain. Our ride to Gabriel’s house was just an appetizer compared to the wild ride they took us on the way home! I think they were worried about melting because they sure were in a hurry! I quickly came to understand what Bruce meant when he said they drive crazy! Yikes! The rain pounded our house for about 2 hours before letting up for the night. Bruce, Ty and I sat on the front porch enjoying each other’s company and excitedly waiting for the next couple days.

Our two full days of work on the land and road were a blur! The rain changed our plans some but our crew of ten locals came on time ready to pound out some hard manual labor each day! It is crazy how much you can get done with a group of hard-workers over the course of 16 hours of work. The status of our road is still incomplete but we know what needs to be done and made great progress in a short amount of time. The crew and Bruce dug a 150 foot trench along the top quarter of our road that was very wet and soupy. They also moved a fence line, trimmed trees filled with poisonous sap and other thorny plants, and started attacking a massive, rock-filled chunk of earth blocking access to our land.

Tyler and I spent most of our time surveying our land and taking a little bit of video. All of this was in preparation for future building plans! Work is always just work though. The real stories are always found on the faces of people. Regardless of how much work we got done, the highlights of our trip were not measured in the amount of land moved but in the memorable moments we shared in the down times with the people of Haiti.

Here are some of those stories:
After day one of work, Ty, Bruce, Jean, a group of about 10 local men and boys and myself walked over to the lake that is about a mile from our property. Once at the lake, the boys immediately stripped down and dove into the water. Bruce was next in line. I hate to say, the mystery man we all love isn’t quite as mysterious to me, Ty, and ten shocked Haitians anymore. Tyler and I had a little internal debate before deciding to join the others in the less than clear water. It sure did feel great once we were in it despite it’s murky complexion! Sometimes the simple things like going for a swim make for the best memories!

Later that night after dinner, Ty and I walked back to Locapa to play soccer. We were supposed to meet some of the guys from the work crew but it was pouring down rain and everyone was inside their houses. We decided we were committed to the cause and walked through the village hoping to attract attention on our way to our land. Our plan worked and we soon had 6 or 7 boys running down towards us ready to play. I tried to organize a little small-sided game, but the boys just wanted to play keep away! Too soon Curtis, too soon! We had a blast slipping and sliding through the mud and enjoyed laughing at each other as we wiped out! One of the things I love about the Haitian people is their sense of humor. It can be somewhat harsh at times, but I love the way they just laugh at each other! When one person does something embarrassing, everyone watching bursts into laughter as if it were the funniest event in the world. It is a fun thing to be a part of whether you are the source of the laughter or not. We all had our turn at wiping out in the rain that night!

The next day, we continued work on the road but the children of Locapa stole the show. Tyler and I were assisted by two little boys while we were surveying the land. They held my pen and notebook for me and helped move the measuring tape when needed. Tyler and I also met an ornery crew of 9 to 11 year olds who were busy playing in the creek on our land and were later chased off by a local farmer! It was hilarious!  Bruce spent his time overseeing both the road construction and the construction of flower garden created by some 4 and 5 year olds.

At the end of the day, we were greeted by rain yet again and finished work on the road 20 minutes early. We gathered all the workers to talk to them one last time before we left the next day. Jean Robert translated for me as I thanked our crew and new friends for their hard work. I did my best to explain to them that right now we are just working on a road, BUT one day we will be building a school. One day we will have teachers and students. One day, some of the children of our work crew will attend our school. The work we are doing now is preparing the way for what God is going to do in the future. The work we are doing now is a part of God’s plan and story for Project 117 and the people of Locapa. I told our crew that we cannot do this project without their help. It is simply not possible without their hands and hearts.

After I finished up, one of the workers named Wisnham spoke to us. He thanked us for bringing this project to their area and simply told us they could not do this project without us either. The sincerity and humble look on his face is one I will not soon forget.

After our meeting, we paid our crew, gave away our tools asking them to save them for future work and to use them in their village to help each other, then walked home. We took the back way home and passed through Ephraim’s property then cut through some small pockets of houses. On the way, Jean Robert stopped to talk to a family. We were carrying all of our important items in Ty’s backpack because it was still raining so he asked us for his wallet. He told me quietly that this family needed money for food then went inside their house to give them some of his own money in private. It was awesome to see his generosity! What a great example he is to us.

Once we were home, we ate another meal prepared by Dadoune then cleaned up for the evening. Ty, Bruce, and I were sitting on the back porch when some of the guys from the work crew started showing up. They wanted to hang out before we left. One guy brought a guitar and sat beside Tyler as they played songs back and forth.

One of the guys kept to himself and stood at a distance so I went over to him and struck up a conversation. His name is Georges and he is a local pastor. He told me about his family and how he hopes to finish his schooling one day. He told me about his church and how it is too small and needs more benches for people to sit on. I told him I would like to visit his church on another visit. I think God is up to something. He is already connecting the dots. We aren’t going to build a church at our school, but we want to be a part of the local church! Education and community outreach is the way in which God is calling P117 to tell HIS-story in Haiti. Maybe one day we will help Georges with his church. Maybe one day a church will meet in our cafeteria because it has grown so rapidly they need more space. I do not know all the ways God is going to use our land and school, but I am open for anything! I cannot wait to see what God does with the blank canvas labeled P117!

These are just a few of the moments Bruce, Ty, and I got to experience last week. These are the moments we keep going back for. The moments that fill you up inside and help you realize that no matter how different we seem, we are all the same, we are all a part of a greater family. These are the moments that I hear God calling me into a story far greater than myself. These are the moments when I realize that God is far greater than my anxiety or the knots in my stomach. These are the moments I see God as the great orchestrator of beautiful things, the divine aligner of people and stories. How humbling it is to be placed in such a story as this.

Earthquake: Curtis' 2010 Experience

Today started out much like any other day.  I woke up early for devotion at 6:40 then ate and showered before the flag raising at school at 7:50.  Today I had class with the 5th, 9th, & 13th (college prep year in Haiti) graders.  Class went okay overall and I met with the Principal afterwards to start talking about a soccer program for the school & for the boys in Coupon.

At about 4 pm, Faude (my Haitian roommate), Job (another Haitian who would become one of my best friends there), and I walked over to the village of Roche Blanc for the village bible studies that take place every Tuesday.  At about 5 pm Faude, Job, another man I didn’t know, a mother with her 3 small children and I were sitting outside 3 houses in a courtyard-esque area waiting for the study to begin when we heard “thunder” in the distance.  It sounded like a storm was coming.

THEN the ground began to shake so violently everyone stood up in panic.  The thunder sounded more like a cattle stampede at this point.  I looked around at the people in my circle and we all didn’t know what to do.  The makeshift electrical wires Haitians use to power their homes were shaking violently right above our heads.  I couldn’t hear anything but the loudest rumbling I have ever heard.  Everything was in slow motion. I looked over at one of the houses by us and half of it had collapsed and the tin roof on top was now sagging at a sharp angle towards the ground.  The mother in our group was scream inaudible cries as she tried to hold onto her children.  It was the most chaotic, scary 45-60 seconds of my life.

After the shaking stopped, the mother in our group began screaming “MECI JEZI” which means thank you Jesus.  You see, her house had a couple collapsed walls, but her children were safe outside their home with her.  The rumbling noise stopped, but I’ll never forget the cries of thank you and terror than ensued afterwards as families looked for loved ones and saw some of their homes destroyed.  Job, Faude and I saw that noone in the surrounding houses were injured so we started to walk back to Double Harvest.  On our way back, we heard that two boys in Roche Blanc had died.  This was the first of many deaths that I would hear about and see with my own eyes over the next couple days.

Darkness began to fall shortly after we arrived back at DH.  There wasn’t really anything I could do without knowing the language so Becky, one of the missionaries I stayed with, told me to head back to my apartment and check out the damage there.

My apartment was down at the school above one of the classrooms.  I walked up the stairs and tried to open the door.  It went about 3 inches then stopped.  I continued to push on it and realized that the office desk beside the door had slid in front of it.  My apartment was shaken up but only had some superficial cracks.  I began cleaning up the kitchen (some of our cabinets fell over) and I picked up my bedroom and after about 2 hours had the apartment in decent shape again.  I went back down to Becky’s house to check in and talk to Bruce.  Arthur was still gone trying to get people to the hospital.  I hung out there for a couple hours then went back to my place around 10 pm to go to sleep.  I was exhausted and fell asleep fast not worried about the small trembles we were still getting.  At midnight we got a small tremble that wasn’t so small and I freaked out.  I made a run for it to get out of my apartment and down the stairs to the ground.  The tremble stopped and I decided “screw it” I’m not too tough to walk down to becky’s house and stay with them.  I went back in my apartment briefly to grab my backpack, shoes, and lantern then I would down to her house.  She was outside on the front porch weary of going back inside as well.  We talked outside for 30 minutes or so then decided we were tired enough to go back in and sleep.  Arthur still wasn’t home.

Arthur woke me up the day after the earthquake at 5:30 and asked me to go into Port-au-prince with him to look for a girl who worked at DH.  We drove silently through the countryside under the veil of darkness which was hiding the destruction that took place the day before.  As we neared the city the sun began to rise and unveil the devastation that was now the city.  Houses were completely flattened and 5 story buildings we reduced to the size of one story.  People abandoned their houses whether they were standing or not.  They used cinder blocks from broken fences and houses to block off sections of the road so they could sleep safely through the night.  Everybody was terrified.  Arthur and I eventually made it a few blocks from the girl’s house.  We parked his truck and began walking through the crowded street towards her house.  On the way, we bumped into her sister and Arthur spoke with her.  She told us her sister was at University when the earthquake took place and the 4-story building about half the size of a city block is now about 2 stories high.

We drove over to the university with the sister of the girl we were in search for.  More devastation barraged my eyes.  I saw people laying on the sidewalk with open wounds and no one to tend to them.  I saw dead bodies laying silently with family members crying over them.  It was awful.  When we arrived at the university we went over to the side of the building that our girls classroom was on.  The building was crumbled down to half its normal size, but the girl’s sister knew exactly which room her sister should have been in.  Arthur climbed up into the building while I waited on the ground with the sister trying not to look at the dead bodies caked in dust, frozen in time as they tried to escape.  About a minute after Arthur entered the room, he came back to the edge holding a purple sandal and speaking in Creole, which I couldn’t understand.  The sister started crying and I knew something was wrong as Arthur climbed down.

Arthur embraced the sister and they cried together as I stood by in silence.  Arthur explained the situation to me then asked me to climb into the building with him to see if we could pull the girl out.  Her body was pinched between the ceiling and the floor from the waist up.  We hopped up into the room and I very nervously stepped under the slanted ceiling.  The room was about 30 feet wide and I saw four other bodies that didn’t make it out in time.  I was pretty terrified to be in that room with death looking at me straight in the face and all I really wanted to do was get out.  Arthur reached the girl first and tried to pull her out but could not find success.  We climbed out of what was left of the classroom and Arthur tried desperately to find someone with heavy machinery to help him remove the body.  The need for machinery was too great though.  We gave up for the day and headed back towards Double Harvest.

Traffic going out of the city was incredible.  It seemed like everyone with a car was trying to flee the rubble strewn city.  More images of human suffering greeted our eyes and we couldn’t get away from them fast enough.  We passed a Red Cross station that had over 30 white sheeted bodies laying hopelessly on the sidewalk as aide workers rested under a shade tree from a long day and night of work.  I can’t begin to explain the feelings rushing through my heart and the thoughts pounding inside my head.  I began to question why I was in Haiti?  Why did God bring me here for such a time as this?  What can I do amidst the broken humanity that was rushing in from all angles?  I’m just a guy that loves soccer and spending time with kids.  What can I possible do in this situation to help anybody?

The first sign of hope was waiting for us when we returned to Double Harvest.  One of the boys from Coupon was waiting for Arthur and HAD to talk to him.  You see, this boy decided he needed a Savior and was ready to give his life to Christ.  God was moving in ways nobody can explain.

I woke up the next morning at 6 am and Arthur was already up waiting for me.  He told me he was going back into the city but wanted me to stay at DH and do “something fun” with the children of Coupon.  He told me the kids were really sad and just sitting around and I should plan something for them.  “Something fun” has been soccer for me since I was 4 years old so I knew exactly what to do.  I brought 20 soccer balls, pennies, & 4 pop-up goals down with me and it was time to put them to use.  Arthur told me to go to Coupon & find a guy named Job, “He can help you get the kids to come play.”

I walked into Coupon at about 9 am and found Job then did a lap around Coupon calling out to kids saying we were playing soccer at 10.  After our lap, Job stayed in Coupon & I went back into DH to set up the fields.  After I was done, I waited nervously as if I was in high school again waiting for the game to start.

At 10, 11 or 12 boys walked into DH ready to play and I thought, “not as many as I expected, but we’ll can get a good little game going!”  Over the next ten or fifteen minutes, another 30 boys walked in and things became chaotic fast!  Job did his best to help me divide the boys into 7 teams and we spent the next 2 hours playing 6 v 6, small-sided soccer!  It was awesome!  For those two hours, everyone forgot about everything going on in Haiti and simply escaped deep into playing the beautiful game (aka soccer…learn the term & get used to it!).  It was a beautiful way to spend 2 hours.  Boys laughing and chasing a ball around an overcrowded field is always a beautiful sight!

These two hours gave me a burst of life and renewed my hope.  Maybe I do have a role to play here.  I’m not a doctor or rubble remover, but I can speak love into the lives of these children through simply playing a game together.  A game that God used that morning to communicate the truth that the greatest form of communication is time.  Words only get you so far sometimes, but spending time with one another speaks so much louder than words.

This was the true beginning of my small story in Haiti.  All my plans were out the window at this point, BUT God is the master planner and grand storyteller.  God was inviting me to wake up and come alive in Him.  His plan not my own.