David in Haiti

Peace on Earth

2010-12-24T23:37:00.000-08:00

The country of Haiti is in turmoil. Civil unrest brews thanks to the unresolved elections as well as lack of progress in the recovery process from Jan. 12 earthquake. At this moment there is an relief worker sitting in a Haitian prison for no good reason. People are living and dying on the streets: homeless, sick, with nothing really to look forward to.

It's not just Haiti. All over the world people are hurting. They are sick, hungry, and homeless. Some live in constant fear for their lives. Others feel that their situations are completely hopeless. And this the time of year we talk about Peace on Earth?

I guess Jesus wasn't born into a peaceful situation either, and after my experiences this year, I am more and more blown away that Jesus left paradise in Heaven with His Father to die for this. Crazy (unselfish) LOVE.

Take time to remember why we celebrate Christmas and what it means. And enjoy time with your family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

Free LP!

2010-12-18T00:31:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

A lot has happened in Haiti since I left almost 4 months ago. Cholera, hurricanes, elections, riot, and now Paul Waggoner (Little Paul) of MMRC has been falsely imprisoned. Please keep him in your prayers.

The story made Anderson Cooper 360 tonight
Watch here:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/12/17/ac.aid.worker.cnn?iref=allsearch

For more info just google his name.

LLU Chapel Talk

2010-11-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

I spoke for University@Worship along with Andrew, Dr. Nelson, Shane, and the Lindsey's. Here's my part. (if I find video I'll post it later)

In January of this year, I had no idea what I was doing with my life. Not in the short term anyway. I was at La Sierra University winter quarter, completing my final pre-reqs for the Medical radiography program here. I did a lot of praying and soul searching. And after a few inquisitive e-mails and some opened doors, I decided to go to Haiti to help out at Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti. I arrived on April 9, not really knowing what I had gotten myself into.

I did lots of things while I was there. I helped pass out food, organize transportation, pick up big groups at the airport, organize our church service, and oriented short term volunteers. But my main job was taking care of central supply.

Being in charge of Central supply proved to be quite a challenge. After our morning meeting I’d spend my days, sorting supplies, seeing what we had and what we needed. It was particularly hard for me since the extent of my medical training at the time came from watching “Srubs” and “House”.

However, the real challenge came when I had to find medical supplies that we desperately need. Because many relief and medical supplies were stuck in the ports we had no real chain of supply. We were forced to rely on our ground connections as well as volunteers flying in with suit cases full of supplies. It was a constant struggle to keep the hospital stocked with simple things such as the proper bandages, right size of needles or IV catheters, sterile OR equipment, and IV fluids.

Like many other medical needs, blood was in short supply and in high demand in Haiti, as I discovered in the case of Johnny Cherry.

Unlike many of the ortho patients, Johnny’s injury was not earthquake related. In early June, he fell off a building, was paralyzed from the waist down, and needed spinal surgery. Dr. Nelson was leaving the hospital in a few days and we didn’t know if the surgeon following him would be comfortable doing the operation, so we needed to do get it done asap. In order to do the surgery we needed a unit of blood. But there was no blood for Johnny.

So I volunteered to go give blood. I went to General Hospital downtown with one of the translators. It was my first time taking a tap-tap (public transportation). It was not the most pleasant experience: really loud, very cramped, and super hot.

I was able to just walk in to the Haitian red cross and donate without too much hassle. The process was similar to donating here, there were fewer questions in the screening exam and there wasn’t a big comfortable chair, just a metal folding chair with a blood bag hanging off the side. But the donation itself went smoothly.

However, they were very slow and reluctant to cross and type the blood. We waited for a few hours, and then, we were told to come back later in the afternoon. After a frustrating wait, we returned to retrieve the blood the following morning.

When I returned to the hospital, cooler with blood in hand, Johnny was in pre-op. He was borderline hysterical. I understood the jist of what he was saying because he was speaking Spanish not creole. He was feeling abandoned, angry, and scared. I would be too.

He calmed down when I came in with the blood, saying this was my blood that I was giving to him. He replied with a simple, “gracias amigo”. In that moment, a calm wash over him that impacted me deeply.

Working in central supply, I didn’t get to directly see the results of the work I did at the hospital because most of it was behind the scenes. But this experience was so personal. Knowing that I gave Johnny the opportunity to have a better life and being able to witness the calming effect was a humbling and mind blowing experience.

So what is there to take away from this? I left my family, friends, and the comforts of home for a few months and gave a pint of my blood for a stranger. Why? Because Jesus left paradise in heaven with His Father to live on earth and gave ALL his blood for me! That’s true love. In response I don’t see how I can do anything but share that love with people around me.

GHI presents Haiti at LLU University@Worship

2010-11-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

Hello all. It's been almost 3 months since I've been back. Crazy to think about. I'm doing well. Haiti...not so much, hurricanes and cholera will do that :/ Please continue to pray!

Just writing today to say that Wednesday @ 11am Dr. Nelson, Andrew Haglund, Nathan & Amy Lindsey, Shane Gemoto, and I will be sharing some of our experiences during LLU's Chapel. Obviously many of you won't be able to come to the church, but you can watch it live at http://www.llbn.tv/watch-llbn or http://www.llu.edu/central/chaplain/live.page?

Blessings!

Speaking at LLU Vespers

2010-10-03T16:18:00.001-07:00

I spoke about my time in Haiti @ LLU Back 2 School vespers.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1639235464633&saved
Enjoy.

Another New York Times Article

2010-09-20T11:18:00.001-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39265119/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/

Two weeks later.

2010-09-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, I've been home for two weeks now and it would take two hands to count the number of times I've tried to sit down and blog since I've been back. I have thousands of thoughts running through my head, some positive, many negative, but mostly confused and uncertain. I've been pretty occupied seeing people, taking care of school stuff (I'm officially a Loma Linda University student), playing basketball late into the morning, etc. I don't know that I'll ever be able to completely sort out/process the things that I experienced and the emotions I'm feeling now. If/when the moment of clarity comes I can't promise it'll get posted on a blog. Until then here are some answers to some frequently asked questions.

How was Haiti? I addressed this question in a previous post after I visited home in June. June 12 I believe, the post is titled "there and back again". My answer remains pretty much the same.

How's the situation?
At the hospital? I'm not too sure, two weeks is a long time and like always things are ever changing. I snuck a look at the "Master List" for the 1st time since I've been home and teams are still coming and going weekly. Jessica's still blogging and Amy and Nathan should start blogging some time soon (like Jesus is coming soon), so you can still get updates.
Haiti as a whole? Put it this way, clean up and reconstruction is still going on due to the results of hurricane Katrina. That was five years ago. In Haiti, there was much more destruction and devastation and many more people were killed and injured. Lack of resources, strong infrastructure, education, and so much more. Progress is slow, but it's happening.

What did you do there? By the end of my time there my responsibilities were narrowed down to being in charge of supply and church music. But during my time there, I helped coordinate transportation, pass out food, orient volunteers, and child care at times.

What were the highlights and lowlights of your time there? Lowlights? Probably the first week of May, ask me about details on your own time. Highlights? The people, the trip to Bassin Bleu, and giving blood to Johnny Cherry.

What did you learn? SOOOOOOOOOO much. But two biggest things, in some cases ignorance really is bliss. And I was reminded countless times to love in all situations.

When are you going back? It's not in my current plans. But only God knows. As much as I miss some of the people, the simple living, and actively "making a difference", I quite enjoy being in a place where I can freely communicate with 99% of the people, access the internet at high speed, flush the toilet paper, drive at 80mph. If I was to do something like this again it would probably be in South America or Sub-Saharan Africa, but again, only God knows.

In closing, I'd like to say thank you to EVERYONE who's read this blog, supported me financially, emotionally, and through prayers. Thanks to everyone who came down and worked at the hospital. Special thanks to Nathan and Amy Lindsey, Brooke Beck, Dr. Scott Nelson, Luke Davies, Jessica Scott, and Alex Sokolov.

That's it for me, who knows when I'll blog again. Until then, peace.

Home.

2010-08-28T08:14:00.001-07:00

Not sure how I feel about being back. But I'm here and safe. Thanks everyone for your prayers and support over the last few months. More to come in a few days.

Final Countdown

2010-08-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

[cues epic music] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jK-NcRmVcw

Twenty weeks ago I was sitting in the Miami airport fighting boredom, fatigue, and a little fear. Now I'm sitting in the administrator's office counting down the hours till my return to the land of excess and opportunity.

And now the final "day in the life" of David in Haiti

I woke up and made oatmeal, went to the morning meeting.
After the worship thought both Nathan and Dr. Nelson thanked me publicly for my service, not gonna lie, that kind of thing embarrasses me.
Hung out with Junior in central supply for an hour while Herold and Aimab did their distribution.
Met with Nathan to debrief and determine what was going to happen after my departure.
Went on my last supply run and brought back two pallets of stuff (2/3's of which we don't really need...ay).
The kids helped unload the truck.
After eating my final lunch at HAH, I went and sorted the supplies and ended up having to put somethings in the ramp. (Kinda sucks that after a month of having the ramp clear, I had to put things there on my last day...sad face)
Met with Herold, Aimab, and Jonathan to say good bye.
Showered and put on a button down for my "surprise" good-bye party. One of the more awkward moments of my life. A) I'm not used to being the honored guest. B) No one has ever called me a "rare product". C) If you were there, you would know.
Started to pack...
Hung out with Nathan in the office.
Had a great time at dinner in Petionville with Dr. Nelson, Brooke, and Jessica. Nicest place I've been in a looooooooong time. I guess it was a little preview of privileged life before I'm immersed in less than 24 hours. It was really nice to just hang out, away from the hospital, and just enjoy the company of awesome people.
Packed some more and wrote this blog.

I'll finish packing tonight, get a few hours of sleep then it's off to the airport, then the DR, then Miami, then home. California here I come!

Final Days

2010-08-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry Dad, things have been busy. I'll start this post with something I've said many times before: things are every changing here at HAH. With the presence of Dr.'s Nelson and Dietrich, things are as busy as they've been in months.

Monday was, well, Monday, but Tuesday was even busier. Today there were 47 kids in for club foot clinic on top of all the other ortho patients.

The new translator system is working fairly well. There are still some of the old ones who hang around. The OR translators are particularly happy that there is so much work to do. In this week, I'm sure lot of work to do. 's go, this was a pretty busy one.

Glimpses of the past few days:
Lowlights:
Receiving a container of stuff we didn't need and had to pay for. >:(
Not getting to empty the infamous red container.
Going on a supply hunt by the airport and returning empty-handed.

Highlights:
Amy made pancakes for dinner on Monday!!!
Taking a picture with SEVEN long term volunteers (http://jezkascott.blogspot.com/2010/08/family.html)
Eating at Zetty's with Jessica and Amy.
Scootering, counting in Spanish, and sword fighting with Junior.
Visiting an orphanage.

Since I'm leaving early Friday morning, tomorrow will be the day of good-byes. But I've been saying them all week. Today, I got to sit down with Phil Hudson from Cure International and talk for little bit (for those of you who don't know/remember, Phil was vital to helping me keep my sanity during my first two months.

Yesterday, I said good-bye to Jeanty, he went away for the weekend with his church. He's awesome. Here's his story (in the form of a college essay): http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/note.php?note_id=142562092432689
I'm leaving him the guitar I brought along with lesson books, partially a gift for his wedding in October, but also I know that he'll use it to glorify God.

Speaking of Facebook notes, remeber Kenny? He's back home and is about to start medical school at UCSF. He wrote a summary of his Haiti experience which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/notes/kenny-pettersen/brief-haiti-summary/424443282580

It's kind of surreal that this is all coming to an end. As a parting gift to Brooke and Jessica, I'm wearing scrubs tomorrow =]

Countinuing the Countdown

2010-08-22T19:19:00.001-07:00

Said some more (potential) good-byes today. I went over to Big Paul's place for the last time (again, potentially) to pick up some LR, gloves, vitamins, and other stuff. He and Little Paul gave me one of the M.M.R.C. (Materials Management Relief Corps) t-shirts as a parting gift.

I will eat lunch only for four more times in Haiti, and none will be as good as the one I had today. You see Sundays are the hospital's best meal day. Rice that is somehow darkened with something cheesy, something potato salad ish, a fried banana, and some meat imitation. Monday is white rice with beans and beets, Tuesday brown rice with shmeat, some root (i.e. sweet potato) or fried banana, a tomato and avocado slice, Wednesday is a repeat of Monday only with a delicious fried dough ball, and Thursday is pretty much a Tuesday repeat. Friday they mix it up with a soup that has potatoes, bananas, carrots, this really thick pasta like thing, and other stuff. The weekends with the worst meal, wannabe mac n' cheese with wannabe pizza/flat bread...ick! Good thing I'll be home next Sabbath. \(^_^)/

Beginning of the End

2010-08-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

For the last time I will say, "Happy Sabbath!" from Haiti.
In six (five depending on how you look at it) days I'll be returning home. My dad says that you all will want to know what it's like to leave. So from here on out it's "the beginning of the end"...that was lame.
The goodbyes have already begun. Some of the translators were let go this week, I had parting conversations with Max and Enock that were meaningful. Both expressed appreciation and desires for me to return. Enock gave me a wood cup.
Being my last Sabbath, I decided to step up and take responsibility for the sermon (as well as music as usual). As I was thinking about what my "parting words" should be I realized that nothing I could say would be as profound, meaningful, etc., as using the parting words of Solomon, the wisest man ever. So with the help of Jessica, Amy, Nathan, Leonard, and Lorna, we read through Ecclesiastes. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. More so that "Crazy Love" and "The Irresistible Revolution" combined. While we just read straight through, not taking time to analyze what Solomon said, it is definitely worth dissecting and gleaning all wisdom you can. Sad note, Jessica has been fighting a cold all week so she couldn't sing with me today (T_T)

13 new volunteers come in today including Dr. Nelson and the Dietrich's. It's gonna be a super busy week that's gonna go by super quickly. Gotta soak it all in while I can.

Peace.

The streak continues

2010-08-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

5 days in a row!!!!

Well kinda...
I'm guest blogging on Jessica Scott's blog "Therapeutic Communication" tonight (jezkascott.blogspot.com), and by telling you about it, I'm posting here, so that counts right?

Go check it out!

p.s.
Tomorrow, the single digit count down begins!

Some not so wise words

2010-08-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

This afternoon/evening Amy, Jessica, and I have spent a considerable amount of time in the break room on our computers, working and hanging out. This is rare because normally it's occupied by the many volunteers. However this week is slow and most of them have been working on a LONG case in the OR (tendon replacement, something or another). During this stretch we sang songs and I played "sword fight" and soccer with Jean Junior [I even let him win].

Quote of the night (at the end of singing "Standing on the Promises" in French with Jeanty):

"Mwe pa friend Jessica! Hallelujah! Amen!" ~Jean Junior
(I'm not Jessica's friend)

Oh Junior...you're no Mama T.

Three posts in one day has to be some kind of record. Shout out to the LSU Mission trip leaving for El Salvador tomorrow. Keep them in your prayers!

PEACE

More words of Wisdom

2010-08-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days, I've been emailing back and forth with my friend Nilmini Pang. In our correspondence we were talking about how I was excited about going back home, because I can't wait to see what God has in store for me. In turn she asked, "You say you know God has plans for you... do you know what those plans are? How do you know?" She then went on to talk about doubts she was having about her career/education plans.
I say, ABSOLUTELY NOT, but for perhaps this is best explained using a story about Mama T.

"A scholar went to stay with Mother Theresa’s sisters at the house for the dying in Calcutta. At the beginning of his visit Mother Theresa came and spoke with him.

She asked, “and what shall I pray for you for?”

He said, “Mother, the thing I desire most in my life is clarity. To know what God desires of me and to know exactly what he wants me to do. Will you pray that I have clarity?”

To this Mother Theresa responds, “No. I will not pray for clarity.”

The man retorts, “But Mother, I look at you and you just seem to have so much clarity, you always know what you are supposed to do, you follow God as if you can see everything you are called to. I want that.”

Mother Theresa replies, “I do not have clarity, what I have is trust. I will pray that you can learn to trust God every day. He will show you what to do each step of the way.”"

Only God knows what's in store for me when I get back (in 11 days!!!!!!!!), I'm perfectly content to not know what exactly is gonna happen. I trust that He's got everything in control.

(for a complete devotional on Clarity go here: http://www.livinggracefully.net/2010/01/26/clarity/)

Words of Wisdom from Mama T

2010-08-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

(look at me posting 4 days in a row!!!!)

Today at our morning meeting, Nathan read us a Mother Teresa poem that resonated with me. Hopefully it will with you as well.

"Anyway"

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
You will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway

If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
People will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Word Mama T.

Pictures

2010-08-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

BREAKING NEWS: I'm uploading pictures to Facebook as I post. What could have possibly caused me to do such a thing? Well...boredom to be honest. And there are a few pics from yesterday's epic adventure to Bassin Bleu. 12 days till I'm home 21 pics uploaded.

You're welcome.

Good, good, day

2010-08-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

I believe I previously mentioned that we were preparing to receive 1,000 cases of Pedialyte from Big Paul [BP does supply, transport, and other logistics stuff all over Haiti, helping hospitals, orphanages, etc. Here's his blog: http://sebringphotography.wordpress.com and website: www.mmrc-us.org]. Long story short, between Thursday and Friday we've received 1600 cases and needless to say, it's been a lot of work getting it securely stored [still a work in progress].

3 lessons learned: Pedialyte is DISGUSTING, pallets with pallet jacks would make life so much easier, and 1500 boxes of 6 one liter bottles are heavy and take up ALOT of space.
Sabbath rest was definitely welcome.

Today after church I went on my second real outing. Just about anything would beat my previous experience [refer to "Fun" in the Sun post]. I was optomistic. Nathan, Amy, and some of the other volunteers piled into the CURE car, our destination was Bassin Bleu in Jacmel. Best of all, alcohol was not in the plans. The ride was longer, but more fun [we drove through water] and the scenery made up for it. I'm a die-hard SoCal boy, so I appreciate the "Beauty of Brown"; seeing all the green was nice, but what I really enjoyed was getting to see something other than the destruction and poverty of Port-au-Prince. Instead we saw poverty with awesome scenery.
Bassin Bleu [http://www.bassin-bleu.com/index.html also search for videos, I'll put up pics, you know...eventually] is a series of deep fresh water pools with waterfalls. Unlike the ocean, the water was blue (not clear, but still) and cool. After a short hike to the pools, we swam, chilled on the rocks, and climbed up the cliffs by the waterfall and jumped into the water below [idk how high it was 25-30 ft, nothing too crazy]. Good, clean Sabbath afternoon fun!

We ate lamb and chicken with bananas and fries at a place by the beach [complete with the blasting music], then made the long trip back home. Sleep will come easy tonight! It was by far the most fun I've had in the 4 months I've been here.

I dreamed a dream

2010-08-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

I don't usually remember my dreams, but since I started taking the anti-malaria meds I've been having vivid ones. There was one just last night where I was living in an apartment complex with some people from my dorm in college but our neighbors were people from "How I ment Your Mother", "Scrubs", "Reading Rainbow", and "Sesame Street"and my brother's high school visted us for a field trip. The one I remember two nights ago was about going on a safari, but I was super fast so I was on foot following/chasing the animals all over the savannah. What does any of this have to do with Haiti? Well, on Thursday morning the screams of small children woke me up at around 5:30. My fan is pretty loud and generally blocks out most background noise (with the exception of the Celine Dion water truck), so when I heard children screaming I thought something was wrong. My worries were put to rest when I realized my fan wasn't running because the power was down, so the sounds I heard were just normal sick kid screams coming from peds and confused roosters.

Since microwaves and internet don't work without power, I decided to sleep until the 7:30 meeting. I rolled out of bed at 7:29, put on pants and headed down (not having to worry about hair has it's advantages). At the meeting the power still had not returned. Power outages happen daily, but they're usually over within a minute. This was not the case. We were told that the three generators had three separate problems. And since we paid the employees instead of the electricity bill, there was no power coming from the city. Plans for the day that required electricity (i.e. surgeries) were in jeopardy, but fortunately, one of the generators was fixed and power came back on around 8. Some people missed showers and hot breakfasts, so in perspective, so we didn't really have to alter patient care, so crisis evaded.

Happy Sabbath

p.s. 13...

blah.blah.blah.

2010-08-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

I've made it a policy not to post that I'm sick till after I'm better, that way you all won't have to worry! I know, how considerate of me. But really it was just a cold, runny/stuffy nose stuff. Several doses of slightly expired Tylenol and 22 hours of sleep over 2 nights did the trick.

A lot is changing (more so than usual), things are busy, and yet I find that I have very little to write about (partially because of the "ignorance is bliss" thing). I sat down with Nathan today and we're starting to map out an "exit strategy" for me, to make the transition after my departure go as smoothly as possible.

People (long term volunteers) are tired. Jessica, Luke, Amy, Nathan, and I met Cory at the hotel for dinner tonight (Brooke couldn't make it due to "unforeseen circumstances"). It was good to get away and just chill, talk, and eat. In a way I was glad that the service was painfully slow. When you don't let that kind of thing you and enjoy the moments it makes things a whole lot easier.

Tomorrow, Kenny is coming from Hench to stay at the hospital for a few days before heading back to the US to move and start school. And hopefully we'll be going to pick up 1,000 cases of Pedialyte. Friday, Luke leaves to start his new job as a Project Manager at the "Love a Child" Foundation on the border. Cory also heads back stateside.

I was once again reminded that for everything I've learned/experienced/dealt with in my 19 3/4 years of life there more to know than I'll ever know, more to do than I'll ever do, etc. I guess that's why there are so many wonderfully flawed people in the world.

Peace

Wyclef for President?

2010-08-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

This week was a pretty eventful/rough/tiring for us at the hospital (for a plethora or reasons) and for Haiti in general. So this Sabbath rest is especially welcome.

If you haven't heard, on Thursday, music artist and activist Wyclef Jean announced that he has decided to run for president of Haiti. (If you haven't heard, educate yourself http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/06/haiti.wyclef.jean.president/index.html#fbid=k_F9NohARCP&wom=false) After the announcement throngs of people took to the streets wearing white t-shirts that read FAS A FAS, in support of the newly announced candidate. Nathan and Cory were across town and witnessed it first hand.

Everyone has an opinion anytime a celebrity goes into politics. I've talked to a few Haitians about it and there are mixed feelings. I'm not sure how I feel. Good thing I don't have a vote I guess.
You see, there's this kid named Jean Junior. His parents were both HIV positive. Although he's ten, looks like seven year old (most kids are underdeveloped). His mom died years ago. He came to the hospital a while ago with his dad, who was sick due to complications. He died about on July 21. Junior's family came to the hospital but after sitting down with a social worker and a few of the volunteers it was decided that they wouldn't be able to care for him given his condition. So he's spent the majority of his time here. He went to an orphanage run by Frantz's mom, but he got sick over the weekend and came back to live with us. For now a few of the volunteers have kinda adopted him. Brooke or Amy are his primary care takers, but both were busy last night so Jessica and I took care of him. Feeding him was no big deal, we made EZ-Mac. He'll eat anything as long as it's doused in ketchup. Getting him ready for bed proved to be more of a challenge. A few chases, multiple drinks of water, and calming him down after the loudest thunder of my life occured during his shower (I know I've said that before, but I'm not sure this one can be topped, the lightning strike was so close we lost power). But getting him into bed (and stay in bed) was the hardest of all. Long story short, it's offical: I'm NOT ready to be a parent. Well, at least the father of a 10-year old.

Big shout out to the Juniors Sabbath school and others at Azure Hills SDA church.
Julia, Julie, Kara, Kara, Bailey, Hannah, Rebecca, Gabby, Marcelo, Daniel, DJ, Jake, Justin, Trentin, Mark, C.G.E., Zachary, Chris, A.S. thanks for the words of encouragement.

And thank you to everyone who has kept me, the hospital, and Haiti in their prayers. I'm coming home in 20 days (I told myself not to mention the countdown...oops, sorry Jessica), but there is still so much work to be done here. Please continue to pray for the whole situation (sorry for being vauge, but believe me, ignorance is bliss).

PEACE

24

2010-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

As I was going through my day today I thought, I only have 24 days left. Then I started singing 24 by Switchfoot in my head. Take a listen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLagfciU_PU

"Twenty four oceans
Twenty four skies
Twenty four failures
Twenty four tries
Twenty four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
Twenty four drop outs
At the end of the day
Life is not what I thought it was
Twenty four hours ago

Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And I'm not who I thought I was twenty four hours ago
Still I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You

Twenty four reasons to admit that I'm wrong
With all my excuses still twenty four strong

See I'm not copping out not copping out not copping out
When You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now

And You're raising these twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true

I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And You're raising the dead in me

I want to see miracles, see the world change
Wrestled the angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me
Twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts.
I'm not copping out. Not copping out. Not copping out."

"Fun" in the Sun

2010-07-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

It's three and a half months into my stay in Haiti, and I really haven't done anything "fun". Multiple groups have gone on tours and the beach on Sabbaths, but I've stayed at the hospital to sleep and chill. However this week multiple translators were bugging me about going to the beach, having some fun because I work so hard, seeing another part of Haiti, and since I only had four weekends left in Haiti, I agreed to come. So...today after church (and an hour and a half of waiting for the bus to arrive) Jessica, the "Mama-Kimball" team, some of the translators, and other Haitians from the hospital set off for the beach.

One thing I've learned is when you don't have expectations, you can't be disappointed. When I think beach, I think, chilling in the sun, swimming, eating, playing football, and volleyball etc. I figured this beach trip wouldn't be all that, but I was still hoping to have a chill time. Those hopes were dashed when I realized that "chill" wasn't what the trip was about.

Without going into details (that would embarrass some, and disturb others) it was an extremely disappointing experience. Spending hours in a hot cramped bus to go watch drunk people dance and get beer sprayed all over me isn't my idea of fun, or good Sabbath afternoon activities for that matter. It wasn't all bad, being submerged in water for the first time since June was fun, and eventually I did get to slip away for a while, just lay out, talk, and chill in the sun.

Hopefully your Sabbath was much more restful.

PEACE

STORY OF MY LIFE

2010-07-30T17:12:00.001-07:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-ryley/haitian-hospitals-awash-w_b_663696.html

Four more weeks

2010-07-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Lack of posts this week is attributed to writing two lengthy messages to dear friends, lack of internet two nights, and taking time for soul searching (a lot has happened this week).

Four weeks from now I'll be packing up to go home. Depending on your point of view August 27 is a long way off, and I know so much will happen. But for me it's hard to believe that I've been back in Haiti for almost two months, Dr. Nelson left and Nathan and Amy arrived over a month ago. In that time there have been many changes, administrative decisions have been made, so many groups have come and gone, patients have been admitted, many have been discharged, some are still here, few have passed away. It's kind of been a blur.

I'm very anxious/excited to get home, to see people, play music in a praise band, play basketball and volleyball with friends yes, but also to start the next chapter in my life. I know God has great things in store. But I can't get caught up in looking ahead. There are still boxes to move, supplies to sort, songs to sing, and people to love.

Weekend Update

2010-07-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

I have less than five weeks left in Haiti...its crazy to think that when August 27 rolls around 1.8% of my life will have been spent here. This last weekend was chill...ish.

Things got off to a poor start Friday night. Quick background: If you remember my first week in Haiti I dropped something heavy on my left big toe. Since then, the nail has fallen off and it's been healing nicely. Also, you might recall that I semi-retired my black OP flip-flops, meaning I don't wear them daily anymore, but I pull them out every once in a while. Friday evening was one such occasion. I was out on the roof talking on the phone, planning the worship service when I slipped. This wouldn't have been a problem if I had been wearing close toed shoes. It probably would have been less of a problem if the nail on my toe had completely grown back. But alas, this was not the case, so when I slipped and my foot dragged across the ground a layer of skin where my nail should have been was torn off. OUCH! Luckily we're at a hospital and got it cleaned and dressed. I'm back to wearing flip-flops for awhile and walking is a little awkward, but it's all good.

Some good did come from all this. Sabbath morning a group from ACTS showed up to help out with the church service and see the hospital. With them was Ileah Schmul. Like me, she's a college student helping out in Haiti during summer break. Also like me, on Friday her feet had an unfortunate accident with the ground while wearing flip-flops. Her RIGHT big toe was bandaged exactly like mine! It was quite a surprise so we had to scramble to get the worship service in order, then arrange to take 30 people around the hospital. Never a dull Sabbath at HAH.

This morning's meeting probably had the lowest attendance in HAH history. The 25-person UFGH group had left, Luke is still with friends, Brooke was across town, and the "Mama Kimball" group had not yet arrived. So Nathan, Amy, Kenny, Jessica, Dr. Wilkerson, and I gathered on the front steps. We proceeded to have the slowest Sunday ever. I sent Aimab and Herold home after lunch and slept for most of the afternoon.

Today's shout outs go to two very special young men. To all the single ladies, I'm pleased to inform you that Donald Dominic Dawkins is officially legal today. If you're interested, you better get on that quick, cuz he's headed off to MIT in a month. Also on this day 16 years ago, three-year-old me was sleeping in the Dawkins' living room and was shaken awake early in the morning to receive the news that I had a little brother. Ladies, he's still a child so BACK OFF!!!! Hahaha. For the first time in their lives, I won't be celebrating with them. So in that respect this is the saddest July 25 since '98 when both Jordan and I were sick. Love you guys and wish I was there (sad face).

So if you take anything away from this post, say happy birthday to my brother from another mother and my brother from...my mother AND be thankful for your toes.

PEACE

GUEST BLOGGER!!!

2010-07-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, you are experiencing history. For the first time ever, the primary writer of a "David in Haiti" blog post will be someone other than yours truly. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Amy Lindsey. [applause]

Hey! I am Amy Lindsey and I one of the volunteer Coordinators at the hospital as well as filling in wherever else as needed.

My job for the week was to sort supplies…boxes and boxes of supplies which were stashed in all corners and crevices of the hospital. A lot of the boxes contained disaster relief supplies ranging from medical supplies to personal hygiene items, tents, and flashlights. Then there were the many other random pieces of old medical equipment, outdated computers, and mangled beds. Unfortunately all these boxes and old equipment were intermingled in a heap reaching almost to the ceiling in many parts of the storage room making it impossible to get to anything. It was an absolute mess and very overwhelming; however, our clean-up crew soon found that if you just focus on one box at a time eventually a cleared area would start to appear. It was a long and tedious process because in these boxes we normally found a random assortment of band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, gauze and anything else you can imagine. So it was our job to sort out the contents of the boxes and put like items together so that we could at least have an idea of what supplies we had.
It was about the 3rd day of sorting supplies in a dingy storeroom, without lights and certainly no air conditioning, with sweat literally flowing off of my forehead that I started to get sick of all this extra stuff in the storeroom. I just wanted to throw everything away. There were so many random things, a lot of it that was just old machinery that was only good for scrap metal at this point, yet for some reason the hospital was very unwilling to let it go. I thought to myself more than once, if only the local staff could see that this stuff is junk and that by holding onto it they are creating clutter and making it difficult to organize the good supplies that we do need to keep. We even told them that we had good supplies waiting to be sent to the hospital from the US but in order to make room for the new supplies the old had to go. It is physically impossible to have both the new and the old at the same time. It seemed like the hospital staff would rather hold onto what they knew they had even if they couldn’t use it and just let it rust in storage and take up valuable space, rather than trust that something better would arrive if they would just be willing to let the junk go.
In my mind the solution was so obvious and at times I was flabbergasted at the slow progress. Then the overwhelming thought hit me-- my heart is just like this dingy storage shed. There certainly are some valuable supplies in it, but there is also A LOT of things that I am treasuring that really are junk and by holding onto them I am hurting myself. God is offering me some of his beautiful gifts and I can just hear Him saying, “If you just let Me clean up this stuff I have some amazing gifts that I want to fill your heart and life with, just trust me.” Unfortunately it seems that more often than not I would rather hold on to my trash because it is familiar to me, rather than trusting that God has something special for me.
I know that often when people think of the dark dingy parts of their hearts they think of the sins that nobody knows about. When I think about God cleaning up our heart I definitely agree that He wants to purify us completely, but I think he also wants to take the baggage of fear, anxiety, lack of peace, distrust, and sorrow out of our lives as well and replace that type of junk with the fruits of the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience etc. It’s a way bigger heart overhaul than just the secret sins in our lives. God wants to give us an abundant life. It is not just about cleaning up our past, but it’s also about daily living joyfully in Jesus. Sometimes it can be hard to have that joy if we have the foul odor of trash permeating all parts of our hearts and cluttering up our life.
A good Bible text that comes to mind is Ezekial 36:26 which states, “And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart.” With this verse in mind there are a couple lessons that can be applied to the analogy of the shed and my heart. First of all the shed can’t clean out itself, someone else has to do it for it. In the same way, I can try all I want to physically remove the junk out of my heart but I simply can’t because I can’t do heart surgery on myself. What I can do is give God the ok to work in my heart so that He can change me. But this whole process boils down to trust. Do I really truly trust that God is going to take care of me? Do I trust that he does have my best interest in mind, or do I cling to my clutter of what I can see, even if it is junk and harmful to me, instead of allowing Him to take out the bad and bring in the new?
From an outside perspective it is obvious that the junk needs to be removed, but I just pray that I am not so attached and comfortable with it that I’ll stubbornly hold onto it when God is anxiously waiting to clean up the mess and show me how to truly live. I want to trust him with every “box” in my life and be able to wholeheartedly say like David said in Psalm 31:14, “I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, ‘You are my God.’ My future is in Your hands.”

Thank you Amy.

Three more things.
1. Shout out to Agnes Ward and to all the people I don't know who read this blog. I know there are more than the 16 of you who are official "followers". If you want to be awesome like Agnes drop me a line @ drharris0823@gmail.com
2. While watching "Scrubs" (as I sometimes do during free moments) I heard this song. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNOrHEUsEPI
3. Happy Sabbath!

Best day ever?

2010-07-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Eh, probably not, but considering I was sick in bed, desperately trying to sleep all yesterday (24-hour ish flu thing...no worries), so today was definitely an improvement. I also felt that today was one of my more productive days. I know it wasn't and central supply doesn't look like it (I was reorganizing gauze...exciting stuff) when , but it felt good. I attribute it to feeling NOT sick and listening to my iPod for the 1st time in MONTHS. If you're my friend on Facebook and saw my status the other day about "enjoying the small things...like new guitar strings" the feeling is similar. Although iPods are not as simple as guitar strings, it brought me great enjoyment. I realized that I hadn't listened to my own music for a looooooooooooooooooong time (especially since I don't have MY computer :/ ). Skillet, TFK, David Crowder, etc. never made me smile so much.

Also Charles from Project Hope brought food! Rice, fish, and lasagna Haitian style. YUM!

Next time: SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER!!! (it'll be up as soon as he/she starts...uh...I mean, finishes writing!)

PEACE

People my age...ish

2010-07-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

Right off the bat I gotta say that last week was by far the best as far as talking to people back home. I think I had meaningful conversations over Facebook, Skype, BlackBerry, Google Talk, and email with at least 10 people. Thanks to my homies at home!

Also over the past few weeks it's been awesome having volunteers who are closer to my age. I mentioned the OT group from LLU and that Luke returned, but Hollie, Heidi, and Didi have yet to be acknowledged. It was great hangin' with you guys, even after all those long days you had in

the OR.

Kenny is going to Med school at UCSF in the Fall, but he's spending a good chunk of his summer here like me. Unlike me he's been to Haiti seven times before the earthquake and this is his second trip post earthquake. He's spent most of his time on the central plateau in thew town of Hench, but he's here for a few weeks experiencing Port-au-Prince. Like me, he's doing a lot of logistics stuff.

Another group of "peers" arrived. A SIMS group composed of Pharm Student Mike, Med Student Kevin, Public Health Students Julie, Sonya, and Sara, and Dr. Bennet. Such an eclectic group, why would such an eclectic team come to HAH? SUPPLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over the past nine days they (along with Amy and Kenny) have done some AMAZING work! The items stored in the HIV clinic (I finally saw the breast implants!), basement storage, and Room 3 in central supply (the one to the left with all the meds and IV fluids for those of you that know) were emptied and sorted. The external storage buildings and church-for-a-day tents were reorganized. And most impressive of all for the last 4 days the ramp is clear!!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who haven't been to the hospital, the gravity of this statement. The ramp has been the bane of my existence. It is constantly filled with supplies, things are periodically taken away, only to have more boxes take their place. Needless to say clearing the ramp is no small feat. As they'll be leaving tomorrow, I'd like to extend my gratitude to the SIMS group. I'll miss them...

Finally, last Friday, the Beck-Davies-Harris-Lindsey family became the Beck-Davies-Harris-Lindsey-Scott family. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jessica Scott has arrived. She's a trauma nurse who will be here for six months! She also sings really well, as witnessed my everyone who attended the English worship service this past Sabbath. You can follow her blog here http://jezkascott.blogspot.com/ .

Tomorrow's gonna be a big day. Emilie Clotaire, the Haitian Hospital Administrator returned tonight from a four week vacation. Dr. Elie Honore, the Health Ministries Director of the Inter-American Division of the SDA church is accompanying her. Big meetings, big changes? Eh, this stuff waaaaaay over my head.

Shout out to my friend and YouTube sensation Victor Dean Tanglao. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ7EniazaVY Watch and enjoy!

PEACE

I'm a skeptic no more

2010-07-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

So you know how when sports teams win championships and/or important games they get t-shirts and the t-shirts made for the losing team are allegedly sent to developing countries. I've always been a skeptic, but that changed today when I saw a kid walking around wearing a "NBA Western Conference Champions 2000". As I'm SURE you all remember Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals featured the L.A. Lakers and Portland Trailblazers. And on that day in May at the Staples Center, the world witnessed the Blazers suffer one of the biggest 4th quarter meltdowns in NBA history, capped off by a Kobe to Shaq alley-oop, all resulting in a Lakers trip to the NBA Finals where they beat the Indiana Pacers (in Reggie Miller's only NBA finals appearance) in six games, and launching the Shaq/Kobe Laker three-peat. So imagine my surprise when the kid's shirt was black and red with a Blazers logo! I am now a believer.

On a more serious note, over the past couple of days I've had some conversations with some pretty awesome people. People who have done AMAZING things during their lifetimes. This triggered an internal argument with myself.
DRH A: I wish I could be like them and do those amazing things. I'm jealous, envious, and disappointed in myself.
DRH B: Hold on, I'm only 19, I still have time to do all that stuff. And they had more education than me, other experiences and opportunities I didn't have.
DRH A: Stop rationalizing and making excuses!
DRH B: But they're legit reasons.
DRH A: Sure they're legit, but the facts speak for themselves, I haven't...
DRH C: Hold it right there. I've done some pretty cool stuff, but cool doesn't matter, I shouldn't be comparing myself to other people anyway, God works through them as He sees fit, and He'll do the same through me. Capiche?
DRH A: Yeah yeah.
DRH B: I guess.
DRH C: FTW!!!!! [fist pump]

Hope you enjoyed the peak into my brain.

Shout out to everyone studying for the MCAT. You can do it guys!

PEACE

New York Time article

2010-07-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/world/americas/11haiti.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=haiti&st=cse

Wow. The first picture is literally just down the street from the hospital, everytime I drive out that direction we pass those houses along the center divider. Hits really cose to home. For me it gives me better perspective on things going on around me. For you its great information on what's goin down over here (and whatever else you can draw from this). I wonder if this was just published because tomorrow is six months after. Hmmmm

Currently everyone is watching the World Cup Final [*sings* lonely...I am so lonely...]

PEACE

So that lasted long...

2010-07-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

I'm back! No my computer isn't fixed but we have a spare one and I'll be using it for a while.Lots of stuff has been going on, things are still ever changing. Brooke and Luke are back. The SIMS team is coming tomorrow. There are other new people. Lots of drama. There was a 25 person car accident tonight so I'm gonna be running in and out of Central Supply I'm sure. I'll leave you with something I wrote on my BlackBerry. It's called "Jesus was a Hobo". Inspired by Jesus...who was a hobo.

Jesus was a hobo didn't have a place to sleep
So if I want to be like Him where should my priorities be?
Do I need a big house with a three car garage and ignore those on the street
Who go to "bed" wondering how, what, and when they'll be able to eat

Jesus was a hobo, He walked everywhere He went
So if I want to be like Him how should my money be spent?
Should I drive a pimped ride with spinning rims that guzzles gasoline
While there are those who can't afford a car or even find enough to eat

My Savior is a homeless guy
He said to love unselfishly and I really do try
I'm not saying its easy, in fact its flippin hard
But I'll do my best and won't give up
I'll lean on Him He'll pick me up
I'll be fine cuz He is all I need

Jesus was a hobo He didn't shave or cut Hishair
So if I want to be like Him I should think about what I wear
Should I really be wearing True religion jeans or jewelry plated gold
When there are people without shoes and shiver in the cold

Jesus was like a hippie, He wasn't a big fan of war
In fact He told Hisdisciples to put away their swords
If we're one nation under god why are we out there dropping bombs
Instead of sharing peace and love and prevent another Vietnam

My Savior is a homeless guy
He said to love unselfishly and I really do try
I'm not saying its easy, in fact its flippin hard
But I'll do my best and won't give up
I'll lean on Him He'll pick me up
I'll be fine cuz He is all I need

Jesus was a hobo He didn't have stocks or a 401k
So I won't store up treasure here, cuz ill be in heaven one day
For now I’ll feed the hungry, heal the sick, all for the glory of Hisname
And I won't treat life like it is a win at all costs game

So why do we live like there's nothing beyond our suffering hear on earth
The things we do seems driven by gaining our own self worth
Jesus said nothing about getting your own. He called us to love.
So what are you waiting for LIVE LIKE A HOBO

Jesus was a hobo who died for you and me
This song may seem light hearted but its an urgent plea
To my siblings in Jesus Christ I hope you understand
He said the world will know us by our love for our fellow man

Our Savior is a homeless guy
Who lived and loved unselfishly and that's what we should strive (for)
I'm not saying its easy, in fact its flippin hard
But I'll do my best and won't give up
I'll lean on Him he'll keep me up
I'll be fine cuz He is all I need

Hasta la vista

2010-07-06T03:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long/crazy day, even for a Monday. I'd tell you all about it but due to some issues with my computer that would take forever since I'm typing on a BlackBerry. I'm sending it home next week and hopefully it'll get fixed and sent back to me. Until then, minimal (if any) blogging or Facebook. Email me (drharris0823@gmail.com to get in touch.
Until next time!

Proud to be an American?

2010-07-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's July 4, the day we celebrate declaring independence from England, barbeque, set off fireworks, hang out with family and friends, and watch grown men try to inhale as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. It’s also a day where millions of people are living in poverty, without food and clean drinking water, around 6000 will die from HIV and…

Before I go on, show of hands, who thinks its too soon for another angry post? Ok you win, maybe I’ll write a book later.

Highlights of the week:

1.Spending time with Son-son

2. Everyone's pained reaction to Brazil's loss to the Netherlands

3. Playing guitar and singing with Shane from the LLU OT team.

4. Talking to friends ALL OVER the world.

Lowlights (other than the current state of Haiti and many other places in the world):

Deaths of a 5-month-old and Albert's mom.

On the lighter side of lowlights, after traveling to 4 countries (Haiti, South Africa, Malawi, and Turkey) in 2 years of service I'm officially retiring my black OP flip-flops. The right one has a hole in the sole. I'm not throwing them away yet, they might come out of retirement but I'm not gonna be wearing them daily.

Happy Independence Day! Be thankful, be safe, have fun.

On a lighter ♫...(pun intended)

2010-06-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever sung to a little child to comfort them? Before today, neither had I. After doing it while holding and comforting ten-year-old Son-son (short for Touson in his full name Jean Touson Dimasnche) while he got the staples and bandages removed, I highly recommend it. Although he’s ten, he’s the size of a seven year old and probably weighs 60 lbs (due to malnutrition, a lot of kids in Haiti are VERY small for their age). But what he lacks in size he makes up with heart. As I sang “Wavin’ Flag”, “Somewhere over the rainbow”, his favorite “This time for Africa”, and every Haitians favorite: “We are the World”, he refrained from flinching while we held him down as the bandage was cut off. He’s a crazy brave little kid who’s endured so much. Of course he lived through the earthquake which is enough trauma, but eight years ago, he had an accident with boiling oil. It left the right side of his face (eye, ear, scalp) and some of his torso badly burned. Now he’s running around the hospital like he owns the joint, wheeling around in unoccupied wheelchairs, following doctors around, begging for my bandanna (which I gave him) and glasses (which I kept), all while singing Shakira’s, “This time for Africa”. We've played soccer and he's played my guitar while singing (videos and pictures will be up....later).

[edited 7/2/10]

Continuing with the music theme, I’m currently listening to “Hands Held High” by Linkin Park, while I don’t agree with the exact way he presents the issues we share some of the same concerns. It kind of reminds me of Noah Gunderson’s “Jesus, Jesus”. Good songs, look ‘em up, and watch the F-bombs if you have sensitive ears.

And while we’re talking about listening to things, ever since reading “Crazy Love”, I’ve been listening to Francis Chan’s sermons online (http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/special/media_player.html). I stayed up till almost 2am last night listening to his series on “Living a Life that Matters” (the series starts back when I was still 17…on 10/26/2008). Take a listen, they’re long, but worth it.

[don't forget: Lebron, D-wade, and co. become free agents in less than 4 hours!!!!]

HOPE

Heartbreak.

2010-06-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to reiterate that I’m not generally emotional person. I’m not heartless, I just compartmentalize fairly well. Today was not one of those days. Did I break down? No, but I came pretty close. As I walking upstairs this morning I ran into one of the OR translators who was on the phone. I wanted to say hey and follow up on something he had asked me yesterday, so I waited for him to finish the conversation. Instead of greeting me with, “Chief! Sak pase?” he told me it was his brother on the phone, and his mom died. I don’t know if you’ve had the misfortune of being with a person when they hear the news of a lost loved one. NOT an experience I’d like to have again anytime soon. I can imagine other people in my situation struggle to find words. I couldn’t find any, so we just sat in the ramp for nearly ten minutes, me holding his hand as he cried, praying silently and aloud, listening, trying to wrap my head around the situation. Losing a parent isn’t a Haiti problem. It’s something everyone can relate to on some level. Keep the Pètion family in your prayers.

Blogger's Block?

2010-06-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

[Generally when I post something I have an idea in mind, write it out in word then paste it here. I feel that I should post something, but I don't really have anything I want to say so for the first time, I'm making this up as I go. Who's excited?!]

Today...was slow. I think I've mentioned this before but ever since Dr. Nelson left things have drastically slowed down. On top of that, there's no ortho clinic on Sunday so even fewer people were in the hospital.

Yesterday I slept for about 5 hours during the day so I couldn't sleep till 3am (as Aubrey and Israel can attest). After today's morning meeting, I opened supply, I had a spiritually uplifting conversation with Patti, moved new supplies into central, I went around the hospital with Nathan checking the floor plans to make sure all the doors were in the right place, listened to some Adventures in Odyssey played some guitar...and that's pretty much it.

This evening I sat down and talked to the six other volunteers (not counting Amy, Brooke, and Nathan) that are staying here (all-time low) about Ching Hai, ate peanut butter M&M's, went up on the roof and took a few pictures (Jillian Nicola inspired me), came down when the clouds burst open and the loudest thunder and brightest lightning of my life appeared, stood in awe of the storm from a balcony, went to my room, checked Facebook, opened iTunes, and sat down to write this blog.

Thus concludes the most candid, and probably the most boring blog post ever.

I'll leave you with this. Remember that you are so incredibly blessed and even when things get overwhelming, take comfort in the fact that God's got you, He has a plan, Jesus is coming back SOON, and we won't ever have to deal with stuff like this ever, ever, ever again. Finally keep Jesus and the center of your life and all your relationships.

LOVE

Tales from Room 2

2010-06-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Since Dr. Nelson’s departure the patient load at the hospital has greatly decreased. Because there are fewer patients there is not as much going on (things should be picking up starting tomorrow when another group from Cure arrives). Things in supply have been pretty slow as well, so I let Aimab and Herold go early and hung out in room 2 (the middle of the three rooms that make up central supply) until closing. I had two rather interesting encounters.

Obviously the World Cup is huge here. It’s pretty much all anyone talks about. There are three TV’s (that I know of) in the hospital and everytime a game is on, patients, staff, and volunteers gather around to watch. Those who can’t watch listen on the radio. I have to admit that its grown on me while most people are rooting for Brazil or Argentina, I’m sticking to my roots and reppin’ the USA! Landon Donavan’s stoppage time goal was the subject of more than a few conversations I had.

When the guys had left one of the x-ray techs came into supply and started to talk to me about the goal, the upcoming game with Ghana, and the other happenings in the World Cup. It ended up with the other guy saying that the US should beat Ghana because our goal/goalie/god is the best? I honestly have no idea which he said. If he was referring to Donavan’s last minute game winner, fine. If he was saying Tim Howard was awesome, fine. I just reeeeeeeally hope it wasn't the latter or if it was something just got lost in translation. Who is the god of America anyway (there’s a debate waiting to happen)?

Closer to closing time, Kervens, Gregory, and Juanito came over to supply to hang out. We talked about school, girls (oooooooooooooooooh), and as time passed they all took turns “playing” my guitar and singing. It started off as making fun of Mr. Francoise, me, and Brooke, but quickly turned to “Thank you Jesus that I did not die in the earthquake.” Stomach punch feeling. I couldn’t help but smile. I’m surrounded by amazingly flawed people. So blessed.

Shout-out to everyone @ the GC! Keep it Christ-centered!

PEACE

An End and a Beginning

2010-06-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

An era has come to an end. For the first time since 1995 I did not watch the clinching game of the NBA finals. (This is actually a huge deal for me, but during my time here I’ve come to value sports less, which is a good thing. Will I continue to watch/follow sports? Ask me about it later). I made due with listening on espnradio.com. I’m not sure I would have wanted to watch the game…so ugly. A win is a win I guess. But seriously, today marked the end of an era: Dr. Scott Nelson has left the hospital. For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Nelson is an orthopedic surgeon who has been working in the Dominican Republic for the last five years. He came over to Haiti on January 14 and has been here (with a few breaks) ever since. His skills in the OR as well as his leadership will be greatly missed. Hospital administration put together a little ceremony for him. He and Lucia drove off to the DR at 6 this morning. He’ll spend some time there and will move back to SoCal. Bittersweet times, more bitter than sweet. But with every end comes a new beginning, every cloud has a silver lining, [insert other cliché here]. Dr. Nelson has left a humongous void, but some relief has arrived. Ladies and gentlemen, Nathan Lindsey, MPH, has arrived at Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti. You may be wondering why that is significant. He and his wife Amy (who will be arriving on Tuesday) will be here for the next YEAR (at least)! Nathan will be working as the assistant hospital administrator. We’re going through yet another transition period, things will continue to change.

Also as expected, the World Cup has been HUGE here. It seems that everywhere I turn, people are listening to the radio, watching TV and wearing colors of the teams they support. Walking through the streets last week (coming back from donating blood) people were crowded around restaurants and shops watching the action. One of the cell phone stands was blasting the radio broadcast over the loud speakers. Most people here are Brazil or Argentina supporters. During Brazil’s victory over cheers erupted all up and down the street when each of the three goals were scored. Go figure.

Tomorrow’s Monday, gonna be a kuhrayzee.
PEACE

Best in Haiti?

2010-06-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

The other day, Dr. Nelson told me some important “ortho-politician” came to the hospital while I was gone and was impressed with the organization of Central Supply. He said it was the “…best he’s seen in Haiti.” I’m not sure how I feel about that statement because it probably means four things: He hasn’t been around much; he’s a politician and was telling us what he thought we wanted to hear; our supply room is really the best he’s seen, and if that’s the case…other hospital supply rooms must be really bad. If any of the above are true…well...yeah...

How to Save a Life...

2010-06-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

[although I'm a fan of The Fray, this post has nothing to do with their song which shares the name of this post but if it adds to the experience go ahead and listen while you read http://www.youtube.com/user/thefray#p/c/22C7108E7FF7633F/2/cjVQ36NhbMk]

I’ve said that there’s no such thing as a normal day here, still a true statement. However I’ve done a few new things in the last few days. Tuesday started like most days, wake up at 5:40(ish), wash up, eat, etc. Morning meeting at 6:30 the open central supply, wait until the guys come, distribute stuff, sort stuff, and move stuff.

Things changed with a phone call from Brook at 0921. Patients needed blood for transfusions and supplies needed to be delivered to General Hospital. After gathering the specimens and supplies Mark (one of the translators) and I headed off to General Hospital boxes in hand. This was my first time taking real public transportation AND... it wasn’t that exciting, it was just loud, cramped, and hot. After arriving at GH we made the deliveries and went to the Red Cross. We gave them the three test tubes and the prescriptions and they told us it would take a while. They weren’t lying…well they kinda were, I don’t think they were really planning on giving us any blood. (I understand there’s a shortage, but it was really frustrating anyways, what was also frustrating was the hospital “losing” one of the units that we had previously received, but that’s a different story.) While we waited I decided to donate, since we were there and they didn’t care about me being in a foreign country where malaria is a risk. The process is pretty much the same. I got to watch TV and got mango juice The differences: no questions about travel or family disease history, they used a tourniquet instead of blood pressure cuff, the bag wasn’t in a “rocker” it just hung on a pole, and they didn’t really bandage me up, just gave me a little circle band-aid (like the ones they give you after shots).

When I had finished donating, Mark and I stayed for a while, continuing to ask when the blood would be given to us, and not getting an answer. We ended up leaving empty handed after a few hours. Brooke returned to get the blood later that evening….and they still didn’t give it to us. Annoyingly long story short, Mark and I spent a good chunk of two days at the Red Cross and received…one unit of blood. It’s okay, Johnny Cherry, is got his surgery and is doing fine (another story for another time) and all the other patients are gonna be “okay”. Real life example of how giving blood saves lives.

You may be thinking to yourself, “I wish I could save a life.” Great news! This doesn’t just happen in Haiti, every blood donation has the same results. So if you’re over 17 years old (or 15 with parent’s consent), are in good health, and weigh more than 110 lbs, head over to the Red Cross, LifeStream, or your closest donation center and give the gift of life!
Top three reasons to give blood

You give someone the opportunity to live longer.
You give that person’s family and friends more time to spend with them
FREE REFRESHMENTS (cookies, juice, etc.) after the donation!

Also it’s a cheap date. What could be more romantic than getting stuck with needle and saving lives together AND eating free food?! (yeah, one of the many reasons I’m single). In all seriousness, when you go, take someone with you. The more blood the better.

JOY

There and Back Again

2010-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Sabbath from Haiti Adventist Hospital. It’s good to be back. Words can’t describe my experience over the past ten days…here’s an attempt.

Walking into the airport in Miami was one of the more overwhelming experiences I’ve had. I “smelled” America as soon as I was off the plane. The things that immediately hit me were the excess space, so many reflective surfaces (windows, mirrors, etc), and climate control. As I continued through the airport I was making list in my head of things I didn’t realize I missed while in Haiti: familiar smells, seeing people of all different ethnicities, being able to walk fast without getting stared at, speaking English, being able to move freely, and of course flushing toilet paper.
But thing I missed the most was my family and friends. I experienced pure joy when unsuspecting loved ones would realize that I was there when they thought I was thousands of miles away. Seeing the looks on their faces was a priceless experience. Welcome back/I missed you hugs are the best! Half-hearted apologies to everyone for not telling you that I was coming back [whole-hearted apology to Angela Mae Payaban, I admit, that was kinda messed up, you love me though].
When I wasn’t surprising people I got to: eat… a lot (Guppy’s, Kogi, Del Taco, In-n-Out, pancakes at midnight, and everything that was cooked/made at home), worship, catch up on TV shows, watch the NBA finals (IN ENGLISH), watch an improv show, watch Ironman 2, have meaningful conversations with people I haven’t seen in a long time (special thanks to everyone who listened), talk loooooooong into the morning, play basketball (after 8 weeks of inactivity I can still dunk. FTW!), play Frisbee, play football on the beach, and go to RAA and RHS graduation.

[Shout out to all the 2010 graduates! Proud of you guys! LSU grads sorry I can’t be there tomorrow.]

I’m grateful that I’ve been able to see so many loved ones, eat a lot, and sleep…some, but every rose has thorns. “How was Haiti?” has become a dreaded phrase. I know it’s an innocent conversation started, but when it’s asked three things pop into my mind:

READ MY BLOG!!!!!! [thank you]
That’s a bad question: Asking in past tense is incorrect because Haiti still exists, and the answer to that question is probably not what you’re looking for. Your question is probably, “How was your experience in Haiti?” But even that is still incredibly vague. An answer I’ve crafted has been, “I'd say things are peachy, but that'd be a bold face lie. It’s been a struggle, but I'm learning, growing, God's working, and I have found joy and contentment.” That statement is 100% true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I could add, “And it’d be SOOOOOOOOO much better if people started living out their faith.” But I don’t, it makes people feel guilty and that’s not why they asked, we’ll get to that later.
Why are you asking? Do you really want to know? Do you really care about Haiti or me…or neither? Are you just asking out of obligation? Are you prepared to have a life-altering conversation? Are you ready to feel super guilty? Do I really want to have this conversation right now? It’s hard to articulate everything. This next paragraph is attempt.

Haiti IS really bad. There are hungry people, thirsty people, sick people, homeless people, and worst of all hopeless, directionless people. I’ve been disgusted/disturbed/sickened by is the lack of care people have for the suffering of their fellow humans. Just because you can’t see the suffering doesn’t mean it’s not happening. I’ve felt a lot of anger over that last week; anger directed at family, friends, people in America in general. Not so much now, those emotions are still in me somewhere but the gravity of the situation/task at hand is my focus now. I’m sure they’ll resurface 11 weeks from now when I return home. With a few thousand miles as a buffer zone, all I’ll say now is: America really is the land of opportunity; capitalism sucks, but communism won’t work either (another discussion for another time); you are soooooooo incredibly blessed/fortunate/lucky/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, and it’s not fair; “Christians” (and people in general, MYSELF INCLUDED) are so incredibly selfish/self-center/greedy it’s sordid (SAT word!) they DON’T love their neighbors as themselves, they’re picky with their food when there are people who won’t eat today, they complain about homework when there are people who don’t have the opportunity to be educated, they gripe their jobs when people have no way of providing for their families. they live in lavishly decorated homes and worship in ridiculously expensive churches when there are people who don’t have a tarp or tent to shield them from the rain, they spend obscene amounts of time AND money worrying about their “image” while people don’t…. well you get the point, you can rationalize this however you want, rationalizing is something we’ve become really good at it, but those truths remain. I realize that people in America also face legitimate problems, but they’re a different class of problems. I’m pretty sure you sleep in a bed with a roof over your head and you have the ability to eat three solid meals a day. The ex-psychology major in me knows that stuff like food, water, and basic health necessities are the foundation on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs) And if you’re going to discount Maslow check out the fundamental human needs according to Max-neef and others http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_human_needs (this isn’t a research paper, in this instance I herby deem Wikipedia a credible source). I think I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: nothing in itself is bad, it’s all about context. For example everyone would agree driving a car isn’t a bad thing. Driving a car while intoxicated is because it puts people in unnecessary danger, right? So let’s try this. Wearing pants isn’t a bad thing. Spending $200 on True Religion (sweet irony) jeans when you could buy $15 jeans from Costco and cover someone’s living expenses for months with the $185 left over….just saying. And finally to those of you who have reminded me that I can’t change the world, I know, but I can change my part little part of it and if you’re reading this blog, you’re part of my world. So knowing what you know, what are you gonna do? (exhales)

Honestly I didn’t mean for that to sound angry. I know many people from many places read this blog and everyone interprets it differently. Please read past the (perceived) anger and take the deeper meaning. If you wanna talk about it comment, email (drharris0823@gmail.com), or get in touch with me somehow.

(As the members of Team Sinai would say)

Shabbat Shalom

I'm home....

2010-06-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

...till Thursday night, just a quick visit. Most of you have probably figured this out by now, if not, SURPRISE! I'm enjoying/loathing my time here, but more on that in a future post. All you get tonight is my article (written April 24, if I wrote an article now the subject matter would be VERY different.) that was published in the La Sierra Criterion. Enjoy!

I Never Thought I’d…
Greetings from the Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti in Carrefour, Port au Prince! I’ve been here for a few weeks now. I’ve been helping with food distribution, running the central supply department, and organizing volunteer transportation (all while growing my hair back). It’s a big job and I’m definitely still learning. But I have time. I’m here all summer, but I’ve already had so many new experiences.
…be in Haiti.
Until January 11, 2010 Haiti was a hot, humid country, with high infant mortality rates, low literacy and employment rates (easily 66%), as well as a being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Why on earth would I want to go there? On January 13, 2010 Haiti was still all of those things, but it was also a country devastated by an earthquake. Even more reason to stay away.
I’d always felt bad about disasters happening around the world but I’d never done anything other than donate money. For a variety of reasons I’ve never been on a mission trip. But because of my circumstances (not having school for 6 months) and connections at Loma Linda University (thanks Dad) I was given a unique opportunity. God opened a lot of doors for me to be here and I am truly thankful that I get to be a part of this.
…miss having a cult around.
The Supreme Masters of Ching Hai is a cult that was founded by Vietmanese fashion designer Ching Hai. Her teachings include compassion to all things, so her followers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. It also means no killing, so no meat. They have a whole campaign focused on veganism because of the health and environmental benefits. One of the things they do is provide food in. They provided about 3,000 meals a day for the volunteers, patients, patient’s families, and the surrounding community. They were at the hospital for more than three months after the earthquake and departed the week after I arrived. The hospital kitchen has struggled to provide food for the patients and volunteers so things have been, interesting.
…hang out with so many “old” people.
I am by far the youngest foreign volunteer. Everyone I’ve encountered is at least old enough to be one of my high school teachers, if not my parents (some even act like it). I really shouldn’t have been surprised by this. I’m at a hospital where medical professionals are needed. People my age generally aren’t medical professionals. Even though many of them are more than twice my age I’ve made friends with everyone from med students, mission doctors, and retired plumbers. I’ve gained meaningful insights as well as new friendships.
(of course this doesn’t mean I haven’t made friends with Haitians my age, older, and younger!)
…develop such an aversion to “Junk for Jesus”.
“Junk for Jesus” is usually a positive term. Not so much in Haiti. It’s great that so many people and organizations have donated stuff, but in my time here I’ve encountered a bunch of things that have made me wonder, “What were you thinking when you sent this to a mission hospital?” I’ve seen single sample packs of medicines (written in Arabic), people’s old prescriptions, used sharps containers, random UNO cards, and every Haitian’s dream: DD breast implants. Even when medical supplies are sent, some are things that won’t get used here. Moral of the story: Think before you donate!
…thank God for power outages.
The internet here is kind of shaky. The wi-fi goes out periodically, but is easily reset by unplugging and plugging in the router in one of the hospital offices. It’s easy enough during the day, but at night the door is dead bolted shut and the person with the keys has gone home. Nightly power outages are welcome here because it powers off the router and turns it back on when the generator kicks in again. Dallas Koperski (amazing photographer and 4th year LLU med student) and I have spent hours in the volunteer break room hoping for the power to go out momentarily so we can regain our connection to home!
… ask “Why me?” this often.
The two word inquiry is generally uttered by people who feel that the world has done them some tremendous injustice, this rings true in my case as well. However in the past few weeks I’ve come to realize that this injustice is in my favor. Now more than ever, I find myself wondering why I was born into an upper-middle class family in a country where opportunities are endless, food is in excess, and the biggest problems are generally not having money to pay the bills.
Saying that the earthquake has caused significant problems for everyone is a grave understatement. It’s impossible to find someone who hasn’t lost a friend or family member. Moses, one of the hospital translators, was at school when it hit. He felt the building shake and ran as the ceiling, walls, and stairs starting collapsing. He made it out unscathed, but many of his closest friends didn’t make it out. When school started again at the end of April, in tents, it was difficult for him going back to school knowing many of his friends wouldn’t be there. I’m not an emotional person but that hit me hard. This kid is my age and he lost the people who he spent a lot his time with. I thought back to everyone that I don't get to see all the time now and so many "what ifs" went through my head; it sent shivers down my spine.
Other conversations I’ve had have shown me how significantly lives were altered. Many people have lost their jobs. Kids who were preparing to continue their education after high school have changed their plans. The vast majority of people I encounter live in tents.
…miss home this much.
I’ve lived in the Inland Empire all my life. The longest I’ve been away is fifteen days. By the time you read this I will have more than doubled that. I haven’t breathed “vitamin air”, been stuck on the 91 (okay, I don’t miss that. Haitian traffic is way more exciting!), led praise with a band, eaten at Del Taco, In-n-Out, Kogi, or Guppy’s, done laundry in a machine, slept in my bed, watched or played basketball, or seen the people I love. Am I homesick? Of course! But not enough to leave. God is doing amazing things here and I wouldn’t trade this experience for an In-n-Out 4x4 protein style with pickles!

Just a shout out

2010-05-30T17:51:00.001-07:00

Congrats Alex, Dallas, Jessica, Jen, Joseph, Rebekkah, and all the other LLU School of med grads!

Highlight of the day: Strawberry Gatorade nutrition shake
Lowlight: pretty much everything else…
Just one of those blahblahblah days

Peace.

Merry Xmas?

2010-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Sabbath! Seven weeks have been a blur. Thursday and Friday were pretty abnormal days for me so I’ll give you a little run-down. It’s kind of been like Christmas, maybe that’s a stretch, but they’ve been abnormally [insert positive adjective here].

Thursday morning I woke up earlier than normal, ditched the morning meeting and went to Phil’s house for breakfast. Had toast and eggs and fresh fruit! DELICIOUS! We all so got to talk about a lot of stuff including his opinions/observations on “The Irresistible Revolution”. After breakfast we drove into Petion ville to supply hunt and drop phil off at a meeting. The supply run was successful, but expensive (more that $2 US per 3in. chlorine tab). Upon arrival at the hospital I discovered that Brooke had arrived! Throughout the day we got to catch up little by little. I also got to talk to sit down and talk with Herold and Aimab (the supply guys) about work, life, etc [I did the same with a few of the translators on Wed. good talks, good times!]. At the end of the day I went outside and hung out the kids for a couple hours. We played this game that can be best described as a mix of “hot-potato”, “four square”, and “the roof game”. It was crazy and fun. The night was filled with arguing about who was “out” or not, different displays of physical ability [arm wrestling, “mercy”, etc], making bodily noises, and laughing at people who made the bodily noises. It’s amazing how much people [specifically boys 11-17] are the same no matter where you go. Their circumstances are different of course, but if you stuck a group of ten American 11-17 year olds together without a computer or XBOX and gave them a ball, I’m sure the night would go the same as ours did.

Friday, after getting up at 5:30 to make sure people left for the airport and the normal running around with supply, Richard and I drove out to Water Mission International. I got to meet Julio, learned some new information about the hospital water, and acquired more tabs as well as test strips. We also played every Adventist’s favorite game, “Who do you know that I know?”. He lived in Corona for years so it wasn’t hard [sings: “It’s a small world after all”]. The drive was long because of the rain, but I got to see places I’d never been before. For the 1st time in Haiti I saw land that wasn’t occupied by buildings and people. It was green and nice… [side note, the other day…Tuesday; I think I broke the Haitian land speed record: 45 mph!] As we were driving back we began to get multiple calls from volunteers who were still at the airport waiting to be picked up. Twenty-three people in all. It took a lot out of us, but we got them and all their supplies in bus and the car and made it to the hospital in one piece. When we finally got back I was immediately pulled in 3 different directions, but things got resolved. Everyone got situated, all the supplies are now in the hospital (not in order yet, but c’mon baby steps), my guys finally got better hours and the Sabbath off, and Samuel got the water supplies. Success! I ended a fairly long and tiring day kicking back in the office with Luke. Good end to a crazy couple days. Sabbath is more than welcome.

Enjoy the long weekend for me!
Also: LET’S GO LAKERS (Clap, Clap, Clap-Clap-Clap)

It's cold

2010-05-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

You think I'm joking, but I'm not! It rained earlier, and I'm sitting in my room with the fan on. I'm legitimately cold for the 2nd time.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. I generally write everyday even if it doesn’t get posted. It’s not because nothing has happened to the contrary, lots has happened, I’ve tried write, but I hadn’t fully processed everything and kept getting distracted.

I like the new people here a lot. I went out walking to the kids’ houses again with Crystal Kandoll. [(sings)it’s a small SDA world after all]. I’m developing insomnia. Had a couple sleepless (well 3 hours of sleep) nights. On the bright side I got to talk to a lot of people on Skype and Facebook. I gave the devotional at a morning meaning Monday, pretty much read through 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 (everyone knows 13, but a lot of people don’t know the context, it was super appropriate for where we were). People liked it. I got called a motherf****** yesterday. At least I think I did, it was hard to tell through the accent. And in retrospect I deserved it to some extent. I’m not gonna eat the Haitian kitchen food anymore. Imma give mine to someone else, first person who asks every day (yesterday it was an outpatient, today it was the translator who called me a less than polite name.)

Much of this has to do with the care package that arrived last week (again, THANK YOU RAA). Remember when I told you to read “Crazy Love”, if you did you remember Francis Chan mentioning Shane Claiborne and the “Simple Way” community. When I saw this I was immediately reminded of Shane’s book “The Irresistible Revolution”. I conditionally recommend it. It is one of those books that will mess you up. My dear friend Sterling Spence gave it to me about a year ago, I tried to read it and stopped because I really couldn’t take it anymore.

(SHOUT OUT TIME! Sterling and Alex Hirata are currently on the island of Yap teaching at the SDA school there. You can read their blog at http://yap2009.blogspot.com/)

Anyways, I asked my parents to send it in the next care package. When I got it I pretty much tore through it, finishing on Sunday. There are so many lessons to be learned and new perspectives to be gain. It’s also “kick in the face” moments when you straight up disgusted with yourself, it’s really not for people looking for a recreational/comfortable/easy read. You might be offended, you might get defensive, and you just might be inspired. I’m sure it will affect everyone differently; everyone has different backgrounds, values, and circumstances.

From the perspective of a guitar playing, bandana wearing, Christian, Hapa, Socialist, nineteen year old student from SoCal (who ironically detests labels), volunteering and living at a SDA hospital in post-earthquake Haiti, the thing that hit me the hardest was when Shane talked
about Matthew 25: 31-46.

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

I’m living among the “least of these”. And I really haven't been doing anything to help them on a personal level. I’m very focused on getting supply taken care of and getting volunteers to and from the airport, but the individuals fall through the gaps. Before this week my goal was to be remembered, or not, as a nice hard working kid. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about how hard work (among other things) is meaningless and concludes that we should “…Fear God and keep his commandments…” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). And what are the commandments? Well what would Jesus say? When asked in Matthew 22…

"37Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'”

When I hustle past that “mentally challenged” patient who tries to grab me every time I walk by, when I blow off the translators/patients/other people when they are incessantly ask me for food, money, my time, etc. (or worse??? fulfill the request reluctantly and grudgingly), when I look at the ex-pat volunteer with disgust after their display American arrogance/ignorance/insensitivity/self-righteousness, when I ignore the orphan who calls my phone 13 times a day…that's not loving. I’m doing that to Jesus. How’s that for a kick in the face?

That's where I am. Where has it left you? Who’s Jesus in your life? Think about it?

Thought about it? Good. Now do something about it.

In other news:
As far as “work” goes, I’ve accepted the fact that things run differently and I need to stop worrying about things I can’t control or change. I haven’t become apathetic, my focus is just different. I’m still gonna work hard of course, but “hakuna matata”.

Brooke comes back tomorrow.

3 people deleted me as friends on Facebook! Normally I wouldn't care, but I was 3 away from 777. Back to 771 (sighs). Don't laugh, it's not funny. Whoever you are add me back!

I still suck at reading the Bible. I’m a little more enthusiastic for the time being, but I lack focus and direction. Highlights of my recent reading: the first half of Proverbs 8 and 1 Corinthians 12-13.

“Don’t Trust Republicans! Amen!” Take it at face value, because only two people understand the deeper meaning. Let’s see how it goes.

Finally, Genesis 31:49. Look it up.

Today was a good day

2010-05-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

Even though I woke up at 1am and couldn’t sleep for hours; I got to watch some of my good friends take my title of LSU Talent Show winner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnnB4gXjc9w [congrats Alix, Aubrey, Cindy, and Fern, that was fan-freakin-awesome], was inspired to watch OK GO videos, saw pictures of myself from 15 years ago, and talked to some friends who were up late too.

And even though I spent majority of the morning being frustrated at cultural differences, trying to find tech support for HP scanners in Haiti, while the internet was down, and contemplating the value of my work here; we received four brand new donated wound vacs [it was like Christmas], I discovered that popping bubble wrap is an international phenomenon, and received a care package with hand written encouraging notes from many of the staff at Redlands Adventist Academy.
*reason #53 to send your kid to RAA: The faculty and staff are Godly people who genuinely care about the students and continue to care after graduation.

And even though I spent a good chunk of my afternoon standing out in the sun watching an inefficient distribution of personal hygine products [just don’t ask], I got to meet cool new people, was reminded to appreciate the differences in the way things are done, and not to sweat the small stuff.

And even though its pouring rain and the thunder is deafening…well I’m not complaining about that, cuz that’s just cool [unless someone gets hit by lightning, the rain causes houses to collapse, etc.]; it’s Sabbath, I made it through another week in Haiti (six down), my friends and family at home are safe and have made me smile and laugh multiple times in the last 18 hours, the internet is still working, I'm about to go play my guitar, I got to eat today, I’m healthy….[I’m too incredibly blessed to keep going].

Happy Sabbath!

[I also uploaded pics to Facebook. You're welcome]

Herro!

2010-05-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

So ends another day at Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti. It was beyond busy, I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop from 0545-1300, the afternoon wasn’t as busy but I can’t wait till Sabbath.

Tomorrow I will complete my 6th week here. I’ve eaten a couple dozen MRE’s, seen at least 200 foreigners come and go, served a couple thousand meals…but enough numbers. It’s time for another “stop reading this blog and do something else that’s a better use of your time” moment.

Last time I instructed you to read the book “Crazy Love”. If you haven’t done that, shame on you and get on that. Today I challenge you to stop and pray, “God, in this moment, what do You want from me?” (Inspired by a letter written by Brother Lawrence from the book “Practicing His Presence”) Try to do it multiple times a day. Crazy huh? I tried it and it was depressing. But then I remembered you can’t disappoint God, even when you fail He still loves you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give Him your all. So the time has come, blog over. Stop reading, start praying.

Peace

Food cont.

2010-05-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

I just realized I didn't really say what I've been eating.
Breakfast: oatmeal, some kind of bar, and/or a mango
Lunch: rice and beans with some attempt at veggie meat and some salad type thing as provided by the Hatian kitchen
Dinner: An MRE (Meal Ready to Eat), ramen noodles, some microwave or freeze dried meal, PB&J, and/or the occasional hotel pizza.
I drink around a gallon of fluid (4 nalgene bottles) a day, mostly powdered drinks in water.
Snacks include candy, mangos (recently I'm averaging 2 a day), bars, jerky, trail mix, etc. that I've acquired or people have left on the community table.
Favorite local item= King Cola (fruit champange and banana flavored soda)

Peace!

Finally food

2010-05-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

[due to short attention span, fatigue, and a little laziness this blog was started Monday and finished Tuesday]

“Sak pase!” faithful readers. Three things today:

1. I am officially the longest tenured ex-pat volunteer at HAH. Dr. Nelson went home for a while so he doesn’t count.

1a. [added Tuesday] Happy Haitian Flag Day

2. Someone from the World Health Organization [WHO] called MY PHONE today[Monday]. Did they want to talk to me? No, but that’s not the point.

3. A while ago I said I’d blog about food, so here it is. There are so many things to write about, so let’s start at the beginning (some things mentioned have been previously noted). I was told that I would be receiving two meals a day, so I should bring snack to supplement that. So when I first arrived at HAH without my check-in bags I was a little worried about eating, but those fears were quickly relieved when I realized how much food others had brought and how the volunteers left stuff for me when they left. So even when the Supreme Masters of Ching Hai (the humanitarian aid mediation cult) left, I was still eating well enough. (I’ve been down to 165lbs, I’m hovering around 170. I left home at just under 180.)

Since the Supreme Master’s (who produced 3000+ meals a day) left, the Haitian kitchen took over feeding people. Originally they were only going to feed the ex-pats 2 meals a day (which is short for ex-patriots, which pretty much means foreigners), but we would have none of that. We decided to feed the patients and translators too. So there were about 100 meals to feed everyone. Not exactly enough to feed everyone. Multiple volunteers stepped up and helped distribute food, but when they left and no one stepped up, [name withheld] decided that it would be a good idea that I take over food distribution. From day one the experience was eye-opening. In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about feeding the hungry, now I know what that’s like. It was the only meal for most everyone who received food. Most of them showed appreciation, giving me the “warm-fuzzy” feeling inside. But even after “re-directing” food from volunteer break room to some patients and translators there were still people who were going hungry. It was also kind of gut-wrenching to have to say no to people who asked for food. I say kind of because after explaining my job/the process of distribution to people multiple times and yet daily hearing sob stories (which are probably true) about how families haven’t eaten in days, someone’s friend or mother is starving, and I’ve become jaded and kind of annoyed. I won’t lie, I like to think of myself as a pacifist, but over the past few weeks the urge to punch someone in the face has never been so strong [I know "don't sweat the small stuff..."]. In the past week the situation has become much better. We have an exact count of patients, translators, and ex-pats and the kitchen is able to produce more than 200 meals. People are still going hungry, but the hospital can’t double as a handout center. People will find other means.

My experience with food distribution was stressful, taxing, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve realized how protective people are of food. Don’t mess with people’s food (or food they think belongs to them). I’ve seen the ugly/dramatic/prideful/selfish side of a lot of people. Last but not least, I’ve learned to appreciate what I have. Its cliché, deal with it, it’s real.

How could a blog about food be complete without mentioning all the wonderful things I’m gonna eat when I get back home.
Mi tortilla (pollo salad $10), Kogi (Tacos, sliders, & a burrito $15), Del taco (Chicken works, tacos, fries, drink $10), In-n-out (Double double x2, fries, vanilla shake $10), Guppy’s (Boba, shaved ice, other food that someone decides to order $15), CPK (hawaiian BBQ chicken pizza and italian soda $20) and Chipotle (chicken fajita burrito, chips $10).
So, if you’ve got $$ and wanna drive around and eat, there’s the list (in no particular order, prices are approximate and may vary).
And if you don’t wanna drive around, come over to my house where my mom will be makng: chicken strips, brown rice, broiled green beans, grilled cheese sandwiches, and SALAD, SALAD, SALAD! (did you catch that mom?)
And if you’re not into cooked food and wanna chill: Ice cream, fresh fruit of any kind, and Lucky charms!
Hit me up when I get back!

*Side note for the day*
Call me a cynic, call me a product of my environment, call me whatever you want, but as I was looking LSU banquet pics [insert comment about girls dresses and how beautiful they all looked here] and I was totally disgusted. Such frivolousness [can you believe that’s actually a word], such waste, while people all around me are living in poverty: starving, homeless, sick, etc. people at home, my friends, spent a good chunk of $$ to dress up and eat.
Before you say anything I’m aware that I’m kinda being a hater because of my socialist tendencies and the fact that I’m not a fan of anything formal. I know La Sierra has donated a lot of money to many different causes already, there’s only so much you can ask people to do, you have to take care of your own and have fun sometimes, and there really is nothing wrong with banquets. Also giving the money to people here wouldn’t really solve problems, it might help a little short term, but Haiti’s problems are bigger than poverty. That being said, my point is still valid.

Shout-out to my brother and the rest of the RAA class of 2012. Solid job with class challenge Friday and have fun and be safe on Bio trip!

A ditty

2010-05-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Haitian Hospital Rooftop
(melody/chord progression influenced by "Gives You Hell" and "Getting into You")

I’m on Haitian hospital rooftop
A Haitian hospital rooftop
(sitting, singing on) a Haitian hospital rooftop
So far away from home
I left all that I know behind
Im working for the benefit of humankind
Four thousand miles is far my loved ones mind and now I’m here on a

Haitian hospital rooftop
A Haitian hospital rooftop
(sitting, singing on) a Haitian hospital rooftop
And all around I see trees, lights, hills, and the bay
The people walking and the children as they play
Its cooling off, the sun goes down, so ends the day

Haitian hospital rooftop
A Haitian hospital rooftop
(sitting, singing on) a Haitian hospital rooftop
It’s my escape
From all the people and the stress
I get so fed up and frustrated I confess
My days are busy so it’s nice to get a rest on a

Haitian hospital rooftop
A Haitian hospital rooftop
(I can sing and play on) a Haitian hospital rooftop
Where I praise my god for the things he’s done for me
I sing his praises, play guitar in the key of E
And I am thankful for this opportunity to be on a
Haitian hospital rooftop
A Haitian hospital rooftop
(sitting, singing on) a Haitian hospital rooftop...

...it's all small stuff

2010-05-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today I came to the realization that my childhood is officially over. I'm not exactly sure when it happened and I'm not saying that I've stopped growing and totally understand the world. To the contrary, now an adult I realize how much I don't know. Today was full of moments that reinforced life lessons.

1. No one is perfect, everyone has an ugly side, and racism still exists.

2."Knowledge is power. With power comes responsibility. Therefore you are responsible for what you know... Ignorance is bliss."~ David Ryan B. Harris
(I'm sure someone has said something like this before, but I'm claiming this for myself)

3. You can rationalize anything if you try hard enough. Doesn't mean that it's right.

4. People think about themselves waaaaaaay too much. Story time...maybe not, I don't wanna offend anyone so I'll skip to the wrap up. An old man got to see a city, a younger man got to spend the evening with his family, because of this the youngest man failed to complete the task he set out to do. No one died, life moved on. (it makes sense in my head)

Which leads us to our final lesson for the night...

5. Don't sweat the small stuff...it's all small stuff

Brooke Beck All-stars

2010-05-12T20:18:00.001-07:00

If you're a good reader, you'll recall that Brooke Beck was responsible for taking my phone and forcing me to sleep when I was burned out. For that alone, my body, brain, and mom are grateful. But Brooke has done so much more. She’s an ER nurse from Oregon who came to HAH in February. She started out just doing patient care. But as time went on and people left she started to do so much more. She has oriented volunteers, coordinated shifts, helped keep the situation with the Haitian volunteer staff from getting TOO messy, dealt with Haitian administration, acquired phone minutes, worked to get people fed, cleaned the kitchen, break room, sleeping areas, organized transportation, and became the default go-to person for everyone and everything. She is admired by all for her seemingly endless energy, boldness for riding moto’s around the city, undying care for the Haitian people, and all-around awesomeness. In her free time (what free time?!) she enjoys sleeping, traveling around the island (both Haitian and Dominican sides), eating lobster, not getting yelled at, and playing with NICU babies.
In her honor I’ve decided to start the “Brooke Beck All-Stars”. The recipients of this honor are non-surgeons [cuz let’s face it, surgeons get all the glory for re-attaching hands (good work Hasan) and cool stuff like that] people of my choosing who work harder than they should; demonstrate excellence in patient care, organization, interpersonal skills, and/or other intangibles. It’s very prestigious. The reward is pre-paid trip home.
Every week I’ve been observing how different people and teams work and I’ve been mentally keeping track of “Player(s) of the Week” (yes, the NBA still has a grip on my brain).
Week one: Dr. Jack Hoehn (I didn’t observe/interact with too many people. I was too busy trying to get oriented)
Week two: Alexandros Coutsoumpos & Jessica Claridge (They’re graduating from LLU School of Medicine on May 30. Congratulations to you guys, Dallas, Jen, Joseph, Rebecca, and the rest of the class of 2010)
Week three: Sylvia Kohler & the French duo: Scott & Ester
Week four: Jordan Owens & Sabine Strong
Week five: (in progress)
All of these people (and many others) are worthy of laudation, but just like LeBron James was the overwhelming pick for NBA MVP none of them come close to touching Brooke Beck. She’s currently stateside taking a WELL-DESERVED break from the grind; she’ll be back in two weeks. I miss her already.

Happy Month-a-versary!

2010-05-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that it’s been a month since I arrived in Haiti? I miss most of you a lot! To celebrate I give you my longest post to date! In some ways it feels like the time has just flown by, but I’ve learned so much, a lot has happened, a lot of people have come and gone, I’ve adjusted quite a bit, so in that regard, it seems like I’ve been here forever.

It would be a bold-faced lie if I said that everything was peachy, but you weren’t expecting that were you? This week has brought a lot of changes to the hospital so there’s a lot of tension and uneasiness all around. God’s in control, only he knows how this is going to play out. For my sanity hopefully this week will bring some clarity and a sense of direction.

[I apologize for the “vagueness” of the last paragraph. That’s all I’m comfortable sharing publically. Please continue to pray about the situation here at the hospital and for the people of Haiti.]

I’m still getting settled in my new responsibilities with supply and transportation. Friday I went to the airport to pick up a larger group (the first of 5 team Ukiah’s). As I held the “TEAM UKIAH” sign and stood outside the gates I reviewed last week’s airport escapades and tried to come up with a better method. I developed a game called “Get to the bus with as little trouble as possible” GTTBWALTAP for short! The goal? Get to the bus with as little trouble as possible. Avoiding trouble means: losing luggage, getting mobbed by porters, losing people in the crowd, and of course not getting to the bus. There are three rules. 1. Follow David to the bus. 2. Don’t let go of your stuff. 3. Don’t give anyone money. David will take care of it (and collect from you later). Team Ukiah followed rules 1 and 3 perfectly, rule 2 was bent a little, but in the end everyone made it to the bus safely without too much trouble. Porters were paid and we enjoyed a “scenic” ride to the hospital. FTW!

\(^o^)/

If you were a good blog reader you followed the link to my Facebook “Ayiti” album and saw the picture of me and the six kids that help me with lunch, (No, not the little ones outside that made everyone go “awww”). It’s reeeeeeeeeeeediculous how quickly they get attached to me and a lot of the foreign volunteers. They want me to follow me everywhere and want me to hang out with them every spare moment I have. I made the mistake of giving them my phone number so I get calls every day. It’s endearing, but sometimes bothersome. It’s okay, we’re all brothers in Jesus.
You might be wondering, “Why are they hanging out at the hospital all the time? Don’t their parents send them to school?” Those two seemingly simple questions have fairly complex answers. A lot of schools have started, others haven’t. Lack of teachers and a school building/tent have been major obstacles. School also requires $$$. To attend each student must have their own books and uniforms. Coming up with that money has been difficult. I haven’t got the full story on each of them, but of the six kids pictured only one of them has two living parents.

For the longest time they’ve been insisting that I come to their “houses”, I keep telling them soon. Today may be the day.

Molly Blair McCary wrote me a 3 page e-mail!!!!! Normally that’d be worthy of a shout-out but unfortunately for Molly, it’s Mother’s Day! (How many of you thought I was going to forget?) To all you moms out there, HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
I love you Mom!

Burnout

2010-05-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

So much has been happening over the past 5 days. I've been working and/or on call for the majority of the past 2.5 weeks. The time I have had off I was hiking a mountain in a tropical storm with small children, so it wasn't exactly relaxing. Finally on Tuesday morning my body gave out. The term tired and uninspired came to mind. Brooke took my phone and ordered me to bed. I’ve been in this room for over a day now only surfacing for food, morning worship, and a few problems that needed to be addressed. As far as I know the universe hasn’t come crashing down without me J.

All this down time and down time and still no pictures? Since I have this time off I uploaded a few pics and I don't like the way it looks here on blogspot so follow the link and see them on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60743&id=1349179360&saved#!/album.php?aid=60743&id=1349179360

Easy enough right? Let me explain again, I’m not a good picture taker. Not only do I lack in photography skills, I just don’t take pictures. To me it’s a burden, slows me down and makes the experience “unreal”. But for you, the reader I uploaded some. But you’re gonna have to do a little work.

Can't think of anyone to shout out too...hmmm...got it!

Daric, I hope this post was short enough for you to read all the way through. If you did, here's your reward!

Until next time!

Miss me yet?

2010-05-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

RABBIT, RABBIT! Happy Sabbath! Can you believe it’s been three weeks?! Miss me? Have you started to read Crazy Love? I finished Wednesday, I’m still contemplating things.

So much has happened in the last week. Almost everyone who came with or before me has left. I've also seen multiple teams come and go. There are only two foreign volunteers who have been here since I have. If you remember, last Thursday’s post gave you a glimpse into what a day in the life had been during my “probation period”. It would be impossible to do that for this week. I’m pretty sure the only thing that happened consistently was getting <>

I really had no idea what kind of work I’d be doing here. So I said I came to Haiti with no expectations. However I didn’t say I’m coming any “unexpectations”. Taking on three major responsibilities last Friday morning was pretty unexpected. You are now reading the blog of the hospital supply, transportation, and food distribution manager. The learning curb is pretty steep. I’m not used to making decisions on this scale and don’t have a really good job description, but things are getting done, and I'm learning a lot. Conversations with Brooke Beck and Phil Hudson have been invaluable!

I’ve hung out with Haitians a lot more this week. I’ve played guitar with people three times in the last week, even wrote a song with a guy. I’m interacting with the guys in supply a little more. Six kids help me out with food distribution. I’m picking up Creole little by little. I have dictionary now.

Other things worth mentioning

I attended vespers last night and played at Haitian church today (yes mom, I wore a button down). Remind me to blog about church sometime. So much to say/ponder.

I moved into my own room!

Thank you Azure Hills Adult Sabbath School!

REVO made over $23,000!!!!!!!

Things probably not worth mentioning, but you’ll read anyways

My toe nail is now disconnected at the cuticle, but still attached to the nail bed.

For those of you that have been worried that I’ll come back married… :P J/K

It probably won't be another week till I post again. Sabbath Peace!

Only Post For the Week

2010-04-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Sabbath.
Sabbaths are "down" days here at the hospital so I got some time to myself. I'm reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Go buy a copy! Immediately! And start reading it, IMMEDIATELY! But take your time as you go through it. It's not a book to read straight through. You have to meditate on what's being said. For example, on page 100 Chan quotes John Piper saying

"The critical question for our generation - and for every generation - is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

Yeah, deep stuff like that. It's a spiritually challenging read, but a must! At the very least go to the book website http://www.crazylovebook.com/ and read the sample chapter.

This is going to be my only post this week because:
1) It's gonna be a busy week at the hospital as I'm transitioning into some new jobs
and
2) You should spend all your "read David's Haiti blog" time reading Crazy Love instead.

Till next week!

A Day in the Life

2010-04-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

This is a series of entries that will describe my life at different points of time during my stay in Haiti.
Pt. 1: Probation: Summary of my days from April 9-April 22
0530-0700: Ignore the noise of people around me getting up to shower, do rounds, etc. (assuming no one has shaken me awake to get into the supply room
0700-0730: Alarm goes off. Roll out of bed. Wash my face, change into pants, eat a bar for breakfast, fill up the water bottle, and scavenge for some powdered drink to mix in my water.
0730-0745: Morning meeting with all the foreign volunteers. Includes worship thought and announcements of the day
0745-0800: Give the keys to “Awall”, hug Claude, talk to Brooke/Alex/Dr. Jack
0800-0805: Go to the supply room and greet everyone in Creole. (I’d type a transcript but I’d butcher the spelling)
0805-1230: Start by scrambling to get people their daily needs. Settle down and begin sorting/organizing/consolidating/send/deliver supplies. Periodically check in on the other rooms.
1230-1330: Go upstairs in search of food. Socialize/check my computer/nap while waiting 15-30 min for food to show up. Split a meal with Rebekah Peigols. Relax.
1330-1730: Back to the grind in the supply room.
1730-1800: Things start winding down, check the oxygen, chat with the workers.
1800-2300: Head upstairs, chill on the roof, talk to fellow volunteers, find something to eat, spend too much time on the internet checking Facebook, email, NBA stuff, etc., listen to Dallas’s depressing music as he works on his video, shower and get ready for bed.
2300-0530: SLEEP (unless I’m shaken awake for the keys)

Two weeks in, the probation period is over. Time for the real work to begin.

Big week ahead

2010-04-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

It is Monday night. Probably the latest I’ve been up. We went to dinner tonight (That you Osh!) and when we got back I talked to Alex about my future responsibilities. By the end of this week I will be in charge of supplies/storage for the hospital. And I’ll be helping coordinate transportation to and from the airport. In the next few days I’m gonna be taking in as much information as I can, trying to figure out how to manage everything. PRAYERS PLEASE!
I’ve pretty much adjusted to living here. It’s still an adventure every day. I’m still meeting new people every day and my Creole is improving too.
Some of you have heard this before but here it goes again.
Yesterday (Sunday) after work I was talking to one of the translators. He's 19, still in high school. We were talking about praise music; I taught him the melody to the special music I played on Sabbath. The conversation progressed and we talked about the earthquake. He was at school when it hit. He felt the building shake, looked up at the ceiling, and ran. He made it out unscathed, but many of his closest friends didn’t make it out. School just started again last week (in tents) so it's been difficult for him going back to school without his classmates... That hit me hard. This kid is my age and he lost the people who he spent a lot his time with. I thought back to everyone that I don't get to see all the time now and so many "what ifs" went through my head...sent shivers down my spine.
Hope your Mondays went well!
(pictures…are coming :P soon)

Even in Haiti

2010-04-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

April 16, 2010
The first week is in the books. There have definitely been some trying times, but I’ve made it through week one. Central supply is looking less and less like a train wreck and I’m pretty well adjusted to life here.
I slept early to 1. Rest my body since I kinda have a cold (thank God there’s enough Tylenol cold/flu to support Lichtenstein for years) and 2. I had to wake up to do song service and special music for church (yes Barcelo, Praise You in the Storm). Yup even in Haiti.
Things are slow(er) at the hospital on Sabbaths so I spent the morning in the supply room just sitting and talking to Jonathan about Haiti, college, the future, life, prayer etc. I had my first “wow I’m and really so privileged, how am I going to rationalize going back to life as a middle-class American after I’ve personally witnessed this kind of living” moment. Yeah. I imagine that this is the first of many.
Happy Sabbath all.

Don’t forget REVO tomorrow @ La Sierra University. 4pm: Art/Fashion show 7pm: Concert feat. Mike Isberto, LSU Jazz Band and more.
All proceeds go to the Gakoni Orphanage in Rwanda
Do it!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=399533864166&ref=ts
or
http://www.startarevo.org/lasierra/
for more info

Day...oh whatever

2010-04-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

It’s been two whole days since I blogged! Miss me?
Tuesday I was really tired for the first time. I’m not sure why, but when I woke up I was aware that I was not fully rested. The day was spent in the supply room rearranging syringes and other supplies.
I left the compound for the 2nd and 3rd times today. I tagged along with Dr. Jack and Jonathan to the local supermarket (Delimart) to get food and drinks. It’s has pretty much everything a super market in the US would have, just smaller and less brand variety.
We went to dinner at the local hotel’s restaurant. Let’s just say I got to spend a lot of time just socializing and getting to know all the different volunteers. The food was nothing spectacular. But I haven’t got sick yet. Let’s hope it stays that way!
Today I work in the store room (it’s looking a lot better) as well as the big supply building. We’re trying to empty it out while sorting the contents so things will be a little more organized. It was the first time that I’ve really been in charge of a group of people on a job. I was left supervising Haitian workers moving food and sorting supplies. It went well and I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable with it as time goes on.
Three side notes today.
1. Remember REVO is this coming Sunday! Go to La Sierra University on Sunday afternoon for a huge benefit event: concert, art show, and a fashion show all proceeds go to support an orphanage in Rwanda. Go to startarevo.org/lasierra or search for REVO La Sierra on Facebook for more info.
2. Taxes are due tomorrow!!!
3. For all you Gleeks… hope you enjoyed last night.

Shower time.

Day 2

2010-04-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wished for Spanish, today I got it, and French, and Greek, and Arabic! I spent most of my time today in the medicine room of the Central Supply Depot. We went through boxes and boxes of random donated medicine and tried our best to sort them and put them on the shelves. I’m no medical professional so it would have been hard enough trying to figure out medicines and what they do, but the majority of the medicines weren’t in English. The vast majority was in Spanish and French! It was super slow going. It was also frustrating that people send sample packs of drugs. What do they expect us to do? (depending on how you look at it) Worst case scenario we give a patient the drugs, they work, but then we have no more.
Toward noon we moved on to finding and sorting medicines that we had in bulk. Meds that made the medal stand? Bronze: triple anti-biotic cream; Silver: amoxicillin; Gold: general pain killers (Tylenol, ibuprofen, etc).
In the afternoon, I started to tackle the boxes of supplies on the spiral ramp. Big task! Hopefully it’ll get done in the time I’m here.
To all the LSU people, hope Festival of Nations went well! REVO in one week!!!!!!!! For everyone who doesn’t know what REVO is check it out: http://startarevo.org/lasierra/ (@Jaylene I accept your thanks for the free advertising).
The LLU contingency arrived today. They spent most of their time in meetings but they did tour the hospital. Both Dr. Hart and Jerry Daly didn’t recognize me without my hair. Special thanks to Dr. Hart for bringing me a contact case and solution. Now if I could only get my other bag (hopes are dwindling).
I really need to shower. Weekend's over, busy week to come? We’ll see.
Love!

Day 1

2010-04-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

Quiero halbar español!!! Unfortunately Haitians don’t generally speak it.
I slept okay for it being my first night here. I woke up multiple times but that’s okay. It was restful. Got out of bed at 7 as planned, ate a bar, washed up and went to church. Pretty much all the volunteers were at the English service. It was a pretty typical thing: songs (acapella), scripture, offering, special music, message. Alex (I have yet to learn his last name), had us do the ACTS prayer (adoration, confession, thanks, supplication). It was definitely a good way to start my time here.
After church the focus was on supplies. I changed out empty water jugs and oxygen tanks while picking up some Creole by interacting with some kids. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the central supply room trying to sort the various medical supplies that have been donated.
We’ve also had multiple power outages today (like the one just now ). All part of the Haiti experience.
Later in the afternoon a group of us went up to the university where the ADRA refugee camp is located. Crazy! So many tents, so many people, so much destruction. The highlight of course was the kids. They literally jumped on/clung to me. I felt bad for not being able to say anything other than “Bonswa!” yet. The kids used their broken English and just shook their heads at me when I can’t further interact with them. I kept wanting to speak Spanish. GRRR! Gimme a break though, it’s really my 1st day.
All throughout the day I got to know many of the people here (both Hatian and American). Now if I could only remember their names! Volunteers are still coming. It’s gonna get a lot more crowded and busy. Today was a down day because of Sabbath, tomorrow, LLU “big guns” come along with a new challenging day.
Peace!

Day 0

2010-04-09T20:34:00.001-07:00

You know how you can remember a place by the smell? I won’t forget the smell that hit me as I walked off the plane this morning. But first things first: I’m here, I’m safe. Thank God! I didn’t do too much today, got settled, help set up a few cots (I worked up quite a sweat thanks to the humidity), and slept, but we had a group meeting and after worship tomorrow I’ll be getting to know the place a little bit.
The flights weren’t bad at all. I slept most of the time on both. This is actually the first time I’ve been traveling alone on an airplane so I got to know the people sitting with me a little. But I mostly slept.
I wish I remembered more of the ride to the hospital. It was hot, I was tired, and I had been wearing contacts for almost a day so I slept/had my eyes closed for the majority of the ride. Things that stood out were the plethora of refugee tents, the lines for food, colorful trucks, and presence of the UN.
The volunteers are from all over: 4 countries, 6 states. I’ve met a few: good people. I guess people who decide to take time out of their lives to come to a 3rd world country that went through a catastrophic disaster tend to be. It’ll be interesting getting to know them all as they come and go weekly.
*So much for not going on Facebook all trip. The internet here is pretty solid. Hopefully I’ll be too busy to be on too much.
So far living conditions are pretty sweet. Most of the volunteers are up here on the terrace. I’ve got a cot with a mattress (we’ll see how that goes. Luggage is stashed under my bed, guitar is to the left. Bathrooms are just down the hall. Having hair this short is really helpful because of one, the heat/humidity and two showers. Showers are limited but not incredibly cold which is a plus.
On the downside, I’m missing a bag. I have everything essential, but my long term toiletries, sleeping bag, and food are missing. Hopefully I can get it by Sunday when the Loma Linda “big guns” get here.
Worship is at 7:30 tomorrow so wake up is at seven (for all you back home, I’m only two hours ahead of you). I think I’m going to try to get to bed by 11 every night so this is goodnight.
Happy Sabbath!

3o minutes later....

2010-04-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

Not 3 seconds after I posted that a man came up to me asking to borrow my phone. He saw that was working on a blog from Haiti and he immediately lit up and asked if I was just there. I told him I was on the way. He told me about his experiences there and gave me some advice, and his email so we can keep in contact. Thanks Patrick, new friend made!

Hello.Goodbye.

2010-04-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello from Miami International Airport. First of I must start by thanking everyone who has supported me finically. I’ve cover the vast majority of my expenses thanks to you. I also have to send some love to James Tyler, Pono, and the good people at La Sierra who came out to 4th Down on Wednesday night (even though there was an Ochem quiz the next morning, which I’m sure you didn’t fail). I don’t believe in perfection, but I did, that night would have been pretty close. Special thanks to Aarika, Carlos, Garret, Gatra, Kendall, Peter, and Victor, for your time and hard work. It was meaningful, powerful worship and wouldn’t have been the same without you. And to everyone else who has helped me get to this point (through friendship, conversations, prayers, and general support) thanks!
So Haiti. I’m sure most of you know but I’m done with school at La Sierra University and I’m headed to Loma Linda for an A.S. degree in Medical Radiography in the fall. That left me with six months of no school. My parents have demanded that I stay busy and productive for at least 8 hours a day, either work for pay or do volunteer work. I thought about places I could work, ranging from something local at LLU to missions to working as a worship leader in a church on the other side of the country. Then the earthquake in Haiti presented an opportunity. I have the time to dedicate and become a volunteer. It seemed like a good fit. My deal with God was, "If this is possible, I'm going for it, so if I'm not supposed to go, close the doors." The process was slow at first but over the past month everything began falling into place.
I’ve made arrangements with the Global Health Institute at Loma Linda University and I ’ll be working at the Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti doing whatever work I can. One of the things big things I’ll be taking care of is arranging transportation and accommodations for foreign volunteers. Kind of important, kind of stressful, but I’m up for it. I’ll try to get into so clinics and get experience as an x-ray tech. Hopefully I’ll be able to get off the hospital compound and do some work offsite as well. If you want to learn more and/or donate to the Hospital you can do so here http://www.llu.edu/news/haiti/index.page.
So here I am; tickets bought, head shaved, goodbyes said, bags packed, chillin’ in the Miami Airport, ready for whatever God has in store. Thank you for your prayers and support!

You found it!

2010-04-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the official blog of my trip to Haiti. There will be more to come.