A Tour of the Mission

Here is a satellite picture of the mission I found on Google Maps. It is mid-way through the work the Muscle Crew has been doing so I've drawn a few outlines to help:

Off of Delmas 33

1. School bldg - still needs to be finished up - 3 classrooms to separate out the different levels of younger students

2. Toilets - boys and girls

3. enclosed Kitchen with running water and a fridge and deep freezer

4. Dorms and Dining Hall

5. Showers

6. Staff quarters, Soon-to-be-finished guest quarters, and storage

7. Front Gate

8. covered courtyard with benches - families sit for hours in here waiting to talk to Mitch

9. Old schoolroom/church

10. Terrace over offices and equipment storage

11. Well house and family room

The First Trip Down - Day 2

Morning comes early!!

Because we are at a latitude of 18* the sun is up and at it by 5am. This really confused me because I set my alarm for 5:30 but when it went off I remember that my phone is still on DST so it is only 4:30 Haiti time and it is still pitch dark. I also notice that the A/C, which had only knocked the temp down to 85 by the time I fell asleep has now gotten it down to almost 75! It felt so good that I reset my alarm and laid back down.

What I will tell you about the equatorial sunrise is that it is not gradual. It went from pitch to "oh my frick, it's HOT!" in seconds flat. Withing minutes the A/C said "FAGGEDDABOUTIT" and the temp started to rise again. Now I understand why the staff is up at 5 am. No sense laying around in "au jous".

So, this is Sunday. Church day. Everyone is buzzing with anticipation. One Sunday a month the families are allowed to come visit so there are a few sets of parents waiting in the courtyard for church to begin so they can sit with their darlings and enjoy the word.

After showers, the children dress in their Sunday finery. There are 2 buckets of "dress shoes" through which the kids pick to put together a pair of "nice" shoes to wear with their fancy clothes. The pairs of pink sparkly Sketchers go fast, a prized find. The baby is dressed in a cute little pink dress with plenty of frills. She squeals and spins in her organza.

By the time everyone is dressed and assembled in the dining hall the oatmeal went from blah to bleck. It wasn't that far a trip to begin with. Several of the children look a little under the weather. One of them falls asleep at the table. After eating (overly large portions for such tiny tummies) the kids go out for a little playtime before church. Then they assemble in the old school room and the service begins. I attempted to stick it out, but after what seemed an eternity, (and most of the little ones are now laying in comas across the front few rows) some hellfire and brimstone Creole pastor comes out to "say" prayers. When I say "say" I mean scream. This is the norm. Haitian preachers are very passionate. They make the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seem all demure and Lutheran-like. I am stunned that this is the service set up for children, mostly under the age of 10! I bow out to get some water. I don't need to get angrier about their circumstances than I already am.

All for now...stay tuned for more adventures

The First Trip Down - Day 1

I was summoned to WJR on June 8th for a meeting with Mendle and Herbert Studstill, two of the gentlemen that run the foundation, so that Mitch could introduce me and they could vet me. The meeting went well. I'm not entirely sure I won over Mr. Studstill, but I think I at least reassured him that I wasn't some delusional housewife who got a bug up her but to fly off into a third world to do some mission work.

After that, the flight confirmation came and all that was left to do was pack.

Needless to say, but I didn't sleep a wink the night before I flew out. The flight departed at 7:15 from Metro so I arrived at the terminal at 5am. Good thing, too. The line for security went almost out the door! I got to the gate and waited. Mitch arrived with Chad Audi, the COO of Say Detroit, at nearly the last minute. When my section finally got to board I stopped by their seats to say good morning. Luckily I got a window seat. Off we go!

I was lucky enough to sit in a row with a woman headed to the Bahamas and a young girl also going to the Bahamas. We had much to talk about. The woman next to me was gracious enough to give me her purse size tube of sunscreen as I relate to her how security took mine away, as they consider spray cans as liquids! Have you seen my pasty white veneer? This was not the best moment of my life! TSA confiscated 2 bottles of sunscreen and one of bug spray. They let me keep one bottle of bug spray since it was a combo sunscreen/bug spray. A 3 day trip to one of the hottest tropical islands in the Caribbean with only 4 oz of bug spray/sunscreen! ugh!

We landed in Miami and had a 2 hour layover. Mitch advised Chad and I to purchase sandwiches in the airport as we were warned that we shouldn't eat the food prepared at the mission. Yeah! Great! I only carried a limited amount of cash with me as I didn't know what to expect as far as safety goes and Miami airport capitalizes on travelers last chance for fresh food before departing the country. Those sandwiches were $10 apiece! I only had enough money to get two and leave enough cash for the trip home! Good thing, like my Girl Scout training told me to do, I had packed a bunch of dry goods in the bottom of my suitcase! Note to self, next time bring more gummi bears!

We finally arrived in Haiti. The view from the flight was spectacular! Such beauty amongst such tragedy! We could really see the damage the earthquake did to the island as we approached the airport. After deplaning we were whisked thru security to buses and taken to customs and immigration. They don't seem overly concerned with the riff-raff they allow to enter their ports!

We were met by Alain, the day-time director. He ushered us thru the sea of Garcons as we headed out in the stifling heat. Only 2pm and it was unbelievable how bright the sun is that close to the equator! Haiti lies between the 18th and 20th parallel (think Myanmar, Thailand, Luzon in the Philippines) as well as the 71st and 75th meridians (think, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, approx equal to the Boston Harbor and Straights of Magellan.)We found a shady spot to stand in while Alain went to get the van. All along the fence as we walked to the parking area we were treated to the calls of hungry children and teens. It's heartbreaking!

The ride to the mission was a real lesson in poverty. The streets of Port Au Prince are all still in great disrepair. Huge, gaping holes remain unfilled as drivers perilously swerve to avoid them. Meanwhile giant piles of ruble sit just feet away. I wondered out loud why the citizens don't just push some of the ruble into the holes, if not to repair the roads, to at least make them less severely treacherous? The answer is the same reason the people are still in such desperate situations, it would never occur to them to do that.

The mission is not far from the airport. I was so anxious to meet the kids! Before the van was even stopped the little ones were surrounding us. They rushed to Mitch, hugging and tugging. I was overcome by gladness at what I was seeing! And then they turned there attention to me. As they pulled and tugged and hugged and introduces themselves I tried desperately to glean discerning characteristics. I wanted to make a good impression and try to remember their names the best I could. We were finally able to make it thru the flurry of love and welcome and set our bags down. Chad and I were given a quick tour as families had been waiting for days to get a meeting with Mitch. Once we had seen the main areas we were left to our own devices to check out the rest of it. I let the children show me their favorite places.

As the afternoon went on, I was asked to sit in on a few of the family interviews to get a feel for the circumstances that led many of these children to become residents. What started out as 18 kids under age 10 soon swelled to 24 before we left on Monday.

Mitch asked me to help the young lady responsible for dinner. That was an adventure in and of itself. Her name is Natalie and she is 18. She is responsible for cooking on Saturdays. This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. No small chore when there are 50 mouths to feed. Soon Natalie had me mincing garlic and green onions in a wooden mortar and pestle. She laughed because I was not grinding hard enough. I laughed because if she knew how limited my kitchen skills were it wouldn't astonish her at all to know I barely can operate a food processor/electric chopper, much less to do it by hand!

Once we had the seasonings prepared for spaghetti, she had me help bring water in from the cistern. This involves hanging precariously over the mouth of the well and dipping a bucket in, then slopping it back up the sloping yard over uneven concrete that not only showed signs of upheaval from the earthquake, but probably hadn't been properly poured to begin with. Good thing I was wearing tennis shoes and not flip-flops like the rest of the kids! I surely would have killed myself!

Then the big surprise came out. Natalie handed me a knife that can only be described as a close cousin to a machete. She then handed me the tiniest vegetables and asked me to chop them. Hardy har har! Boy did she look at me like I was the most domestically challenged person in the world! I did my best. I kept all my fingers intact! Meanwhile we had some great conversations about growing up in the mission, chores, missing families. I told her my story and how I lost my mother at a young age. This went quite a ways toward forgiving me for my lack of kitchen skills.

Then Natalie did something that will for the rest of our relationship cause me to pause before ever making an enemy of her. She pulled out three cans of tomato sauce and used the very large kitchen knife to crack open the cans and peel back the tops. I now understand why the knife edge is dull but also have great respect for how these kids adapt and overcome their limited resources.

On my list of belongings to move with me: kitchen knives!

So the spaghetti sauce is made from a minced beef, chopped carrots, rice, tomato sauce, sauteed garlic and onions, and mixed veggies. Natalie also added some local herbs that I didn't catch the description of because I am very limited in my Creole.

Samples were doled out and the consensus is that I made a very good sauce. I gained the respect of the older girls while being able to see first hand the food prep process. There are many changes that will need to be made. But this first foray was more about bonding with the girls.

That night I got to be a part of the shower process. Imagine stripping down 24 little ones and running them through the showers and getting them into pajamas. Not an easy task. Once they were all in pjs we assembled in the common area of the dormitory for devotional time. They sang hymns, bible songs, and read from the Good Book. Then they were introduced to Chad and I and each of them said prayers of thanksgiving for their visitors as well as their benefactors in Detroit. We got the little ones tucked in and then headed over to the staff quarters for a little bit to eat and to discuss the first experiences.

Once we had sleeping arrangements settled, I headed off to my room and had a shower (which I shared momentarily with a 4 inch cockroach) and then off to my air mattress in the kitchen, because in their infinite wisdom, those that came before me put the A/C in the kitchen instead of in the bedroom! So needless to say, I slept with the light on. I figured if things were going to crawl on me, it would be better to be able to see where they were going. No mystery guests for me, thank you very much! This also meant that every little hair that blew or every time my pajama bottoms got blown from the fan I would sit bolt upright with visions of bugs and lizards all over me!

The A/C managed to get the temp down to 85 by the time I became mildly unconscious. It got almost down to 79 by 4:30 am and then the sun came out at 5 and the temp slowly went back up. Time to get up anyways. The staff are up by 5, the kids shortly after that.

Stay tuned for Day 2

May 31, 2011

So now I've had my interview with Mitch. He's invited me to fly down with him on June 11 through the 13 to check out the mission and see what the operation looks like. That's great, except I don't have a passport! The heat is on!

I left the restaurant that afternoon and my heart was racing! I couldn't believe that everything I've ever wanted is withing reach! I drove straight to the Bodhi Seed Yoga Studio http://www.bodhiseedyoga.com/  because I knew I needed to ground myself. Otherwise I was afraid I might just float away!

I ran into the owner, Pat Hill, and as I stood there panting, she and I did the happy dance as I related the story to her. Fortunately she has a student that also has a travel agency and was able to refer me to the passport expediters in Troy: http://www.intlexpressservices.com/
For the right price you too can get your passport in less than a week. I had to make a trip out to Lansing to get a valid copy of my birth certificate just in case the copy I had was no good.

So on  June 8th I picked up my passport and was ready for my adventure to begin.

Time to hit the sack, yoga in the morning.

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures...

The kids of Have Faith Haiti

The kids of Have Faith Haiti, a set on Flickr.

okay...I think I've figured out how to work this flickr thingy! For tose who do not have access to my Facebook fotos - Here is the link to my flickr fotos. Enjoy!

The Kids in Haiti

The Kids in Haiti, a set on Flickr.

Here are some picks of the kids. I spent an hour on flickr captioning and tagging. I don't know what happened to them?

Where it all began

Most people ask me how I got this job. My answer is always that it isn't really a job at all. I have volunteered to go do this. It is what I have always felt I was meant to do. And then they follow it up with, yeah, but how did you end up here? For that, we have to track back to March.

As Director of Business Development for the Chamber, I sit it on several of our "Networking Groups". These are teams of professionals that get together on a weekly basis to help one another solve routine business issues, offer advice on marketing, and give business referrals and leads to one another as a way of growing their prospective businesses. It works pretty well if the individuals on the team understand how to create the close relationships that lead to this type of benefit. I mean, personally, if I don't like you, I'm not going to recommend your service or product to anyone who's opinion I care about, right?

So, at these meetings, I often throw out some of the sales and marketing training I've received over the past few semesters at ole Macomb Community College. Mostly I dole out social media marketing tips as they tend to be easy-to-use and virtually free in most cases, so perfectly ideal for the small business owner who doesn't have much of a marketing budget. It has increased my position in the groups as more of the business professionals look to me as somewhat of an expert and are more inclined to recommend me to their friends! Win-Win for everyone!

As it happens, one of the participants, Greg Vishey of Vishey Home Inspections http://www.a1-homeinspection.com/ asked me if I would come and help him with a few of these websites and in exchange he would treat me to a frosty beverage. He gave me the grand tour of his home, showed off many of the improvements he's made over the years. We talked about many of his projects as a project engineer. The man is a consummate professional. His tag line is "I look for trouble and I always find it." and he does! He is a home buyer's best friend! If you know of ANYONE that is looking to buy a home, or looking to buy an investment property, you MUST call Greg and let him give the property the once-over. It will be the best few bucks you've ever spent! Ok, so that might sound like a commercial, but after seeing what this man is capable of, I can't imagine anyone not having a reason to get to know him!

Our conversations ran high and low of many topics. He is a very knowledgeable guy. We got his business Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In accounts up to snuff and headed off for some food and drinks at the Shores Inn. During our conversation Greg asked me what he could do to help me be more successful at my job. I thought about it for a second and realized that I didn't want to become more successful at my job. I had always considered the job at the Chamber to be temporary, but while I was busy slaving away full-time at work and full-time at school, I hadn't really put a lot of front-end time into preparing to pursue my dreams. In fact, I was so sure I was never going to achieve my real dreams that I had settled myself to the idea of moving to the West Coast (where I've always wanted to eventually retire to) and was content with the idea of finding some menial sales job there, too.

So when I told him I didn't want to be more successful as my current job, he asked me what my dream was. I told him he would probably think I'm crazy, but I've always wanted to work in the orphanages, particularly in Africa. For as long as I can remember, I have always seen myself doing this kind of work. If only I had a Master's Degree, I could find a job with an NGO and finally start living the dream! But I was just weeks away from finishing my associates degree, so I didn't really see that in my future.

Greg asked why Africa. I said well, I've just always felt pulled in that direction. I recall seeing an animated movie when I was young called "Hugo The Hippo". It was a strange tale but the seed was planted. Someone needed to do something for the poor orphaned African children that were starved and neglected. Now, how I got that out of this story at such a young age is beyond me. Maybe it was the influence of Peter Pan and Little Orphan Annie, but having lost my mother at the age of 9, I suppose I have always felt endeared to their plight.

So, because Greg is a wunderkind of a problem solver, he asks me if I've ever considered Haiti instead? I replied that I had not discounted it. He informed me that his Alma mater, Gilmore Academy, in Ohio, was putting together a mission trip to Haiti and that may be one way to get me there. He said, but better than that, did I know of Mitch Albom's mission in Haiti? Maybe there was potential for me to get in touch with Mitch and perhaps leverage some of the network I've developed at the Chamber to help him with his mission and in return, maybe Mitch could help me.

In fact, Greg said, better than that, why not work something out where we create a network of Macomb

So we formulated a plan. He would draft a letter introducing me to Mitch. He would send this letter through multiple channels and we would keep networking our connections until we got close enough to Mitch to pitch the idea. I immediately began a Twitter and Facebook campaign letting everyone know what we were doing. I figured the more ways this gets into the universe, the more likely it was to land on the right ears.

So the end of the semester comes, I graduate Magna Cum Laude as Most Distinguished Graduate and get to deliver the commencement speech. During my speech, I voice that I have this desire to be doing aid work in Haiti by the end of the year. I begin to tell everyone that I have an interview tentatively scheduled with Mitch for the end of May. A few days later, Greg has lunch with another participant of our networking group and reveals his plans for me. That gentleman calls him back in a day or two and tells him that Mitch is going to be the speaker at their Gratiot Avenue Business Association meeting the following Tuesday. He invites Greg as his guest. Greg takes the opportunity to introduce himself to Mitch and hand him a copy of the letter he had drafted. He asks Mitch to look it over and give him a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Meanwhile, I've gotten my picture on the school website, as well as an article in several local newspapers. My 15 minutes of fame are burning brightly and I begin the daunting task of sending my resume out to dozens of NGOs. I go about my business attending events and signing up new members and dreaming of actually getting to do something really meaningful with my life. That Thursday, I come out of a meeting and turn on my phone to realize I have several voice mails waiting. One text is from the girls in the office telling me to keep my phone on because Mitch's office will be calling. I almost faint! I check my voicemail and it's Mitch's assistant asking me to call!!! I almost drove in to the river!!!

I was on my way to pick up a check from one of our members, Pat Hill, the owner of Bohdi Seed Yoga and Wellness, and a new dear friend. When I got there I shared my news and we jumped up and down and squealed for a few minutes while I tried to compose myself. I got back to the office and went into the other room and returned the call. I had never felt so excited and nervous as I did dialing that number. Not even when I spoke at commencements in front of over 2,000 people!

My nerves settled as soon as Kerri answered the phone. It was as if she was a dear aunt or neighbor I'd known all my life. We laughed and chatted and she asked me a little about my desires and my background. By the time I hung up the phone, it was as if I already had the job! She had mentioned that she was going to give my number to Mitch so he could call to make lunch plans with me. But then she called back in 10 minutes and said he was busy, could I just check my calendar and see if I was free the following Tuesday at 3 to meet him at Hogans in Bloomfield Hills. Was I free? bwahahahaha! As if! I would have cancelled my wedding to make that lunch!

Glory be to God! That was by far the best Memorial Day Weekend of my life! On that Monday my son moved back home so I was a bit too busy to really contemplate what I was doing. That Tuesday morning, I was so excited I left the house wearing two different shoes!

The drive out to the restaurant was long, slow, and full of orange barrel jockeying. It gave me time to really collect myself. I was the picture of calm when Mitch arrived. We talked about the mission and what type of work has gone on there. We talked about my extensive and illustrious background. We talked about what I wanted to do and why. He remarked that it just so happens that he had a desire to have an American on site and my experience and background made me uniquely qualified for the role he had in mind.

At the end of the meeting, he asked if I could fly down for a weekend and see the operation and then we could talk more after that. I agreed that would be ideal and off to the races we went!

Well, that's enough for tonight. Golf Outings start early and I'm still only 50% over this sinus/allergy/bronchial whatever.

Stay tuned for a message from our sponsor:

Flash back

The first few posts for this blog will be in flash back since it took me so long to get it together. I will be updating all of the happenings from that day in March when I was shaken out of my coma all the way up to current status some time weekend. I have a phone conference with Mitch tomorrow and hopefully I will have some hard dates and timelines to announce. So much has happened already and I have an entire journal to transpose to this blog so bear with me. I will try to keep it sequential, but if you know me, you know that I get super excited about this stuff and my mind bounces all over the place!

On a forward thinking note, I can't ait to tell you the ingenious idea my intelligent, creative, generous and beautiful daughter has come up with. I think we are definitely going to be able to reach my fundraising goal while I am there.

Stay tuned

Find a job doing something you love and you will never work another day of your life

So I have graduated from school - it is finished. Time to move on to the next phase of my life. I have always known that I had a calling to do some sort of mission work. If you ask anyone, they will tell you I have a gift with children and have always wanted to be able to work with them. The problem has always been that unless you pay for years of education and attain advanced degrees, the best you can do is get a job taking care of children, often for low wages and long hours in less than desirable conditions.

They say that life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. This has been the true story of my life. I have gone far and wide, done every sort of job imaginable, had every kind of training as well as conducted most kinds of training. I am a well rounded individual, spiritually, experientially, (and physically, teehee!) As I related to a friend over a Boomba at Shores Inn in St. Clair Shores that my burning passion was to work in Africa with Orphans, I realized that I had been in a sort of holding pattern since losing my job at a major automotive supplier two years ago. I was going to school so I suppose there was some forward momentum, but mostly I was not really contemplating my future. It was more of a zombie walk through the daily grind.

Well, imagine my surprise when, upon being shaken awake by this good friend, I realized that I had an incredible source of support within all of the networks that I had built in my lifetime and if I leveraged them correctly, I could actually find myself doing the work I was passionate to be doing!

At my friends urging, I began to formulate plans to get to Haiti instead of Africa. The reasons were simple, a) there was a great need for this type of work, and 2) there was a local celebrity currently running a foundation that supported a mission in Haiti that operated an orphanage. Oh, snap! I might actually see my life-long dreams come true!

Well, that is all for now. Stay tuned for the continued adventures.