Gauvreau en Haiti

Love has a name; JESUS
Love has a place; our hearts.
Love has a story;
And it's not finished yet.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Finally, I am taking a few minutes to write.

January 9, my brother-in-law Denis, my sister-in-law Joane and my nephew arrived in Haiti and they are staying at our house. The men work at finishing the wood workshop and the roof of the Toddlers houses. Sebastien also does welding and mechanic. John, the director of GLA, does not want to let him go. He says that he will steal Sebastien’s passport so he can continue to work for GLA. Joane works in the barn sorting out all the children’s clothing by sizes. She also paints on the Toddlers' houses.

Last week-end we went to Club Indigo on the beach. We had a great time and the wind made our skin red. The road is very stressing and we took pictures of cars that went into the ditch and stayed there. (See photo January 2013)

The temperature, in January, is not very warm, even on the beach in the morning. We were better off under the sun. Under the shade it was a little bit cool, but the sea water was good and the pool one also.

At Fort-Jacques during the evening, we must wear long pants and sweaters; we are in the mountains at an altitude of 1320 meter (4331 feet). There is about 10 to 12 degrees Celsius (18 degrees F) difference with Port-au-Prince.

Since December 31 in the evening, I have a bad cold and gave it to Georges and Joane. We are making a good trio of coughers. This cold seems very tenacious and takes a long time to finish.

Thursday, January 31

One night, last week, we took an alternate road to go to the orphanage main house. We were three cars following each other. The road that we normally take was blocked by a big Mack truck stuck in the hill with a car embedded in its bumper. They were blocking the entire small street. So, we took a road with no side protection, but the view was splendid. When we went back home, we could not encounter another car on the alternate road, and certainly not a Mack truck. Guess what we encounter two cars and a Mack truck, but there was another road at this corner. So the cars went down and stop on the hill to let the cars and the truck go by. But backing up the hill was another story. The road was filled with round stones about the size of a fist. We got very closed to the cliff when Georges tried to go up tail first. (See photo January 2013) Many Haitians made room for him to turn around and finally we were able to go up the hill head first. We got our rush of adrenaline for the week.

Last Sunday, early afternoon, we went to visit the Iron Market situated in the heart of Port-au-Prince. We were not able to see it all because they close at 2pm. But it is a nice place to visit and it is clean
and new. One part is the fruits and vegetables market, another part is the arts (paintings, things for ladies and the carnival, sculptures in wood or stone, etc.).

The center of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is still looking the same than after the earthquake. But all around, we could see many new houses rebuild, and roads and sidewalks being redone or have a new
pavement. We saw many new camps of tents and some had disappeared and their land recovers its first purpose.

At the orphanage, we have a few premature babies that “Real Hope for Haiti”, at Cazale, sends us. We are stabilizing them and after we return them to Cazale to their parents. As far as we know in Haiti, GLA is the only place with incubators and the necessary equipment for babies with physical problems and the premature.

The men finally finished all the roofs of the Toddlers’ houses. They still need to finish the interior including plumbing and electricity. We hope the move the older ones here, at Fort-Jacques, before the end of the year. Do you know a plumber or an electrician, with the competence, who could come for a
week or two to help us?

This is the end word:

“We were never meant to be lone-dreamers. You need a God-sized posse, a
small gang, and someone to dream crazy dreams with. We were never meant to walk
this journey alone. When we lock hearts with one another and dream God-dreams
we are a force to be reckoned with!” — Jennifer Watson, Today’s Guest Poster

Cordially,

Jocelyne and Georges