The roads near our house in Haiti have gotten noticeably worse since we left six months ago. The summer rains have taken their toll. At a key intersection near our house there is a police check point where during the day and most of the night there are 2-3 policemen. While we were away rain water carved a deep grove across this intersection and when hurricane Isaac hit, it became a gully deep enough to make 4WD vehicles scrap bottom.
I got mad as I realized that this started as a small trickle across the road but eventually the water bore it’s way down and ate away the road until it became a big problem. Perhaps if someone had notified the Haitian street department that there was a problem right away, this might not have become so bad. As they say: “a stitch in time saves nine”. And I got mad that there was going to be a traffic jam on Monday morning as cars would have to navigate across this “mini grand canyon”.
So I stopped and took some old tires from the side of the road and started to do what I could to solve the problem. Then a Haitian neighbor showed up with a shovel and we started working together. Another man helped as well and after 30 minutes we had filled one hole.
I counted my blister as a badge of hard work, and the dirt and sweat as my work out that day.
The next morning when Carol and I passed by at 7 AM, I saw that most of our work had been washed away. But by 9 AM the “canyon” had been filled with packed dirt which at least made it passable.
So maybe God used me as a catalyst to get the whole fixed!
In Psalm 90:9, we read that God gets angry about our sin. Thank God we have a Savior to save us from God’s wrath! Let’s use our anger to motivate us to turn to Christ for forgiveness and ask him to turn our anger into loving action.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hurricane Isaac update
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hurricane Isaac has dumped lots of rain where we live in Port-au-Prince and the wind has been howling since Friday afternoon.
Since Port-au-Prince has a very poor storm drainage system and much of the city is built on the side of the mountains, much water damage is expected.
Because Francoise and her three children live by the side of a ravine, we invited them to stay with us on Friday and Saturday to make sure they were safe.
Rich, Francoise and her 3 children and a Haitian friend
My Haitian friends and I had built a tire retaining wall to try to keep the ravine from eating away her property, but this summer a heavy rain washed away the wall and ate away at least 10 feet of the hill leading up to her house.
So we didn't want to take a chance that they would be swept away during the night in their one-room house if the flooding was severe.
It has been nice to have them over for a "sleep over." Last night we watched a movie with them, and this morning we warmed up with bowl of hot oatmeal.
Lexy our dog and Macy our cat are inside as well, although Macy the cat insisted on going out for the night and got soaked!
Please pray for those in tent cities as they are cold and wet!
The completed wall
A summer storm took away earth up to the 4th tire from the top. We are afraid this storm might take even more away.
View from the top showing the water damage this summer.
View from the bottom showing how the ravine washed away all traces of the wall we built.
Hurricane Isaac has dumped lots of rain where we live in Port-au-Prince and the wind has been howling since Friday afternoon.
Since Port-au-Prince has a very poor storm drainage system and much of the city is built on the side of the mountains, much water damage is expected.
Because Francoise and her three children live by the side of a ravine, we invited them to stay with us on Friday and Saturday to make sure they were safe.
Rich, Francoise and her 3 children and a Haitian friend
My Haitian friends and I had built a tire retaining wall to try to keep the ravine from eating away her property, but this summer a heavy rain washed away the wall and ate away at least 10 feet of the hill leading up to her house.
So we didn't want to take a chance that they would be swept away during the night in their one-room house if the flooding was severe.
It has been nice to have them over for a "sleep over." Last night we watched a movie with them, and this morning we warmed up with bowl of hot oatmeal.
Lexy our dog and Macy our cat are inside as well, although Macy the cat insisted on going out for the night and got soaked!
Please pray for those in tent cities as they are cold and wet!
The completed wall
A summer storm took away earth up to the 4th tire from the top. We are afraid this storm might take even more away.
View from the top showing the water damage this summer.
View from the bottom showing how the ravine washed away all traces of the wall we built.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Results of the soccer tournaments
Since We got back to Haiti on August 5th, we have held two soccer tournaments!
The first one was held on Saturday, August 11th in Verrettes between 4 schools in the area. We had four teams play in the morning, and a final in the afternoon. In this case, the home team, La Providence, won the tournament. More importantly, 11 people indicated they trusted Christ and are being followed up with.
This tournament in Verrettes was observed by a delegation of 13 from Ambassadors in Sport International. There were coaches from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, South Africa and the US present. They were all thrilled with the level of play and the evangelistic component of the tournament.
The second tournament was held from August 14 to 18th and involved 8 schools from 2 neighboring towns: Archaie and St. Marc.
First game of the Archaie tournament
Each town had four teams play to determine a town champion.
The match to determine the town champion of St. Marc was played at a small home-made stadium in the neighborhood of "Cite" in St. Marc. This game drew a large crowd. The seats were shaded and even more comfortable than the professional stadium!
Praying before the game!
The team that won the St. Marc Championship was from the Ebenezer school and won one game 4-0 and the other 3-0 so they weren't really challenged.
The team that won the Archaie tournament won their first game on penalty kicks and the second by only 1-0.
Then on Saturday, the two town champions played in an inter-city championship match.
The final between the two towns was played in the professional stadium in St. Marc which was a very nice grass field with solid goals and nicely laid out.
During the first 10 minutes of the final the teams were playing pretty evenly, but then Archaie scored on a shot from outside, and the Archaie team just started to pass around St. Marc. Once Archaie discovered that the St. Marc goalie could not handle high shots over his head, they scored two other goals in the first half, and added three more in the second.
The team from Archaie was well coached by a former professional player who had played against the Cleveland City Stars back in 2007 and had scored the winning goal. Coach Menard now has a soccer school in Archaie and is clearly doing a good job coaching the school team at Toussaint Louverture school which won the tournament.
During this tournament we estimate that at least 40 people trusted in Christ. We will have more exact figures later after we go over the response cards.
Many thanks to the volunteer committees in Archaie and St. Marc that helped make these tournaments possible, and to the finances of the Canadian "HEADR" team that financed the meals provided each day and the transportation.
The first one was held on Saturday, August 11th in Verrettes between 4 schools in the area. We had four teams play in the morning, and a final in the afternoon. In this case, the home team, La Providence, won the tournament. More importantly, 11 people indicated they trusted Christ and are being followed up with.
This tournament in Verrettes was observed by a delegation of 13 from Ambassadors in Sport International. There were coaches from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, South Africa and the US present. They were all thrilled with the level of play and the evangelistic component of the tournament.
The second tournament was held from August 14 to 18th and involved 8 schools from 2 neighboring towns: Archaie and St. Marc.
First game of the Archaie tournament
Each town had four teams play to determine a town champion.
The match to determine the town champion of St. Marc was played at a small home-made stadium in the neighborhood of "Cite" in St. Marc. This game drew a large crowd. The seats were shaded and even more comfortable than the professional stadium!
Praying before the game!
The team that won the St. Marc Championship was from the Ebenezer school and won one game 4-0 and the other 3-0 so they weren't really challenged.
The team that won the Archaie tournament won their first game on penalty kicks and the second by only 1-0.
Then on Saturday, the two town champions played in an inter-city championship match.
The final between the two towns was played in the professional stadium in St. Marc which was a very nice grass field with solid goals and nicely laid out.
During the first 10 minutes of the final the teams were playing pretty evenly, but then Archaie scored on a shot from outside, and the Archaie team just started to pass around St. Marc. Once Archaie discovered that the St. Marc goalie could not handle high shots over his head, they scored two other goals in the first half, and added three more in the second.
The team from Archaie was well coached by a former professional player who had played against the Cleveland City Stars back in 2007 and had scored the winning goal. Coach Menard now has a soccer school in Archaie and is clearly doing a good job coaching the school team at Toussaint Louverture school which won the tournament.
During this tournament we estimate that at least 40 people trusted in Christ. We will have more exact figures later after we go over the response cards.
Many thanks to the volunteer committees in Archaie and St. Marc that helped make these tournaments possible, and to the finances of the Canadian "HEADR" team that financed the meals provided each day and the transportation.
Monday, August 20, 2012
HEADR team from Canada has a great week!
From August 13th to August 20th a team of 6 Canadians from Moncton in New Bruswick came to help us start 8 new soccer teams in schools in St. Marc and Archaie (Ar-ka-yea).
Meeting a policeman with the UN from Quebec when they first arrived
The team was headed up by Art Moore a jolly Irishman who, along with his sidekick, Nick, in the tan cap, convinced 4 of his former high school students to come and help school kids in Haiti by starting soccer teams at their schools. So the team was made up of Ali (in yellow in second picture, a petite blond full of energy; her best friend Bri (in neon green in second picture), and two rugby players: Cory and Chris with the longer hair and hat.
Visiting "Dessaline park" in Archaie
Our fist stop was Archaie where we visited the 4 schools we started teams in and played with some of the students there, even though schools are not in session in Haiti at this time of year. When we had space, we played outside games like duck,duck, goose, basketball and of course soccer.
Rich introducing the team to children from one of the schools we visited
Where we didn't have a lot of space we sang a French-Canadian children's "parts of the body" song and also "I'm climbing Sunshine Mountain". This year coach Wadnec, one of our Haitian staff members also added a new song that says "Children love AIS and AIS loves children, galigaligalizoom!"
Our schedule each day was to visit 2 schools in the morning and then watch the schools play each other in the afternoon.
While in Archaie, we also helped paint two classrooms in one of the schools that is just being built. This is the same school that our fellow Crossworld missionary, Mark Bradley, has been helping with through his church in Philadelphia: Church of the Savior.
More on the other things we did and the results of the tournament later this week!
The team was headed up by Art Moore a jolly Irishman who, along with his sidekick, Nick, in the tan cap, convinced 4 of his former high school students to come and help school kids in Haiti by starting soccer teams at their schools. So the team was made up of Ali (in yellow in second picture, a petite blond full of energy; her best friend Bri (in neon green in second picture), and two rugby players: Cory and Chris with the longer hair and hat.
Our fist stop was Archaie where we visited the 4 schools we started teams in and played with some of the students there, even though schools are not in session in Haiti at this time of year. When we had space, we played outside games like duck,duck, goose, basketball and of course soccer.
Where we didn't have a lot of space we sang a French-Canadian children's "parts of the body" song and also "I'm climbing Sunshine Mountain". This year coach Wadnec, one of our Haitian staff members also added a new song that says "Children love AIS and AIS loves children, galigaligalizoom!"
Our schedule each day was to visit 2 schools in the morning and then watch the schools play each other in the afternoon.
While in Archaie, we also helped paint two classrooms in one of the schools that is just being built. This is the same school that our fellow Crossworld missionary, Mark Bradley, has been helping with through his church in Philadelphia: Church of the Savior.
More on the other things we did and the results of the tournament later this week!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
AIS USA team members share their perspective after visiting Haiti
From August 8th to August 12th a delegation of 13 members of Ambassadors in Sport came to Haiti to see first hand what God has been doing through us here.
The delegation included AIS staff from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and the US. The director of AIS, Jon Ortlip and his assistant Jan came as well as Jon's son. A businesswoman who grew up on a farm also came to help me do research about the Genesis Goat Project, and there were other members of AIS in the group as well.
Here is what Kent, who came with his wife Kyle, wrote about the visit:
"To say that Kyle and I were impacted by you and the work in Haiti would be a great understatement. I think the work you are doing is incredible and I have mountains of respect for you and your family. I can only imagine the mental, emotional and spiritual stress and challenges that come with living and working in Haiti. We consider you and Carol heroes of the faith and we love you very much. Thank you for your example and willingness to lay your life down so that others may have the opportunity to know Jesus.
What we were impacted by the most was not the hunger or the poverty. We were taken by the complexities created by the socio-economic situation that really makes true conversion to be something unique. Ultimately, Christ changes hearts but the challenge of empowering Haitians to live & teach the bible seems to be a great one.
The program you have started is a brilliant avenue for the church to connect with people in their communities. It is a vehicle where local pastors can share the gospel and their congregation can serve the local people and connect with them relationally. This is powerful because at a glance it doesn't seem like there are too many venues like this in Haiti. To give the church a program that connects it directly with the people and allows the people to see the local church meeting them where they want to be most.......the soccer field. That is so cool."
A lot happened during their short visit, but what was really exciting to me was that 11 spectators trusted in Christ at the evangelistic tournament we held as an example for them last Saturday. Members of the local church will be following up with them to help them in their journey.
It was great to hear Kent talk about his work as a coach in the Ambassadors Football Club in the US. It sounds like a lot of winning is going on! And being around Kent and Kyle, we're sure that it's a blessing for the girls on the Kent's teams to be around them.
We are touched by Kent & Kyle's interest in the people of Haiti. As you can tell from the comments above, they are giving careful thought to what they've seen and heard about Haiti, resisting the temptation to make snap judgments. They have a desire for the club in the US to help young people in Haiti and wanted to see for themselves what life is like here. (Kent has actually been here a couple of times.) They have already made an impact by being part of this group that brought loads of soccer equipment down for our teams!
Thanks for your prayers and support that make this all possible. We sow and water, but God makes the ministry grow!
In Him,
Rich Mears
The delegation included AIS staff from Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and the US. The director of AIS, Jon Ortlip and his assistant Jan came as well as Jon's son. A businesswoman who grew up on a farm also came to help me do research about the Genesis Goat Project, and there were other members of AIS in the group as well.
Here is what Kent, who came with his wife Kyle, wrote about the visit:
"To say that Kyle and I were impacted by you and the work in Haiti would be a great understatement. I think the work you are doing is incredible and I have mountains of respect for you and your family. I can only imagine the mental, emotional and spiritual stress and challenges that come with living and working in Haiti. We consider you and Carol heroes of the faith and we love you very much. Thank you for your example and willingness to lay your life down so that others may have the opportunity to know Jesus.
What we were impacted by the most was not the hunger or the poverty. We were taken by the complexities created by the socio-economic situation that really makes true conversion to be something unique. Ultimately, Christ changes hearts but the challenge of empowering Haitians to live & teach the bible seems to be a great one.
The program you have started is a brilliant avenue for the church to connect with people in their communities. It is a vehicle where local pastors can share the gospel and their congregation can serve the local people and connect with them relationally. This is powerful because at a glance it doesn't seem like there are too many venues like this in Haiti. To give the church a program that connects it directly with the people and allows the people to see the local church meeting them where they want to be most.......the soccer field. That is so cool."
A lot happened during their short visit, but what was really exciting to me was that 11 spectators trusted in Christ at the evangelistic tournament we held as an example for them last Saturday. Members of the local church will be following up with them to help them in their journey.
It was great to hear Kent talk about his work as a coach in the Ambassadors Football Club in the US. It sounds like a lot of winning is going on! And being around Kent and Kyle, we're sure that it's a blessing for the girls on the Kent's teams to be around them.
We are touched by Kent & Kyle's interest in the people of Haiti. As you can tell from the comments above, they are giving careful thought to what they've seen and heard about Haiti, resisting the temptation to make snap judgments. They have a desire for the club in the US to help young people in Haiti and wanted to see for themselves what life is like here. (Kent has actually been here a couple of times.) They have already made an impact by being part of this group that brought loads of soccer equipment down for our teams!
Thanks for your prayers and support that make this all possible. We sow and water, but God makes the ministry grow!
In Him,
Rich Mears
Monday, August 13, 2012
AIS Int'l 13 member delegation to Haiti
Last Wednesday, August 8th I welcomed a delegation of 13 to Haiti. The purpose of the trip was for AIS leaders from all over the world to see the model that we are using in Haiti and also visit other ministries in Haiti to discover their best practices. This trip was the vision of Jon Ortlip, the director of AIS and Kent Manson, who visited Haiti as a member of the Cleveland City stars tour in 2007. Kent is currently the coach of several girls teams for the Ambassadors soccer Club near Cleveland Ohio. Kent brought his wife Kyle along. Kyle is a kindergarten teacher and just loved being with the Haitian children.
The delegation included AIS staff from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Peru and of course the US. In addition, a businesswoman came to learn about the Genesis Goat project.
On Thursday we visited two non-soccer focused organizations who nevertheless would like us to help them reach their communities through soccer.
Friday we split the team up with 4 doing a soccer clinic for high-level coaches at the National Stadium and the rest of us going to Leogane to see a newer soccer program called “GOALS” that just won the prestigious “Beyond Sport” award. In the afternoon we visited “Athletique D’Haiti” and met with Bobby Duval, the founder and director. He is a dynamic leader who dreamed of building a soccer stadium in the poorest neighborhood of Port-au-Prince: Cite Soliel. Now this dream is coming true! Take a look at his website: http://lathletiquedhaiti.org
Our last stop on Friday was Viva Rio, a Brazilian soccer Academy in Haiti that is trying to produce players capable of becoming professionals in Brazil and around the world. I had a chance to give my testimony to the U-17 team and hopefully we will be able to visit them again soon.
The delegation included AIS staff from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Peru and of course the US. In addition, a businesswoman came to learn about the Genesis Goat project.
On Thursday we visited two non-soccer focused organizations who nevertheless would like us to help them reach their communities through soccer.
Friday we split the team up with 4 doing a soccer clinic for high-level coaches at the National Stadium and the rest of us going to Leogane to see a newer soccer program called “GOALS” that just won the prestigious “Beyond Sport” award. In the afternoon we visited “Athletique D’Haiti” and met with Bobby Duval, the founder and director. He is a dynamic leader who dreamed of building a soccer stadium in the poorest neighborhood of Port-au-Prince: Cite Soliel. Now this dream is coming true! Take a look at his website: http://lathletiquedhaiti.org
Our last stop on Friday was Viva Rio, a Brazilian soccer Academy in Haiti that is trying to produce players capable of becoming professionals in Brazil and around the world. I had a chance to give my testimony to the U-17 team and hopefully we will be able to visit them again soon.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Back home in Haiti
On Sunday, August 5th Carol and I arrived in Haiti from two different cities. Carol flew to Port-au-Prince from Miami, and I flew from Newark, NJ.
You may wonder how Carol got to Miami. She drove down with Ricky to help him get started at Florida International University in Miami. Ricky is living with his best friend from Quisqueya Christian School: Abraham Jaar. Ricky starts freshman orientation on August 13th and classes start the following week.
Unfortunately, my flight was four hours late, but as God worked it out I landed just about the same time as Carol and so we went home from the airport together. We were greeted at the airport by Ronald and Ti-Frère, who sometimes drives for us.
We went directly from the airport to Quisqueya Christian School where Carol was supposed to have a teacher’s meeting. However, we got in too late for the meeting, just in time for dinner, which was good because I was pretty hungry!
When we got back to the house our Haitian friends Ecdes and Paules and our dog, Lexi, Macy our cat and were waiting for us. We're glad to be back but it's hot--just as hot as being in Philadelphia! Hot and humid – ugh! We've had a super busy week with Carol getting ready for school and me preparing for and hosting a team--already! But that's a story for the next post....
You may wonder how Carol got to Miami. She drove down with Ricky to help him get started at Florida International University in Miami. Ricky is living with his best friend from Quisqueya Christian School: Abraham Jaar. Ricky starts freshman orientation on August 13th and classes start the following week.
Unfortunately, my flight was four hours late, but as God worked it out I landed just about the same time as Carol and so we went home from the airport together. We were greeted at the airport by Ronald and Ti-Frère, who sometimes drives for us.
We went directly from the airport to Quisqueya Christian School where Carol was supposed to have a teacher’s meeting. However, we got in too late for the meeting, just in time for dinner, which was good because I was pretty hungry!
When we got back to the house our Haitian friends Ecdes and Paules and our dog, Lexi, Macy our cat and were waiting for us. We're glad to be back but it's hot--just as hot as being in Philadelphia! Hot and humid – ugh! We've had a super busy week with Carol getting ready for school and me preparing for and hosting a team--already! But that's a story for the next post....
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