Day One of Trip Two

I'm writing this from my Blackberry, as I will all of the posts from here in Haiti.

The day was long and actually started sometime yesterday at home as I packed up the rest of my things (and mostly donated things). I checked an additional bag and found out that my flight from LAX to MIA had been rescheduled, instead of leaving LAX around 7 pm, we'd now be leaving at midnight. Our flight, that meant wouldn't be arriving in Port-au-Prince until around noon today.

That complicated things for everyone but Abby and me. Poor Darla, a nurse practitioner from New Brunswick, expected to find Abby and me waiting for her in the baggage claim. We were supposed to be there an hour before her, but instead we ended up arriving an hour after her. Darla still managed to find the driver and waited for us after contacting the mission and expertly navigated the chaotic and intimidating airport international arrival gate.

I met a Haitian born New Yorker on my flight from MIA to PAP who was travelling with his wife to visit his family. He asked me why I was going to Haiti, I told him, then, as if screening those who were about to serve his country, he asked "you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?"

I told him I did, we acknowledged our brotherhood and just chatted like we'd grown up in the same neighborhood for the rest of the flight.

The airport was chaotic as usual. Tee, Abby and I couldn't find our luggage for the longest time. As I was shouting to tell Abby over the cavenous cement block terminal echoing with the voices of hundreds of fellow passengers also baffled by the disappearance of their luggage, I heard some yell, "are you Zach?" I spun around and didnkt see anyone at first but definitely didn't recognize the voice.

Then suddenly in front of me was the visibly relieved NP, Darla. I introduced the three of us to her and went on the hunt for our bags. We finally found them and fought through the crowd of much too assertive "helpers" who thought the deserved 20 dollar tips for trying to rip my bags from my hands repeatedly as I walked a half mile to the awaiting SUV.

Abby held her own, although visibly intimidated by the experience. I did my best to laugh about it as they harrassed us all the way to the truck and rolled my eyes at the "helpers". They were, in fact, just trying to help, kind of...

The long drive (less then 30 miles that takes about 2 hours) to Fermathe revealed some progress in clean-up of the rubble from the earthquake but not as much construction as I hoped.

We stopped to get some cereal on the way to the mission at a Grocery store, then our driver, Wilson, stopped to give some bread to a woman walking down the road with about 20 kids in tow. Maybe a teacher?

Arriving at the BHM, Dr. Sorg was somewhat suprised to see me and Abby. Our introductions were short and we went straight to work sorting and classing meds taking only a short break to walk around the mission and have some Tuna caserole provided by one of the full-time missionaries here.

We talked about our plans for the week and Abby set out to completely re-organize and re-label the formulary (we were all pretty impressed) as the rest of us counted out children's vitamins.

We're all pretty much exhausted and excited to start the day tomorrow with more work on the pharmacy, a chapel service and a Bible study with the full-time staff here.

At this point, I'm just beat and I don't have the strength or energy to nail out the week's worth of encounters we had in the last 9 hours. Its tough to have to pick and choose which experiences to write about because, I know that the one's that I don't will fade from memory. Its like when you meet someone while waiting in line for a booth at a restaraunt or are seated next to someone at a wedding reception and you hit it off. You think, "man, we could really be friends with this couple!" Then their name gets called for their booth or they have to leave early to pick kids up from the sitters and you never see them again. Yeah, these memories are like that. Ah well, se la vie.

Well, its pouring down rain outside and I need a shower, BAD! More updates tomorrow, so check back.

Zach
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Unreached, Unengaged and Opportunities Abound

This is an urgent fill job listing from the IMB website:

Medical CoordinatorThe Medical Coordinator  is responsible for assisting IMB personnel  with a wide variety of their medical needs. The primary duties  are (but not limited to): answering medical related questions of field personnel, knowing the capabilities of medical facilities within their area of coverage, arranging for medical related travel for field personnel, approving for field personnel to return to their field of service once they are cleared medically, interfacing with the medical department at the Board,  and keeping field personnel informed of medical issues that pertain to their area of service.    Education and experience such as RN, PA, or related fields and good administrative skills are required.

The Muslim Rajput people group of Nepal.

 I was doing a little research on some of the countries with the highest number of unreached and unengaged people groups. When most people think unreached people groups, they envision a Papua New Guinea  scenario with vast, dense jungles, indigenous people groups who've never seen a Westerner or heard any language but their own. The truth is, that place has been saturated and is almost completely reached and has already been completely engaged.

Woman from the Hindu Koiri people group  in Nepal

The world missions focus is being sharpened to many nations in Asia like Nepal, India and Thailand. This morning I was looking into Nepal. I have always loved this country, ever since reading John Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and watching the IMAX documentary "Everest". This Country is home to the 8 tallest peaks in the world! The country itself is beautiful with some of the world's most hostile terrain, a very remote and isolating geographic distribution of people groups, and unseen and unknown valleys, canyons and mountains that likely have yet to be conquered by outsiders.

Nepal, which seems to be primarily Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist has the largest percentage of unreachd and unengaged people groups that I have been able to find (check out The Joshua Project to see if you can find a nation with more).

Man from the Buddhist Jirel people group in Nepal.

Due to there geography, Nepal has managed to remained isolated from the rest of the World. A cultural anthropologist might find this nation to be a treasury filled with untapped data and information, but human life doesn't amount to just statistics and research potential. There is a need there to bring them the gospel. A whole bunch of people need to suit up and set sail (not literally, the countries kinda landlocked) for this nation intent on sharing God's love for all people. It wont be easy and it will come with some risk, okay, maybe a lot of risk. But they need to at least hear the gospel message and someone needs to be willing to bring it. Is it you? Why not?

Follow-up: Sleep Out 4 Haiti

I am happy to say that we have reached half our goal and are on track to be entirely funded for the November Medical Mission to Haiti, with your help of course.

Let's first talk about our meteoric success! We spent three days and two nights camped out in the heart of Modesto, CA at Orangeburg Ave. Church. While it was was difficult to find other who would brave the elements with us out doors, we had several visitors and support.

The first day was hot, 100 degrees actually. At night, the humidity level swelled to 88% (that is unusually high for central California) and the temperature hung in at 84 degrees all night. This made for a long night of sleeping, but before any of us could go to bed, we made a camp fire, enjoyed some s'mores and a camp fire sing along type setting (as much as is possible with our eclectic array young-adults and youth). We got to meet some of the local night crawlers, a few drunks who were somewhat belligerent with the ladies and a homeless couple looking for some money (we all wished they would have stayed longer than a few moments). We had no money on us... no really... but we had a lot of snacks and junk food that had been donated and tried to pawn that off to every wanderer-by we could.

From Left to Right: Roni, Matt, Me (in the ballcap), and Abbi

It rained a little the first night, but that was no comparison to what day 2 had in store for us. Our camp was ravaged by seemingly unnatural winds with gusts up to 25 mph and sustained breeze at about 12-15 mph. Sure, we have weather like this all the time during the Winter and Spring, but never in September. The "tent city"" and boxes were destroyed. The dwellings, though, weren't our primary concern. Our 4 foot by 8 foot Styrofoam signs were the biggest problem.

Right next to a main artery from East to West Modesto, our signs became sails threatening to fly out into the 5 lane avenue and give someone some very targeted advertisement, that they surely wouldn't be able to ignore. We attempted several ways to secure these signs and ended up just relying on my sons to hold cardboard signs and run up and down the sidewalk yelling "Donate to Haiti!"

Don't laugh, it worked. Donations started raining in. Not big donations, but the cars apparently found our humble abode to be a bit more approachable with the little kids at the helm. Even before that though, a woman, not known to any of us, dropped by with drinks and snacks for the the team hanging out with the tents.

We had hoped for more visibility and had called several news and radio stations as well as the Modesto Bee. In all we contacted Air1 (who said they needed more notice), KOVR 13 News, Good Morning Sacramento, KCRA 3 News, and our Local News 10. No one came out, which was both surprising and disheartening. The lessons we learned from this and the edification we derived from this experience was more than made up for it. Among our youth and college young adults (many of whom I've taught in the college and youth Bible studies) one thing was understood: living in tent cities, even just for a couple of days, is NOT like camping out in the forest. There's a lot more noise and much less sense of security, which we surmise would be even more so in the historically violent and unstable urban environment in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

All said and done, we have several people to thank for an unprecedented amount of moral and material support from our community and church. In total, that wee we raised $1327.53.

Our Corporate Sponsors:

Gary's Rent A Car, Inc.

KAMB (Celebration Radio)101.5FM
Linda's Pampered Pets

Magic Shoe Repair

Multi Business Systems

Speer Floors

Vision Graphix & Design

West Coast Heating & Air Conditioning

Our friends who provided much needed and generous material and morale support:

Andrew and Vivian Birch

David and Debra Cline

Lois Fruendorfer

Mark and Debbie Greenlee

Judd and Nancy Hubbard

Dr. Peter and Kathleen Lai

Armando and Nora Magana

Richard and Leisa Proctor

Tegan Wells

and the anonymous givers and those of you who've pledged to donate... 

We love you guys too!

Our Friends who hung out with us:

Matt Bitz

Mary Blaine (Gigi!)

Karen Farrell

Johnny Farrell

Kaila Farrell

Tyler Gallasso

Liam Greenlee

Mark Greenlee

Owen Greenlee

Matt Magana

Drew Mathews

Roni Mathews

Alexandra Parker

Riannon Parker

Sierra Parker

Tina New Parker

Gabe Proctor

Leisa Proctor

Richard Proctor

Mary Willingham

and last but not least...

 that crazy drunk guy who confused us all with his random rants about how to run a waffle house

Most of all, Abigail, the rest of the crew, and I thank and praise the almighty God who is steadfast and faithful through all things and cares more deeply for the people of Haiti than any one of us could ever fathom...

Sleep Out 4 Haiti Results

I'll be sharing more about the sleep out later, right now, though, I just want everyone to know that with the guidance and hard work of Roni Matthews and Abigail Proctor, along with God's awesome provision, we raised $927.53 through this single fundraising event and still have a month to go. We are about 1/3 of the way to our goal and it appears to be within reach. Thank you to all of our donors. I'll be updating everyone with a pictorial account of the weekend, as soon as I have a free hour or two to do it.

Thanks again my friends!

A Tent City of Our Own

Haitians live in a tent city near the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (UN Photo/Marco Dormino)

This Friday, September 23rd, there is going to be a new style fundraiser right here in Modesto, CA. At about 5 o'clock in the evening, a temporary tent city will be erected on the grounds of Orangeburg Ave. Baptist Church at 313 E. Orangburg Ave., Modesto, CA 95350.

This event is to kick off the fund raising drive for the Medical Relief trip to Haiti this Novemeber. Our primary goal is to bring the plight of rural Haiti into focus and raise awareness of the ongoing struggles of almost all Haitians. We are hoping to have a number of people visit us and will be spending two nights out in the parking lot of the church as a show of solidarity and respect for the earthquake victims, impoverished and homeless populations of the island nation.

My biggest fear is that this could trivialize the reality of the dangerous, disease ridden conditions of the less affluent and unsupported tent cities in greater Port-au-Prince. Their daily struggle is one beyond our imagination and the perilous environment just can't be duplicated here in central California.This is instead intended to be a fun way to raise awareness and improve the visibility of the our upcoming trip.

(Read the Facebook event announcement and RSVP)

Please come out and join anytime between 5 pm on 9/23 to 1 pm on 9/25! We'd love to have you there with us. If you would like to donate, we will be accepting donations at the event, by mail and online. The donate link in the upper right hand corner goes directly to my paypal account. You can also mail your a donated check or money order to:

Orangeburg Ave Baptist Church
313 E. Orangeburg Ave.
Modesto, CA 953550
attn: "Haiti Mission Fund"
(and write "Haiti Mission Fund" on the memo line of the check as well)

If you'd rather, you may also donate specific items listed in the Amazon.com wish list just below the donate button in the upper right hand corner.

I'll update the blog as time grows nearer to the fundraiser. Thanks for your interest.

A Quick Note From The Baptist Haiti Mission

This is a blog post from the Baptist Haiti Mission Field Journal mentioning the last November/December's medical relief trip.

A few weeks ago we were blessed to have a medical team from ABWE (Association of Baptist for World Evangelism) partnering with us.  The team was under the leadership of Dr. Jack Sorg and they held medical clinics in three communities in the mountains above the mission campus.These clinics were set up in BHM affiliated schools or churches and about 80 people were served each day.  People who came were not only treated and provided with medication, but they were given knowledge about hygiene and their sickness and most importantly the gospel was shared with everyone who came to these clinics.  Through out the week over 10 people were saved.  Dr. Jack shared, “We are very thankful and pleased that we are able to partner with BHM in Haiti. They want to expand their medical mission, and our goal is to help them with that.”We praise God for the work that He did in the hearts of the people who came through these clinics and we also praise God for the partnership that BHM has with ABWE.
Next week, we will be having another medical team coming to work along side our medical staff at the hospital.  Pray that God will use them in mighty ways and they serve the people of Haiti.
Continue to pray for those suffering from cholera and for those treating them.  We are praising God that there has been very few people needing hospitalization for cholera in the past few days. 

Haiti's Affliction: The Sight-Experience Disconnect

When I was a teenager, I recall a street preacher from inner-city LA telling me, "unless you are willing to hug someone who looks like they haven't showered for a month, and smells like garbage, don't bother doing homeless ministry." His words cut deep and his point; it was unmistakable. Unless we ourselves are willing to embrace suffering, we have no business trying to alleviate it.

 When I talk to student about it whether in youth group, college Bible studies or just my own kids during our night time devotions, I get this sense that seeing and understanding the suffering of others are two different yet inseparable parts of appreciating what it means to suffer. So before I over use the word in this blog entry, allow me to access on online thesaurus to come up with some synonyms: afflicted, ache, agonize, ail, convulsed, handicapped, impaired, wounded, deteriorate, droop, endure, experience, feel wretched, grieve, hurt, languish, pain, sicken, and writhe.

There are probably many more, but this is a good start. The point here isn't to use an elementary composition tool, but to show that suffering can refer to all sorts of afflictions from a handicap, to pain (emotional or physical), to illness, or being at a disadvantage. So many of us endure so much but those of us who don't, well we spend a good deal of our lives in a bubble avoiding suffering, until, finally, it finds us.

A recent Reject Apathy article cites the experiences of a professional photographer and filmmaker drawn to Haiti following the 2010 January earthquake that devastated the sprawling urban city of Port-Au-Prince, killed upwards of 300,000 people and continues to claim the lives of countless others through the cholera epidemic, malnutrition and the resulting infra-structure collapse. While great strides are being made toward rebuilding this country and reports on the news seem hopeful, there is still an enormous disconnect between what we see and what is really the state of affairs in the nation. Rural Haiti is largely forgotten by the media and their own government. Cité Soleil, a major city, is still in dire straights and the largest slum in the Western Hemisphere. Access to medicine, safe shelter, education and clean drinking water still remain the most dire concerns in the nation of almost 8 million people.

Just yesterday, there was an blog article published about crime rates going down in the city of Stockton. A little background on that city: Stockton has cut its police force dramatically. The town is probably one of the hardest hit in the nation by the recession. Forbes repeatedly marks the city as the worst  or most miserable places in the country to live. The city has the 10th highest crime rate in the country.

I work on an ambulance there. I see what has happened since cops have been sacked. The homicide rate may not be quite as high in July as it was in June, but we should bear in mind that there are a lot of factors at work in preventing trauma patients from dying. The problem is that when news writers see a decline in crime rates for 1 month, they conclude that perhaps this isn't as big a problem as we once thought. So the public says, "Great! One less thing to worry about. Instead of getting more cops again, let's focus on the warped ceiling tiles at city hall." Although, this is admittedly a straw man, I'm using this hyperbole to make a point.

The problem is that seeing suffering becomes a novelty. Unless we are actually invested in it and digging deep to be involved in the solution, usually leading to some serious personal sacrifice, effectually, all we are is a wealthy tourist giving a little something akin to paying $5 to feed a giraffe at game park. It just isn't enough. We have to be willing to actually embrace that suffering, willing to endure some of it ourselves and lighten the load for others. I believe, that, like the filmmaker in the article, once we are in it, once we start to experience it ourselves, we fight two conflicting desires, to run away and to stay right where we are in the middle of it.

My advice is to take a chance. Suffer a little bit. Give until it hurts. Work until your back aches and trust God to teach you how to be effectual and make a difference.

I invite all readers to comment or ask questions. I am open to all sorts of inquiries, whether on issues of faith or social justice, I would love to discuss these things with anyone. Thank you for reading my blog.