Category: Haiti

  • Kicking and Screaming

    Haiti is a totally unpredictable place, and you never know what will happen in a day.  We constantly have guests who freak out when plans change, or their driver arrives late, or the toilets won’t flush immediately due to water pressure.  I get a bit too much pleasure telling them to calm down, this is…

  • Hiking the Mountains of Haiti from Furcy to Jacmel

    Recently, a group of six of us here had the opportunity to make an amazing pilgrimage. We took a trek across the southern mountain range of Haiti, descending back down to sea level at the coast.  The hike is well traveled by Haitians, yet only a few courageous outsiders (or uninformed outsiders, like us!) have truly endeavored this trek.…

  • My First Somewhat Scary Pregnancy Moment with Melissa

    We are obviously entering into new territory, as Melissa put in our last blog.  Yesterday, I had my first tense moment when I learned what happened to Melissa, especially because she is pregnant.  Maybe this happens to many others during pregnancy… I have no idea. One of the workers found Melissa on the hallway floor…

  • Surprise!

    If you know Ryan or me very well, you’d know that we’re not the first people to want to hold someone else’s baby at a gathering, or to volunteer for nursery duty at church.  I’ve always said that I’m either having zero kids or four, leaning more towards zero.  In Haiti, literally everywhere you go, when…

  • Defined Purpose

    On every night we serve dinner at 6pm.  At the long dinner table we get to hear stories from the guests and teams on what their day was like.  Many times, it’s a great chance to talk with other groups or just process and reflect on the day. We love seeing many teams who have…

  • How to Learn Haitian Creole

    Why learn Creole? One thing I here from missionaries is that, I wish I took more time to learn the language when I first came to Haiti.  I was reminded of this again when I read a popular article by Laura Parker describing her number one mistake was not learning the language first and only.  Here…

  • “Sitting in a Chair in the Sky” Hilarious Clip & Fantastic Documentary of Haiti

    In my opinion, I found this documentary to be fairly accurate and well done.  He ends up asking the hard questions which I liked. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSShFk3N0M4&feature=share&list=PL77OfUR2QolQwHVx57Sj-HjQ1wwvN8BLl   This next clip is just hilarious 🙂  Don’t mind the subtitles. http://youtu.be/LsOWGG2p1FQ      

  • Macaroni au Gratin

    This recipe is brought to you by our cook Marjory.  When she was one year old, her mother died, and so she was taken in by another Haitian woman.  This woman was an incredible cook, and taught Marjory most everything she knows, including this recipe.  It has become a guesthouse favorite! Ingredients: For chicken (From…

  • Last Week (w/ Towing Vehicles & Replacing Water Tanks)

    It’s been busy at the Guest House.  I have been enjoying the repeat groups we currently have staying at the house.  It’s a chance to get to know them on a deeper level. We had a mess of car things happen this past week.  I was going to write about it but then noticed that…

  • Emphasis on Learning

    From my little experience here in Haiti, there are no easy answers.  We enjoy the teams that come wrestling with ideas.  They often foster an atmosphere of sharing and discussing. The difference between teams having the attitude of I am going to fix Haiti and I want to learn about Haiti is huge.  It cannot be understated.  The idea of…