Haiti Day 4: Roadblocks are Crazy Scary!

Today is the day we tackle the rest of the food for distribution.  We have a ton of boxes totaling about 150,000 meals.  We had some down time to take a few fun pics of our group.

I love my team: Leader- Steve Ijames aka: Jack Bauer, Co-Leader- Don Fuhr aka: Jason Bourne, Becky, Chris, Bayli, Ed, Drew, Dennis, Paige, Jody, Kathi, Alicia, Ali and me!

I encourage you to find a mission team to join… you will not regret the decision!  If you want adventure and the opportunity to simply love… you will find both on a mission trip.

My Journal Today:

We are up early.  We got all 150,000 meals packed on the truck.  We had our agenda that day- visiting 3 projects with hundreds of children and families waiting for food and fun!  Dennis led our group in prayer before we headed out asking God for protection and direction.  So far, our plans had been redirected and we were so excited to see if God had a new plan for us today!  Less than 5 miles driving in the bus, we knew that our plans had been dramatically changed.  This was the moment our group had been warned about- the other side of Haiti, the violence.  We were driving on the only road with access to cross the bridge to travel to the 2 projects in Cap Haitien.  I was sitting in the front of the bus and saw several men to my right screaming at our window.  I remember thinking, wow, they are really angry… is that directed at us?

As we turned the corner, I immediately sensed danger when a man in the middle of the street picked up a glass coke bottle and throw it at our window.  He missed, but picked up another bottle and hurled it at our bus.  Two men were now running toward us, throwing glass bottles one after the other.  Inside the bus, our fearless leaders were barking out instructions and the bus started backing up quickly.  Behind us was the truck of food and behind him was an UN vehicle.  They tucked their tail and pulled an U turn and took off leaving us to fend for ourselves.  The men running at us were now screaming and waving their arms and throwing bottles at us.  The road was blocked by a structure of metal to keep cars from driving through.  I accidentally took a photo of the street and men running at us.  In fear, my finger clicked!  It’s probably not the best idea to take pics during a riot.

The man in black ran aggressively toward our bus and kept throwing bottles at us narrowly missing our vehicle, but when he reached close enough to our bus, he moved his hand to his back pants and my heart froze.  His face was escalated to violent anger.  I felt instant terror throughout my entire body – was he reaching for a gun?  At that moment, our guard, Lucien (who was a French speaking local Haitian) jumped out of our bus and yelled, “Stop, these are American Christian missionaries here to help us, don’t harm them!”  The man in black looked through the glass and I locked eyes watching to see what he was going to do next.  He bowed slightly and backed away from our bus, like he was apologizing to us.  He reached down and picked up bottles and walked away calmly.  By this time, we had backed away from the street and driving away from the roadblock.

We were told later that the city had been without electricity for a week due to not getting the vital shipment of oil.  Unfortunately, a few thugs decided to riot and cause injury to many Haitian’s that day.  Cars were attacked and people were hurt in the chaos.  At the police station, we noticed a mob of people waiting there to report the incident.  The two men were arrested later that day.  God protected us from danger and we were able to deliver all the food to 1 of the 3 church projects.  In fact, the church we were re-directed to was where my family’s sponsored child, Rose was waiting for me.  I was thrilled that I could see Rose again, and that she brought her father for me to meet.

Video #1 – Roadblock Craziness!!

When we returned from delivering the meals, we headed to a sea side market to shop.  It’s crazy fun bartering for the prices and making new Haitian friends along the way.  I found a beautiful carving of a mother and her child that would be perfect for Zoie’s room.  I watched him chipping away at it, but through our interpreter asked him if I could buy it.  He insisted on finishing it for me and delivering it to our hotel.  Lucien agreed to help, but asked us if we would like to meet his 4 month old baby girl while he retrieved my new statue.  All the women went ga ga over baby Casually.  She was the most casual, easy going baby I have ever met.  She let us kiss and hold her for hours!  Her mother, Dadu came to the hotel and found her daughter drenched in cuddles… what a sweet way to end the day!

My special carving of Mother and Child.  Wait till you see the finished product:)

Baby Casually stole all our hearts!

I’m Your Billboard Today:

My bloggy friends fundraising for their adoptions sent me their T shirts to wear in Haiti.  You can click on their links to purchase their projects!!

1. Faith Hope Love Grace– I gave this T shirts Stacey sent me.  I loved how excited our Mission of Mercy host, Dimas was when I gave him the shirt!

2.  Seek, Defend, Plead and Encourage – Africa adoption bloggy friend.  Our body guard and new friend, Lucien (who saved our lives!) loved wearing his T shirt.