04 Feb 2013 Canadian Work Team to Haiti

Top: Bins and cases waiting to be sorted; sorting the tools. Bottom: two tables were needed to accomodate the entire work team.
A team consisting of UBs from Canada and from King Street UB church in Chambersburg, Pa., arrived in Haiti on January 25, 2013. This is a construction team which will work on building a new church in Limbe, in northern Haiti.
A medical team will come to Haiti February 5-12. They will be joined by three ladies from Mission of Hope and Dr. Robinson Germain, a Haitian doctor. This team will go to Les Cayes, in the south, to hold several medical clinics.
Joan Sider (right), from the UB church in Toronto, has visited Haiti numerous times, and participated on both of these teams. And, as she always does, she sent back regular reports. What follows is an account of the first group (you can read about the medical group here). Unless otherwise indicated, all of these daily reports come from Joan.
Friday, January 25
We have arrived safe and sound with all 24 pieces of luggage. We arrived earlier in Port Au Prince than we thought we would. We left Toronto with a temperature of minus 10, and came to one of 32 celcius–warm indeed, but pleasant.
There was a lot more scrutiny with the luggage this trip. When we picked up the bags off the carousel, we noticed several bins had been opened and inspected; they had a tape around the bin saying it had been opened for inspection. I guess that happened in New York. Customs officials here in Haiti opened up a number more. We’re not sure if they were looking for anything specific. One did ask if we had any drugs.
We need to pray now that the next team’s meds all get through without any difficulty.
The airport is amazing–the changes made since even December when I came with Hermmy are quite remarkable. They are truly trying to make it a first class airport. There are still many porters who all want to help you–and get your tip–but even that is better organized.
Our American friends came in earlier than we did and were here waiting to meet us.
The big task of sorting all the materials we brought was next on the agenda. Everyone pitched in, and all is now in readiness for tomorrow’s journey up to Limbe. It is a 6-8 hours trip. We know the highway up as far as Gonaives is good. (more…)