Mission Trips to Haiti

In July, 2015, Greg and I went on a mission trip to Haiti.  Our church was working with Gordon Montgomery who had started a mission called Farming God’s Way.  He had been led to go to Haiti and teach them to farm their land. He was working with a village called Hati Coton.  Gordon improves the soil using natural ingredients without chemicals.  I know nothing about farming-I can’t even keep flowers alive-but the mission trip was not just about farming. We were going to do a vacation bible school for the children of the village. Greg was not really interested in going at first, but he decided to go with me on this trip.  And after one trip, he was hooked.  We absolutely fell in love with the people in Hati Coton. We ended up going to Haiti five times.

We arrived at the airport in Port-au-Prince.  That was an experience in itself.  As soon as we walked out of the secure area, we were approached by many men offering to carry our luggage.  Gordon had already told us to say “no” and to keep moving.  The men attempted to take our luggage out of our hands, so it took some determination to keep hold of our luggage.  We made it out of the airport and to our ride.  Our ride was in a vehicle they called a “tap tap.”  This was their “taxi” service, but Gordon had hired one man to drive us while we were there.  A tap tap is a small pick up truck that has benches installed on both sides of the truck bed. Most of them have a cover over the top with some metal coverings on the sides and some of the back. 

People just jump on these trucks, often hanging off the side if all the seats are taken.  Somehow, the driver gets paid by the passengers, but we aren’t sure how, exactly.  Keep in mind, it is HOT in Haiti, especially in Port-au-Prince where there are a ton of people, lots of dust, and the streets are in really poor condition. There is a lot of bumping around in the tap tap where we are riding sideways.  Perfect conditions for motion sickness. 

We drove through Port-au-Prince, then through another smaller town called Ganthier, and we finally turned off the main road onto a dirt road that took us to the village of Hati Coton.  We had to drive through another village before we reached Hati Coton.  When we reached Hati Coton, the children started running after the tap tap, shouting “Blan! Blan!” 

“Blan” means “white” in Creole, which is the language spoken in Haiti. The kids in Haiti are so happy. They frequently sing and dance, and they love to have fun. They would hang out with us all day.

Many of the homes in the village had thatch roofs, but some of the roofs were metal. Many of the homes were made of mud, so after a rain, the villagers have to reinforce the walls of their homes. The wealthier homes were made of concrete blocks.

Gordon and previous mission teams had built a mission house on the edge of the village, and our group was the first mission team to stay in the house.  There was a small kitchen with a table, a shower/toilet room, and a bunk room.

Our water was well water, so we drank the safe water that had been purchased in town.  We did not have air conditioning, of course.  But once you got used to the temperature, I didn’t think it was too bad.  It got cooler at night.  I was the only one who had brought a blanket, and I was glad I did.  One of the very hot natured ladies, who had the bunk next to mine, looked at me as she was lying in her bed with three fans blowing on her and said, “I can’t even look at you with that blanket.” It was actually kind of cozy at night, lying in our bunks inside our mosquito nets, and listening to the sounds of the village.  Outside the walls of the mission house area was land that was being farmed by Gordon and the villagers.  This is how the land looked the fourth year we were there.

We have so many wonderful memories of our trips to Haiti. The first two years, we did a three day vacation bible school for the children in the village.  We had a great turn out both times. 

The children were lining up early in the morning while we were getting things ready. 

Greg did his best to keep the children entertained while we finished getting everything ready.

When the gate was opened, the children excitedly poured into the area.  Women were handing toddlers over the fence to us.  I’m thinking they saw this as an opportunity for a much needed break.  This is the little guy that was handed to me. 

I asked some of the older children what his name was.  I was told his name was Bosh.  I called this little guy Bosh for five years, and he answered to the name for five years.  During our fifth visit to Haiti, an older child told me that Bosh’s name was actually Patrick.  I wasn’t sure he was serious, because sometimes the older kids like to tease and kid around with us.  I asked “Bosh” what his name was, and he said “Patrick.”  So….this little kid had been answering to “Bosh” for five years when his name was actually “Patrick?”  Oh well, my name is “Jill” and I had been answering to “Blan” for five years, so there’s that.  During the vacation bible school, we taught the kids a bible verse.  At the end of each day, we chose some of the kids to say the verse.

We gave a stick of gum to any child who could say the verse.  I’ll never forget the first little girl who got a stick of gum.  Rather than immediately putting the entire stick of gum in her mouth, she tore the stick of gum into seven little pieces and shared them with the children around her.  Wow. 

The third year we went to Haiti, we did not plan a big, organized vacation bible school.  The focus was more on some construction projects, including building benches for the schools, painting, and digging a well.  Our daughter, Sarah, went on this trip with us.  She was the first one on this trip to throw up on the tap tap ride to the village from the airport.  Congratulations, Sarah. 

Another project we had planned for this trip was to spend a few of the mornings doing bible stories with the children. We thought it would be fun to have the kids act out the stories. One of the stories we chose was Daniel and the Lion’s Den. If you’re not familiar with the story, it involves Daniel, who was a man of God, being thrown into a lion’s den to perish because he continued to pray to God even though a law had been passed that forbid it.  However, God sent an angel to keep the lions from killing Daniel.  We asked for a few volunteers to be lions and one volunteer to be Daniel.  We started the story, but when it came time to throw Daniel into the den, the story took an unexpected turn.  Let’s just say, in the Haiti version, Daniel did not survive the lion’s den. 

We finally dug through the lions, rescued Daniel, and made sure he was still in one piece. 

The first two years we went to Haiti, there was no rain when we were there.  However, this year, we had some rain.  The soil in Haiti gets very slick when it rains.  The roads in the village….well, they are not really roads.  We had gone into town and we were on our way back when it started raining.  Our tap tap driver was driving way too fast through the huge ruts in the “road.”  As we were going through the village that was between the town and Hati Coton, the tap tap went into an exceptionally deep rut and we tipped all of the way over to one side!

Remember that a tap tap has benches along both sides of the back of the truck.  I happened to be sitting across from one of our interpreters, who was pregnant, and I fell on top of her! I was so worried that I had hurt her!  She assured me she was ok, and we all crawled out of the tap tap.  In the rain…and the mud.  The very slick mud.  The people from the village quickly appeared and offered to help get the truck out of the rut.  It ended up taking a really long time.  Gordon sent most of our group off to walk the rest of the way to Hati Coton.  In the rain….and the mud.  The very slick mud. Sarah and Greg fell several times, and they were pretty much covered in mud by the time we got to the village, but they laughed it off.  Oh my gosh. Greg. The hat. Thankfully, after this trip, he purchased a hat like Gordon’s and looked much more fashionable.

I had managed to stay on my feet until we were walking through Hati Coton.  I slipped in the mud, my feet went out from under me, and I landed on my back in the mud.  The only thing that kept me from slamming my head on the ground was the backpack on my back.  As I was getting up, I saw some kids from the village pointing their fingers at me and laughing loudly.  I was wet, muddy, my pride and my butt hurt, and I was not in the mood to be laughed at.  I turned around angrily and said, “IT’S NOT FUNNY!” Emmanuel, Gordon’s right hand man in Haiti, turned and said something to the boys in Creole.  I didn’t understand what he said, but since the boys quickly scurried off, I’m assuming it was something like, “She’s a crazy lady.  You better run away before she attacks.” 

This was also the year that there were chickens at the mission house when we arrived.  Sarah named them all.  Sadly, these chickens are no longer among the living.

One day, Pierre, one of the villagers, and his wife, came to the mission house and took the chickens.  Even though they were very stinky, I felt sorry for the chickens, because I knew what was going to happen to them.  The next night, the ladies that fixed our meals served chicken. 

As we were eating, one of the guys mentioned that they saw Pierre bringing the chickens back to the mission house.  Wait.  I had met these chickens?! I couldn’t eat something I had met! I was done eating chicken on that trip. I almost got to experience a cow being butchered on that trip as well, but thankfully, I was advised to turn my head as we approached the area, so I didn’t have to see it.  It was a party in the village that I was glad I had not been invited to.  There were other celebrations that happened in the village.  The entire village attended a soccer game, and the entire village turned out for a trash pick up that Gordon organized. 

Since there was a focus on building a well on this trip, I wanted to participate in this activity as well.  The men in our group and men from the village had been working on the well while we were doing bible stories with the children.  The Haitian men were incredibly strong and incredibly hard workers, so they had made a lot of progress.  I finally convinced one of the men to let me use a shovel. He stood there rocking from foot to foot while I dug up little bitty chunks of dirt and tried to toss them out of a ditch. 

I only lasted a few minutes.  Not only was this REALLY hard, but I couldn’t take the waves of frustration oozing out of this man.  I gave him back his shovel, hung my head, and slunk back to the mission house to find something that I could actually do. 

The fourth year we went to Haiti, we worked on some construction projects and the women focused on women’s ministry.  I was really excited about the women’s ministry.  Some of the women who had been on previous mission trips had very close relationships with some of the women in the village.  I really wanted that.  It didn’t happen for me that trip, but I still enjoyed meeting the women in the village and participating in our bible studies we had with them. 

I love Haiti, but one thing I do not love is the bugs. They have both scorpions and tarantulas. We had to shake out our shoes every morning before putting them on to make sure there were no scorpions hiding in them. I came out of the shower one night to find a huge tarantula chilling on the wall outside the shower.

There may have been some screaming. Our interpreter, Wendell, had convinced me that if I had been bitten, I could have died. Then he did this.

I was shocked until he admitted that he had lied to me about dying, and although tarantulas were poisonous, they did not have enough poison to actually kill someone. Very funny, Wendell. I still kept my distance.

All of the other trips to Haiti took place in the summer. This fourth year, we went at the beginning of November. Voodoo worship continues to be prevalent in Haiti, and there was a group of people in Hati Coton who participated in voodoo. There is a big voodoo celebration at this time of year. We did not feel threatened during the day, but it was a little unsettling to hear the voodoo drums when we were lying in our beds at night. To get to the bathrooms from the bunkroom in the mission house, we had to go outside to the porch, down the stairs, around the corner and into the bathroom. Since there is no electricity when the generator is turned off, it is very dark at night. I have to admit-I was always pretty jumpy if I needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Not only did I have to worry about stepping on tarantulas, scorpions and lizards, my middle of the night trips to the bathroom this year were accompanied by the beating of voodoo drums. I bet Stephen King could write a great novel with this information.

The fifth year was a medical mission.  We had two physicians on our team, and there were three nurses/nursing students.  The rest of us filled in where we were needed.  Most of people on the mission team were going to stay for four days and then they were heading back to the United States. Gordon, two of the young ladies, and I were staying for another week. The medical mission went very well. We spent the first day preparing and organizing supplies.

It seemed like the whole village turned out when we opened the clinic. They couldn’t all be sick, could they? But we were giving out little bags that had soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. so once that word got out, everyone found an excuse to show up.

Greg was designated as the bouncer to try to maintain some order to the process. Notice the more fashionable hat he is wearing this year.

I was in charge of giving out reading glasses. We were giving out free reading glasses, and everyone came in for glasses, whether they needed them or not.

There were some people who actually needed medical treatment, and the physicians and nurses took good care of them.

Gordon provided some entertainment for the children who were waiting.

We did the medical clinic for two days, and then most of the team had to get ready to go home. Gordon was not comfortable leaving me and the two young ladies at the mission house while he took the group to the airport, so we all went to the airport in Port-au-Prince. We said our goodbyes, and then Gordon, Wendell (our interpreter/driver), the two young ladies and I headed back to Hati Coton. This year, the political unrest in Haiti was starting to heat up. On our way back, while we were still in Port-au-Prince, some men blocked the street, stopped our car and demanded that Gordon pay them a few dollars to get through. Gordon told Wendell that he was not going to pay the money and to just keep driving. Wendell hit the gas pedal, and the men in the street scattered. Thankfully, we didn’t run over them. We managed to get to Ganthier without any more incidents. We stopped in Ganthier to get more water. Gordon told Wendell to get out of the car, get the water, and get back to the car as quickly as he could. I had never seen Gordon nervous before, so I was a little freaked out. We got the water, and once we got back to Hati Coton, Gordon visibly relaxed.

For five years, I had seen these mountains, and for five years, I had tried to get Gordon to take us up in the mountains.

I love mountains. I decided that since there were only three of us that had stayed this time, maybe my chances of convincing Gordon to take us were improved. I mentioned it to Gordon in my most strategic way. I got a “maybe,” which is more than I had achieved in the past, so I was hopeful.

We had quite a few supplies left, so one day, we went into another village and did a little mini clinic with the people there.

Since the physicians had already gone back to the US, we were limited with what we could do. One of the ladies who stayed was a nurse, so she was able to do some wound care and we were able to hand out more soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.

We enjoyed serving lunch to the children at school in Hati Coton. Some ladies in the village prepared lunch every day for the school children. They were having fish and rice. They made sure there was a little piece of fish in each serving.

We were able to spend some time in the classrooms. It was fun seeing the instruction and participating in some of the activities. We loved spending time with the kids.

Later that week, Gordon took us into the mountains! Finally, I got to go into those mountains! They were beautiful!

We saw some random horses wandering around, which was a little confusing because we didn’t see any human or homes around.

We did see some farms in the distance, so the horses must have been wandering far from home.

Unfortunately, this was our last trip to Haiti. The next year was 2020 and COVID prevented us from going. The political unrest intensified, and it has not been safe to go into Haiti since then. I really miss the people of Hati Coton and I miss spending time in the village. Life happens at a much slower pace. Coming back to the village every year, I can remember the first evening of each trip, sitting on the porch at the mission house, and just feeling so glad to be back in Haiti.

It was always so hard to say goodbye.

I believe that one of the most valuable things about travel is meeting and getting to know the people that live in the place we are visiting. We start understanding that they are people who love their families and friends, laugh, cry, hurt, go to work and go to school, just like we do. The people in Haiti are really suffering right now. The country is being run by gangs who are stealing, hurting, killing and raping innocent people. While I recognize the need for rules and regulations about immigration into our country, I am hoping and praying that we can all remember to show compassion for all people. I hope that we can remember that the United States was founded by immigrants who came for an opportunity for a chance at a better life. We need to remember that the United States has been a refuge for people who are coming from countries where they are living in horrible conditions, including extreme poverty, starvation, rape, human trafficking, and murder. When we send some of these people back to their countries, we are sending them back to these horrible conditions. I want the United States to be a country that welcomes people of all colors, cultures, religions, and beliefs. There has to be a better way.