First impressions of Haiti

Apart from the most incredible heat which hits you as you leave the airport terminal building in Port au Prince, all other expectations of a country which has suffered that which Haiti has in the past 4 years was much as expected.

Flying in, some of the pockets of severe poverty were immediately visible, the tin-roofed dwellings around La Saline, and though the main tent encampments are now a thing of the past, in some areas they still exist.

Driving through Port au Prince one is constantly reminded of the earthquake.  Many buildings still bear the scars and others still await being demolished.  The rubble and dust from fallen buildings is all around and I wondered how Haitians cope with the on-going reminder of the disaster.  Of course the simple answer is that they have no option but to cope, not helped by the lack of promised aid.  Though figures are disputed greatly, very little of the aid money promised by other countries has found its way to the Haiti people or for their Government to use.  The major use of aid seems to have been in the support is UN forces (who are suspected of being responsible for the start of the cholera epidemic) whose presence my have been initially helpful in creating stability and security, but who clearly live at a standard most Haitians can only dream about, grants to NGO's who often have their own agendas and don't always always work in collaboration with the Haiti people, and in building works which donor Governments insist their own companies get the contracts for.  In the meantime, Haitians are left without work or income!  It maybe over simplified, but I would just want to provide the materials, the equipment and those able to train Haitians to use the equipment and let them got on with it, but hey, I am only an engineer, not a politician!

In the meantime most Haitians in PaP survive by being involved in informal street trading, sitting at the side of a road trying to sell enough to get enough to feed the family!

Water was another interesting issue.  Most utilities collapsed during the earthquake so water is now supplied in bottled form or in plastic bags!  It is quite usual to see locals drinking from a triangular plastic bag, sold by a lad who walks around with a great bag of these it on his head.

In places you have to be very careful where you walk

The gentle breeze of the Spirit wafts afresh through dusty corridors

At first glance, the tired and unkempt façade of this old Methodist Church, stuck in back alleys just out of the town centre of Darlington, speaks of a church just waiting for some crisis to close it.  Having recently celebrated its bicentenary it really does look like a church which has passed its sell-by date and failed to make any attempt to become aesthetically attractive in contemporary terms, not helped I guess, by the certainty of it being "Listed" to one degree or another - it really does beg the question, "Who in their right mind would want to preserve such a monstrosity?"

However, on two Sunday mornings each month the sleepy monster wakes at 9-30 am to the rhythm of contemporary worship music emanating from a hall at the back of these huge premises.  This morning, as I followed the sound of music, I found a good cross-section of ages gathered in cafe-style, tucking into breakfast and chattering happily together in a nicely appointed hall.  It was explained that numbers where fewer than usual as many had gone down to the Spring Bank holiday festival at Cliff College.

However, despite this, the gathered assembly raised their voices in praise and adoration to God to the accompaniment of two guitars, a keyboard, a Sax and a "drum" the like of which I have never seen before!  Even the "more mature" of the congregation joined in with the contemporary worship songs even when we were taught a new one, even joining in with the actions which were led by three children. We were led in a study on the theme of "community" which was linked to Philippians ch 2, with questions for the adults to consider around their tables while the youngsters were in their separate activities.  The theme was well brought together by the young Minister who left three challenging points for is to go away and ponder on with regard to our place within the community of the "church".

The "service" wound up with the children performing a rap they has learnt on the theme, prayers and a final hymn.  Now this is the sort of gathering which, if it were a weekly event, I would be most happy to make a home here - relaxed, friendly, modern, all-age, early enough in the day to allow for other activities.  This is "breakfast@9".

What stood out most was the provision of a simple breakfast at the start (with its echoes of the early church), the cafe-style setting with all words projected on a screen and ….  no offering!  I am sure I heard the tapping of toes from the foundations of this building as it too sensed the rhythm of praise which it must have remembered from former years.

Interestingly two of the "more mature" attendees admitted that they enjoyed it and felt they could more easily invite others to this, rather than the traditional service (which they then went out to join in the main sanctuary)!  It is just a shame that the church does not have the courage to abandon its traditional morning service and support, en mass, this "fresh expression" which is run by others in the local Methodist Circuit.  If they did, then maybe, the gentle breeze of the Spirit's work might blow stronger and bring renewed life to this tired old building, and maybe, renewal to the church.

Blogging restarts

It was 7 years ago that this blog was first started to record thoughts from our first-ever Sabbatical.  It crawled on in a haphazard fashion but was overtaken to some degree by Social Media and a more recent blog which has what I hope is a more inspiring, uplifting and thought-provoking but anonymous content.
However, with Sabbatical 2014 just starting today I am relaunching this one with glimpses of some of what we get up to!