On April 25th, I had the opportunity to visit the earthquake-shaken country of Haiti for the second time in seven years. I am sure that you’ve heard all the horrible stories of loss of life and devastation. An official number indicated that about 230,000 lives perished in the earthquake. I witnessed some of the destruction and injured people as I drove around the city. I have to say that the Haitians have adapted pretty well, since they did not have much to start with, except that most of them still live in tents next to their homes. They are still experiencing great fear of earthquakes and do not trust their homes. Having something to eat does not seem to be a big issue in the country, since there are so many relief organizations, and Haitians normally eat half of what we do. The locals raise some farm animals, such as pigs, chicken, cows and goats. Some of their main food sources are: rice, eggs, noodles, mangos, bananas and coconuts.

I do have to say that there is a lack of shoes in the country as most of the kids and some adults walk barefoot. This is pretty dangerous since there are so many sharp objects and dirt all over. I saw a guy who had a couple of open wounds on his foot and yet walked without shoes for who knows how long. Luckily our medical team was able to attend to his injuries and donate some of our shoes. I saw some "tent cities", as they call them. Some are in good shape and organized, while others lack basic needs. Some are just along the street, covered with dust and surrounded by a lot of noise.

It appears that the rebuilding process is taking baby steps as Haiti lacks a lot of technology for fast rebuilding. Almost everything is done by hand, with little tools available. There are plenty of building materials, such as blocks, cement, rebar and lumber, available at about the same cost that we pay in U.S. This also makes the rebuild an expensive process since their daily minimum wage is only about $4.50.

Haiti has been blessed by the countless number of relief workers arriving at the airport daily. I had the opportunity to greet most of our group at the airport since I was one of the first to arrive, and was pleasantly surprised that more than half of the passengers arriving were relief workers from different parts of the world (Canada, Australia, Sweden, South Korea and others) and especially the U.S.

The purpose of our trip was to construct housing for those individuals who lost their homes to the earthquake- roughly 28 people. Our project was to add a second floor to an existing building and install a roof. Most of the construction done in Haiti is from blocks and cement due to the danger of hurricanes, heat and fire. These are frequent occurrences but unfortunately, they are not the best materials in case of an earthquake. The size of the building was about 28ft x 125ft with 2 restrooms and a kitchen. There are no such things as drywall or interior decorations. Most of the furniture consists of a mattress and a bench. In addition, we installed 2 deep wells for fresh water. One of the wells was drilled next to the building and was equipped with an electric pump, which fills a reservoir on the roof of the building for bathroom and kitchen use. The second well will have a manual pump and will allow surrounding people to get fresh water for free, since water is the number one need for a country where the average temperature year-round is about 90 degrees.

Our team consisted of 45 people, about 25 guys and 20 girls. While the guys worked at the construction site, half of the girls worked with local Haitians and distributed donated items. The other half were part of a certified medical team that assisted Haitians in medical needs, as well as volunteered a night shift at a U.S. hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Please continue to pray for Haiti because they still need a lot of help, both spiritually and physically. Also, if you think that living in the U.S. is hard and not fair, I would suggest visiting Haiti to compare.

Thanks.