3593
Dinner Party Plans
Today we're having two couples over for dinner and photos of my husband's trip to Haiti, Sharon and Eric and Joan and Jerry. Joan has also participated in medical mission trips to Honduras, so she's bringing her photos too. If they are on a disc, we've got a wee problem (my F drive is being fussy and our VCR isn't sophisticated enough or have the right gee-gaws to give us a slide show), but we'll find something. Either my laptop or theirs.

I'm of the "clean once, party twice" school of hostessing. Next Sunday we're having friends who know Martti and Riita (Finland) for dinner and photos of our trip to Finland last summer--Nancy and Bob, and Pam and Dave. Now, because of cat hair, I will have to push the vacuum around again before next Sunday, but I'm hoping I can keep the clutter under control, and not put away the good china.

Today's menu: Sweet sour meatballs, potato salad, fresh asparagus, tender crisp carrots with honey glaze, hot rolls, relish dish, sugar-free, fat-free lemon fluff pudding with fully-leaded St. Pat's shamrock iced cookies from Cheryl's Cookies. I'm thinking of adding a small dish of black beans and rice, just for the theme.

Next week's tentative menu: Boneless pork roast with orange-cranberry glaze, cole slaw, chunky applesauce (home made), probably carrots again, rolls, and maybe chocolate peanut butter pie (sugar free).Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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Trip Tales, Haiti #5

Hugues Bastien has also had a medical clinic built not far from the school. So far, it is not permanently staffed, but medical mission teams are also going there. The day our construction team left for Haiti, we had a medical team returning. Bill, who did all the organizing for the construction group, is married to a nurse, and she returned from Haiti the day he left, and picked up their car at the airport. They are an amazing couple, really committed to the welfare of the people in Ouanaminthe.

Modern medical clinic in Ouanaminthe
Pam, our pastor's wife, teaches Bible at the school, however, she is a trained artist and has done this mural. In Columbus, she had done a number of murals at Highland Elementary School where many of our members volunteer and mentor.
Jesus with the people of Ouanaminthe--you can see the town square in the background of the mural, and the girl is wearing the school's uniform
Friday evening before the team left on Saturday for DR to fly home on Sunday, they had a party for all the school staff and their family members to thank them for the help they'd given the team.
The school choir sang, and that is pastor Dave standing by the stage. Each staff person received a gift bag from the team members--with 1400 students you can see it is a fairly large staff, possibly the 2nd largest employer in the city. In addition to the gift bags, the church also sent down ahead of the team, 200 bicycles to be given to children who didn't have any.
Hugues performing at the party for the staff

Read part #1. Read part #2. Read part #3. Read part #4.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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3518 Technological tics

Did you know no one cares enough about Haiti to make a map? You know, the kind that you fold up for the glove compartment and tells you how far you are from the border? My husband wants one. We've checked with all the bookstores in the city and he drove up to the map store in Dublin, which has closed. Then I checked the OSU map library and I think there were 4--3 topographical and 1 satellite. It's not hard to see why. No one goes there, and all the residents are trying to leave. The government is in shambles and it is one of the poorest countries in the world and it has no infrastructure. So, what cartographer/printer would ever try to make money selling a map of Haiti?

So we scanned the teeny tiny one we had in an atlas. But I didn't notice how many megabytes it was and when I clicked on "print" it came up with something like a bazillion, so my poor little printer has grabbed a sheet of paper and is making a clicking noise every 5 minutes or so.

So I'm sitting in the kitchen with the cat, who is watching the snow melt at about the speed of my printer, using the laptop. Also, when I tried to get into my second Blogger account (which hadn't been moved to the new now out of beta blogger) it reminded me to type in my Google account, which I did, and it threw me back to this dashboard where I have 8 blogs instead of the other one where I have 2. Now I can't add anything over there at mmhs1957.

I sure hope it is finished by morning. I have a really great family photo to show you. It's residing on the other computer. It's possible that both contraptions will work at the same time, but I don't want to push it.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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3511 Trip Tales, Haiti #4

Read part #1. Read part #2. Read part #3. Here are some scenes of the town of Ouanaminthe, Haiti, an area of about 100,000 residents, on the very northeast corner of Haiti, bordering the Dominican Republic.

Women on their way to set up shop at. . .
the market where you can buy food, clothing, art, and household goods
But there are also small businesses in buildings.
The customers of this barber also enjoyed some music.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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3510 Trip Tales, Haiti #3

Read part #1. Read part #2. In addition to working construction jobs, many of the team members also offered special classes for the children at the school--art classes, tin whistle classes, perspective drawing classes and a bicycle repair clinic. My husband taught the upper grades perspective drawing and he says they were outstanding students who caught on very quickly. Most classes had a translator, but one class didn't (the students were all learning English) and he said they had no problem. He'd prepared a multi-page handout ahead of time for the 75 students.


On Friday the children performed with their tin whistles. A red shirt indicated academic excellence.
The bicycle repair clinic was very popular. Bicycles are a major means of transportation.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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3509 Trip Tales, Haiti #2

Read part #1. The mission team's purpose was to help with construction at the school--building platforms for the school rooms (European style with the teacher somewhat elevated) and wiring for lighting. The heavier pieces of lumber and equipment had been coordinated and sent ahead by Howard, who before retirement was a construction manager. The younger men primarily worked with the wiring (crawling around above the ceiling) and the older men built the platforms with help from some local men. The dirt and dust (no paved roads) plus the heat was almost overwhelming, so some of the men had breathing difficulties by the end of the week.

Howard and his crew building the platforms
Lunch was in the main cafeteria with the children--beans and brown rice, or rice and beans, and there was plenty for all.
Exterior of the school
In the U.S., we having vending machines in schools; in Haiti, the vendors set up shop in the school compound.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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3506 Trip tales: Haiti #1

When the team arrived at the airport in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, they were greeted by Dave and Pam, our pastor and wife, who are on assignment there at Institution Univers school, and the school director Hugues. Because it was a large team, they all boarded a school bus, and the luggage went into a truck. They headed for the border between DR and Haiti where they would spend the night--normally a four hour trip. But the truck broke down, so the bus had to tow it, slowing things down to a bumpy crawl, and six and a half hours.
Pam and Hugues

The border between Dominican Republic and Haiti
The day they entered Haiti was Sunday, so they went directly to the school and mission house where they would be living, and then walked to church.

The mission house was very nice with modern facilities including plumbing and electricity (part of the day).
Despite the extreme poverty, the Haitians are a proud people and dress well--the women in dresses and hats, and the men in white shirts and ties--to attend church.
The service was jammed (Baptist Church) and lasted for 2 hours, with a lot of beautiful singing and a full choir.
It wasn't unusual to see partially completed buildings in use. They make the cement blocks or bricks by hand, and when they have enough, the building constuction continues.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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Flight Delays

My husband's trip home from Haiti has been delayed twice, and now the word is, "Don't come to the airport until I call you as we get off the plane." In Columbus, this is not hard to do--it's an awfully easy city to get around in--unless I'm driving. I usually start out about an hour early for this 20 minute drive so I can ask directions after I get lost. I double checked with my friend AZ on how to get onto 670 this morning. She even offered to ride along to direct me, but I think the arrival is a bit too iffy.

However, when I talked to him this morning, not even an unexpected night in New York could dampen his enthusiasm. I asked him if he wanted to go back to Haiti, and he said, "It's not IF, it's WHEN."

Speaking of driving, last week I had another one of those rude men in a pick-up roll down his window and scream at me. And I do mean screaming--his face was purple, my windows were rolled up and the radio was on, but I could hear him. I guess he had been behind me until the stop light for which I had slowed down in order not to rear end the car in front of me. I was driving the speed-limit--seems he wanted to go faster. I just gave him the "Yo mama wears combat boots" look.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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Valentine greeting from Haiti

My husband called tonight to wish me Happy Valentine's Day. He's in Haiti on a mission trip and it's 90 degrees! It's very cold and snowy here, so he picked a great week to be gone. My daughter trudged through the snow today about noon to deliver his card (and one from the cat). He says he's got lots of photos and a thousand stories to tell. Here is the story of the director of the school in Ouanaminthe where the team is working this week. He told me to imagine the worst possible poverty, and it was way beyond that. They have beans and rice and rice and beans for lunch, but supper has a little more variety.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Haiti
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