<![CDATA[Harvest For Haiti - Blog]]>Fri, 18 May 2012 10:31:31 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Jan 2012- Day 010 - Art and Interview]]>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:08:48 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2012/01/jan-2012-day-010-art-and-interview.html      This time of year it gets a little chilly at night. By chilly i mean 70ºF. That's the low tonight. It's been really nice thus far. My only complaint is being cold in my hammock at about 5am when the cool breeze picks up outside. I slept in the bunk room last night on an air mattress because i didn't want to face the 'cold'. 


      This trip has been amazing so far.  Last week was a blast with the Jersey guys. I took a lot of great video with them. I'm actually blogging to catch a break from editing some of that footage. It's hard to not over shoot. I know i probably have more footage than i need, but i cant resist whipping out my camera at certain points in the day. I'm gonna need help editing all these different projects. It's a lot of work. Earlier this week i went to the classroom and got some footage of the art classes at the school here at Blanchard. Mark Thesken is a cool guy from Cincinnati, OH that has come down a few times to teach art classes here. The kids eat it up; they love Mark and especially love the break in the day away from traditional academics where they get get to do some hands on creative projects. I'm putting together a small video segment about it. 


      This week has been a little more low key for me because the team that's here now is a medical team, so they have gone to the clinic each day. I took on another project this week on the Micro-Finance Program that HOM offers to Haitians who qualify. The loans give capitol and opportunity to Haitians that want to start a small business but don't have the means.  It's pretty amazing.  I have already interviewed 3 different recipients of the loans and visited their business, which they all run in their homes.  It's pretty amazing. One of the ladies i interview was Madam Veronica, who we build a house for in April 2010. It was actually the very first house built in Terre Noir by HOM after the earthquake. We we got to her house, she remembered me and was excited to see me, as i was to see her. She is so sweet. 

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      We are a little over halfway through this trip. It feels like i live here again; so normal. It doesn't feel like i live in Atlanta. I wonder what my roommates are up to. 

All is well in Haiti… well, sort of…

]]><![CDATA[2012- Haiti Day 001]]>Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:51:23 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2012/01/2012-haiti-day-001.html It's been 6 months since i was last in Haiti.  When i went in June, It felt so normal to be back. This trip, 6 months later,  felt a little less normal as me and the girls took a tap tap from the airport to Blanchard. But after a few minutes back at the compound things started feeling like home again. 

I'm super excited to see all the changes at the Cite Soleil compound as well as Repatriote and Kingdom of Kids Orphanage. The weather has been absolutely perfect all day today. Warm and breezy. And tomorrow I'm leading 5 of the guys from the Jersey team in a roofing project in Cite Soleil. We are re-roofing a house in the slums, just like old time.  I was telling some of them how some of my best memories of Haiti come from re-roofing projects in the worse parts of Cite Soleil. I found my old blog about one of these amazing days Back in my first month living in Haiti, READ HERE.

I'm pumped about the next few weeks. I'll be doing a lot of hard labor as well as some video projects for HOM and Join the Journey. I might even try to blog every night. Stay tuned.

]]><![CDATA[LiL Update]]>Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:05:43 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/07/lil-update.html    Well i've been out of town quite a bit since returning from Haiti. But i'm back in Macon and have been working on the editing process of these video's i'm producing. I've given myself a deadline, so yall should see some results in the next few weeks.  The trip was very good. I got to catch up with a bunch of old friends at HOM and the next week met people from my home church at the orphanage in Cite Militaire.

    I woke up this morning remembering a dream i had last night. In my dream i was in Haiti. Some of my family were there too and we were with pastor Rigaud. At one point in the dream i was driving a truck at night with just pastor Rigaud and myself. It was raining so hard that i lost all vision of the road. I couldn't stop the truck, but i couldn't see anything either. I was so worried about hitting other cars on the road or even building.  P.Rigaud was shouting which direction to steer the car and finally we made it back to his house.  Later in the dream, i was about to leave and walked past a group of Haitian kids playing violins.  It was such beautiful music that it made me cry in the dream... I don't know if i've ever cried in a dream before... interesting. 
]]><![CDATA[Cathedral]]>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:36:34 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/06/cathedral.htmlCheck out the new video blog.
]]><![CDATA[Filming]]>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:24:06 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/06/filming.html    Today is beautiful. The rain has held off. I've been filming and dumping footage just about all day. The project is coming along great. I did an interview with Madam Jacky this morning. She is the superintendent of all schools in the HOM school system.

    Got tons of footage of the kids this morning during their morning songs/prayers/pledges. The kids bring me joy, then reviewing the footage i got brings me more joy. Then viewing it in slow motion makes me cry. Ha. They are such great kids.  So well behaved and fun.  I like being at the school. It's such a positive place in such struggling country.

    After capturing footage for the HOM project, i had a little lunch..rice and beans of course, with hot sauce. I love the school food! So good! Then i decided to head over to Cite Soleil to a little tent village that we do a lot of work in.  Jay from JoinTheJourney.cc is here this week so i did a little filming for him. You might remember Adam from that video blog i did for him and Join The Journey back last summer. So it was good to help them out with a very quick field update for their organization.

    Played with the kids all afternoon at the tent city too. So many kids. You couldn't ever take enough pictures to make them quick saying "Photo!!! Encore! Photo"  here's a few pics from the day :)
]]><![CDATA[Staff for a Day]]>Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:19:12 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/06/staff-for-a-day.html    I woke this morning to BMB handing me the phone with Forrest on it.  Forrest asked if i knew anything about the big tent in Repatriote.  I knew what was coming next. I had heard them talking yesterday about moving the tent from the field at Repatriote to the old slab where the church used to stand, before the earthquake.

    So, I was on staff for today. I led the team of Americans and we moved the huge tent.  It was fun working with Haitians and Americans again. I played translator all day too, that was also fun. I got a lot of sun. I think i'm a little burnt.

    Yesterday when i got here I hadn't slept the night before... except about 20 minutes on the plane. So, I napped for like 4 hours when i got in. But that was only after being stopped every 2 steps by someone i hadn't seen in 2 months.  It was great seeing everyone!

    I intended to film all day today, but the staff was a little short handed. So i've earned my keep for the week.

    The wall at Repatriote looks SOO good. It's huge. This picture won't make sense to those who haven't been down, but its a panorama and shows how much of the wall has been completed. Amazing!

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]]><![CDATA[Fort Lauderdale]]>Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:47:29 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/06/fort-lauderdale.html     I'm sitting in the Fort Lauderdale Airport. It's 3:30am.  I've been here since 8:00 last night. Yeah, Spirit Air has cheaper flights, but you get crazy 10 hour and 19 hour layovers.  I don't mind it though.  It's been weeks since i've been alone. I'm always around people. So it's been nice to be in a different city where i'm not around anyone i know. I've needed this time to prepare my brain for this trip back to Haiti.

    Ft. Lauderdale has a cool airport.  Free Wifi and there are tons of Haitians that work here.  I've talked to some of the cleaning guys and security guards that are Haitian. It's fun to see the surprise on their faces when i speak to them in their language.

    My flight leaves in 3 and a half hours. I needed to be sleeping, but it's just a little difficult. I'm sure i'll passing out when i arrive at Blanchard.  Wow, excited to be back.

    I'm excited for this mission on this trip. I sent this video out to all the people i met in Haiti. It kinda explains what i'm going to be doing down in Haiti over the next 2 weeks. Check it out if you like: VIDEO

    I'm taking down my new camera and equipment and excited to put it to use for HOM and Kingdom of Kids Orphanage. I'm so excited to see the progress at Repatriote and the changes to Blanchard compound.

    Next post from Ayiti!

    Bondje se bon :)
]]><![CDATA[Going Back!]]>Fri, 13 May 2011 00:25:27 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/05/going-back.html    I bought my plane ticket a few days ago. It's official, i'm going back to Haiti in 3 weeks!!! I'm so excited. It's felt pretty crazy these 2 months that i've been home. I've felt this separation between my Haitian life and my American life. I hate that. So i'm super excited to go back to Haiti and spend 2 weeks in a city that feels like a second home.

    I'll be leaving the first week of June and will be in Haiti for a little more than 2 weeks. Here are the main objectives for this trip:

1- To visit all my friends that ive made in the last year living in Haiti. I miss everyone. The Haitians that i worked with and love, the Americans that were a part of the staff i was apart of, the sweet people that we built homes for, the pastors, and the gracious people at the church that was my home for 12 months. 

2- To produce visual media for both HOM and for Kingdom of Kids Orphanage. As a rising film maker i feel like i should put my passions to use for the advancement of God's kingdom in Haiti. I love Haiti, I love making movies, and i love God. So I''m super excited to make some tools for these two amazing ministries to use for fundraising and for expanding their voice to the world about what God has them involved in.  These are noble ministries that i strongly believe in and im so glad i get to go serve them with my skills!!!  :D

3- To join my home church, Harvest Cathedral, in my second week there and do some construction work on the new facilities that are being build in the "jerusalem" region on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

    Keep checking the blog for more updates. Just 3.5 short weeks aways!!!

]]><![CDATA[1st week home]]>Fri, 25 Mar 2011 06:38:27 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/03/1st-week-home.html    I've been home for less than a week. I already feel kinda busy. But i'm not really THAT busy, i think its just he fast nature of the United States and the ability to be anywhere in my town in 15 minutes.  It's great having my own truck! That is until i have to get gas...that's going to suck! Especially since i don't exactly have a job yet. 

    I'm trying to keep thoughts of Haiti in the front of my mind. I've told many people about how i'm feeling since i got home, and its something like this: Being home just feels normal. I feel like i haven't missed anything, and i'm just picking up right where i left off.  My life in Haiti was SO dramatically different from my US life that it doesn't even feel real... it's almost as if it never happened, and that scares me. I don't want to forget what i've learned. 

    Haiti is still there and i'm super conscious of trying to keep thoughts of Haiti close to me in order to never take things in the US for granted.  It's so tempting to become selfish and forget about the need all over the world.  But my mind is prepared to go back to Haiti (i think). As of now i am planing on returning to Haiti before the end of 2011 to do some more documentary film work to get the scenes from Haiti to the eyes of everyone with an internet connection. I've also been in a discussion with another Haitian pastor about the possibility of working for him as a project manager as well as a host for his visiting North American teams (like i was doing for HOM this past year).

    So i am trying to stay open to whatever God wants me to do. I'd like some of you guys that are reading to pray with me, ask God to reveal some direction to me. Not knowing is kinda scary... i don't know why, because im totally cool with moving back to Haiti for another little while or staying in the states to pursue other things. So there's really no reason to be scared, but i'm just anxious to know what He wants me to do.

    I miss Haiti, and the staff and my friends down there.
]]><![CDATA[Two weeks without a blog OUCH!]]>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:07:09 -0800http://www.harvestforhaiti.com/1/post/2011/03/two-weeks-without-a-blog-ouch.htmlPaP ➛ Cap Haitien ➛ Puerto Plata ➛ Sosua ➛ Santo Domingo ➛ Miami ➛ Atlanta ➛ Nashville ➛ Dayton, OH ➛ Nashville

    I've been travelling like crazy for the last week. I'm finally back in the states. Yesterday I was in Ohio at Stephen and Autumns wedding. I can't believe they are already married. Congratulations Stephen and Autumn!!!

    I'm really tired... This afternoon is the first moment i've had to just sit in one spot and relax. I'm staying at my Mimi's house in Nashville and its so quiet and peaceful here. Me and my dad and Mimi all sat on the deck this evening at sunset and just relaxed and talked as the birds chirped in the surrounding wood. I felt so nice after that intense week of non stop motion. Tomorrow i'm heading back to my home town, Macon. I'm excited to see my mom and sisters and bro and nephew. Can't wait.  I'm going to bed early tonight.

    Dear Mom and Dad. I'm home.
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