We have been on the go since day one. We landed and as usual had a crowd around us at the airport, but this is the first time that I think our group was bigger than the crowd around us. With 28 people in the group and several of them football players we looked like we had 50 or so. We got loaded up and headed toward Jacmel. With a bus, 2 vans and a utility truck. On the way we had a few mechanical problems but it went relatively smooth.

Friday morning we get up, eat and then the majority of the group headed down to the orphanage to pour the roof. Boss was not sure that was a good idea with as young as the group was but after a couple of hours he was very pleased with the work. The roof got poured in one day. It was very hard work and it was extremely hot but well worth it. The football players did a great job and you can see the respect they have for coach.

Saturday the boys thought they were going to get a rest but we started on 2 of the three house. One of the houses had a long distance to carry the sand, lime, gravel, block so we divided the group up accordingly and went to work. Again it is so very hot! We are working hard on keeping them hydrated and with some food to keep up the energy. We had a couple of boys that worked themselves a little to hard and had to rest but another great day of getting foundations put in two houses.

Sunday we all got to church and it again was very hot and the church was full. It was a great service Lee and Coach got to speak and introduce the group. After church we loaded the group (28 people), 11 of the orphans, 2 interns, and Rachel, Lallene and Suz all went to the beach. Everyone had a blast!!!!! The kids big and small played and played. The adults had as much fun watching all of them as the little kids. We stayed for two plus hours and everyone was very tired when we got back.

Monday was an early morning. We got up at 5:30 to try and beat the heat. (ha, ha, it was 86 when we got up and by the time we got to the work site it was 90. We checked the temp at 9:30 and I will let you guess what it was. It was another great day filled with working hard and sometimes playing harder with the kids. Each day at one of the sites we have had 10 to 20 kids helping. Most of them worked very hard and as with the big kids played even harder. It was as mentioned very hot and by 1:00 we were all getting very tired. To finish off the day we took part of the group to the tent camp. I hope to get some of them to comment on the trip but I can tell you nothing has changed since last month. I heard one person say that it was one of the saddest things they have seen.

Please keep watching for updates. I hope to post them sooner. Having a little trouble with Yahoo.

For the Love of Haiti

Chuck Heinold