Off to the Dominican Republic

We have had a substantial break between teams so we were able to go explore!  We took a bus trip to Santo Domingo in the Dominican.  We left from Port au Prince for the eight hour trip.  The scenery was quite amazing and varied.  We have heard that the terrain changes right at the border and it is very true.  The Dominican side is greener than the east side of Haiti. It is also a country of greater wealth. That was noticeable all around.  One day, perhaps Haiti will again be known as the 'Pearl of the Caribbean' in respect to its beauty and wealth. What an adventure entering another country in which we did not know the language.  Interestingly, when trying to communicate in Spanish, our heads defaulted to Creole!  That was surprising.
It was a good time to relax and unwind - it is good to back home though! 
Here are a few pictures of the contrasts that we saw........

Mining sand for concrete with shovels on the Haiti border

 

A village in the same area that makes and sells charcoal
from the trees in the mountains

 

 

Views from our hotel window

Welcome to Two New Teams

It is always exciting to see the constituency of Haiti ARISE expanding......

Meet Bethel Team from Three Hills, AB.  Three members of this team came last year for the first time and went home and started to recruit and plan for this year's return.  That is just awesome!

Meet Impact Kingston Team from Kingston, ON.  This is a completely new team - and they are excited to be here and are having a great time.  The two teams are becoming fast friends!

Horizon Medical Team

We are pleased to have a new medical team with us this week.  This is Horizon Medical from Red Deer, AB.  Also joining them is Jessica (far left) from Edmonton.  Jessica spent 10 months with Haiti ARISE a few years ago.

Rocky Mountain College Team

We have a team of four students and their leader here from Rocky Mountain College from Calgary, AB.  They are with us for three weeks.  This is part of their six week cross cultural trip to have as many ministry experiences as possible.  One of the ministries they took part in so far, is going to our Children's church at Tapion to tell and story and share with the children.

Tapion Children's Church

Teams

We welcomed the teams from Eyebrow, SK and Medicine Hat, AB this past week.  They are small but mighty!

Eyebrow with a Bill and Thomas from Brooks, AB

The Link team from Medicine Hat

Teams at Work

Chad and Bill building cupboards for the kitchen for the duplex
at the Children's Village

The second duplex is being painted by The Link and Rocky Mountain
College teams

Steve and Steven tiling the 1st duplex

Vernon 'on the run'

Olrich

Olrich took tiling at the old Technical School.  He now teaches tiling at the new Tech School and giving his students some practical training at the Children's Village.