Winter Work (and play!)

Not sure if you can actually call it winter down here, but after living here a few years, we can definitely feel a change of seasons...and we are kind of bummed that spring is approaching. I know, I NEVER thought I'd say that! Spring in the Midwest is a beautiful thing, but here it heralds the end of amazing temps and rain, and beckons the hot, sticky days and nights of summer. That's OK! I promise, I'm not complaining! As David recently told someone, you all could come "suffer" down here with us ;). And their answer.. Yeah, you're really suffering Zimmerman!

There's been lots of working going on around here this winter...and a lot of "play" too!

Early this winter, we had a few containers arrive with stuff for solar, etc.  Bob and Mary Honegger from Bluffton have done lots and lots of work with preparing containers for shipping for many, many years.  This was the first time they have ever been able to see one of their containers being opened at it's delivery point!  Thanks Bob and Mary for all your work!!

We were invited to a valentine's dinner hosted by the school kids.  It was a mystery supper, and was pretty entertaining like most mystery suppers :)

This was David's utensil for the meal and he used it like a champ!

Some of the behind the scenes help

A tent!  Such great childhood fun!

Goodfield church sent a work team to help with the renovation of our Medicine Ward...the final ward to renovate!!  So exciting that we are moving from renovation to new construction around here!

Teams usually find time for a little entertainment while they're here.  This team played baseball up at the only flat spot in our area :)  I thought this was a good pic of typical American-ness in the midst of Haiti...not only baseball (isn't that supposed to be a pretty all-american sport?) but the fact that there are SIX baseballs in the game...so that we can keep things moving and not wait for the stray ball to be found. Signs of our culture's concept of time and our abundance :)

Another activity that a lot of teams enjoy is going to visit "Jimmy's bees."  Jimmy is a physical therapy guy who works at the hospital and he's very entrepreneurial.  He has logs and logs full of bees and honeycomb at his home.  We went to visit and got to see how he smoked the bees to make them sleepy, and then let the honey drip out of the honeycomb.  He cut us some off, and we got to eat warm, sticky honeycomb!

We've had several short-term volunteers/interns this winter.  It's been really nice to be able to have people around for longer than a week to work on projects and get to know them better.  Moira and Dr Patty came for 5 weeks and 3 months respectively.  We enjoyed spending a supper with them one evening and getting to know them better.  Moira did a lot of work in our supply areas of the hospital, and Patty is working in surgery, so I get to see her on the mornings that I go work.  

Orrin and Cassia were playing outside one day.  Orrin had his little dirt pile and Cassia of course wanted to play with it too.  Our conversation went like this:

"Mom, I'm not gonna share!"

"There's plenty of dirt out here for both of you."

"NO, there's NOT!"

Another week we had several work teams at once.  We held eye clinics with several eye docs, and also had a cardiology clinic.  They were both very busy and much needed!  David even got to get his eye checked as he happened to have a spot that was bothering him in one of his eyes that week.

One of the docs on the trip was an eye surgeon.  It was his first trip to the hospital, so he wasn't planning on doing any surgeries and hadn't brought any of his equipment along.  But he came across a man that really needed operated on to avoid his eye infection from possibly spreading to a systemic or brain infection.  Kudos to him, he performed the surgery without his precise tools and in a foreign language environment.

Jared spent months working on categorizing our eyeglasses. We received hundreds and hundreds of eyeglasses, and Jared learned how to "read" the lens prescription so they were all ready for when the team came and they could be matched to the right people.

That same weekend, we had a visit from an Awareness Team...people who join a team and tour most of ACHC's missions in Haiti.  We went to Haitian church in Bonne Fin together Sunday morning, had an afternoon service, toured the Hospital, had supper together, and some of us gave our testimonies of how God led us to Haiti.  Also in the day, we gathered our singing group together and sang two songs for the team.  I think that the team enjoyed hearing the songs, and the ladies enjoyed the opportunity to sing to them.

Skype is a great entertainer.  We talk to the Grandma's often, and Orrin can show off his "dancing" or acrobatics, and the grandma's "play" trucks or read books to him.  Here, he wanted to show gma his bedroom.

The kids were sick when we were skyping this time, and it turned out to be a good time to do it...they both sat still, and we could pretend that they weren't dressed because of their fevers....

 The road is getting graded!  Lots of heavy equipment has been showing up around the hospital lately.  The hospital provided some fuel for the trucks, and they helped get the road a little smoother.  Orrin really liked to see all the equipment too!

We went to the beach for the first time in months.  It was relaxing, a lot of fun, warm, and the kids thought it was great!

One day when we were visiting up at the hospital, this lady said that Cassia had been born the same day she gave birth to her son.  She said she remembered that Cassia was born in the evening, and the next morning, I was sitting her up!  Now, this is a big deal around here :)  I didn't know that at the time, but babies are not supposed to be sat up for three months.  Ah well, maybe that's why our kids are crazy and their kids sit still for three hours in church.  Her little guy has been  pretty sick for several weeks, but he's home and better now!

David and I went to town on his birthday, did some errands, ate at a new bistro (so yummy!!) and checked out a "garden" that we have passed so many times but never stopped at.  We want to see what they have for sometime in the future for hospital landscaping, and we were completely blown away by what they had!  They had acres and acres of plots of flowers and plants.  They also had sculpture gardens to walk through.  It was a super relaxing experience, where we could "get away."  We for sure want to go back!!

That trip helped out our little landscaping venture :)  It's not a very blog-worthy picture, but hopefully the plants will bush out a little, and it's an improvement from what was there before :)

Easter! We skipped the sunrise service, and just went to church at the regular time.  Then Platt's invited us up for a brunch...that Toby made all by himself!  It was really great.  Thanks Toby!

It's been a good winter, and we'll see what spring holds for us!!

Thanks, Lord

Some days are harder than others.  Maybe it's the kids getting up before dawn (yes, we still have sleep issues), or the last few weeks of fevers, puking, and lots of gross laundry.  Maybe it's the tilt of the earth that puts us off kilter :) or getting frustrated with a "today-is-not-my-day-to-speak-Creole-day."  Or maybe it's that you can't find your daughter's Social Security card anywhere and you really need it to do your taxes.... This week has had a few of those patience-is-gone kind of days, and so I had to turn my thoughts to what I really don't have to complain about.

Thanks Lord, that we're usually healthy.  That we haven't had the nasty normal winter respiratory crud that comes with littles.  Thanks that Orrin can go swing or play outside all winter long...and I never have to put on coats, gloves, hats, boots, or be cooped up inside for months with an energetic boy that needs to run outside.  Thanks that I have Madam Ino who is a super huge help, and I can leave the baby when she's sleeping and go run up to the hospital or go swing Orrin.

Thanks that David gets to be home every night.  As much as we LOVED his paramedic schedule, it is nice to have him home for every meal, and around every night to help shower kids and put them to bed.

Thanks for the team here at the hospital, that others go to town and get mail, and even picks up random groceries for me.  Thanks for the lady who makes loaves of fresh bread that I can buy, and delivers them to my door!  Thanks for her brother in law who is a tailor, and came and picked up some of our clothes to do some altering....at least I think I'll be thankful when he brings them back ;) Thanks for all the fresh produce that people come to sell just when I need it.

Thanks for all the neat experiences that we and our kids get to have.  Thanks for all the cultural experiences, how the kids will be used to diversity, and maybe even be able to speak a little in another language!  Thanks that we get to go to the beach, that we can eat seafood without going to Maine :)  Thanks that the kids can see chickens and goats and pigs at home.  Thanks that we get to meet people from all over and build relationships.

Thanks for the opportunity to make us think.  About things we never would have given much thought to before.  The past few nights, David and I have had an ongoing conversation about friendship.  At home we just had friends. It wasn't necessarily complicated. Now we wonder... What is friendship?  What makes a friend?  Why am I friends with my friends?  What are my friendship needs?  Who do I want to be friends with?  Who do I want to seek out more of a relationship with?  What role does status (and the difference between rich and poor) have in our relationships here?  What does God want from us in our time here?

Thanks for the TWO MONTHS of furlough that we get every year!  (Need I say more?)  Thanks for the Hospital and how it's progressing!!  Thanks for the times we find a good place to eat or a place that sells apples and lettuce.  Thanks for the fun we have discovering good local food and fun ways to cook with it.  Thanks for an embassy that lets you apply for a replacement social security card :-p. Thanks for the mission organization that we're with and all the people back home that support us.

Thanks for Jesus.  Thanks for being a holy, loving, merciful, righteous God.  Thanks that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  And thanks that we can look forward to that joy for all eternity.

Mission: Renault

I would like to spend a little time talking about some other missions in our area.  The one I'm focusing on today is located in a slum in Cayes called Renault.  A family who lives to the west of Cayes has several missions, and this is one they started several years ago.  

Each Sunday morning, they come to Renault and have a Sunday School for the children.  There are over 1,000 children that come each Sunday.  There, they sing, pray and learn Bible stories.  Some children get to answer Bible questions, and if they get the answer right they can get a new piece of clothing or shoes.  The day we went along and visited, they watched the last part of the Jesus Film, where He was crucified and resurrected.  There is a lot of energy in the place, but the kids are well behaved, as they know that if they don't, they'll be asked to leave.  And at the end, they all get a bag of rice as they leave. 

(Kind of like Where's Waldo....can you find the white guy :)?)

Scott and Mandy and their family go along most Sunday mornings.  They help provide basic medical care for people who have cuts, worms, etc.

We really had a fulfilling time going to Renault.  We really appreciate how the whole mission was carried out.  The kids come in whatever clothes they have, and a lot are barefoot.  In a country that is so incredibly poor, it is so frustrating when people tell us they can't go to church because they don't have good clothes or the "right" shoes.  Here in Renault, there is no expectation of having to dress up in order to hear the Word of God.

When the Wray's started coming to this area several years ago, they weren't always welcomed.  But as time went on, people have become accepting and more welcoming.  And you can see results.  Kids who are praising Jesus, kids who know their Bible stories, families who get rice to help feed their families for the week, and hair that is no longer orange from malnutrition.  As someone said, most of these kids have no real "hope" in this life of making it out of the cycle of poverty that they're in.  Most will never leave Renault.  Most will never have an education, or a nice house, or a good job.  Most will just survive.  But if they come to know Jesus as their Savior, then they have a hope for the life to come.

Recently we came across a couple YouTube videos that the Wray's have made of the Renault kids and their mission.  They're pretty neat.  Check out "Sunday School in a Haitian Slum" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmRJV63jTk0.  Then look for "Camp Mahanaim - Renault Children, July 2014" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYXl-XMYAh8.  This one shows the mission where the Wray's live and share the gospel through sports.  The song in this video is "Kings and Queens"....such a moving song, written by a group to help an orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti.  I could listen to this song every day.  It's so neat that these kids could have some fun, bright spots in their lives that they probably don't get very often.  

"Break our hearts once again

Help us to remember when

We were only children hoping for a friend

These are the lives that the world has forgotten

Waiting for doors of our hearts and our homes to open.

Boys become kings, girls will be queens

Wrapped in Your majesty

When we love, when we love the least of these

Then they will be brave and free

Shout Your name in victory

When we love, when we love the least of these

When we love the least of these."

-Kings and Queens, Audio Adrenaline

Lost in Translation

I just realized I forgot to share a funny story about when we were in Dumay...which shows how a little translation problem can get you into big trouble!

One day at the church conference, some of the Pastors received phone calls that there was a shooting in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets, which is basically a suburb of Port that you go through to get to Dumay.  It was stressful for some of them, as some of their wives were shopping in the market that day, and others live right next to the market.  I never heard that anyone they knew was hurt, so that was good.

We had some guys who were working out at the church at Tahmazoo that day, and so we called them and told them the situation and that they should try to avoid that area on the way home that night.  My recreation of the situation is the conversation went like this: they told the translator, "Someone was shot in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets and so we don't want to go there on the way home."  The translator told the driver, "They want to go shop in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets on the way home."  Yikes!

It was when they were right in the middle of the area, with people from a funeral procession all around them, the vehicle stopped, that they figured out they were in the exact spot they didn't want to be!  They told the driver, but the driver was upset about not being able to drive, that he got out of the vehicle and started getting into it with some people outside.  The guys inside tried to keep a low profile.  It all worked out and they got home safe, but they for sure got "lost in translation" that day!!

And a few funny Orrin quotes from Dumay:

One evening, Orrin went out to the porch where David was sitting.  "Dad, I think mom wants me to have a Coke."

Every chance he would get, Orrin would go up to the toolshed with other people to see what was going on.  He was up there for a little bit and when he came back, he heaved a big sigh.  "It was a long, hard day at the toolshop!"

Sharing "Our Haiti"

Several weeks back, I told Orrin that Gpa and Gma Zimm were going to be coming to Haiti.  "Our Haiti?" he asked.  Yes, our Haiti, bud :)  It's pretty exciting to get visitors from home to come see "our Haiti" and we were super thrilled to get some more this past week, pulled together on short notice.

When we were in Dumay, David was scrambling to get some more workers together for the second week of the solar install project (more on that a different post) due to some various reasons including a family emergency making some other team members unable to come.  So...he asked Lucas (who was in Dumay at the time), "Do you wanna come back to the Hospital in 3 weeks?"  I was like, Why are you even asking him?  That's just crazy.  But we were really excited when he let us know he could come and also had several others from home that wanted to come too!  The group ended up being Lucas, Arlen, Jaylin, Tim and Myra.

They came in on Saturday evening, and we had church Sunday.  They hit the work Monday-Wednesday (that's all I can say now, it's top secret :) ) and finished up Wednesday at lunchtime!  We were able to hang out a couple times in the evenings and that was a lot of fun.  Cassia got to stay up late and she was finally so tired one night, she just laid down on the floor :)

David couldn't believe that it had all come together so well, and he kept going on and on about how awesome it was for everyone to come, and how God just really worked everything out for everyone to come on such short notice, and he was so thrilled how fast the work got done, and it was so great to have people from home, and how we hadn't all known each other super well before but we got along great, and how he really hadn't thought that the project would be getting done as fast as it had, and....for the first time ever, I about pinched him to tell him to stop talking.  But I guess that shows how much it meant to him to have the people from home come and help out and spend time with us.

There were so many people at the guest house that week that we were able to keep Tim and Myra at our house!  It was really nice to have some company in our home.  Myra went up to help out but she also spent some time with us at home, which helped my (would have been) week at home alone with the kids go way better.  Orrin really enjoyed the company (and Myra's phone :) ).  

So, thanks guys for making the huge effort to come to help us out.  I know it was really short notice, but you blessed us so much.  Other than a hike to the hydro, we didn't go out and do a whole lot of sight-seeing since this week was really focused on the project that had to be done, but it was really great to have some people from home to come see how we live.  Thanks for coming and seeing "our Haiti", and we extend the invitation to others from home to come see it too!!

Dumay the Third

For the third year in a row, we made it to Dumay to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma Zimm!  David had his first solar install team here and was super busy, and so the kids and I left early to avoid going crazy :) We got in on Tuesday, then David came Saturday.  This year we got to spend two weeks so that was really great!

Dumay seems to be a language gauge each year...it's kind of fun to be able to remember a specific time each year and see how we've gotten better.  My goal from last year was to be fluent by the time we hit Dumay #3, but I'm afraid we're not quite there yet.  If it's a conversation between me and someone else, I can usually follow most of what's being said.  But if it's long (no pauses) or between two or more other people...I'm still lost most of the time.  I think the next step is to work on just thinking in Creole, not trying to translate it into English to understand what's being said.  One thing that's been good for me was when someone related language learning to a puzzle....at first you have all these random pieces that you start putting together...it's so fragmented and unrelated, slow and frustrating.  But then the closer and closer you get to being done, the faster it is to find those missing pieces.

We got in on a lot of celebrations this year, including Dad Z's 60th birthday, and Dad and Mom's 40th anniversary (on an island in the Caribbean no less! :D )

The first week was a really big team, and there were lots of projects going on:  work on a church in Tahmazoo about an hour and a half away, building trusses at the compound to be taken out to the church, putting up a house and roofing it, getting a house built for a man who will be taking care of raising chickens, working with his well, putting together a solar power system to be able to run the well for the chickens, lots and lots of painting, and finally trying to figure out WHY the radiator cap was off of the generator.  ("Yes, yes, it will be back tomorrow.")  I don't think it ever showed back up, and we had quite the power issues through the weeks. :)  Anyway, this big group got a lot of work done, and we had a lot of fun seeing people we knew and making new friends!!

Matt made his signature thin pancakes for breakfast several times, and always made a special Mickey Mouse one for Orrin.  He was a little zoned out this morning :)  A month or so before, we told Orrin that we would make him pancakes for breakfast if he sleeps in his own bed all night long (no sneaking in in the middle of the night) because he wanted pancakes every morning, and it seemed like a good bribe.  It took a few nights, but it finally worked.  One time we had some company overnight, and he was wailing because he was going to have to sleep in our room and he wouldn't get pancakes in the morning :)  We were really enjoying making pancakes every morning, but in Dumay he slept with me in a bunk bed for two weeks, and he still got pancakes in the morning, so we're in the middle of retraining again.

So beautiful!

The chicken house with solar panels!

Orrin doing his "tricks".  This boy loves to be upside down :-P

One day some of the guys needed to go into town for some supplies, so I went along to translate.  I don't know that I was terribly helpful, but we did find what we needed, and as usual it took alll day.  We even found a solar store that was right by the hardware store that we normally go to.  It was a really good find, and they even delivered the stuff all the way out to Dumay the next day.

Saturday we went back into Port to get some more supplies and pick up David.  We got ready to leave, but we couldn't for about an hour because the bus was stuck behind a padlocked fence, and Tutu had went off to Tahmazoo with the keys.  Does Claude have keys?  No, Claude does not have keys.  Does Pastor Nathan have keys?  (Wait 10 minutes).  Can someone please find Pastor Nathan!?!?  Finally Ted got a really good idea and just pulled the gate off its hinges and moved it out of the way.  Now we could get on our way :)



We picked up David, and did our shopping.  Here are two shopping scenarios that we had that day:

The first was the hardware store.  We found some of our stuff.  Do you have electrical boxes?  The ones that belong right here??  No, we're out.  You don't have any in the back?  No, we ordered them but they're not here yet.  (Slight wail)  I miss Menards!!  We get up to the checkout and they work on ringing us up.  The lady looks at one item and it doesn't have a sticker.  She asks us how much it is.  We don't know.  Why would we know?  So evidently it is our job to go find out.  While David is checking that out, the cashier starts ringing up the things of the people in line behind us.  David gets back with a piece of paper.  We wait until the people behind us finish paying, and then we can finish checking out.  (What!?)

We went across the street to a new supermarket, called Giant.  It was simply amazing.  We could not believe our eyes when we walked in.  It was so beautiful.  And so clean.  And so bright.  And had so much good food.  Apples.  Lettuce.  Avocados the size of watermelons.  Ice cream.  Steak.  Spinich dip and tortilla chips.  More than 6 options of cereal.  Did I say it was beautiful??

David got in on some work on Claude's house, and we had fun putting a roof on it.

Cass was giving Grandma snuggles, and she started blinking before I took the picture to avoid the flash :)

Yeah, the kids got a little spoiled by all the candy and grandparents :)

Matt and Cassia, off to work!

Cassia wanted to be outside allll the time (as usual), but she kept picking up rocks and eating them.  And she wasn't walking yet, so this was not so great.  Finally she just got stuck in the pack n play outside where she could watch all the people going to work, and the kids going off to school.  Orrin thought it looked fun and joined her.

The kids also got to interact with the local kids a lot.  Mom said, the kids kept asking "Is Orrin coming?" before we got there.  White babies are a novelty there :)  Orrin got a little cranked about all the kids touching him, but sometimes he could play without getting upset.  One day some kids came back from school early.  It must be the time of the school year to send kids home if they aren't paid up.  They sat with us on the guest house porch and wrote english words in chalk.  I think they got a good lesson for the day, even if it wasn't in school.  Here are a bunch of kids all looking at Cassia through the door at the guest house :)

The trusses got finished, and then came the problem of how to get them taken out all the way to Tahmazoo.  First was the loading process, which was a lot of fun :)

The guys spent a lot of time getting the load stabilized and supported.  It was loaded in the church yard, but the truck was pointed right when it needed to go left to get onto the road.  Unfortunately, the driver got both of his back tires into the little drainage ditch running along the road at the same time, instead of backing up and taking it at an angle.  It didn't work out.  The truck got stuck good and tight.  There was a lot of effort put into getting it unstuck, and after about an hour, it was on the way.  It was a slow trip, but all trusses made it out to Tahmazoo safely.

The second week work team.  This week was a lot smaller, but continued on with most of the previous week's projects.  Some of the team came in later on in the week, to come to the Bethel Church conference.  The conference went on for about four days and was a really big event for the community!  Our church ministers came and shared a lot of topics from the Word during the day. In the evenings, there were services with a lot of singing and a sermon.  The choir (which has grown to about 120 people) sang the Hallelujah Chorus.  It was so amazing.



Although we never personally made it out to the Tahmazoo church, here is what it looked like in the process.  A big ol' project!!



This week, the chicks came!!  Cassia loves chickens, and so she was pretty excited to watch them.

We didn't have as much fresh fruits this year, but we did get some good mangoes.  After cutting them up to serve for dinner, we left some of the pits for the adventurous to eat "the Haitian way."

There's a big fence going up around the property (in the background) and these guys were working on making a gate to put in.  They said there's a reason they're farmers, not carpenters :)  Everyone got to use their talents, and some people used talents they didn't know they had ;)

The church got painted, and David was chosen to paint the top part and the cross.  David says this picture looks like something you'd find on a redneck site :)

One night some kids came back by the fence behind the guest house and just sat down and watched us.  David thought it would be a good idea to show them how funny this was by going over and just sitting in front of them.  Matt joined him and so they sat and looked at each other for a while :)

Sunday was the big day of the conference.  Everyone was dressed up to a "T".  These kids are some that usually come to the guest house after church.  They were all so dressed up.  Then there's Orrin :)

My goal for the trip was that Cassia would learn to walk by herself.  Little stinker has been able to for so long, but she was scared to let go of my finger.  She finally performed for the grandparents, and she figured out she loves the freedom!