Colin Hall
Hi there. Colin Hall here. This is my first travel blog. I thought it would be a good way for friends and family to keep up with me (and to keep up with myself).asucolin
I hope you enjoy.
Much Love,
Colin
Travel Blog Posts
July 8th 2011
I have had a week now to reflect on what I feel was the trip of a lifetime. It was a hard decision for me to decide to do this trip. It was a sacrifice of money, time away from family and pets, and a lot of vacation hours. In the end, I feel this is on the top 5 list of things that I have done. I discovered a great group of 10 friends. I hope that we stay in touch. Each brought something unique to the table. I learned how to converse with other people despite language barriers. I met 2 Haitians I feel I will always be linked to. I found out that they are not too unlike me. I learned that you do not need material wealth or objects. You need friends, ... read more
Goodbye Petit Groave and back to Port-Au-Prince
Published: July 1st 2011Central America Caribbean » Haiti
June 30th 2011
Today we got up and were able to ease into the day. After breakfast we packed up and waited for our rides. I tried to show Kissmer some good music on my ipad. He has been singing Backstreet Boys and Beyonce all week. I showed him Sam and Dave "Soul Man" and Bruce Springsteen. He seemed not so interested in either. We set out to reach the Baptist Mission. This area is way up in the mountain region. It was a lot cooler up there, however it took over 3 hours to get there due to the traffic in Port-Au-Prince. I liked our area in Petit Groave so much better due to the slower lifestyle and less traffic. We arrived and found a restaurant with burgers and sub sandwiches. This place really hit the spot! French ... read more
June 29th 2011
Today was a rather emotional day. We were all weary, but we knew this would be the last day of work. The mixing of the concrete still amazes me. No cement mixing trucks are present. They pour gravel into a pile, they then mix the white powdery rocks, they pour water on the pile, and use a mixing technique with the shovels. I helped to shovel and mix the water in. We created another bucket line. We then filled the buckets with cement. The foundation was pretty full of cement by the time we left for the day. I mentioned to Kissmer that I would like to try mangoes. They brought a giant pile in. I cut and peeled the mango with my swiss army knife. The mangoes were sweet tasting and a strange stringy texture. ... read more
June 28th 2011
Oatmeal and hard boiled egg greeted me this morning. The gravel was very rough to dig at the site today. Duct tape came in very handy as well. I tried Sugar Cane for the first time. A man had a wheelbarrow full of them with a machete to chop it. It was very tough to chew, but the juices were sweet. You have to spit out the actual cane. One of the foremen "Samuel" is a very stern character. He got onto his son Emmanuel for being too close to dangerous areas. He swatted him with his gloved a few times. It was kinda sad. All of the other workers have been awesome. The two girl-workers were dancing and grooving to the Tuesday service we heard in the background. Five minutes later Samuel was laughing with ... read more
June 27th 2011
Today we worked from 8-12. We finished the dirt shoveling on the foundation. We started to use the metal ties on the rods around the foundation. The Haitian workers were very patient with us when showing the proper way. We caught on the new process rather quickly. We came home for lunch in order to wash up. Cholera is a big risk here. Some of the locals feel the UN brought it in to poison the water system. Two hours later we went back to work. The afternoon was particularly hard on me. We shoveled gravel and transported it via wheelbarrow to a pile which will later be mixed with water to make concrete. I am a tad sunburned and my clothes are soaked with dirt and sweat. I can feel us getting closer to the ... read more
June 26th 2011
We got up and had breakfast. It was mainly the same food we had been eating. The one exception was hot dogs? We think this is the equivalent of sausage for them. We all got dressed up and went to church. This is the same church we had been working on (the library portion). Eglise Methodiste D'Haiti. The service lasted 2 1/2 hours. We tried to follow the translation best we good with the help of Tutu and Haiti. Today is Haiti's Father's Day, so the sermon was basically about how father's should act and their responsibilities. We introduced ourselves in front of the congregation one buy one with the help of the translators. I said "bonjour my name is Colin Hall from Little Rock, Arkansas. Thank you for letting us into your home." We then ... read more
June 25th 2011
Woke up this morning to eggs, toast with PB, tang-like juice, and the tasty Haitian Coffee. Some of our team members went to another town and had vacation bible study with 60 or so kids. Most of us went to the work sight for more shoveling and buckets. One of the workers had an I Love Obama hat on. I took a picture and felt it was very interesting. I came back and had some pop tarts and granola bars. Ethan and I took a nap for about 3 hours. We then had dinner. It was another form of a boney chicken, yams, red beans and rice, and potatoes. We then had another devotional by Linda. We also learned words to a hymn called "Sanctuary" that we have to sing in front of a congregation in ... read more
June 24th 2011
The roosters woke me up really early. I heard lots of dogs fighting during the night. My bunk bed was very small. I curled up in the fetal position most of the night, but I manage. The Haitian coffee was very good! (strong). Marie and I went to the airport to pick up Katye. After waiting awhile, Katye appeared.. Mission accomplished! We set out for Petit Goave (where we will work and where Pastor Maude resides). The ride took about 2 hours and was very rapid and bumpy. The driver Daniel stated that he had been driving for 20 years and has never killed anyone. The driving and the trash are two things that have left a mark on me already. We got settled in and got our gear for work. After about a 20 minute ... read more
June 23rd 2011
I got up at 4 AM. My buddy Michael picked me up and took me to the airport. I ended up going through security twice. I apparently checked my bag in the wrong area. Everyone made the Dallas flight except Katye. She got stuck in the security line (I felt so bad for her). She will arrive Friday instead. Maybe God is testing her? I can't imagine he would test a sweeter person. The Dallas-Miami-Haiti connection was not bad. I ate a double cheeseburger in Miami (thinking it may be my last huge meal). There were mainly mission people and national guard on the Haiti flight. The Haiti airport was wild and disjointed. We filled out customs forms and found our bags on the floor (no carousel). One of the zippers on my bags broke (I ... read more
Commissioned - it's official
Published: June 20th 2011North America » United States » Arkansas » Little RockJune 19th 2011
I dropped Shakes (my dog) off yesterday with the parents and rushed back to get to church. Today we were "Commissioned" before the congregation of the contemporary and main services..... Today we commissioned a mission team serving our brothers and sisters in Haiti (June 23-July 1). Please hold the team members in prayer: Linda Buchanan, Holly House, Rachel Syler, Mary Lewis Dassinger, Marie Kayler, Rhonda Syler, Katye Dunn, Ethan Lewis, Colin Hall, Lisa Lewis... read more
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