Help the hurting in Haiti

Alicia and I have been writing a lot of emails to people who want to help in Haiti.  We thank for wanting to help the hurting in Haiti, but I always almost write "thank you for your desire to hurt the helping in Haiti"  Then tonight we realized that "thank you for your desire to help the hurting in Haiti" sounds like they want to help people to hurt. Guess either way can sound bad.

Haitian National Palace

Haitian National Palace
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

We went downtown yesterday. The first time I went there was 4 months ago, I really wanted to take similar pictures to what I took in December. The problem with that is that there are people living in tents where I was standing last time or things are blocked off from us going in.

Mwen vle modem regule, pa vle modem lo

So today we made the trip to get a modem for the internet AGAIN. This is the third time I have gone. So we tell them we don't want the internet until they get a modem. Then they say well we have modems we just don't have power supplies (pa gen power supply) or ethernet cords. Of course. I just laughed and went to Dominos again. Then I searched everywhere for a 13V power supply. We have 12V, 9V all other kinds of Vs. Just not 13. Must be my unlucky number.

Mwen vle modem regule, pa vle modem lo.

I want the regular modem, not the gold modem.

Also just fyi - The CNN documentary about Child Hope will be airing next month. May 8th and 9th at 8PM Eastern Time

Lucas

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. update from haiti from lucas & Alicia We are still here...  Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm really good at updating my flickr and twitter and facebook but if you don't follow my updates at any of those places, it would be hard to get them... We are still here in Haiti - we were supposed to leave on Saturday but 7 days just seemed too short.  We extended it until Monday, but even that is seeming short.  There is so much computer stuff and logistical stuff to do here and things move sooo slowly.  For example, we've been waiting about a week to get a modem for the school so the kids can use it for educational online games.  We've gone twice to this place now, and no modems.  When will you get a modem we ask?  Shrug of shoulders, they answer.  So we have to drive up again to try and retrieve a modem that might not be there.  TIH (this is Haiti).  We've been really enjoying our time here, last week and a half went by so fast.  Alicia has been helping with administrative/team logistics stuff, teaching dance class, helping with the feeding program, and more that I am probably forgetting about.  I am helping with computers/website/communication/photography and helping Child Hope in any geeky way I can.  Here's a few highlights from the past week and a half: Helping out at the computer lab at the new MDL school.  Alicia and I both taught classes - this is the kids favorite class! Seeing the hard labor of people who have come to Haiti to help - pictured below is the wall around the girls home that was rebuilt after the quake. Learning Creole on the street from neighborhood kids Good Friday service on a nearby hill in the ravine Easter Service overlooking Port Au Prince Reconnecting with friends and making new ones There is really a lot more to say, I have been trying to send this newsletter out for the past few days and haven't been able to.  There is so much rebuilding to do - of walls, of houses, of hearts and lives.  Pray that God would be the center of this rebuilding! Here are some ways to get continued updates: Lucas' Flickr set for this trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience/sets/72157623706590808/ Lucas' twitter: http://www.twitter.com/loomtronic Lucas' Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lucastheexperience Alicia's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aliciamaesimmons   Unsubscribe loomtronic.mylife@blogger.com from this list | Forward to a friend | Update your profile You are receiving this email because you know Lucas or Alicia Simmons

haiti wednesday 47-DSC_7181

haiti wednesday 47-DSC_7181
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

pics of cute kids and dental work from today in #haiti

Carribean Market

Carribean Market
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

This is a market I have been to a few times... I was there just a few weeks before the earthquake. Being here and seeing places like this collapsed, especially places where I have been recently. It just reminds me of the briefness of life and how little time we have here...

haiti update

well I have a lot to say... I wasn't able to get online because the router at the guesthouse was major funky until I installed the new one tonight.  it's like night and day... before you had to point your computer in a certain direction and sit in a certain spot.  Now you can get internet all over the house, and I'm guessing it's faster too... my computer wouldn't connect at all to the new one.

anyways... so we got to haiti.  the plane to Haiti had very few Haitians... it was strange... We got to wait at the airport for our ride and practice our Creole for like 2 hours.  The airport is way different.  It's first world now, or nearly... Before you got off and walked onto the tarmac... now you are just in a stinky hallway that isn't air conditioned and you go down some stairs to a shuttle that takes you to immigration.  After immigration you find your bags among a sea of pushing people - they are in a room and there is no little loopy belt thing... they are just thrown on the floor and all over the place.  anyways I was glad to get out of the airport - it's not one of my favorite experiences.  we kind of just hung out yesterday (Saturday) and relaxed... it was a pretty long ride to get here.  I was in the back of a white caged truck on the ride home, so my view of the destruction was limited.  I saw a lot of tents, but I think I am going to go closer to the downtown area tomorrow - which apparently is where it is worse.  It's really great being here and seeing all the kids again, I'm looking forward to what God has for us in this week.

Today I went to church... So of course, my tradition is to purchase a whopper for the pastor of PAP Fellowship... but most of the orphanage goes to a closer church to the orphanage now.  Thankfully one other guy here wanted to go and we got someone to drive us.  I really enjoyed the message as always.  The 3-day old soggy whopper was delivered.  We prepared for this week today, a lot of us will be filling positions at the school that need filling.  I will be supervising the new computer lab and hopefully taking pictures/video and Alicia will be teaching hip-hop dance... And Alicia will be doing some meeting with the staff and working out logistics stuff too!

Well, I wish I had a more exciting update - I do have pictures though which are kind of exciting.  The highlight of my day was probably getting the internet to work on this new router haha. For more check out my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucastheexperience



Alicia learning Creole


The house behind the guesthouse

Haiti

warning.  this blog is not that exciting.

In just maybe 12 hours or so we will be in Haiti.  I don't know if my mind is fully prepared for what I'm going to see.  We've been so busy lately I feel unprepared for this trip in many ways.  I know it's going to be amazing and we will have a greater understanding of what is going on via Child Hope when going.  I just think how bad things were before this and I've seen all the pics of the devastation but I imagine witnessing it first hand is something different.  Our flight to Miami was somewhat uneventful.  Alicia and I pretty much stayed up all night last night doing stuff to get ready.  At 7:30 in the morning we had no clue if our bags were overweight - no reliable scale... so we did the whole weigh alicia, have her pick up a bag and subtract bag weight from Alicia's.  Not a reliable system... we very much guessed and took some stuff out... When we went to the airport they were all under 50 pounds, thank God!  I really am not a fan of the LA - to Miami flight but on this flight we LUCKED out and got the only row I think in the whole plane (in non-business class) with like twice the legroom.  Every other row had the normal video screen on the back of their chairs.  I was bummed to see ours didn't have that... but then I realized the video thing was in the armrest haha.  I fell asleep watching Planet 51 and then watched some documentary on people who were like real Indian Jones.  Otto Rahn searched for the holy grail for a long time and there was some other guy.  Anyways... American Airlines lost one of our bags because we had some construction stuff in there and it had to get some extra screening.  Now we are spending the night at Miami International until our plane leaves tomorrow morning at like 9 or 10ish.  Please keep us in ur prayers!

TR

Green shirt is ready to go.  Like 20 something hours until we go to the airport.  Haven't packed at all... it doesn't really matter.  I packed for 10 days and stayed for five weeks and it was fine.  I somehow even managed without my computer for that long.  Granted, there were a bunch more around me that served the same purpose but still... 

I hope your case of The Resentment is not too strong... The Resentment was born out of a team that Alicia and I took to Haiti.  Their lives were mostly ruined by Haiti in that awesome God way that made it so Haiti was 99% of what was on their minds.  They came back to America, and others went back to Haiti before them.  Thus, The Resentment was born.

keep checking back for updates from haiti

Check out this graph showing searches about Haiti.  

Green Shirt

I'm not a person who gets excited about articles of clothing very easily.  But, one of the many reasons I enjoy going to Haiti is wearing my green shirt.  It's like one of those safari-rei shirts that costs way more than you think it is worth.  The second time I went to Haiti one guy had one and I remember sitting at the one stop, 15  feet up in the air on top of the Manassero's giant white truck - the sun beating down on us - listening to this guy tell us of the wonders of his green shirt.  I kind of thought he was crazy for paying so much for a shirt.  Of course, they come in other colors but the green one is my favorite.  It is even better accentuated by a tan vest.  People will actually think you are a journaliste.  When we were in Haiti for 5 weeks and I came prepared for one week, green shirt saved me.  My other clothes were literally falling apart - but did green shirt fall apart?  No.  Did it stink after I wore it for a week straight?  Maybe a little.  It didn't feel dirty, which is the most important part of green shirt.  You're sweaty, you're icky, you take showers with 4 cups of water (my personal Spartan record) but green shirt is there to make you feel normal.  If you put it under the sink, ring it out and leave it for an hour or two it feels even better in the hot Haitian sun.  Green shirt is waiting in my closet  waiting to be sprayed with Permethrin to repel mosquitoes and is ready to repel sun for me with its awesome built-in UV protection.  Green shirt is even long sleeve, and it doesn't feel it.  Man how can you not have a green shirt if you are going to Haiti?

You may think these are ramblings of a mad man, but you get a green shirt and just wait and see...    

Tan shirt also exists, but eh.

Wow

BonDye li Bon.  Overnight, our trip to Haiti was fully funded.  Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers... It really means a lot to us when people show their support for our trips to Haiti.  We can't wait to be there and share stories and pictures of what we experience with you.  Please keep checking back for more updates you can also check http://www.twitter.com/loomtronic for periodic updates!

Lucas

We're going back to Haiti!

Dear Friends and Family -

It seems like a day doesn't when we are not asked the question "When are you guys going to Haiti?"  Well today, we have some exciting news.  From March 26th-April 3rd we will be going to Haiti!  Immediately following the earthquake, although our hearts desired to go, we were instantly involved in communications for the Child Hope orphanage in the US.  I was obviously working on the Child Hope website/twitter/facebook and Alicia was hired to coordinate relief for Child Hope full time.  Thus, we were stuck in America.

The door has finally opened and we are extremely excited to be reunited with our friends in Haiti and serve alongside them.  Lucas plans to develop new content for the website (pictures/videos/new features) and also help with the computer related issues they are having there.  Alicia plans to meet with the staff in Haiti to develop a better system of communication as well as assess supply and project needs.

We are going with high hopes and bowed hearts as we anticipate encountering the reality of the massive devastation in a country we dearly love.  We are very excited to reconnect with and encourage our dear friends as well as the wonderful children.

We ask that you would pray with us for our trip and for God to guide us and direct our steps.  Please continue to pray for Haiti, the hard working staff at the orphanage and the children there.

Due to the short amount of time we have before we go, and since Lucas works for eDivvy and developed the cool little widget you see below - we have set up an event on eDivvy.com to raise funds for the trip.  If you feel so led, you can support us financially.  Your contributions are tax deductible.



Lucas

Global warming: A surprising name

It seems no matter what side you are on, in the media they are always trying to make things extreme with politics.  Obama is going to destroy the world, Bush is going to do this or that.

Why do they call it global warming then?  That doesn't sound extreme.  Who doesn't like to be warm?  Here are some alternate names I think would have been better:

Global melting

Global incinerating

Global burning

Global it's so hot all the water has dried up and I am dying of thirst-ing

Please leave your other suggestions for me below.

Thank you technology!

Technology saved us so much time after the Earthquake in Haiti.  As most of you know, we do a lot of stuff with Child Hope - here are some ways we used technology to keep us from going crazy.

eDivvy.com - Within about 24 hours after the Earthquake we had a social fundraising event set up.  People could easily tell their friends go to edivvy.com/childhope and donate.  Of course, this was blasted all over twitter and facebook as well.  200k was raised in under a month.

Google Apps
Since the earthquake we have had about 400 people sign up on the website to go to Haiti.  Imagine trying to sort through 400 emails looking for specific skill sets, which is what we would have had to do before with regular email.  What a nightmare.  Thankfully, we just created a google spreadsheet and clicked create form and in under an hour we had a form on our website.  The alternative was some php/mySQL combination that makes my head hurt.  I would probably have more options that way, but I needed something simple and fast and easily shareable.

We also switched some of the key people at Child Hope over to Google Apps mail, eliminating archaic email systems - although we still miss the "You've Got Mail" sound when we login... We don't miss full inboxes.  Processes in email are now automatic and streamlined.

Documents can be shared without having to send attachments and everybody can update documents.

Calendars of important events/teams can easily be shared by everyone.

When Alicia's hard drive crashed - I set her up with another one in under an hour.  Most of her important stuff was in her gmail or on Google Docs already - I didn't even install Microsoft Office, we are going online in this house!  Google Chrome and Skype.  That's all she really needs to work right now.

Skype - Invaluable.  Sometimes email wouldn't even work, but Skype would to communicate with people in Haiti.

We are still looking at other ways to streamline our processes at home and for our friends in Haiti, but these were the ones that came to mind.

Let's Go! - Passport

Let's Go! - Passport
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

Prayer for Haiti

Prayer for Haiti
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

Keep praying for Haiti. Updates and how to donate and help are at http://bit.ly/5WmAdL

Worship and Prayer for Haiti

Worship and Prayer for Haiti
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

We had a time of worship and prayer at our church for Haiti tonight.

We are raising money for Haiti relief. eDivvy.com is giving 5% for everything we raise. To donate and get updates, see www.childhope.org/about/earthquake.html Please feel free to forward to your friends.

Earthquake in Haiti

Dear Friends -

I am sure that you have all heard about the massive earthquake in Port-Au-Prince.  We are trying to get updates from the Manasseros and the others on the ground, but cell phones and other forms of communication are limited.  We have heard from a few different sources that the Manasseros and the kids are all OK with only one minor injury.  This is definitely a huge praise report considering how much this quake hit the rest of the country.  We have also heard that the Manasseros are running a medical clinic out of the boys home. We will try to keep the Child Hope website updated with new information as much as we can.

We so appreciate your prayers, please continue to pray for the Manasseros and all the people of Haiti. 

If you would like to contribute to earthquake relief please go to http://www.eDivvy.com/childhope-haiti.  Your contribution is tax deductible.  eDivvy.com is offering a 5% matching contribution.


Lucas

Art

Art
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience

Flowers in Bergama, Turkey

Flowers in Bergama, Turkey
Originally uploaded by LucasTheExperience