TANZANIA!

Hi Eastlakers! 
Here we are, a group of us from Eastlake Bothell getting ready to depart Seattle and make our way to Tanzania, east Africa. We will be in Tanzania for two weeks serving and volunteering for a non-profit called Project Kesho. While we are there, we will be building playground equipment, conducting art workshops, painting classrooms, landscaping, and playing with the kids at three different primary schools. We are also bringing bags and bags of school supplies (some donated by Eastlake kids!), medical supplies, and shoes to pass out to all of the kids. We are very excited to begin this adventure! Please pray for our team that God would use us to our limits, that we would be able to share His love with the people that we encounter, and for safe travels. We will be sending a few updates as we go, so continue to check out the blog when you can. 
Thank you for your support!
- Amie (team leader)

Haiti - Sunday

Yesterday was fulfilling day we started off visiting a home in town for pumpkin soup (soup joumou) that was full of everything and I mean everything!!  After that we headed out to a village called La Pila to a church that was nothing more then four cinderblock walls, concrete/dirt floors and a tin roof and we could have listened to them all day long.  There singing was truly nothing we have ever heard before!  Keep your eyes out for a video.  


Then we took a 1.5-hour ride in to the town of Hinche and we went to the most beautiful waterfall we have ever seen, the waters were so blue it was indescribable.  We took a hike to the top and saw a really cool cave and banana trees.  If hiking in flip-flops wasn’t challenging enough we had children in swarms insisting on dragging us to the top.  After the hike we jumped in and swam to the other side where you could swim under the waterfall and majority of the crew were jumping off the rocks (no cholera it hits with in 12 hours). Then we came back and went to the local outdoor bar that, per Tim is whimsical and a place that dreams are made of. 

Haiti - Saturday update

Saturday was an experience we will never forget.  We went to the market yesterday morning and got to experience if full effect; pretty much organized chaos.  After a corn meal mush lunch with the best onion sauce ever, we headed out to the Haiti Home Of Hope (which is a local orphanage).  We were overwhelmed with emotion but once we saw how well they are taken care of and cared for, we left feeling much comforted and well assured.  The children here will always have a special place in our hearts.  We were all in agreement on the fact that the kids on the street seamed more deprived of attention then the children at the orphanage.  Which goes to show that universally how much of a difference unconditional love, nurturing and companionship can impact lives regardless of culture or beliefs. 

Again, thank you for your continued prayers. 

Written by Kyla and LaDonna

Haiti Update

Friday was a day of new experiences (wondrous and magical per Tim). We started off again with some amazing food, we have at least gained a few pounds if not more.  Friday morning we took a truck out to a well being built and got to help and interact with the community!  Kyle brought paper and we made paper airplanes with the children to help break the ice and they had an absolute blast!  Where verbal communication is limited to non-existent, it’s eye opening to realize how little we need to speak to have a conversation.  A smile and a handshake can go along way.  We took a walk into town and the children were intrigued and happy to join hands with the blans and follow us through town for miles.  Last night we went into town to the local disco and enjoyed each other’s company and interacted with the locals.  While there we met another team from Virginia Tech and they are building the foundation for a private school in town!  Thanks for your continued prayers.

(written by the whole team)

Haiti - Day 2

Day 2 was a very eventful day.  Tim and I went out for an early morning run through the Haitian countryside as the sun rose. It was an absolutely spectacular way to start the day. The food here is so good. Everything is fresh, home grown and full of flavor. Lets just say there won’t be any weight lost on this trip, at least by me.

After breakfast we all loaded up into the back of a pickup truck and held on for dear life as we drove to our well site. The main roads in the city are mostly paved, otherwise its all dirt roads that are incredibly rough. We pulled up to our completed well and started to get ready to paint. There were several people from the community watching us paint, pretty soon the community was there helping us paint their well. It was really cool to see how excited they were and willing to help out. Even the little kids were helping us paint. We ran out of paint just before lunch so we headed back and enjoyed another amazing meal.

After lunch we headed north about 45 min to see a well being drilled. Along the way we past the well site that Tim and I helped build on our last visit. It was cool to be able to share that with the team that’s down here now. We then arrived where Haiti Outreach had their largest hydraulic drill rig. They were drilled down to 150 feet when we got there and were testing the depth for water. They would blow air down the hole to force water out up to 2 feet into the air from the hole. It was a pretty sweet experience.

We then got to tour a massive Clarin factory, which is where they turn sugar cane juice into alcohol to be sold to make rum. We then went to a small sugar cane processing plant where they take freshly cut sugar cane and squeeze the juice from it. It is a very sticky process but we all got to sample the fresh squeezed juice, and it was delicious! Once we returned back to the guesthouse we enjoyed another meal then watched Égalité for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution a documentary about the Haitian revolt over France in the 1800s.

Well, that’s all for now, keep checking back for more updates!

A quick video message from Haiti :)

EastLake Team has Arrived in Haiti!

We have all made it safely to Pignon, Haiti. After 13 hrs of travel time, 3 plane rides, and a brief tour of the city, exhaustion has set in big time. We will be trying to update this nightly with stories and photos depending on our schedule for the day. Thanks for all the prayers!


- Eric (team leader)