Bondje Beni Ou! (God Bless You)

Day 5

Today was the hottest day of the trip by far! And the longest shooting day of the trip. I think it was around 98. The day began as a group of people were sing the most beautiful song at 5:00. I just laid there in bed listening. I knew I should have tried to at least jump up and get audio of it, but it was a little early for my taste. So I just enjoyed the song.

The first thing we did today was visit one of the other churches in the district. It was a short ride so we sat in the back of the pickups. That was a bad idea. Very rocky roads without cushions does not a comfy ride make.

The name of the church was Malaya. It's a very small church but it has a lot of heart. From a video perspective, it was a beautiful church. They are about to begin to build a new building, though, because the one they have is very close to breaking apart.

The people in the church greeted us with open arms and wide smiles. We all did our greetings again. This time I remembered my daughter!! (See honey, told you I'd make it up to you!) After the service, we handed out candy and toys to the kids. Never under estimate the power of a pixy stick.

Do you remember the goats I talked about yesterday? Well, there was another goat that was already at the church. All the goats we donated were female. But this one was a man and he was out of his mind. The poor guy was tied up, and there were 20 female goats just out of his reach. He seemed a bit frustrated.  With the look in his eyes, he was dubbed "Don Juan de Haiti".

Later on, a group of us went out to another district church to install one of the water filters. Now, I thought that in Dame Marie, we were in the middle of nowhere. Turns out that I was wrong. We were actually 40 minutes east of nowhere.

At the pastors house, we installed the brand new filter. These filters can supply the water needs of a family of 10 for 10 years! That's efficiency!

While we were waiting for the first bucket of water to filter through, we were standing outside under a papaya tree. I looked up and saw a ripe papaya. I casually mention how yellow and ready it was. Next thing I know, a guy comes over with a pole and knocks it down for us!

That was the single most incredible papaya I have ever had. Jeremy took a picture of me with papaya all over my face! Thanks pal!

One of the other members of our team had been saying he wanted a fresh coconut all week. Pastor Glass mentioned it after seeing ripe coconuts around. Then we hear a few thuds. So I grabbed the camera and ran towards the sound.

Up at the top of a 75 foot coconut tree was a 70 year old man knocking down fresh coconut! They sliced them open with their machete creating a small hole, trough which we drank the coconut water. (A side note....Kris has ALSO always wanted to go on Survivor. He wanted to audition for the first season. I (Darcie) talked him out of it!)  All I can say is "ridiculous"! Once the water was gone, he fully opened them and we ate the meat. Best coconut ever!

By the time we got back, we did not have enough time to go and visit some of the widows who live in town. That was very unfortunate because Pastor Glass has a huge place in his heart for them.

Around 5, some one noticed that Don Juan was missing. Then dinner rolled around and we found him again. Don Juan is now Don Gone!

Later that evening we started our farewell service. It was a bitter sweet service. They were very happy to have had us for the week. But we were all sad to be saying goodbye. We each got up and gave our thank you's and goodbyes. Plus we, as a group, sang a few songs for the people of Dame Marie.  We all discovered throughout the week that we all love to sing. So we thought that it would be nice to share God's gifts to us, with them.

Pastor Glass' message was fantastic. I felt bad, though, because it was late and most of the kids conked out. One of them fell asleep on Jeremy.

After the service, we were greeted by most of the congregation. They all gave us there goodbye and "Bondje beni ou" (God bless you!)

It's sad, it's our last night in Dame Marie. Tomorrow we shove off at 7 so we can try to get over the mountains before they close the roads for blasting from 12-6. We are headed for the retreat center in Zongalay. We will be there for one night, then a night in Les Cayes, then we jet on home.

I will miss everyone here and all the things we did together. But I am, however looking forward to seeing my family, a hot shower an my own bed. Until tomorrow, Bondje beni ou!

Lunchtime!

Jaka, or stinky fruit - tastes like fruity gum!

Last morning in Dame Marie.

Kris King
www.EVideoProductions.net
kris@evideoproductions.net
www.twitter.com/evp_Kris
www.facebook.com/evideoproductions

Rule #1: Always Carry a Flashlight

Day 3

I woke up today at around 5 am to the bleating of sheep, crowing of rosters, clucking of chickens and the banter of the Haitian women who prepare our meals, in the dark, outside, with just charcoal. They are a cheerful bunch who are full of the Holy Spirit and a zest for life unmatched in my 36 years.

It was dark as I went outside. It's amazing just how many stars you can see when there is no light pollution.

Breakfast consisted of a pumpkin based hot soup. Not what I would normally have ordered out, but man it was good!! There is also fresh squeezed lemonade at every meal. Kinda like boardwalk lemonade only WAY better.

Then it was off to Sunday morning church service. This was something I wasn't prepared for. I knew it was coming, but it knocked me over like a strong gust of wind. At the start of service there had to be 400 people in the church. Then more came, and more, oh, and more! They kept bringing in chairs to keep up with the arrivals. They filled the aisles and people even sat in the window sills.

The Haitian people like their service loud!!! Rocking band and loud singing. Just imagine what 500+ people singing in a language you barely understand is like. Hands waiving, people feeling the Spirit and general love and happiness. Just amazing... and the footage is incredible.

Then we were asked to give our personal greetings. This is something that is a tradition in Haiti. Each one of us stood up in front of all those people and introduced ourselves and gave greetings from our church and families. I have got to give Krissy props though, she did hers completely in Creole! She got a standing ovation for her efforts.

Note to self: learn Creole.

When I did mine, I gave my greetings from my church, my wife Darcie and then I played the message from my 7-year-old son Ryan that I recorded on my iPhone. The congregation loved it! I got so caught up in listening the the translator repeating what I was saying, I forgot to mention my daughter!!! Sorry honey! I'll make it up to you at the other district churches we will visit.

The service lasted three hours. But it was so engaging and emotional, I didn't even notice the length. I only realized it was going that long when my battery on my camera began to get really low on power. Somehow my arm never got tired holding the camera for that long.

After a tremendous lunch where we exacted our revenge on the chickens, roosters and goat, we took a couple of footballs and frisbees out onto the street. Within seconds kids were coming out of the woodwork! They were everywhere! One of the group members, Joe, seized the opportunity to talk to the kids about Jesus. Then we chucked the footballs and threw the frisbees with the kids for a while. It's actually easier to teach a kid how to throw a football without speaking the same language than you'd think it would be. When you speak the same language, you tend to over complicate your direction. When all you can do is pantomime, there is a lot less garbage in the message.

The one thing I have noticed is that Haitian people's eyes are so expressive. When I zoom in tight to these children's faces, you can almost see what they are thinking. Then when I turn the LCD panel around, their faces light up and they giggle.

Then we took a stroll down to the beach where I was able to get some great footage of the shoreline and some of the tin houses that are typical of Haitian architecture. The shore is littered with conch shells. Conch is a staple food here and it's really quite good! It's kinda like shrimp and scallops got together and had a tasty delicious kid.

Sunday afternoon we were on a break and we were sitting in the shade relaxing when we heard drumming off in the distance. It was getting closer so we ran out to the front of the church to see what the ruckus was (can you describe the ruckus sir?). And that, my friends, is why I always have the camera in my hands.

Turns out their Carnival (car knee val) is coming up soon. It's actually a voodoo carnival. Voodoo is the biggest religion in Haiti.

Sunday evening brought us our second service of the day. This time there were more people if you can believe it! Best part of the service was when the generator that supplies the church and parsonage's power, took it's ball and went home. Everyone just kept on singing a cappella.  It was really cool. Little cell phone flashlights started popping up all over the church plus I had my flashlight in my pocket. (Thanks honey!!) You tend to start carrying it around when the power comes and goes as it pleases. Just ask me about seeing the footage when I get back.

This place just blows my mind every time I turn around. I could live here. It's that awesome. Although I can't wait to take a shower that doesn't consist of a bucket of cold water and a cup.

Kris King
www.EVideoProductions.net
kris@evideoproductions.net
www.Twitter.com/evp_Kris
www.facebook.com/evideoproductions

If you have a message you'd like to get to Kris, please email darcie@evideoproductions.net and I will get it to him! 

Video with a Mission

E Video Productions is making our first international trek.  From February 3rd through February 10th, I (Kris) will be in the country of Haiti.  I know, I know, you're saying to yourself "Haiti, who in their right mind would want to go there?"  It's a missions trip with my local church.  I have been asked to go along and document the entire trip.  We have also been asked by the overall ministry that is supporting our church, RMI (Reciprocal Ministries International), to cover some of the other things that they do in Haiti for promotional and fund raising purposes. 

This will be, by far, the most exciting and nerve racking shoot I have ever been on.  But the funny thing is, I was more worried about how I was going to charge my camera batteries than the fact that I have to look for tarantulas when I go to shower in the morning.  The spiders don't bother me, but the lack of power does.  Is that weird?

I won't just be shooting video while I am there, though.  First and foremost, I am there on a missions trip with a purpose.  We are bringing along water filtration systems to the people of Dame Marie, Haiti.  Each system, which runs about $95, will fill the water needs of a family of 10 for 10 years!  That's impressive.  We are also, with the help of many generous individuals and corporations, providing 16 goats to the families there, not sure how they are gonna fit in the overhead compartments! Thank you to everyone who donated.

Well anyway, keep checking in on this blog through out the week for more updates on all the things that we see and so while we are in Haiti.

Kristopher King
http://www.evideoproductions.net
Facebook: evideoproductions
Twitter: @evp_kris
Youtube: evideopr