Manna man oh man!

Kris' trip to Haiti will produce around five or so videos. Here is the first one. 

2012 Haiti trip with Calvary Baptist Church - Pemberton, NJ - We delivered over 100 boxes of manna packs to the people of Dame-Marie, Haiti. Manna Packs provide all the nutrients in one meal pack for a family of six for a price of roughly 7 cents a pack.

 

I Can't Wait For The Movie!

Day 7

This was our last full day in Haiti. I woke up after a great night sleep in my own room. I did, however also wake up with a little upset stomach. I put that aside and went down to the gazebo at the retreat center and watched the sunrise.  Chrissy, Alissa and Nicole were already down in the ocean.

I figured, morning swim, that sounds great. So Art and I changed into our swim trunks and headed for the ocean. The water was fantastic. In fact, it was the warmest water I felt all week. The only bad thing about it was the "piranha" that kept nipping at us.  Well, at least Alissa was convinced it was a piranha. (Last time I checked, they were fresh water fish.)

Then some of us decided to take a hike into the surrounding hills. Six of us set off along the beach. I carried the Edna (my camera) along with us. It was quite a climb as we headed up the hill. At the top was the most breathtaking view of the surround mountains and ocean.

We stayed up there in the sun for a bit and then decided to head down the other side of the hill and wrap back around. Then it hit me. I began to get light headed. Gary, the RMI rep gave me his water and I sat down under a tree.

That was the first time I have been dehydrated since I was ten years old! If it has never happened to you, it's not a fun experience. I had to sit there for quite a while.

Here I was, looking down a long path back down the hill. Gary decided that he would go on ahead and bring the car to the bottom of the trail to drive us back. I tried to stand up and saw stars. It was pretty obvious to me that I was NOT ready to move on.

The one bright spot was that I had a Wawa clerk and an associate from Kohl's, so I was in good hands. (Note from Darcie - this apparently is an inside joke...I still don't get...but it's not meant to insult 2 of my favorite stores! In fact, I sit here drinking my Wawa coffee wearing my shoes I bought at Kohls!)

(Side note - Woody found a bull tied up on the hill right below us and got it very irritated. Well thought out Woody!)

After several bottles of water and a quick prayer, I was good enough to go on. So we walked down the hill and Gary met us at the bottom with ice water. Well, at least the footage from up there is pretty sweet!

After lunch we headed back to the RMI guest in Les Cayes. We had a great dinner at the local RMI missionary's house and then back to the guest house. I know, not very exciting. Sorry.

We will be leaving here at 6 am to travel back to Port Au Prince to catch our flight back to Miami. I am already sad to be leaving this place. This really has been a life changing experience. What was great was that I got to experience it with some old friends and develop some new friendships that will last!

I learned a lot about God, travel, love, hospitality, food, friendships, Woody and myself. I learned that there are people in this world who have such love for the Lord that they will band together and give you something better than they have themselves. The people of Dame Marie searched the town and anyone who had a mattress gave it up so that we would have a comfortable bed. They made more food for us then they will see in a month. The ladies were outside every morning at 5 am preparing breakfast. Not even my mom does that!

There is this saying that when you go on a missions trip you will actually learn more from the people to whom you are missioning then they will from you. And it really is true. I got so many ideas to bring back to my church, so many thoughts about what praise really is. These people made a huge impression on me and I can't wait to go back!

So from Pastor Glass, Joe, Emmanuel, Art, Chrissy, Alissa, Nicole, Woody, Ryan, Jeremy and myself, thanks for following along on this journey. Your prayers and well wishes were just as important as what we were doing. This has been a great blog to write, but I CAN'T WAIT for the movie!!!

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

Don't forget to read Jeremy's blog too! http://jeremystephens.wordpress.com/

Fé Travay Li - Make it work!

Day 4 - Rule #2 - Learn to run with your camera!

I woke up this morning after the sun came up for the first time this week. So I had renewed energy which was good because today was a full day of shooting.

The ladies making Pumpkin Soup for Breakfast:

After breakfast we went out to the courtyard to begin the building project. This year's project was building benches for the school. Best part was, we actually had power tools. As the team began working on the benches, I had to break off and go with Serge, one of the Haitians who work for RMI, plus two others, to go pick up the 20 goats for which people in the states had donated money.

We started our 1 hour trip, back over the mountain to Chambala where the goats were. The guys would grab each goat, tie their front legs to their back legs and wing them into the back of the pickup. Now, I have heard a goat make its "baaaaa" sound, but I've never heard one scream. That was a new experience. The footage is pretty interesting as well.

A typical Haitian road:

The view from along the way:

Once they were loaded, we began the hour trek back with the goats bleating and scream all the way. That was something i wasn't ready for. I hate to be cruel, but it was actually kinda funny. We started up the mountain when Serge came to a dead stop, the doors behind me opened and the two guys began to run!

One of the goats had come loose and had made its get-away! (Thanks Pat Tanis - i blame that on you!) The goat ran about a quarter mile down the mountain before the guys caught her trying to go over the edge - all the while with me running with the camera behind them. I felt like I was on an episode of Cops. (Note from Darcie: Kris always said he wanted to be a camera-man on The Amazing Race.)

A cow along the side of the road:

Once we returned we were able to get back to helping the team with the benches. By this time they were painting them. I figured that it was time to put the camera down and help. Problem was, having no running water makes it really hard to wash your hands.

After lunch, Pastor Guy Glass had a meeting with the teachers of the school were he presented them with two suitcases filled with school supplies. He also gave them maps and charts for their classrooms.

At about 3:00 was the children's service led by Pastor Jeremy Stephens from First Baptist Church of Toms River. The kids began the service with songs and readings. I had to get pretty close to pick up some of their voices because some were kinda shy. Needless to say though, they were extremely cute!

After that, we had the presentation of the goats to the families. They were very happy and very thankful. So on behalf of them, thank you very much to everyone at home who donated!

We ended the night with a wonderful meal and a nighttime stroll down to the water front. It's kinda of an eerie beauty to walk through a town where there is no power and if you don't have a generator, it's all candles. The pastor of the Haitian church lead us around town. There is an outdoor movie theater that runs first run bootlegs. You wanna see it, we got it!

We also took a walk through the old church that this congregation used to use. As we walked through the streets, we saw kids out reading under the solar powered street lights. After all, it's free!

We only have one more full day here and when we think about it, it's sad. These people are great and life here, although it can be tough, is simple. It makes you realize how much "stuff" you have and how much of it you probably don't actually need.

It's really easy to fall in love with this place and with these people. They are a hearty people who know how to survive. If you don't have exactly what you need to get the job done, Fé travay li - make it work!

Kris King
www.EVideoProductions.net
kris@evideoproductions.net
www.Twitter.com/evp_kris
www.Facebook.com/evideoproductions

As an addendum, here's the video that Kris showed in Haiti of our son Ryan.

A Different View

Haiti Trip Day 1.

We left Newark Airport at 6 am today.  After two very uneventful flights - Newark to Miami then Miami to Haiti we landed in the 93 degree 90 percent humidity.  We left the jet way to go collect our bags.  We were greeted with a Haitian band singing songs to us as we walked in the customs area. Customs was normal and baggage claim was routine.  Then we left the airport and that's where my view on my life changed forever.

There were people everywhere going in every direction.  It was like rush hour in NYC except the chaos was magnified 100 times.  One of the people in our group was almost run over by, or he backed into a car.  I am not sure which.  The fact is, the airport parking lot was only the beginning. We all piled onto our, thankfully, air conditioned bus for the 6 hour ride to Les Cayes where were going to spend our first night.  I knew that Haiti had massive devastation from the earthquake and the hurricane that followed.  But I was not as prepared as I thought I would be, to see it up close.  Thousands of people are still living in tent cities throughout Port au Prince.  And most of the island still has intermittent power. I am just glad that I wasn't driving.  The traffic was unbelievable.  Think of the traffic you see from clips from India - it was like that - only less motor bikes and more trucks with smashed windshields and wobbly tires that are about to fall off.  There were pickup trucks with 15 people in the back, a bus with a guy on a kitchen chair on top of it, another bus with a guy texting from the roof and another bus with three goats on top. The Trip to Les Cayes was 6 hours through the mountains.  It was sad to see the landscape because after decades of corruption and environmental devastation from over harvesting, there is nothing left for people to find naturally.  They have stripped the land of almost everything usable. We had a bathroom stop about halfway to our destination at a little bar/restaurant/store/gas station.  The men's room had no door and there was a woman in there.  That was weird.

A few hours later, we arrived at the missionary guest house.  Thankfully we have AC tonight - last for the week.  We leave for Dame Marie Saturday morning at 8:30 am and then the real work begins.  Over all the people here are very nice, very kind and really just want to know - Comment allez-vous - or How are you doing?

Kris King
www.EVideoProductions.net
kris@evideoproductions.net

For more details on this mission trip to Haiti, read Jeremy Stephen's blog!

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