3 Weeks in Haiti!

This was my sixth trip to Haiti. The first was in 2011, when I was 18. It was the one-year anniversary of the earthquake, and Haiti was still digging its way out of the rubble. I connected with a ministry in Titanyen called Global Outreach, about 45 minutes outside Port-au-Prince, and helped with facilities and equipment maintenance. Their ministry included water-well drilling and maintenance, an elder feeding program, a burn clinic, and support for local churches and schools.

I worked with them on four of my trips and have stayed in touch ever since. In 2023 the Global Outreach compound was taken over by a violent gang and the ministry had to disperse. But like water on an oil fire, it spread and grew. It’s now run primarily by Haitian staff who had been equipped and trained for such a moment.

On my last trip with them in 2017, I flew to northwest Haiti for a Sunday afternoon beach retreat. The pilot was a Canadian named Russ with Hope From Above Ministries (HFAM). I later learned Russ was accepting a position as director of a small hospital in Bombardopolis, the town with the coolest name in the country.

The missionary community relies heavily on each other, and one of the ministries I followed closely was Agape Flights, a Venice, Florida–based organization delivering cargo and mail to missionaries in the Caribbean.

In early 2024 I was finishing aviation mechanics school. One of my motivators was reading missionary aviation newsletters, and I came across a report that one of Agape Flights’ planes was stuck in Bombardopolis after a rough landing. That got my attention.

The parts to repair it would arrive around the same time I received my FAA license. I asked if I could help, and soon I was on my way back to Haiti with a bag of food and my tool bag. I spent three weeks in Bombardopolis with the Canadians at HFAM, swapping turboprop engines and propellers, repairing sheet metal, and ultimately watching the plane fly back to Florida.

I had just finished a year at a jet repair station, and our family was moving into a season of full-time ministry. Then a friend from Global Outreach called asking if I knew any rock blasters. HFAM was planning a runway extension for better access to the hospital. It is growing in capacity and capability, and larger aircraft will soon be necessary. But an entire limestone hill had to go.

As it turns out, there is a rock blaster in our church in Missouri. While gathering information I learned they wanted to test Dexpan, a demolition grout poured into drilled holes that breaks rock from the inside like a wedge. HFAM had bought two boxes and a drill but was too busy with medevac flights to test it. I volunteered to go down for two weeks.

In mid-October I flew to Fort Pierce, Florida, and boarded a Missionary Flights International DC-3 (built in the 1940s and converted to turboprop engines) for Cap-Haïtien. There, one of HFAM’s air ambulances, a Cessna 207, picked me up.

Customs in Haiti is a den of thieves and extortionists, but somehow I ended up being the bandit, escaping with minimal fees totaling the $50 cash I had on me. I was carrying parts and supplies for several missionaries and was sure they would squeeze me for more. They let me go. Whew!

In Bombardopolis I caught up with Russ and his wife, Catherine, toured the hospital and the expansion projects, and got right to work drilling holes and testing Dexpan. It turned out to be a good product; I identified its limits and capabilities and took photos and video for Russ to use in funding letters and project planning. Mission accomplished!

I still had another week, and Hurricane Melissa was inbound. As with most front-line mission organizations, there was no shortage of projects: assembling a bathroom, fixing four-wheelers and preparing for the storm.

Russ flew multiple missions, some medevacs, others carrying pastors and missionaries. One Haitian pastor was returning to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first message he preached in the church attached to the hospital. Haitian church is loud; the sound system is designed for people two blocks away. Afterward the pastor shared the church’s history: how they grew from an uneducated congregation to university-trained leadership. I gave him an encouraging word, and he immediately made me get up front and share it, with him translating. Yikes! But also very cool.

Melissa passed with minimal impact. Only a plastic window panel in the hangar blew out, and my Starlink quit. But Jamaica and Cuba were slammed. HFAM is only a two-hour flight from Jamaica in the Cessna 207 and offered planes and pilots, so — being the serial volunteer that I am — I stayed another week to complete inspections and maintenance so the planes were ready.

At Cap-Haïtien I waited on the ramp with HFAM’s planes, watched MFI land and shuttle off, and said hello to the Agape Flights pilots. Just as we were ready to board, we were told the plane had a flat tire. A spare had to be flown in the next day with a jack and mechanics. I offered to help.

Put a dozen veteran missionaries together and they’ll find a solution. Soon I was in the back of a truck with three new friends headed to New Roots Haiti in Chiron, where founders Nick and Nikki showed us their community center, dental clinic, chicken farm, meat processing plant, schools, solar business and much more.

The next morning we arrived just in time for the tire change. These DC-3s are aviation legends; it took three hours and a lot of wrestling, but we got it done. I missed my connecting flights, but the new friends and experiences made the side quest worth it.

We are now refitting and packing for Florida and plan to leave home November 22. We’ll be with Agape Flights through February; they stay extremely busy keeping missionaries in Haiti, Cuba and other Caribbean nations supplied, as well as assisting with hurricane relief. Jon will help keep the airplanes maintained, and we’re bringing the whole family.