As many of you know, I recently returned to Haiti after almost 7 weeks in Oregon. Prior to our move to Haiti, I was working for Permapost in Hillsboro. Since moving to Haiti, Permapost has been very generous in providing some part time work for me to do on my computer. This has been a wonderful blessing for us. So, when I heard that someone had left and they were looking for another employee, I felt the need to assist if I could. I spoke with Linda and we prayed about what we could do. I offered to return to Oregon to assist Permapost with their transition. To my surprise, they accepted. They purchased a ticket for me to fly to Oregon and also a ticket for Julia to fly to Haiti, as Linda would be traveling for part of the time I would be gone. It was a wonderful trip. I was able to visit many friends I have not seen in years, eat, visit some churches I have not been able to visit, eat, do some home repairs for the kids, eat, drive faster tan 25 MPH, eat, and many other things that are difficult to do in Haiti. Although it was good, I had a difficult time being away from home for so long.
Preparing for the trip:
With only a few days before leaving on an extended trip, there was a lot of preparation work I needed to do. I spoke with both of the pastors we work with and let them know I would be gone for a while, but that I could be reached on my Haitian cell phone (it only cost $15/month for my Digicel phone number to work in the US). I needed to make sure we had propane for cooking, our cistern water was treated, we had plenty of beans, plenty of rice, plenty of flour, plenty of sugar, the oil was changed in the generator, the batteries that provide electricity for the house had water, the solar panels were cleaned off, and the cars were in good running condition. With all of these things to check and only a few days, I was bound to miss something.
This never happens in Haiti:
I had an early morning departure from Port-Au-Prince heading to Miami, then to Dallas and arriving in Portland just before midnight (approximately 19 hours). Linda and Naomi graciously got up very early to take me to the airport. They dropped me off outside of the airport and I hauled my bags inside to check-in. I walked up to the kiosk to check in and I placed my passport on the screen, and it said it could not find my ticket, so I searched by my name. It asked me to scan my passport and then immediately told me this passport is expired. I thought to myself, "no way" but as I read the expiration date of Jan 2017, I thought "oh this is not good". I called Linda to turn around and come get me. I had to stop twice on my way back out through the entrance to explain, through my embarrassment, why I was going out through the entrance. Linda and Naomi returned to pick me up and we headed home to see what we could do to fix this. As soon as we arrived home, I emailed Permapost that I would probably be a few days late arriving and then I began looking for the documents I knew would be required to renew my passport. Linda was checking the US Embassy website for other details. She noticed that if you have an expired passport and a flight within 48 hours, you can get a temporary passport. I found the documents that I thought were needed, as well as a set of photos that I could use. Linda began filling out the forms online and I printed those and headed to the embassy. For those of you who have never tried to go to the US Embassy in Haiti, it is not like the movies. You must have an appointment to enter, even with US citizenship.
The Embassy website indicated that no appointment would be necessary for an emergency passport. As I approached the entrance, the guard asked for my name. I told him I didn't have an appointment, but I needed an emergency passport. I handed him my expired passport, and he said NO, you are not on my list. I asked him to check with someone inside, that I did not need an appointment for this. He looked very confused that I would not need an appointment, but went inside to ask another guard. The second guard came to me and asked why I did not need an appointment. I explained, and he said come with me to the security screening. Once we arrived there he called someone inside the embassy, spoke for a moment and then handed me the phone. It was clearly someone who spoke much better English than the guards. I explained the situation and he said, no problem and asked me to hand the phone back to the guard. You cannot take cell phones into the Embassy, so I had to check my phone outside the security station. Once inside the process went very well. I would get a temporary passport, good for 90 days, and if I renewed within a year I would not have to pay again. They told me it would take about 1 hour to process, at this point it is just after 9am. I walked back out to security to use my phone and call Linda. She had been on the phone with the airline attempting to get a new flight. Although, we had travel insurance, the airline essentially told Linda that the insurance didn't cover "stupid". If you missed the flight for a list of reasons out of your control, that was covered. But if you missed the flight for your own incompetence, they could do nothing about that. They wanted more than the cost of the original ticket to re book. They did suggest that we go into the airport and ask the ticket counter to be merciful. So as Linda is explaining this to me, I am letting her know that I should have a passport in about an hour. We agree to meet at a pizza place to leave a car there instead of at the airport. The owners live near us and said they could bring Linda down the next day to get the other car. By 9:30 I have my temporary passport. In Haiti this is nothing short of a miracle! I head over to Pizza Amour and call Linda. She had just left the house, so I decided to eat while I was waiting. She arrived and we went to the airport arriving just before 11am. I walked up to the ticket counter and told the man that I had missed my flight. With no hesitation at all, he said he would get me on the next flight, leaving just after noon. He booked me on standby for the next 2 flights and said that I should be able to make them all. Again, in Haiti this is a miracle. The concept of customer service in Haiti is nothing like in the US, so this was not the response I was expecting. I would be flying the same route: Port-Au-Prince to Miami to Dallas to Portland arriving at 12:30am. Leaving 4 hours later and arriving 1/2 hour later than originally planned, at no additional cost...God can fix stupid, Thank you Lord.
Traveling to Oregon:
Now that I have a passport, and a Ticket, I get through security and to the gate. I look at the status of the flight and it is listing the passengers on standby. I am number 32 of 35 people waiting to get on his flight. I was certain, I would be calling Linda back to pick me up. I believe that I was the last person to get on the plane. Once I arrived in Miami, I needed to get through Customs and Immigration before heading to my next flight. It took me a couple of try to get my nice new passport to scan at the kiosk in Miami, but it worked. This however would be a hint of my return trip. After getting through both Customs and Immigration, I headed to the gate for my next flight to see if I would be able to get on the flight. I explained that I was on Standby and asked if I would be able to get on the flight. She looked across the terminal and said she wasn't sure, but there was a seat on the flight right over there that leaves for Dallas now (1 hour earlier) and I could go on that one if I wanted. I would be arriving in Dallas early, so that would give me time to eat before the next flight. I quickly rushed over and again I was the last person to board the plane. Arriving in Dallas with about 1-1/2 hours to eat I ended up at this place called the Twisted Root Burger. I ordered a burger, and instead of asking my name to call when the order was ready, they handed me a card with an actors name on it and said they would call that name when it is ready. It appeared to me as they were calling names out that they were using actors from Westerns. They called Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and I had Slim Pikens. Apparently they could not find too many actress names from Westerns, because they called Mae West and the next woman's name was Lady Gaga. Not sure how that fits in. I ate my burger, headed to the gate and boarded my flight to Portland. The flight went well and we arrived early, so after all of the stuff that happened, I arrived in Portland 15 min after I was originally scheduled to arrive. Julia was there waiting for me. It was good to see her. God was making things happen for me to get there.
Time in Oregon:
I will not go into much detail regarding my time in Oregon. I was able to do some work on the house where 4 of our adult kids are living. Very good to see them. It was very interesting to wake up each morning to David sitting at his computer teaching English and seamlessly switch from English to Mandarin and back mid sentence. It felt very strange to drive faster than 25 MPH, and not have potholes everywhere, and tap taps stopping in the street, and motos weaving through traffic. It was a very nice break to not have people asking for money every few minutes simply because they are actually starving. I do not blame them for asking, but it was nice to not feel that burden for a few weeks. I had the chance to visit with some people I have not seen for many years, and to visit some churches that are very special to us. God is good. I was also able to assist Permapost with their transition and exercise some of my mostly forgotten Excel abilities. Of course, I purchased supplies to carry back with me. I believe it was a productive and restful trip for me, two things that are very difficult to achieve in Haiti.
Return Trip:
I was very excited to return to Haiti. I had not seen the family for almost 2 months and had missed a birthday (Naomi's 7th) with another arriving soon (Talitha's 17th). Fortunately the return trip was less eventful than the trip in. with the exception of every time someone wanted to see my passport. The passport would not scan at the kiosk in Portland. When the ticket agent asked why I had not renewed my passport while I was hear, I had to explain that all of my papers were in Haiti. She said she had never seen a passport like this (it looks like a regular passport to my untrained eye). She went on and on about how the passport would not scan, until I asked her if she could type the number in manually. She looked at me like I was from a different planet, and then did exactly that. Then I was off to security. The first TSA agent took my passport, felt the pages like they didn't feel right and tried to scan it. It did not scan for him either, he looked at it and asked me what is this? I told him it was a temporary passport that had been issued by the US Embassy in Haiti. He asked me to step to the side and wait there next to him as he continued to check other passengers through. He called for a coworker on his radio and another TSA agent came and took my passport back behind the scanners. He returned with another TSA agent to ask me questions, they all kept feeling the pages as if they didn't feel right, but they couldn't figure it out. After about 25 minutes they finally let me get into line for the scanners. Just as I was getting through and ready to put my shoes back on a supervisor came from someplace and asked the TSA agents who had the questionable passport, and three of them pointed at me. I showed him my passport and explained where it came from and he said he had seen this before and was not surprised they had not. I made it to the gate 1/2 an hour before my flight and the rest of my trip was pretty uneventful. By the way my passport scanned just fine when I arrived in Haiti.
Back in Haiti:
I arrived at the house in Haiti to a car that needed work, house batteries that would not charge, propane almost gone, and food supplies nearly exhausted. It is good to be home. Now that I have taken care of those issues it is time to focus on the next hurdle. Next month we need to pay our annual rent payment. This is a struggle for us every year as it is difficult to ask people to support us living in a home that the average Haitian could not afford. However, we are seen as wealthy Americans and it would not be safe for us to live in a house without a wall and razor wire around the perimeter. Many people in Haiti believe that all Americans have access to unlimited amounts of money. And comparatively we do. With a cost of living that is higher in Haiti than the US (for a similar standard of living), and 59% of Haitian live on less than $2 per day (according to World Bank in 2012).
We are looking to raise funds this month for our rent for the entire year. Please prayerfully consider supporting us and our work here. If you are unable to support us financially, please support us in prayer. Prayer is the greatest tool that God has given us. We serve a God who is bigger than the finances.
May God bless each of you,
Ron Sheppard
