Bringing Sight to The Blind

Last week, we met a man who was almost completely blind!  He claimed to be 30 years old, but seems to be older than that.  Regardless, he’s too young to be blind! It’s hard to tell if it’s cataracts or something else without having a doctor look at him.

left - right Jericha, Jeda, Ashly, Kenya

We are well into the 2009/2010 school year, and things seem to be flowing right along! With the addition of another grade this year, and the ever increasing number of children wanting to attend, the building is maxed to the point of one class meeting outside.  Thankfully, we haven’t had to use any snow days yet, so meeting outside hasn’t really been an inconvenience. The students are anxiously awaiting the short term team arriving Nov.21 to start construction on the final portion of the building! 

The November team will build foundation, floor and

roof to match flatter-roofed section to left in picture.

  Building in Haiti

(scheduling is not an option!)

Charting the course of a ministry is often confusing, barely affordable and the direction is never clear. This past August (2009), we struggled to balance the needs of the school, the needs of the ministry and the needs of the people.  We seemed to be led to search for a vehicle to replace the truck, but after several days of fruitless searching, discouragement set in.  Our schedule mandated w move the team to Soliette for 5 days of Bible school, and while we were there the importance of the school became more pressing than a new truck.  We had enjoyed a degree of success at the end of last year with test scores improving and positive feedback from the community. It seemed working toward state accreditation for Every Child School was a better stewardship of our resources.  A major requirement for the accreditation was an office for the school administrator.  After a meeting with a local job boss, a site was chosen and the foundation was dug. 

The rest of the process is a long story that makes absolutely no sense to the mind of and American accustomed to building in America.  What is hard for us to process is the total lack of convenience.  You can get materials delivered, but only to the end of the road.  Unfortunately, the end of the road is still about a mile down the hill from the building site.  Before we left the blocks had been delivered and the school kids were carrying them up from the road.

Clint and I (Pat) decided to pitch in and see exactly what it was like.  Starting at the building site, it was a 26 minute round trip down to the road and back with a block on your head. Actually Clint brought 2 and I just carried one (we traded about the last ¼ mile).  We could have made a couple more trips before collapsing in complete exhaustion, but it was time to head back to town.  There was time for a dip in the river to cool down, though.

Project Well Project

 That title probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to you unless you’re familiar with some of the Lord’s work we’ve been involved in.  The ‘Project’ is a poor housing community that Heart of Compassion has been doing ministry in for the last couple years.  Through the spring we collected funds to have a well drilled for this community, thus the ‘Well Project’. 

A scene that is now a thing of the past!

During our summer short term trip for Bible school, I worked 3 days with the drilling team from Blue Ridge International for Christ (BRIC), drilling the well you so generously funded.  There were frustrating days during the drilling and the whole project turned out to be a typical Haitian deal.  With hopes of catching the whole thing on video, from the first penetration of the ground, to water flowing from a completed well platform and pump, I stood by taking pictures, smearing on sunscreen, playing with the children who watched and helping wherever I could, only to be frustrated by cave-ins, falling rocks and other delays.  We left with a capped plastic casing sticking out of the ground with no platform or pump.

Getting started                     Lots of observers! 

Trying to get the rocks out

The third day we filled the bore with clay before drilling again!

Purging the well with compressed air.  People got excited!

Tres Bon! (very good!)

.  We had water, good water, 41 feet down but no way to get it into the people’s buckets yet.  Ten days later the crew returned and poured the concrete platform around the casing.  I thought the ten day wait for concrete was extreme, but it was nothing compared to the 3 weeks it took to get the pump installed. 

But now, the wait seems totally worth it as the water flows from the ground. Powered by the boundless energy of the young Haitians on the pump handle, the water, clean fresh water, fills bucket after bucket and gets carried into the ‘Project’.

 The smiling faces, lifted hands and calls of ‘Mesi Jezi’ (Thank you Jesus!) made the frustrations of the drilling and the anxieties of the wait seem well worth it.

Every Child School 2009/2010

Every Child School burst into the 2009-2010 school year literally bursting at the seams!  Every year we add a grade but there’s a funny thing about the school.  The kids grow in size and numbers, but the building stays the same size.  The first day of school brought a desperate cry from Vladimy, “Jen, we don’t have enough room for all the kids!”  Such is school in Haiti.  Last year we struggled with uniforms and books for everyone.  This year, God provided generously for uniforms and books, but adding a new grade means we need another room.  For now that room has no walls or roof, because they must meet outside!  That is just one of the many prayer requests for Every Child School as we ‘burst’ into the new year.  As we add a class, we also seem to have gained somewhat of a reputation!  During the registration time, we had new parents wanting to enroll their children because they heard, “the students at your school learn!”  We send that as a compliment to our staff (all Haitian!) and as a manifestation of the fruit being born by your generosity.  We have registered 170 children for the school year, of which only 100 have been sponsored.  You ask how can you do that?  Well, with books and uniforms being covered by other gifts, it is easier to stretch the sponsorship money to cover more students.  Don’t think for a second that it is not necessary to continue to search for sponsors for the remaining children!  The funds received for additional sponsorships would enable us to flesh out the program.  Operating at the current sponsorship level, we are only able to feed the children 3 days a week.  Additional sponsors would allow us to purchase more food.  Our goal is to provide at least one meal every day for the students.  They learn so much better when they are not hungry!  There are always needs for other materials like chalk and chalkboards, teaching materials, desks/benches.  We also had to hire another teacher for the new class.  The funds are applied to the most urgent needs that are directly related to the students.  Adding $20.00 a month for the remaining 70 students would be an incredible boost for school year 2009/2010!  Pray that this could become a reality.

Exterior of the school building

                     Roof Trusses                                                    Shool interior minus partitions

For those of you who haven’t seen the school, it’s not a palace!  A tin roof supported by a rafter system held together by the Grace of God, and a cement floor that started crumbling that day after it was poured.  The exterior walls and classroom partitions are woven palm leaf mats wired to the support poles.  This provides for good ventilation, but does nothing to deaden sound between the rooms and they have to be replaced every year.  Compared to some mountain schools even this is quite nice, but improvements in the building would enhance the learning environment.  Some improvements are being made, however!  In an effort to gain accreditation by the government, we have broken ground on an administration building which will serve as an office for the administrator (required), a rodent proof storage room for the student food supply and sleeping quarters for the teachers.  The last part might require some explanation.  All the teachers live in Fond Parisienne, which is a 45 minute ride down a rough mountain road.  Few, if any, of the teachers own transportation of their own so they ride a ‘tap-tap’ (taxi – this needs some explanation too, some other time) Sunday evening or early Monday morning, stay the week and go back down Friday afternoon.  Sleeping quarters and some meals are part of their working agreement.  The last couple years, we have rented a room for them. It will be nice to be able to provide our own facility.  If this sounds like a lot, the whole building is only 24’ x 20’.  Most of us have garages larger than this!  We broke ground on the building in August and so far, the walls are up and some of the window blocks are in.  Hopefully by Christmas the roof will be on and the floor will be poured.  The project is currently being done by local labor.  We have a team from Ohio going down over Thanksgiving to hopefully finish it up and maybe add the room to the school.  Pray that the construction would progress at a steady rate and the administration building would be complete soon!  Special thanks to Vladimy’s brother Pouchon!  He has been a faithful laborer in this project.

Administration Building Foundation Layout

                          School Desk/Bench (church pew too!)                                     Fixing benches!                                     

Such is the school situation in one of the poorest nations on earth.  The students are hungry to learn and they know education is the only hope for their future.  One beautiful thing about education in Haiti is there is no separation of church and state, so we can use Bible stories and songs freely in our curriculum!  We thank you for your continued support of Every Child School and pray that God would shower His Blessings on you for your generosity.  If God so moves you to support Every Child School in a bigger way, we would encourage you to respond to that prompting generously.  Our students are aware that without your support, their future has little hope!  They send their thanks and a promise to do their best to make 2009-2010 the best school year ever!

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD!

In a world that changes as fast as ours, some things just never change!  The roads in Haiti are in such a constant state of disrepair that moving from point “A” to point “B” is always an adventure!  The biggest part of the adventure is 'what part of the truck will break next?'  Every trip to the mountains is prayed over the night before, and one constant topic is mechanical mercies from God on our little Isuzu pickup!  God has come through in miraculous ways multiple times, but the rugged mountain roads continually challenge Him .  Of course, most of the blame can be placed on our shoulders as the pictures below will testify.  Seldom are the trips that the weight capacity is not exceeded, and not by just a little! Usually the combined body weight of the passengers is more than mfg. recommendations.  Add a bed full of cargo, and you soon realize the need for God’s intervention!  The little Isuzu has been a faithful servant, but if it were a donkey it would have died long ago!  It wears many hats and has survived various accidents and swims in the lake, but it still keeps trying. The time has come to make a serious plea for relief for the old girl.  In just the last month we’ve replaced a tie rod, a clutch, a couple tires (still not a good spare!) and a muffler.  We have searched for a good used vehicle, but it seems that good and used cannot be used in the same sentence when talking about a vehicle in Haiti unless you are prepared to pony up some big bucks. 

 Moving Van                                                         People mover

  Cargo hauler                                                             Ambulance

Mechanic Practice (we can do this at home!)

The vehicle that would most suit the mission’s needs is a small frame, 4x4, diesel, crew cab pickup preferably a Toyota or Nissan with the bed removed and replaced with a flatbed with a cargo cage.  If you could find something like that in Haiti, expect to pay $12,000.00 - $15,000.00.00 US used or $30,000 + new.  Both those figures are huge to us, but this is the crossroads where we find ourselves.  If you would total the dollars we’ve spent on repairs in the last two years, the Isuzu should be worth quite a lot.  Then if you add in the time lost by the teams waiting for repairs and the work and ministry that failed to get done, the investment starts making sense. We have also considered the option of shipping a vehicle from the states.  We could purchase (or maybe get one donated J) one here, prep it the way we want and ship it.  If you have or know of a vehicle that might be available, contact Dwight Wagoner at the addressCost for shipping and customs would run around $3000.00 US and probably take 6 weeks or so to clear all the paperwork.  The problem is where is that money going to come from?  Divine intervention has worked so many times that we are looking to God to provide.  Every time Heart of Compassion has had a genuine, God ordained need, He has been faithful to provide through His faithful servants.  Partner with us in prayer as we seek direction and provision to find a vehicle that will faithfully serve us in carrying out His ministry to the Haitian people.