Bonswa…
Well, this will be the last email from Haiti on this trip. The final, wrap up email will come from the USA. As with practically every other day that I have been down here today called for flexibility. I was able to visit three of the four planned sites today. You will have to read to the bottom (or skip if you want) to see why.
Our first site that we visited was Maniche. This is a church that we built way up in the hills outside of Les Cayes in the Sud Department. Unfortunately the internet here doesn’t let me send too many pictures at a time, but I will be posting everything to my Flickr account and you can check out the views from this site if you are interested. I will send the link in my next email.
The purpose for visiting Maniche was to measure the property and locate the existing buildings on the site. We (ESMI) have a donor that would like to build a school in honor of a close relative who is very sick. It was such a joy to meet with the pastor who had already sketched out his vision for the school. He does special programs with the children in the area and has about 300 children that will be attending this school. This area is about a 2 hour drive from any larger community, on a gravel road up a mountain. Most of these children do not currently have access to education. Below is a picture of the church.
To the left of this picture is a spectacular view overlooking a large valley. This next picture is probably the best picture that I was able to take on this whole trip. This little child was sitting on the porch of one of the buildings on the property. As I squatted down to get this picture I realized that this is the reason that I am here in Haiti.
I know that there is so much work to be done to change Haiti into a new country and provide for her people new education, hope and lives. I also know that I will not see the fruit of these changes in my lifetime. It will take 3 to 4 generations of children like this one to recreate this country. What I do know is that the work that I am able to do with ESMI is helping to lay the groundwork for children like this one. That is not wasted work, but very fruitful and fulfilling work. I am able to be here doing this work because of the people back home that are faithfully paying my salary. As most of you are aware, I no longer have a company that pays my salary, or sets aside funds for retirement, or provides for insurance. I now work for a small, and sometimes struggling ministry, or faith-based NGO, that is focused entirely on transforming the Haitian community. And in order to work with this organization I need to raise my own support. For those of you that are supporting Laura and me to do this work…THANK YOU!!! You were all here with me loving on children like this one.
The second site that we were able to visit was Big House (Bigarouse in Creole) where we have a church, an orphanage, and a school. Hopefully you are beginning to see a pattern here. In Haiti the church is the center of a community. Once a church is established then the orphanage and the school and the medical clinic all follow. We also try to help the church set up a micro-business to support all of this. This type of community offers a holistic approach to deal with the issues of life in a country of such dire need. At Big House we have a team coming down in a couple of weeks to play with the children and do fix up projects around the site. Once again I was able to take a picture of the reason for our work…
These are some of the 72 orphans that we have under our care at this site. Again, thanks go out to those of you that support these children with your resources, your prayers, or by coming here to love on them.
The final site that I was able to visit was Savannes. This is a new church plant in the roughest area of Les Cayes, a city of over 250,000. Some of our partner churches in the Chicago area are coming alongside of us in the development of this site. I have developed the plans for a school and a medical clinic and these churches are now raising funds to build these. They will be in one building located to the right, and behind the church.
Our final stop was supposed to be the riverbank repair project at Cherette. It was on our way back to Carrefour so we were going to go get some final pictures of the project. Well…once again the need for flexibility stepped in. Our car caught on fire on the way there. And since the road out to the site is fairly rough the replacement car would not be able to make the trip. Fortunately I was able to get pictures and a video of the gabions working during the last storm from one of our Haitian staff.
Another vehicle succumbs to the roads of Haiti.
Once again, I would like to thank you all for putting up with all of my emails and ramblings. I know that most of you are extremely busy, but that you also have a heart for this part of the world…especially after the earthquake. I hope and pray that my journeys here provide for you a small glimpse into how Haiti is doing and what one small group is trying to do to bring new life to these precious and beautiful people.
May God be with you all and bless you as he has blessed me.
Thanks...
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