In January, the fence was being constructed, and in March it was finished. Funds for the cistern have been sent and it will be constructed this month. Funds were sent to AAPLAG to purchase 30 goats in April, a good month to purchase them. We have agreed to pay the salary for one year for a security guard to protect the goats. The cost is $65 a month. They have opened a school with 50 students with the money they made from investing in peanuts.
In January, we turned our attention to Baie deTortue and Pastor Agones Jean Jacque, a young pastor running a school for very poor kids, has become a trusted friend after our first coincidental meeting two years ago when we first began our mission on La Gonave. He has helped us up in the mountains as guide and translator, and has helped us with travel plans as well. At our first meeting he had 30 kids, poorly dressed, and the rest of the community was too poor to have the proper clothes for school. As we worked on our church and mission in Ti Palmeste, it was also put on our hearts to bring clothes to the children of Baie de Tortue. The Village School at NNUMC donated boxes and boxes of uniforms, as well as much needed underwear, which were sent by container.
This community is very poor and very uneducated. Education is supremely important to the kids and the parents if this community is too move forward. The challenge now is to pay the teachers salaries until the community can find work or start microbusinesses.
In January, John Puig was part of our team, and he is well versed in water testing and quality, and wells. After testing the ground well where the community got its water, it was discovered it was 50% salt and had fecal contamination. Children were dying from this water. Two broken wells were used to make one workable one, a closed well with low salt and no contamination. With just guidance from John, the Haitians made all the repairs themselves. They are very thankful for this water, as now they do not have to walk three miles to get potable water. We made connections and taught water conservation, stressing that water must be cherished and not a drop to be wasted. All water on an island is a gift form God, and it is not limitless.
This idea was shared at a meeting of the leaders of the island, including World Vision, Concern, PLAADIG, WISH, a judge, the head of the department of education and others. John explained the idea of the lens of fresh water that floats on top of the salt under the island. As wells become salty, this means the lens of water is shrinking. Once it is depleted completely, as has happened in the Bahamas, the only solution is an RO system, which is cost prohibitive. It can take 100 years to replenish the water supply.
In March, we held a day long kids program with food, that was enjoyed by all. Rika taught them a song about how deep, how high, how long and how wide God’s love is for us. They loved it! The next three days were spent on CHE training. The first day was understanding community and how they can work together for the common good, helping them get over the relief and hand out mentality. Using skits helped them to visualize the ideas. They then formed into groups to brainstorm and come up with their own answers to the problems they had listed. All the CHE lessons are biblically based, as we shared what the Bible says about these issues. In Acts2:42 Christ’s followers ate, studied, prayed and fellowshipped together, and in Acts 4:32 they provided for the needs of each other. Psalm 82:3 says to provide for the weak and maintain the rights of the afflicted. God’s view of man and community is shown in Genesis 1:26; Man is made in God’s image and likeness, so all have value and worth. Romans 4:25 says God delivered us, and all men have worth and love. 1 Corinthians 12:12-16 tells us that we are all part of one body and cannot function with out each other.
The second day was all about leadership and what makes a bad or good leader. Philippians 2:6-8 describes Jesus as humble, a servant leader who gave up his rights, and in Matthew 10:16-22 he realtically prepared his people and taught them to depend upon God, to stand firm and have hope for the future. Mark 3:13-16 shows us how to develop organization, delegate authority and carefully select your team. Don’t go it alone, prepare and train your trusted team.
The play “Crossing the Water” really explained how missionaries are here only a short while and cannot “carry” or do everything for them. The real answer is for the missionary to train Haitians, and for them to train each other. This is the basis of CHE. We helped correct many misconceptions they had about paying for school. They thought Pastor Agones was getting all the money he needed from friends in the U.S. We corrected that misinformation, explaining we are not rich with endless supplies of money. We also explained that here everyone supports education, whether they have children or not. It is a communities obligation. They must take ownership of their childrens’ education, as it is the only way out of the grinding poverty. Too many of these children are hungry, often to the point that they cannot even attend school.
The people of Baie de Tortue are now beginning to feel empowered to help themselves and to know that they can change their community. This is where we will need to return and reinforce these ideas and continue the education process.
We paid the teachers two months salary, for which they were very grateful. This is one of the areas of need right now until they become more self supporting. There are no jobs, so therefore no food. No food means no school for the kids.
Job training is one of their requests, and help with micro credit businesses. We sent $500 to fund two businesses. The micro credit is being supervised by AAPLAG (all educated Haitians) and the money will be paid back to help others get started. It is a great program, and much needed in this community.
We will continue to support Pastor Agones as he reaches out to his own home community. He grew up like these kids, very poor and without education until the age of 12, when he was fortunate enough to catch the eye of an American who saw his potential and gave him an education all the way through college and seminary!
Sally Ritter
April, 2012
