Wednesday 3 May 2006 -- 9th grade Field Trip

Every year the 9th grade class goes on a field trip the the Citadel. The fortress was built on top of a mountain within sight of the bay at Cap Haitien. It was built in the early 1800's by a hero of the Haitian Revolution, Henri Christophe. His goal was to keep Napoleon from coming and taking Haiti back for France. The Citadel has been restored by UNESCO over the past 25 years or so.
The students and chaperones get dropped off in DonDon, a town on the way from Bohoc to cap Haitien just before you descend from the mountians to the sea level. From DonDon they hike up to the fortress at the top of the mountain. The last part of the way is paved with stones.
The Citadel is enormous and the students are awed by the size of it and the view. At the top of the fort, there is nothing higher. 

The views in all directions from the top of the Citadel are spectacular.
All the canon and mortar launchers in place, piles of canon balls and mortars show how prepared this fort was ..... for the attack that never came.
The students hiked down the mountain as well and saw the ruined palace San Souci which had been the home of Henri Christophe and had been destroyed in an earthquake in the 1800's.

Seeing these monuments to their history gives the students a sense of the reality of the past and gives them pride in their nation. 

Thursday 4 May 2006

Last Thursday Pastor David Aldrich arrived at HAFF. He had come two and a half years ago with Dr Eric Andersen. The 2 men had not seen eachother for about a year, so, right after lunch Zach Van Schoyck ran Pastor Dave out to Colladere where Dr Eric was holding a remote clinic. 

Friday -- Clinic in Donne

Friday 8 of us drove out to Donne, south east of HAFF. Once you get out on the savannah south of Bohoc, it is very clear that we live on a plateau. This photo was taken looking about north north west to the mountain that looks like a crouching lion -- Pignon Mountain. The town of Pignon is at the south eastern base of the mountain. HAFF is about 4 to 6 miles south of that.
This is our "road" to Donne. We have turned off National Route 3 long ago and are following narrower and narrower foot trails till we reached this one that seemed to lead to ..... what?
Of course, once we got to the edge of the hill, we could see that the trail led down the hill to the church in the trees to the right.
Here is the front of the church. outside and inside were people waiting to be seen by Dr Eric. We spent the rest of the day seeing about 70 people with everything from headaches to swollen feet.

The people waited in any available shade to see the doctor.
Pastor David, with Derold Mompremier translating, and Pastor Deles from the church prayed for the people waiting to see the doctor.
Boss Elizert made cards with the names and ages of the patients.
Then ECHO intern Rhoda Beutler checked temperatures.... 

...and blood pressures.
Then the patients came to Dr Eric for the consultation. I translated for him.
Mme Telius (right) also consulted people, calling for Dr Eric and me when she had a harder case.




From Mme Telius or Dr Eric, the people went to Mme Emmanuel for their medicines.
And through it all, there were always people wanting to know what was going on inside!

Saturday

Saturday morning Dr Eric left. Pastor David was not able to see him off at the Pignon airport since he was teaching a Pastor's Seminar during that time. Derold Mompremier translated for him.
There were men and women from various churches around the area who came to learn. Met Maccene (second from the left) commented that he could listen to Pastor David every hour!
The church leaders learned about the 10 things that leaders should do. 

Yesterday -- Sunday. History in the making.

The Bohoc LaJeune area has recently been offered the technical help in establishing an electrical cooperative and bringing electricity to the area. Yesterday afternoon there was a community meeting in the yard of the local National Elementary School. Met Jean Jean Mompremier introduced the electricity committee which has been established and of which I am a member for a while. He then explained how the project came to be offered to the community and what was already available for the project.
This is Fr Zache Hilaire explaining about cooperatives. Fr Zache has been working with the Electrical Coop in Pignon that is going to be helping the Bohoc LaJeune area. He has been trained by the National Counsel on Cooperatives here in Haiti. He did a great job explaining what would be necessary for the Bohoc LaJeune area to establish an electrical coop.
After all the explanations and all the questions were answered for all the people, there was a census to get an idea how many people in which areas would be interested in having electricity come to their homes. The group of men to the right (including the man with the red hat and the man with the brown check shirt) are all heads of households in Bohoc. They are clustered around me as I take their names, number of people in their home, where the house is located in Bohoc and how much they currently spend on kerosene and batteries.

Today -- Monday

Pastor David was busy today. He spoke to the BTI students this morning in devotions. It was my privilege to translate for him
He spoke from Proverbs and 2 Peter about patience. How hard it is to be patient. And how much patience God has with us. And how we can ask God to fill us with His patience.
This afternoon, Pastor David spoke to the Young Leaders for God class about Biblical leadership. While I was taking the photos, he was talking about how the Word of God is the plumb line according to which we build all the aspects of our leadership.
Barb had the pleasure of translating for Pastor David this afternoon. And he is fun to translate for and very enthusiastic! 

Tomorrow -- Tuesday

Tomorrow Pastor David will share Scripture with the Godly Woman class during their devotions. Then the ladies will learn to make omelets and hopefully (if it is sunny enough) they will also learn about solar cooking!

Tomorrow I have some photocopies to make for the ladies -- copies of the sampler of the Mekstiken embroidery they learned at their last class. 

2 Prayer Requests

This is Genius Azemar and his family. Genius is the one in the center with the stripped shirt. He is the man who carries the water for all the houses, the visitors' dorm, and the Godly woman and other classes. His 13 year old son Jedlain is standing to the right of Genius.

Sunday, Jedlain was climbing a tree and fell, getting stuck in the tree. Zach took him to the hospital where they found some internal injuries. Jedlain was finally able to come home yesterday and seems to be doing well. Please pray for him that he would fully recover with no complications.

Also, please pray for the family of Matt Baugh. He went home to be with the Lord today after a motocycle accident on the road here in Haiti. He was a good friend of a former HAFF board member and he helped establish the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches on the Island of La Gonave in the bay off Port-au-Prince. Please pray for comfort for his wife Shannon and their 5 young children and that this would be used somehow for the Glory of God. 

Today in the Clinic

Derold checks the pressure dial as Dr Eric checks a blood pressure.
Dr Eric and Mme Telius confer as they check a pregnant woman with abdomnial pain.
Mme Emmanuel waits in the pharmacy for the next prescription. 

Last Week and This Week -- 2 Weeks!

School did indeed open again Monday 24 April. I started my devotions that day with only a small number of students. By the end of the time, though, the room was almost full. I shared about Easter -- that it is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I also shared some of the evidence for the resurrection and I reminded the students that belief in the resurrection is foundational to our faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, our faith is vain, we have no pardon for our sins and no hope for victory over hell and death. Thank you for your prayers for me. And please continue to pray for our students as we come to the close of the school year. Pray that they would each experience the power of the risen Christ in their lives and that they would share that experience with their families, their friends and the church! 

Last Tuesday was another Godly Woman class. Barb taught the ladies about Biblical child raising -- using numerous scriptures to encourage the women with their children. Barb also shared about the steps in a child's development and what parents can build into the child during those years. The ladies went home with some sound tools to help them raise their families.
The ladies also learned some hands on things to do for themselves and their families. Barb taught them to make French bread and Mme Gesson taught them to make a straight skirt. Finally Mme Rene came and taught them a type of embroidery the Haitians call Mekstiken. I found out last summer that in English we call it Swedish Embroidery.