End of the Year

Another year of school and eye clinic are at an end. School is in the midst of final exams now and Becky Wilson and I had our last regular day of clinic Wednesday the 16th. I have gotten more comfortable using the Tono-pen and everyone is happy to have their intra-ocular pressure checked. Thankfully I haven't found too many people with high pressures.

Since October 2009, we have seen over 200 people in the clinic. Most people come for reading glasses, but some come with more complicated prescriptions. It is always a joy when we can find a pair of glasses that meets a need. Thankfully, we have been able to help most people who come.

We continue to meet with the Community Response Committee to get relief funds and food into the hands of the people who need them. Right now, the committee is encouraging road work with sacks of bulgur wheat (see the HAFF Details blog). The committee mounted a crew to work on the dangerous ravine on the main road between Bohoc and Pignon. Twenty seven people received bulgur for the first phase of that job.

Saturday, about 175 people received bulgur.

These folks have been working on their own since February to improve the road from the Bohoc market up into the mountains to the area of Cercady. The bulgur was given as an encouragement to the folks who gave of their own time and energy to do the work to serve their community.

I am getting ready to leave Haiti on Thursday the 24th. I will be spending most of the summer in State College, PA working on my house, but will do a bit of travelling as well. If you will be travelling through Central Pennsylvania between the first of July and the end of August, get in touch with me and we can get together. I'll be heading back to Haiti in early September. In the mean time, please keep the Plateau in prayer -- for good rains and for a good harvest. And keep in prayer Port-au-Prince and the other cities in the south that were hard hit by the earthquake. Many people are enduring the rains in "shelters" made of nothing but sheets and plastic bags sewn together.

Roads, Teams and Graduations

It has been a while since I have posted anything to either blog. That has partly been due to time constraints, but also to the fact that we have been having major problems with the internet. So, here are some highlights from 3 weeks at HAFF:

Saturday 15 May, was the Young Leaders for God class graduation. They were blessed to have the team from Chattanooga, TN and Huntington, NY here. The team baked the cakes for the graduation reception, Pastor Eric Mullinax presented the message and Pastor David Aldridge and Met Derold had a special song to share. It was a joyful day.

That Sunday, we split the team and Barb translated for Pastor David at one church while I translated for Pastor Eric at another. Pastor Eric spoke from Acts 20:17 - 38 about the marks or signs showing that a church is characterized by a vibrant ministry of the Holy Spirit.


The road leading through the Caïman ravine has gotten bad. HAFF driver Elizert has said that another couple big rains and Pignon can remain by itself and Bohoc and LaJeune can remain for themselves – we would be cut off from the north.

Thankfully, the Community Relief Committee (CRC) started a project June 25th to fix the road. Trucks from Pignon, Bohoc and LaJeune have committed to bringing rock and gravel from the river for the road

Crews of men and women have been hired to clear the brush growing around, over and in the drainage canals on either side of the road.

Finally, the CRC has purchased fuel for the local grader to grade and crown the road and fix the canals.

After the first couple of days of work, traffic was flowing so freely that the local Dignite bus, which does not have 4 wheel drive, was able to bring the local school children from Pignon all the way to Bohoc – a first in a very long time. It was entertaining to see the bus trying to turn around at the HAFF front gate!

24 May a group of visitors arrived at HAFF. The group included visitors from Florida, Wisconsin and Rwanda. Violette Nyirarukundo showed me how to wear a Rwandan skirt!

Violette also blessed 30 members of 5 local churches with training in Trauma Counseling. Gabi Van Schoyck had previously translated a 19 page set of notes that Violette had sent ahead and Barb and Gabi and I shared the translating for the 4 day seminar.

The training included practical break out sessions for sharing with one another and for role playing. Even before receiving their certificates of participation, the seminar participants were sharing and using the knowledge they were gaining to minister to others.

The Florida, Wisconsin, Rwanda team was still here for the Godly Woman class graduation on May 29th. The visitors baked the cakes for the reception and Pastor David Rogers presented the message. The women of the class had a wonderful day showing their craft items made during the class. Their parting song at the end of the graduation ceremony was enlivened by a round of hugs and kisses for each other, for Mme Gesson, Barb and me and for the visitors and some of the invited guests sitting nearby!

Sunday May 30th was Haitian Mother's Day. We took the team to a small, lively church on the other side of the Bohoc River from HAFF. The children of the church had a special song and procession to honor their mothers. During the song, each child carried a small package of crackers or cookies in a little dance to meet her mother, gave her the package and kissed her, before dancing back to join the rest of the girls singing.

I translated for Pastor David as he encouraged the people to look to Jesus when they are helpless. He taught from Luke 9:37 – 42. From this passage he showed how Jesus came for the helpless and how we are all helpless, like the disciples, the father and the demon possessed boy, because we try to solve our problems on our own and don't look to Jesus.

June 3rd, the Van Schoycks and I had the great joy of traveling to Limbe in the north of Haiti to attend the graduation of HAFF's first University scholarship student, Georges Cadet (shown here with his god-daughter). We traveled with other friends of Georges for 5 hours Thursday and spent the night in Cap Haitien. The graduation the next day was a wonderful celebration of hope for the future as the first class since the earthquake was able to complete their studies on time despite the horrendous toll that day in January took on all their lives. Even the 7 hour trip home, having to backtrack due to a high river blocking the shorter way home didn't dampen our joy from the day.

Rejoice with us in all these wonderful accomplishments and join us in keeping all the graduates in your prayers. Pray for Georges as he works now toward ordination and recognition by the government as a pastor with the legal right to marry, bury and register the birth of children. Pray for him also as he has already been functioning as the young pastor of a new church in the area. Pray for the Young Leaders and Godly Women who have just been graduated that the Lord would show them the ministries He has planned for them and their new training. And pray especially for the Trauma Counseling Seminar participants as they use that training in the mercy ministries they already have. Pray that God would bring people to them who are in need of their new understanding of how to listen to and help traumatized people.