Training

What have I been up to recently since the teams are gone? Dealing with management issues and doing some computer training.


After the teams were gone, the Van Schoycks and Wilsons and I had a number of days of all afternoon meetings to get ready for the HAFF board meeting and to plan for various activities at HAFF in the months to come. I also trained the Wilsons and Van Schoycks how to post to the HAFF Details blog. That blog will now be a team blog where you might see posts from any of the 5 of us -- Greg, Barb, Colin, Carla or me.

Thursday (April 10) was the second day I did some training with Se Acilienne, the school secretary. I showed her how to use Microsoft Excel to calculate student grades. HAFF and BTI are slowly entering the 21st Century!

Becky Wilson has been taking photos of all the old, handwritten school record books so we can have copies on disks.

So, to train Acilienne, we are working from those photos on my computer

and putting the data in the spreadsheet in the school computer.

Demonstrations

You might be hearing on the news or seeing on the internet that there is trouble in Haiti right now. There are indeed demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes and other areas. Pignon has had some tire burning and road blocks the last couple of days and St Raphael, north of Pignon has had about 4 days of burning tires and road blocks. Yet, south of us, in Hinche, all is apparently calm.

Bohoc is calm. We have had school as normal every day. Our teachers and students and staff are talking about nothing but the demonstrations in the rest of the country. And any glance into the school office will find teachers listening to the news on the radio. People are very concerned.

The demonstrations are about food -- the price and the availability. Just an example, my cook went out yesterday afternoon to try to buy some flour, sugar, rice and oil to stock up. She found the flour and sugar and oil, but no rice. The last merchant in the Bohoc area with any rice had just sold out -- at a higher price than what my cook had last heard. The merchant called her vendor in Cap Haitien who said that, he didn't have any rice either, but there was a boat due in soon and as soon as the rice cleared customs, he would let the merchant know.

The people are blaming the government, and indeed there are delays in customs that are holding up food imports and adding to the shortages. But the rising price of food right now is a world problem. Just today the teachers were telling me that they heard that there were food demonstrations in Egypt and Ivory Coast. There is only so much the Haitian government can do in the face of such a world wide problem.

Please pray for the food shortages to come to a peaceful end. Please pray for wisdom for the people and leaders in the demonstrations and that they will be willing to listen to reason. Please pray for wisdom for Haiti's leaders as they seek for the way out of a problem that is plaguing many parts of the world. And pray for the Haitian people that they would turn to the Lord, not to violence and that the Lord would provide for them. And pray for us that we would be able to be calm lights for peace and reason and that we would be able to help where we can.

Mayonaise

This is a story about how we often don't know what an impact we make, or how far our influence goes. This is a story of Mayonaise, but it applies to our witness for Christ as well. Last week, I heard about Mayonaise.

Madam Claude is the wife of Met Claude the coordinator of HAFF's Project Healthy Family. She was also in the 3rd year class of the Godly Woman Christian homemaking class. When Mme Claude was in the Godly Woman class, I taught the women to make Mayonaise using a recipe modified from the More With Less cookbook's Cooked Mayonaise recipe. The people of the Plateau like mayonaise for salads and it is a luxury item for them. I thought the ladies would use it in their homes and maybe in their churches and it would save them some money.

But, in the Godly Woman class, we have always encouraged the ladies to pass on what they have learned. Mme Claude took that to heart and her husband's contacts with groups in other areas gave her the perfect way to share her knowledge.

Last week Mme Claude came to ask me to give her the mayonaise recipe again. She had lost it. The reason she wanted it now is that she had been asked to share the recipe with a group of 30 women in a World Vision supported group near Hinche! She had taught the women how to make mayonaise once already, but they didn't quite feel like they got it, so they asked her to come and repeat the training. While we were talking about the up coming class, she also mentioned that she had previously taught 30 women in the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) group in Mombin Crochu how to make the mayonaise. They had so taken to the recipe that the CHE group is making Mayonaise in larger quanities to sell!


Please pray for all our Godly Women and Young Leaders both past and present, that the things they learn in their classes would be a blessing to them and to the surrounding communities. Please pray also that the Gospel would spread at the same time and in the same way.

Teams and Veterinary Agents

From February 8 till March 15, there were only 6 days when HAFF did not have visitors. In that time, HAFF has hosted 5 teams and a few individuals or a total of 34 guests coming and going within days of each other. It has been rather hectic, but the teams have accomplished a great deal, learned much about HAFF, blessed the Haitians in the community and encouraged the Haitian and American staff at HAFF.

The last team to arrive was the Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) Canada team. They hailed from multiple countries but were all connected in one way or another with the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island. This is the team I spent the most time with.

My American colleagues and I translated everyday for them as they did a spay and neuter clinic (since there were local veterinary agents observing),

2 vaccination clinics

and 2 days of training local veterinary agents. I, of course was in my element -- having wanted to be a veterinarian at one point in my life.

Please pray for the veterinary agents who were trained this past week that they would remember and put into practice the things they learned and that they would continue to be blessed by the time with the folks from Canada and with each other.

Vet Agents at Eye Clinic

This morning Becky and I got to the Eye Clinc and found that 4 of the 6 people signed up for today were veterinary agents from the seminars last week! They came almost all at once, were relatively easy to fit with glasses and had a grand old time visiting with each other and with us! The 5th of the 6 people signed up was one of the agent's neighbor and the 6th person didn't come. But we saw 2 walk-ins, since we had the time. So, today we saw 2 people from LaVictoire (90 minute walk), 2 people from Savanette (2 hours by bicycle), one person from Pignon (90 minute walk), one person from Grand Latanier (45 to 1 hour minute walk) and one person from Bohoc. Thankfully we were able to help everyone except the one lady walk-in, who came for medicine we did not have.

Christmas 2007

My Uncle Richard and I met in Memphis TN for Christmas this year. It is equal driving distance for him from Texas and for me from where I land in Florida.

We had a good Christmas with all the trimmings except snow!

We also spent some time in downtown Memphis including Beale Street

and we had dinner on board the Memphis Queen III.

Then, in January, instead of heading right back to Haiti, I took the Auto Train to north to go to Pennsylvania. Our dear family friend Marie McGhee had died in December and I went to attend her burial and memorial service. It was a sad occasion, but it enabled me to see some extended family and to see some snow.

Bumper crop of citrus

When I got back to Haiti in later January, it was to find that all the rain we had in the fall had resulted in a huge crop of citrus fruit in the area. I have never seen so many grapefruit, oranges and red limes in my entire 22 years in Haiti. The photos are of the trees after several weeks of picking -- and they are still laden! Ely, the HAFF farm manager told the story the other day about being hungry one day. His wife hadn't cooked that day, but he remembered he had a roasted sweet potato. So he ate that and a grapefruit and it chased the hunger completely away! Thank the Lord with us that at least one crop did well this year.

Eye glass Clinic

I am back to work at the eye glass clinic Wednesday mornings.

Becky Wilson works with me and we see 6 people each time.

Thanks to an Iowa eye surgeon we have the means to check distance vision and to easily change lenses to see what strength glasses some one needs.

We use the Creole "Here is the Path God has Traced for you to get to Heaven" tract as the reading material, then the person may also keep the tract. Then the people can choose from a variety of styles in their prescription.

Teams of visitors (these ladies are from Grand Rapids, Michigan) have been helping us as well cleaning some of the donated glasses and praying with the people once they get their glasses. Please pray for me and Becky as we minister to this physical need, that the love of Christ would be made mainfest and would draw folks to Himself!

Long Time Gone

I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything to the blog! The summer was hectic -- I stayed in 27 homes in 10 weeks, if I am counting correctly. And the fall back in Haiti was hectic too. Just a quick view of some of what has been occupying my time ---
I spent a good part of the early fall working with Mme Gesson (second from right in back row) testing and choosing the Godly Woman classes for the year. I also helped with the first few classes.

Here are the adult (non-student) women yesterday wearing the aprons they made (they were making Christmas Cookies) and the hats they were just given as a gift.

Here are the young ladies (from our school) today wearing their aprons and hats. Both groups are very enthusiastic and a great encouragement. Pray for them as they study the rest of this year how to have a home set apart for the Lord.
It was a very wet fall. We got too much rain. It not only made the roads almost impassable, but it ruined many crops for the people as well. It is going to be a hungry winter.

This is National Route 3 coming out of the Caiman ravine on the Bohoc side October 18. The sides of the road were literally running rivers.

We had a mission study team from Chattanooga TN arrive October 18. The truck got stuck in the ravine on the way back to the HAFF campus and the men on the team worked hard with the Haitians to pull the truck out -- a very wet and muddy welcome to Haiti, but a real glimpse of the constraints under which we often work.


This is Derold Mompremier working with the new class of Young Leaders. Yes, he is back from University -- the Lord made it clear to him that now was not the time! I spent some time helping him communicate with Barb Van Schoyck (who was still in the US) so they could plan the new class.

Since then, my time has been spent working with Barb and Greg Van Schoyck and the Wilsons and our Haitian staff to put together the information to fill out a very extensive report. Each year the Non-Governmental Organizations in Haiti must submit this report to the Haitian government. Today the report is finally finished! Tomorrow I will have our school headmaster proof-read the French and then I will print the report. Lord willing, Colin and I will fly to Port-au-Prince and back Monday to submit the report. Please pray for us and our travel arrangements.

Then, next Thursday Dec 13th, I leave Haiti for 3 weeks to go to the US for Christmas. This year my Uncle and I are meeting in Memphis TN for the holiday! No special reason, just that it is the same amount of driving time for us both to get there.

I hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Thank you all for your interest, your prayers and your support.