Sunday, March 8, 2009

Trip in 2 weeks!

Hi everyone, 

Our itinerary in Pestel is filling up (nicely!).  Here's an example from Sister Fidelis:


"For your visit, it looks like Thursday has filled up with a visit to the Bena clinic, return to Pestel, visiting St. Francis school to pick up the children's response to the children's pictures and letters you brought last year, visiting the hospital, and seeing Dr. Seneque, the mayor, and the trade school group."
 
Just so that you know:  the Bena clinic is brand new!!  As is the trade school group.  Very exciting developments.  I'll be able to share more about this after the trip.   The children's pictures she mentions were done by kids at our church's VBS.  I delivered those on my last trip.


I have a few requests to throw out to everyone:
1.  I'm going to put together a color-pamphlet to give out to the development group members (30 in total) that has a bunch of ideas in it that they could consider implementing.  I'm looking for photos (i.e. online) that I can download, put into a Word file, and then print out.  These could be ideas that are both utilitarian or decorative/toys that they might be able to make.  For example, I'm working with a friend (Johnny Zook) on identifying solutions using bamboo (because they have bamboo).  These would also be very practical 'solutions' to issues related to clean water, sanitation, recognizing dehydration and signs of pneumonia.  If you have any interest in helping me with this please let me know!

2.  Here's another clip from Sister Fidelis' email about a landing strip:
"I have been talking to some people about the airstrip idea. They see a lot of difficulty with it, though I've also gotten some good suggestions from them about it. One idea that gets away from the airstrip is to buy a yacht, or get a second-hand one donated (which I've known people to do). One with some speed could get from Port-au-Prince to Pestel in 2 1/2 hours, I am told. It could be docked here when you are not in town and could double as an ambulance for us to take our urgently ill people to Jeremie or Port-au-Prince. We lose quite a few because of poor travel options. I wouldn't mind using it either to get to places occasionally. One of my questions would be about the price of gas to operate one. Would it be prohibitive? Size would be a consideration, one that is big enough for you and your group but not too big for smaller uses."   

I recall looking into this at one point and one of the issues (besides the cost of fuel) was going to be care of the boat hull because it would build up barnacles unless it's treated regularly.  
So if you have suggestions or thoughts on 
1.  where we could get a boat to transport, say, about 6 people...
2.  solutions on how to care for the boat in Pestel
3.  creative solutions for use of the boat.  For example, I can envision that the local 'owner' is loaned the boat until he/she can raise enough capital to purchase another one in order to bring goods to market.  This is a HUGE barrier currently.  This requires some knowledge of business plans...which I don't have!!

Pretty cool, huh?!
Ben

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