Back to School Sales (for Haiti?)

Hi Everyone,

In talking to my mom this morning she suggested that people could purchase extra school supplies this month for Pestel because of the per-school sales going on.  I think it's a great idea!!

The one thing they do not need is paper.  So please don't worry about buying that.  For some reason they can get paper cheaply (And they use a specific kind of lined paper...). 

But pens, pencils, erasers, rulers...all that good stuff...can be easily packed, doesn't weight much, and would be a big help to those who are attending school and their teachers.

We will plan to collect it all and store it until the next trip to Pestel (which...tentatively...may be in late February.  So if you're interested in going down with me...just let me know  :)

If you live in our area (Hershey) you can give it to us.  If up in NH, you can give it to my parents.  Fort those farther away...if you want to give in this way you could send money (either to us, or to the church if you want a tax deduction) and we can purchase things in your name.

Simple...easy..cheap...a big bang for the buck.  And doing some real good for a bunch of kids in Pestel!

Great stuff!
Ben

Dear Diary III

In the afternoon we held a second meeting that included some other local leaders, including the mayor (who is probably my age), a number of teachers, businesspeople, and priests/pastors. We discussed their concerns for Pestel.

From the Mayor's report the government has promised a number of things, including two new school buildings, internet access for the school by the coast, and a paved road up to the main road.
Yet, the Major agreed with the sentiment that it is best not to wait for the government.

There is a story I heard on my last trip that a local deputy for Pestel was given $30,000 for the school in Pestel. The money promptly made its way to Port-au-Prince where it went to help his kids (and his friends' kids) who lived there.
The shame is that this not uncommon. There is a reason that Haiti is ranked as the Most Corrupt nation for 2007. Grrrrr. More on this later.

From the meeting with KPA and with the local leaders two clear priorities emerged:

1. Clean safe water
2. Education--both primary and secondary schooling as well as health education

Nakyshia is home!

Nakyshia (2 year old Haitian girl) came home yesterday (Thursday) after having gone through open heart surgery on Tuesday morning.  She is doing great!  Truly, she's bouncing around, happy, and not much slows her down.  Her post-op echocardiogram was remarkably excellent.  The patch that closed the hole in her heart (atrial septal defect) looks perfect; there is no fluid around the heart (which is common), and all is going well.  Her mom Dani is obviously relieved and thrilled.

Thank you to those especially who graciously spent your time to watch our kids and help with meals.  We quite honestly could not have done this without you.

Dani will likely be flying back to Haiti on July 19th.  Nakyshia will stay with us for another month or so beyond that. 

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers!

Jen and Ben

Deary Diary II

We passed a young man, probably in his 20s, who used to run a restaurant in Pestel until he became ill last year and had to be hospitalized in Port-au-Prince. Ever since he came back, however, he has been in a depression. He cannot be who he once was. He prefers to be busy, active, making meal after meal. But apparently he no longer has the stamina (and confidence?).

At 11am we met with Sister Fidelis' community development group (KPA). There were a little over 30 who attended (some walking about 2 hours from their village). Each gave a report of his/her village about the population size, number of cisterns (including the # of non-functioning cisterns), and latrines.

Here are a few samples from the report:

Village of Abrico = 1,220 population.
# cisterns = 15
# functioning = 11
# latrines = 5
1 public school (government pays teachers)

Village of Toma Elli = 1,500 population.
# cisterns = 8
# functioning cisterns = 6
# latrines = 3
1 private school (no money to pay teachers)

At Abrico for example the public school serves 250 children. The building is one-room, about 20 x 20 feet. The villagers construct temporary structures (out of bamboo) around the structure.

Sadly about 1/3 of their cisterns do not work. They're cracked. From our discussion the reasons for this are either that they dried out (due to a prolonged drought earlier this year...the worst they'd seen in 30 years) or poor construction. They do not have funds to repair them, and this worsens the water situation for Pestel. During the drought many had walked up to 10 miles to find water. That's hard to imagine...but I met these people personally. And when they say they walked to "Corail" (about 10 miles away) I believe them.

Overall I was very encouraged by this meeting. These appear to be well-invested inviduals (volunteers), both men and women.

Dear Diary

For the next couple of days I plan to post a few of the notes that I wrote down on my recent trip. Hopefully they're worth reading :)

Yesterday was an interesting day. We started out with breakfast (bananas, rolls, hard-boiled eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice) and then attended a church service by the ocean.

Apparently the church was built by one of the captains. Actually, it was built by the same captain (I posted about earlier on my website) whose overloaded boat capsized off the coast of Haiti. The online article requires an update. The boat actually sank nearer to Port-au-Prince. They are still finding bodies, and the current count is up above 30 that died. Financially the captain is ruined. Until now he has not been seen much in public since the incident. I sense he will rebuild, though. He seems to have drive. When the boat capsized he was in the midst of building another boat (which now sits like a skeleton on a beach).

Overview video of my trip to Pestel, Haiti

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to a short video of my recent trip to Pestel, Haiti.  I will be providing further updates, videos, photos, stories, etc. very soon. 

The trip was a big success from my standpoint.  Everything was accomplished (and then some!) that I had hoped for, and we're about ready to roll ahead with some exciting initiatives.  More to come on that later!

Feel free to share this!

And as always, truly a big thanks to you all for your encouragement and your prayers.  God is doing a really exciting work in Pestel. 

We truly need wisdom as we continue forward.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2489033682326680360&hl=en

Ben

Howdy from Haiti

So I'm surviving.  It has been HOT and HUMID.   We're talking--mid 90s + humidity.   But it hasn't slowed us down a whole lot.  Every day I have been exhausted, though. 
I arrived back in PAP from Pestel today.  I'll have a lot of really great stuff to report on from Pestel.  And some good video/photos as well.  It'll take me a bit to upload everything, and I will keep you posted as I go.

I am spending tonight and tomorrow (Friday) here at Wings of Hope--the orphanage for handicapped children.  I'll be looking at their medication records, dispensary, talking with the nurse, seeing a few of the folks, and seeing how well the electronic health record works for them.

Nelson and Anderson are both doing very well!  It was really good to be able to see them both again.  

More to come!

Ben