Update on Leila

Hi All,

Here's an email from our friends, the Grants.  They've been hosting a little girl from Burkina Faso named Leila for heart surgery.  Please see their update below.
Ben

Dear Friends & Family,
> We've been very blessed to have Leila in our home the last couple
> months, but last week she was cleared medically to go home.
>
> She's recovered completely from her surgery and is going home off of all
> medication! It's amazing to see how she's grown since we got her off
> the plane. Before the surgery, she couldn't even eat a meal without
> growing short of breath and needing a nap. Now, she walks and talks
> (English :-) ) like any other 2 year old (Molly taught her "NO!").
>
> Thank you all for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for
> smooth transitions after she goes home:
> - Our family's - we will miss her very much.
> - Leila's - she has really grown comfortable with us and will have to
> travel 30+ hours with a stranger before reuniting with her family.
> - Leila's family's - They've been missing her terribly, and will be
> quite surprised by her progress. She has a lot more energy now!!
>
> Also, we found out today that the organization that arranged for her to
> come over needs about $2000 to purchase a ticket to get her back to
> Burkina Faso. If you are able to help in any way, please contact
> Children's Medical Missions at www.cmmwest.com
> <http://www.cmmwest.com/getinvolved.htm>.
> You can donate through PayPal, or by regular mail. They can also use
> donated frequent flyer miles (preferably Air France or American, but the
> website says "any airline").
>
> Thanks again!
> Lori & Devon Grant
> Devon & Molly

Dear Diary IX

The needs of Pestel are great, but the people are not complainers. They are frustrated because they strongly desire education and good health and opportunity for their children. They want them to learn English because they recognize the value of education and knowing languages--opportunities may open to them.

They are frustrated that they do not have reliable water [photo on the right is a cracked cistern located next to a school]. They cannot get their health needs cared for [there are two physicians for 70,000 people]. Their self-identified health issues include 'fever', TB, back pain [from hard, physical labor], respiratory diseases, diarrhea, rashes, malnutrition, chest pains, and 'acid' (GERD). Sister Fidelis is about to open 2 medical clinics--one of these will be in Abrico, and her announcement of this received a great deal of applause--both at Abrico and Lasalla (another village located about one hour away from Abrico by foot).

Another comment about education: at the Abrico community meeting one man from a nearby village [Toma Elli] stood up and mentioned that he is a teacher, but that he frequently goes unpaid. He has two other teachers and when money does come in from the government, he pays them $100 Haitian each, but that is not every month.
Some quick math: $7 Haitian = $1 US

So the current government (unreliable) payment... $100/7 = $14.25US per teacher per month

This was hard to hear because I have seen many teachers in Pestel who do not have work because they do not get paid. And who can blame them for not teaching. They have to do something to bring in money. So they turn to farming again.
In front of this large group at Abrico I commended this man, and asked him to persevere. I told him I would see if I could find some generous people in the US who might be willing to help him and his teachers.

This is my first appeal for help: Please consider providing some financial support to the teachers of Toma Elli. I was deeply impressed and moved by their story, and they need relief to be encouraged to continue in their work. Any amount would be helpful, whether one-time or ongoing. Helping to pay a teacher's salary will enable dozens of children to receive education. This will also help us to continue to build goodwill among the people. We want to encourage this kind of dedication to their communities.

You can give at this Site: Special Situations (Partnering With Pestel)

Dear Diary VIII

Abrico.

I visited Abrico back in October 2007. That was a very brief visit. One of their community leaders, Mileas, is a man around my age who has charisma and excellent leadership skills. He is a humble man, knowledgeable, and deeply dedicated to his village. His mother's land, for example, was donated to the community for a school.

The man on the right is Mileas.

He is one of their key leaders. He can get them up out of their seats to do warm-up singing exercises ("loosening up"), and in the next minute run an organized meeting. People listen to him when he speaks.

In Abrico they have a small school that was to have been built by the government, but the funds never materialized. The community pooled their resources and found a way to build it themselves. The building you see briefly in the video is all the school building they have for 250 students.

You can view the video HERE.
Or you can always see it at the main website under Photos & Video.

There is another very sad (and maddening) story. The community received a grant from USAID to expand their school facility in size by severalfold. I saw some of the rebar rising up from the ground...amidst a vines and bushes. One of the contractors or officials had run off with the money.

So they make do (sort of). They will build temporary structures around the existing building out of bamboo to hold outdoor schools. This community is invested in education though they may not have much in the way of resources. When they state that they want education their witness is credible.

I am certain that the donated money must be given locally to people invested highly in their communities, as opposed to disinterested government officials (often regional or national level) or contractors.

Dear Diary VII

At Sister Fidelis' house up in the mountains (village of Ferrier) there is no cell phone access, electricity or running water. That also means no refrigeration, flushing toilets, charging of dead batteries (which is why I don't have many photos from this trip), cold drinks, or safe leftovers.
But we did have popcorn! That seemed so out of place. Someone made a big basket of it last night when the kids put on a show for us. They sang songs, including one written for yours truly, and did a couple of cute plays. They are very inventive, imaginative kids who are not generally bashful or too worried about performing badly (i.e. overly self-conscience). Of course, this is an oversimplification because there are shy people, but I don't sense the same level of insecurity as we often find in the US.
Yesterday at Odelin's school down by the coast I was struck by one little girl. Her hair was thin and bronzed, her features sunken and thin. She is malnourished. She stood out rather starkly against the others seated around her. However, I was quite surprised when Odelin, in reading off the children's grades, called out her name. She had one of the highest scores in the entire class! It then also struck me that she clapped and seemed genuinely excited every time a student received a passing grade for that year (which was true of about 2/3 of the class).

Every time I come to Haiti I find a person who breaks my heart. She is one of them now.

Dear Diary VI

It seems ridiculous to write this: apparently the family with its own (private) cistern is often 'wealthier' than those without. In a community of about a 1000 people, for example, there may be 15 cisterns...10 of them private. In a drought they can sell water, at least until it dries up. In the US we worry about what color faucets we have, and we may get upset when the government tells us not to water our grass (through our automated sprinklers) because of a water shortage.
[the photo to the left is of a broken cistern in need of repair]

Economically this is a farming community. They do have at least one carpenter (a Baptist pastor) but he's being transferred out. There are also a couple of masons.

They grow mangoes, many (17?) types of yams, coffee, plantains, bananas, corn, cassava, pineapple, coconuts, peanuts, black beans. Some have chicken or goats or maybe a cow. I've only seen a couple of pigs in Haiti so far, and only one in Pestel.

Here is a short video featuring some of the foods in Pestel.

The land is quite fertile for these things, but they need to be taught good farming practices. They don't know about irrigation, terracing, or even planned planting (most of it is a bit haphazard). Their yield could improve significantly through changed farming practices (which means educational opportunities!) and fertilizer and formation of co-ops. Getting the food to market is a bit tricky now because the one main boat that brought goods to Port-au-Prince on a weekly basis sank recently. This is the same one I wrote about earlier.

Dear Diary V

In Pestel there are beautiful singers, intelligent people, handy and mechanical folk--in short, most of the same as what we find in our own communities. But there is currently no opportunity for them. If they do seek opportunity it is often at the expense of their family or community.

An example: when we arrived at the path to Ferrier (where Sister Fidelis lives) we heard a musical sound like from a hand-made pipe. In actuality it was a someone blowing a conch shell (they have TONS of these shells) and using it to call people to help with a certain community task. They apparently often help one another--whether building something or harvesting food (i.e. coffee or mangoes or coconuts etc) or what have you.

Dear Diary IV

At certain points as you travel in Pestel the main road continues but all else becomes hiking paths. You could ride a mule along these pathways and even a motorcycle...to a point. Though the distance is relatively short (0.5 miles) the traveling is so slow and at time tricky.

Certain places you duck under overhanging coffee plants or step carefully over rocky paths. A single bag of cement for a cistern or a building would have to be hauled up by hand.

But honestly, if anyone could or would do it these people would. They are strong people--physically strong. And they are humiliatingly generous, kind, hospitable, and gracious with their words. How many times have I heard people thank God for me and thank me for my 'sacrifice' in coming out to them. I feel extremely unworthy of such kindnesses.

Though they are poor they remain a very happy community. I'm not trying to paint too rosy a picture here. Life is hard. Everything is hauled. Land is tilled by hand. Cisterns are dug by hand. Rocks are smashed up by hand. When they need sand for mixing with cement...they go dig it up from some sandy place and carry it to the building site. No cement trucks or even wheelbarrows.
But here you do see half-naked kids with bloated bellies (worms, most likely...or malnutrition). Here very few of the kids go to school because they cannot afford it. And of those that do attend the 3-4 hours of school per day (all that is currently offered) it is a surprise if more than 1 or 2 from an entire class would go on to high school (in Port-au-Prince or Jeremie).

There are a good number of teachers in each village. That's encouraging! But they are without employment. Either there is no school building or no funding...or both. They seem to be bright, capable people (a number of these folks are part of KPA--the development group). They care deeply for their communities (they could try to find work as a teacher in a bigger city in Haiti, for example) and hold out with hope.

I want to start seeing that hope fulfilled.