haiti update - august 2, 2009

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:10,11

Hi! It’s great to be back in Haiti again after a 3-week vacation to Canada! I arrived back in Haiti on July 28th. It was good to be able to spend some time with family and to do some traveling around. There was a garbage strike in Toronto for several weeks and when we went there to visit the Mission of Tears office I made sure to bring my camera along hoping to get photos of the garbage strike but everything looked clean and if there was any garbage laying around it was hidden! We made a couple of presentations in Hamilton and Strathroy. It was nice to see people come out to hear them. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. One of the people who attended the presentation in Strathroy came up to me afterwards and showed me a photo of a couple of healthy babies. She asked me if I recognized one of the babies and I told her that I didn’t. She then told me that one of the babies is Grace Hope and that her daughter is adopting her. Grace Hope is the baby girl who was born with clubbed feet and because of this handicap was abandoned at the side of the road in the Delmas 31 area. A Haitian woman saw her there and brought her here to Coram Deo and then Chris took her into His Home for Children. While there she has thrived and grown and received treatment for her clubbed feet and now she has a family. You can see how God uses people to help a defenseless baby in trouble.
The temperature was nice and cool in Canada and it was great to get a break from the warmer temperatures here in Haiti. When I arrived back in Haiti it was warm with a nice breeze blowing. The older guys did a good job of running the house while I was gone. This week was spent catching up on things and getting things organized. When I got here only 1 pit on the gas stove was working, half the house had electricity and the internet wasn’t working but everything is fixed now. The television and computer in the living room are broken and can’t be fixed but now the children can spend more time improving their reading skills! We also spent time this week making preparations for the upcoming school year. The chalkboards needed to have new sheets of “alboard” put on and chalkboard paint applied to them. This week we are going to paint the benches and tables. Paulna and Benson came back this week too after spending time visiting with their families while I was gone. Paulna came with a gallon of milk straight from the cow and everyone enjoyed drinking it!
While catching up on the news I read that an American Airlines flight had some problems landing on July 21st. The flight was the same flight number as the one I came in on, flight 1729. The article went on to say that it was very windy that afternoon in Port-au-Prince. The first attempt to land was unsuccessful and a second and third attempt was made and both of these attempts were unsuccessful as well. The pilot then announced that he couldn’t land the plane in Haiti because it was too windy and that he would go to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic instead. While heading to Santo Domingo there was quite a bit of turbulence and people were getting nervous. The airplane turned into a “flying church” with people praying and singing hymns. The flight landed without problems in Santo Domingo. The plane refueled and after the winds died down the flight resumed to Haiti and the plane landed successfully this time on the first try. People were applauding the air crew for a safe arrival and when the unfasten seat belt sign came on one of the passengers took the opportunity of doing a bit of evangelizing and stood up holding his bible high and announced that “It is Jesus, the son of God, who got us out of this situation. Convert and accept Jesus as Lord!”
Solyvien Favra traveled to the United States while I was gone and now he is settled with his host family. Vanessa Carpenter of Angel Missions and her husband are his host family and they also paid for his transportation. We give the Lord thanks that care has been found for Solyvien. His first day in Virginia was spent turning the light switches on and off and opening and closing the water taps. He is also enjoying watching television. He will need to be in the United States for some time as his orthopedic deformity is complex. Pray for all those involved in his care. We also received a photo of Daphka St. Vil. She is recovering from her second surgery at her host family’s house and just recently celebrated her birthday. My nephew John and my sister Tanya returned to Montreal to get the pins removed from his ankle/foot and a new cast was put on. In four weeks he will get this cast removed. His second surgery has been delayed and will be rescheduled later. Pray that his foot continues to heal and that another surgery date can be set to repair his other clubbed foot.
Canada has changed its travel advisory for Haiti due to the improved security within the country. Haiti has been removed from the list of countries in the world to avoid. The prior advisory had been in place since 2004. The advisory is now at the same level as for the Dominican Republic. The American government has also improved its travel advisory for Haiti as well. As part of the Canadian governments’ contribution to the improvement of security here in Haiti a prison is being constructed in Croix de Bouquets that will house 1,000 prisoners at a cost of 4.36 million CDN$.
The children always want to ride in the pickup truck and on Friday they got the opportunity to see the police in action. A motorcycle driver was arrested for what looked to be drugs. It was a good anti-drug message for the children. Manu was impressed with the work of the police!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo