photos - fishing at tou kayman

Manu enjoyed trying to catch fish in his hands. He even managed to catch one!

The older guys are figuring out how to make a net out of an old discarded sheet that they found. Here they are standing in the creek.

Th guys got the children to help in herding the fish towards the sheet "net".

Once the fish got close they closed up the net.

Here are some of the fish that they caught. They saved the fish in a bucket with hopes of having a fish fry!

photos - dlo gayay, fish

Dlo gayay is the name that Paulna gives for this body of water. It is very shallow and the fishermen pole their boats to move forward. In the distance you can see flamingos.

I tried going out in the water by foot and everyone refused to go with me to get closer to the flamingos. I wanted to try and get a close-up photo of the flamingos but they moved further out as I got closer. Instead I turned around to take a photo of all the discouraged people on the shoreline who didn't enjoy "dlo gayay".

They were happy to leave and left with their water rings saying they didn't want to visit "dlo gayay again but were looking forward to visit Tou Kayman again.

When we got home the children cleaned the fish.

We enjoyed a fish fry! The fish tasted good.

haiti update - august 16, 2008

“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11

Hi! This week was spent doing some traveling. We drove out to Tomazeau to pick up Guerdline (“Gerdie”) who was spending some time visiting her mother and sister. Gerdie is now 4 years old and ready to start her schooling. She needed to be back for pre-school testing this week. Dorothy has been looking after her for the last couple of years and she has thrived in her care. Gerdie was also the first and so far only baby born here at Coram Deo. Her mother Janine was staying here because she has a child with hydrocephalus. She went into labor and nobody told me until it was too late and then I ran and got Carole to come and deliver the baby. Now Gerdie is ready for her school age years! Janine’s other daughter, Ersila was one of the first children operated on for hydrocephalus by the Miami Neurosurgery Team in 2003. It is good to see how after surgery these children can thrive over the years. Ersila has some brain damage because of the hydrocephalus but her mother looks after her the best she can. When I saw her at her mothers’ house in Tomazeau she looked good and was trying to interact with Gerdie. She was sitting in a chair. Pray for Janine and her family and also for Dorothy’s efforts in looking after Gerdie and the other children in her care.
Driving back to Port-au-Prince with Gerdie and her mother we passed the village of Tou Kayman. In English this is translated as “Crocodile Hole” The village has a large “sous” (spring) where people go to wash their clothes and also to swim. It’s a nice area. We also passed a large lake area and stopped. There were several flamingos standing in the lake. This gave me an idea of a place where I could take the children to visit. It was also not too far from Port-au-Prince. I had promised the children at the beginning of summer break that before the school year started we would go to the beach. Private beaches in Haiti are expensive and you have to pay for each person who goes to the beach. Fuel prices are also high right now. This would be an economical place to visit because it was free! When I got back I explained to everyone what I had seen on the way from Tomazeau and of a swimming place in Tou Kayman. Jacob is the most cautious of all the children and his first question was why would someone name a place “Tou Kayman”? I told him that the village got this name because this is an area where the crocodiles live and that we would be swimming in their watering hole. I told him not to worry because the villagers took care of any crocodiles a long time ago and also built a wall around the spring. He told me to bring along the machete just in case. On Friday we took a Haitian holiday to the countryside with the children and other people of Coram Deo. 16 people piled onto the pickup truck. Everybody was eager to go except for Jacob because I didn’t bring along the machete. When we arrived at the spring everyone went with the water toys and jumped in. I reminded them not to splash the wash ladies. I told Jacob not to worry because any lurking crocodiles would be hiding in the tall grass of the creek that was behind the wall. He played in the water too until he got to the back of the spring and noticed an opening in the wall. This opening was there for the excess water of the spring to drain out into the creek. He climbed out and spent the rest of the time on the back wall. I think he was keeping an eye out for crocodiles in the tall grass. After a while the children and older guys started to explore the creek and noticed that there were a lot of fish swimming in the creek. Manu managed to catch a fish with his hands. Some of the guys and children decided they wanted to go fishing and searched the area for something that they could use for a net. They found an old discarded sheet and made a net out of it. Soon they were capturing fish in their homemade net. They weren’t very big fish but they put them all into a bucket. Only the smallest fish were let go. Jacob didn’t dare to put his feet into the creek. The older guys held the net and the children would herd the fish in the direction of the net. It was fun to watch them.
There was a group of Christian people walking down the road who were singing Christian songs and they stopped at the spring. They were good singers and sang for a while. They then prayed. One of the women had a walking stick and she went down to the large tree at the water’s edge. She reached out with her stick and tapped the tree with the stick and then her whole body started to tremble. Another man came and hugged the tree. Another man came and lifted his arms in the air and started speaking in a loud voice. I didn’t understand why they did this. I know that in the voodoo religion spirits come down from the trees. I don’t know if these people were thinking that this was how to communicate with the Holy Spirit but we left and didn’t stick around to see what happened next.
We started heading back and stopped at the lake to look at the flamingos. Paula told me it was not a lake but just “dlo gayay” (scattered water). It is very shallow but there is a lot of fish in it. The fishermen pole their fishing boats to move them forward. We went to where the flamingos were and they were standing at a distance in the water. I wanted to get a close-up picture of the flamingos and asked if anyone wanted to join me in walking into the lake. I ended up going into the water by myself because everyone refused to go. They said that they didn’t want to get stuck in the mud and that the flamingos would just move away once we got too close. While walking I noticed that every now and then the flamingos would move a little further and I could never get close to them. I ended up taking a close-up picture of everyone standing on the shore waiting for me to get stuck in the mud. It is a funny photo. They don’t look very enthused and are sitting with their water rings on the shore. I posted this and other photos from our vacation day on the blogsite. I headed back to shore and they told me that they never want to come back to “dlo gayay” to go swimming. They were eager to return another day to “Tou Kayman”. We then headed for home and there was only one time when everybody pounded on the back of the pickup truck to stop. The Tomazeau road is a bumpy road that you can’t drive fast on and I was worried that maybe somebody had bounced out but it was just the yellow ducky water ring that flew out the back. One of the older guys jumped out and chased it down. We arrived home and the children cleaned the fish and we had a fish fry! The fish tasted good. Everyone is looking forward to going for our next visit to Tou Kayman to get more fish and to swim.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

photos - cite soleil summer camp

Each classroom in the school was used with the children. This group of children enjoyed clowning around for the camera.

A meal is provided for the children thanks to donations of food.

This girl is helping to prepare the family meal. She lives in the Ti-Ayiti area of Cite Soleil

This is the typical home for the people living in Ti-Ayiti. The tin is not in good condition and the dirt holds a lot of bacteria due to the nearby canal.

The people living in the shacks have no toilet facilities and they use the nearby canal. When the rains come the canal overflows onto the ground and this sewage water reaches the people's homes. Pray for a solution for the canal problems.

photos - coram deo clinic day

Before the clinic we walked through the Delmas 31 area letting people know that there would be a clinic. Cards were given to present at the gate. Once inside they were given a number.

We set up a waiting area at the front where people could sit waiting for their number to be called.

After the number was called the parent and child went to the registration area and a dossier prepared for the doctor.

Dr. Karen McCarthy worked quickly seeing all the patients and prescribing medicines. Sheri is helping to translate in this photo.

After seeing the doctor the prescriptions were filled at the pharmacy table. Translators explained to the parents how the medicine was to be taken. There were also a couple of teachers from Sheri's school who did evangelism with the people while they were waiting. We rejoice that 3 people gave their hearts to the Lord. Now they will be followed up on and encouraged to attend church.

haiti update - august 9, 2008

“I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1,2

Hi! This week was a busy week with the medical program and also making preparations for the school program. A medical team staying at Sheri’s did a clinic at Coram Deo on Thursday afternoon. They were able to see 70 children from the neighborhood. It’s great when medical teams come in! A lot of people can be helped. Kimly Arisma, a 7year old girl was at the clinic. She is going blind. The mother had said that she had seen an eye doctor here in Haiti but he told her that nothing could be done for her here in Haiti. Pray we can find out what is causing her eye problems and what can be done to help her. She is a happy girl and not worried about her eyes. She is still able to attend school. A mother came to the clinic with her child and the mother was found to have an eye tumor. She will most likely need to have her eye removed. Pray we can find an eye surgeon for her here in Haiti.
We walked through the ravine area on the other side of Delmas 31 and in the ravine area by our street this week. We met Renaldo Lubin and his mother. He is almost one year old now and was born with clubbed feet. The mother had started going for casting of his feet at St. Vincent’s but then stopped when she ran out of money. The clubbed feet are not too severe so maybe they can still be corrected with casting. We’ll visit Healing Hands with him in September.
We also met another mother and her child. Wadson Louissaint has severe scoliosis. He did have surgery here in Haiti for this but still has some curvature in his spine. In Haiti sometimes other people can be quite cruel with the handicapped. His mother started to cry when she explained how sometimes the children at the school he attends tease him about his crooked back.
We received news from the United States that Dieuna Philippe had another brain surgery to place a shunt. Continue to pray for her recovery and that one day she can take in fluids normally. She still is on a feeding tube.
This week several mothers came with their handicapped children to the house asking about education for their children. Salome Dorceus and her mother came to the house on Tuesday. Youby Ladouceur was also there at the same time. Both these children had suffered typhoid when they were younger which caused brain damage. Their mothers worked with their children and never gave up over the years. They worked hard to build better lives for their children and pushed them to improve. A young mother came to the house with her 15-month-old daughter. She told me that her daughter had recently suffered typhoid fever and was left with brain damage. The girl just recently started to be able to hold her head up. Salome’s mother heard this young mother explain about her daughter’s typhoid and told her to not give up. She talked with her about how Salome used to be. Being able to see Salome and Youby gives this young mother hope that her child will one day be able to walk and go to school. It is frustrating to the parents to hear people say that the handicapped can’t learn anything. There were several older children who came to the house with their parents. They have never attended school. In a way this is a handicap too because other schools in the area will not take in children that are considered too old for the beginning classes. We are planning on forming one class with these older children and working on catching them up. With all the handicapped children that we have seen it would be ideal to have a class for visually impaired students, a class for deaf students and a class for mentally handicapped students. We are going to start the year with two teachers and pray that funds will be raised in order to break the handicapped class into its specialty areas. At the present time there are only 2 schools in Port-au-Prince who work with the handicapped. Pray for the school preparations that we are making. Pray that the Lord will allow the program to grow like it did from its first start in 2000.
We also visited Cite Soleil this week to visit the summer camp being held at Willy and Joel’s school. There were over 200 children at the school. Food was donated in order to provide a lunch for the children. The school is in the wharf area of Cite Soleil. Another section, which is nearby, is called Ti-Ayiti. This is one of the poorer areas of Cite Soleil. Tin shacks are built near the canal there. When it rains the sewage from the large canal overflows into the area. The children there are happy though and make the best of their living conditions. Pray for the development of Cite Soleil. One of the biggest problems is the large canal and all the bacteria it holds.
The Haitian people love soccer and during the summer months neighborhood soccer tournaments are held. Manu is a real soccer fanatic and wants to watch every game at the neighborhood soccer field on Delmas 31. It’s nice to see the community spirit. The winning team will hold a rara and walk from the soccer field through the streets with a music band. No raras are held though for a game that ends in a tie. As the summer ends the championship rounds are approaching. On Thursday, a team from Delmas 31 was playing a team from Delmas 33 on the Delmas 31 soccer field. Both teams had already qualified for the playoffs but were meeting to decide first place in their division. The game got quite heated and the referee lost control of the players. The soccer game turned into a “hockey fight”. The supporters on the sideline started to get involved too. In Haiti when people are angry things tend to get thrown and bottles and rocks were flying around the soccer field. The police showed up and then started shooting in the air. That stopped the fighting in a hurry and everyone scrambled away. The soccer game never did finish and maybe the match for first place will be decided another day. Hopefully there will be more security for the playoffs! There is a Haitian Creole proverb for situations like this. “Ou pa janm joure manman kayman jouk ou fin pase dlo”. In english this is translated as “You never say bad things against the crocodile’s mother until you have already passed over the water”.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

photos - port glace, iliodor - part 1

Before meeting Iliodor we had to stop by Paulna's village and pick up a relative of Iliodor. He led us to Iliodor.

We stopped along the Malpasse road. The lake edge is beside the road.

Iliodor Noel is doing well after having his leg amputated.

His home village is across the lake in a place called Port Glace.

He made a cell phone call to someone in the village to send the sailboat across to carry Wilben's and his mother. Here is a photo of the boat starting out.