Yard Maintenance Day :)

 

Pastor Pierre came over today to cut the grass. Our yard missed him. The grass grew quickly over the past 3 weeks :) He spent the weeks while I was gone in Haiti talking with people in the Kenscoff mountain area, planted trees with a community group near his church and attended a 2 day Ministries of Transformation seminar at the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre.

I brought back some good quality laundry line that I purchased in Canada. Johnny got to work replacing the ropes that we had used.

I told the guys they should have let some goats feed on our yard. Then the grass wouldn't have gotten so long :)

We had lots of helping hands picking up garbage :)

It's nice to be back here in Haiti again :)

Activities Going On At Coram Deo Today - Photos

 

We have been busy today :) This morning we drove over to Valerio Canez to buy a couple of filing cabinets and a 6 locker storage unit.

The storage lockers were for the childrens' room. Tomorrow's work project will be cutting the grass. Johnny couldn't/didn't want to/ find the line for the whipper snipper while I was in Canada :)

Missions For Kids and Betty King donated 600 CDN$ to buy supplies for Haiti. With these funds we were able to purchase this set of storage lockers for our younger boys here at Coram Deo.

The lockers come with a lock so that they can keep control of their clothes and other personal items. The lockers even come with a mirror so that they can check that their hair is just right :) Usually they use the side mirrors on our truck :)

We also bought a couple of filing cabinets for my room to use as storage. Thank you Betty King and Missions For Kids in Rodney, Ontario from all of us here at Coram Deo :)

Yesterday we drove over to Keijzer Computer and bought a wall mount for our television. Doing this created some space for our 2 new filing cabinets. Our stereo, dvd player and television box fit perfectly in the space between the tv and filing cabinets.

With a lot of people in the yard and house each day we need to maximize our space use as much as we can :)

Here are some of the older guys cleaning out their rooms. 5 of our guys were writing the Rheto exams for the 2nd last year of secondary school from Monday to Thursday. Today was spent relaxing and cleaning their rooms :) They are serious in their studies and determined to graduate.

Summer school has started here at the house. Some of the children are taking the summer vacation as extra school lessons. Some of our older students and their friends work with the younger children each day. They do this voluntarily. It is nice to see children using their free time to learn.

Here is another group of students studying.

This is a group of the older students going over some school work.

In Haiti an education is an opportunity for a better future. The parents of these children all want their children to have an education. It helps when the students are encouraged to do well too. Pray for the students who are on summer break, whether traveling out in the province to spend time with relatives or taking extra lessons here at Coram Deo.

Yonel - Gatekeeper - Stroke

 

Our gatekeeper Yonel suffered a stroke when I was in Canada. The stroke left him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body. It was sad to see how much he aged it seems due to the stroke. The British Red Cross rebuilt his home that they had broken a year ago to make room for a larger canal. While they were doing the work he had his bed stored outside. Someone stole it. This afternoon the guys bought a steel bedframe on the street as well as a large mattress to replace the bed that was stolen.

Paulna and Amos carried the steel bed frame along the newly constructed canal through Yonel's neighborhood - Cite 4.

Eryl and Yvens carried in the mattress on their heads.

The workers removed the balcony making more more for Yonels' family. Here the guys are getting ready to move the frame and mattress into his house.

Yonel is a determined guy. He was able to walk down the small steps of his home. A friendly neighbour hugged him in this picture.

We have contacts with Bernard Mevs/Project Medishare Hospital. Next week we are going to try and get Yonel accepted into their physiotherapy program.

It took a little manouvering to get the large mattress through the doorway.

Now Yonel has a bed that he can sleep on. It is good to see how our young people here at Coram Deo eagerly volunteer to help out people in need.

Tanya Jr. is Yonel's youngest child. She doesn't like foreigners too much. She hid behind her hands and didn't want to look at me :)

Eryl and Yonel sitting together. Pray for Yonel - that he regains strength on his weak left side and also for his family. We are going to keep Yonel on our payroll until hopefully he gets stronger and can return to work again. You don't need much strength to be a gatekeeper. Yonel currently is handicapped due to the stroke, but as a witness to the community we work with the handicapped and hire the handicapped to show the Haitian people that they can function in Haitian society. A stroke will not stop Yonel providing for his family.

Medical/Dental Team Photos

 

I just got back from 3 weeks of vacation in Canada. It was nice to spend time with family and friends in Canada. I arrived back in Haiti on July 2nd and today we hosted a dental team from the United States. One of the team members is seen here doing evangelizing before the start of the clinic.

The team members set up in our kitchen and turned it into a dental room :)

Haitian interpretors translated for the team members.

Macdonald organized the registration of patients.

Ken Taylor and his wife recently sold their home and will be moving to Haiti in November to serve the people in Haiti with medical care. They both are medical professionals and will be sharing their talents here in Haiti.They rented a home next to Ed Amos and will be giving Ed a hand at his clinic for a couple days a week.

One of the team members is irrigating a wound of this man who is a welder. He needed stitches after cutting his hand on some steel.

While the medical people were in the living room providing medical care, the team got busy doing teeth cleaning.

In Haiti you have to improvise sometimes. This is our version of a dental chair; the patient sits on the floor and the dental care providor sits on a bench :)

The team made use of our floor to be able to help several people at once :)

Everything went well while I was gone in Haiti. It is good seeing the older guys taking responsibility. Manu and Eryl helped me organize the supplies that the team brought for us.

Dental care is a necessity in Haiti that many people can not get because of their poverty. They forgo visits for teeth cleaning and will suffer with untreated cavities.

The team gave us a box of New Testaments to distribute as part of Send North America.

For the North American Mission Board, 2013 is the Year Of The Bible. They have a Find It Here New Testament distribution project. "The project is a part of GPS: God's Plan For Sharing, the evangelism initiative designed to equip and encourage Southern Baptists in fulfilling the Great Commission in North America by the year 2020. "

We are thankful for these New Testaments and will distribute them as part of the english language program that Milo teaches.

The team also gave us socks and underwear for the boys...

... toothpaste, deodorant....

.... school supplies, kitchen supplies and toys for the children.

Amos and Edmond (he is the driver for Sherri Fausey of Christian Light Mission) show the children how to use the large bubble wands. Looks like they are having fun :)

Dieubon had no trouble catching on :)

Calens had a little more difficulty but he caught on after a few tries.

Other children were waiting in the doorway waiting for their turn. Once the children got the hang of it they headed outside.

One of the visitors tried to teach the boys how to play American football.

The children are used to using their feet and didn't quite follow the rules. They preferred kicking the football to each other rather than throwing it :)

Notice the football is flat. That didn't stop everyone from having fun playing "Flat Football" :)

Rosquini is talking to someone at the gate. He is Jn. Eddy's younger brother. Our gatekeeper Yonel is recovering at home from a stroke that he suffered a couple of weeks ago. We missed having him here today. Please keep him in prayer.

Later in the afternoon the team headed over to the Missionaries of Charity to assist the sick children who are provided with medical care there.

Thanks for all your help :)