Visit to flooded Blue Hills/Cap. Haitian

Wednesday Cory and I attempted a trip to the Cap Haitian area to see the flooding damage but only 15 minutes or so down the road folks flagged us down to let us know that there was a truck stuck on a hill ahead blocking the road, so we returned home.

Thursday morning we tried again. The trip took twice as long as normal pre-flooding travel. We drove to the Blue Hill's Wesleyan church.

Pastor Alfonse arranged for a couple of the men of the church to show us around the area and visit some of the homes of church members.

He also shared about what a great evangelistic opportunity the flood turned out to be, with the school's second floor being packed with neighborhood people, both church attenders and others.


He also explained that with so many folks loosing their household goods, including clothes, he was able to be an example and wear 'water-shoes' instead of dress shoes.

Many of the poor in Haiti feel that one needs to be dressed up to go to church and now is a good time for the church folks to be examples and accept people with any level of dress into church and share God's unprejudiced, unconditional love.

Over 100 of the people ministered to by the church during the flooding are now attending the church on Sundays and calling it 'my church'.

Lots of standing water and mud everywhere with some people still unable to return to their homes, but thankfully no church members lost their lives.


A river runs through the area and the owners of the small boats saved many lives.

One interesting thing we saw was small clusters of pink eggs that the guys with us didn't know about...after a bit of research we think maybe they are apple snail eggs.




Thankful to see that most of the main roads in Cap Haitian are cleaned up and functioning 'normally' but hear that many side streets remain clogged and because the work is done during the day when people are trying to move about the clean up is slow and frustrating, causing even more than the normal traffic jams.

Mud and trash from the streets put by the sea.

 After a long day we did not want to see the line of bigger trucks parked by a crowd of people waking down the road. Thankfully our smaller truck could just squeeze by on the left of the stuck trucks so we could get home just before dark.

Third trip..

Sorry for not blogging last week but we were busy, busy. I returned home with a head cold but did not want to delay a little update.

Travel on Wednesday went well and we enjoyed spending some time with friends and meeting a visiting dental team. Anna and I enjoyed a swim in the sea.

Thursday we crossed the sea with the Stephens family to join the rest of the team for meetings that started after lunch. Great having music and the little ones blowing bubbles on the trip across.

Friday morning we once again attended team meetings while Anna watched the younger children, as she did on Thursday as well. Friday afternoon while some individual meetings occurred we split up: Anna and I watching different sets of children, Cory talking to Jeantiny and seeing the garden, and each of us found a few minutes to meet with our friendly dentist Dr. Bill.

Then we met again for meetings before and after supper. Saturday morning Cory, Dustin, and I crossed the sea planning to head up to see a newly purchased site for agriculture that the national church wants to develop. Car trouble kept Dustin home but we joined up with Pastor Doucet (the national superintendent of the Wesleyan Church of Haiti) and Pastor Clotare.

After a couple hours on bumpy roads Cory asked if we were close. They pointed across a large valley to a mountain peak covered by a white cloud! Yes, we headed to the top of the mountain where the national land is resting in the shadow of Fort Drouet and the historic ruins of a coffee plantation. The views of the mountains and country were wonderful!

We briefly met with local missionaries Stephen and Autumn, friends of Dustin and Nancy. Thankfully  we pulled into the Ortlip Center driveway about 9 p.m. For Sunday we enjoyed a quiet day without travel as the national elections occurred. Anna crossed on the boat in the early hours with Robin, Nancy, and the girls.

Monday traffic was still limited due to the potential for protests over the preliminary election results so we were advised not to head south. So instead we returned to the mountain top, this time with Dustin driving their new truck [a hard test run], Robin [WISH director who had planned to go on the trip south] and Anna.

Arriving much earlier than we did on Saturday, we had time to explore more of the Wesleyan church’s land as well as the coffee planation ruins and the fort. We once again visited the missionary family and enjoyed getting to know them a bit better as well.

Many factors came together to cause the delay of the trip south to select a second base for distribution of post hurricane aid. So we headed home Tuesday morning, and as soon as we crossed the biggest mountain into the north the rains started up again. Cap Haitian has received more than 40 inches in November, basically as much as they normally receive in a year.

As I write this it is still raining. Flooding, and  mudslides continue to rob people of their homes and gardens. People are getting sick from not eating well and being damp. Please pray.

Protests occurred before and after the elections in some areas but we have not heard of large demonstrations. We did not have any problems on our travels but did see large convoys of 20+ UN vehicles heading to and returning from the north.

Garden update and floods - by Cory

Thursday I brought 1,650 Konsey books to Limbe to meet a TapTap truck for transport to Port au Prince. They were purchased at-cost by veterinarian Dr. Kelly for distribution with goats in far SW Haiti where the hurricane hit hardest.

We only have a few dozen copies of Konsey II left and soon will be out of Kids Konsey so it is time to reprint.

We would like to print at least 5,000 of each book if funding allows. We have about $5000 in the book project fund and total cost would be about $12,000.

Here is a link to help fund the book project: http://www.globalpartnersonline.org/projects/creole-health-book-project

Friday we brought three wheel barrows of trees (about 35) to plant at the big new garden. 1 1/3" rain fell the night before so it was at least a 30 minute muddy hike on the trails to the garden.

No livestock damage the last few weeks and with the fall rains, growth is rapid. The sharecropper's rice is about knee high.

I continue to be impressed by how much time and energy it takes to produce about a half or 3/4 acre of "upland" rice (and other crops) with only hand tools. Weeds and grasses grow as fast as the rice since there is no flooding to hinder the weeds.

We planted mostly rambutan, egg-fruit and jackfruit. This week I hoped to finish planting and also to get at least a few dozen of the "super tree" cacao(chocolate) from the big USDA project nursery to grow under peach palm. Payback for providing a few dozen bamboo poles for part of the nursery shade structure, loaning our wheelbarrow a few days to transport potting soil and also providing some of the potting soil for areas of campus where charcoal has been made.

The cacao nursery is planting some our biriba seeds and carambola/starfruit seedlings and other fruit trees now in the sacks that cacao didn't germinate.

We had 25" of rain here at Fauche from Saturday night to Tuesday night so planting waits. Some of the peanut gardens in the floodplain were washed out but the rain was spread out enough that it looks like at least half remain.

Port Margot

Flood damage is severe in Cap Haitian. They received even more rain than we did, with 10" the first night when we had 5".  We were told that flooding in the Port Margot valley near the sea reached the roof of at least one house. Rain was heavy in all of North Haiti along the coast at least from Port d Paix to the Dominican border.

A day off campus.

Wednesday we picked up Jean Pierre near the front gate and headed toward Cap Haitian at 7:30.

First stop the OMS seminary to deliver and talk plants.

A few years ago some of the OMS missionaries visited Fauche for a garden tour. Cory spent a few hours yesterday talking with Phil, looking at the campus plants and giving some advice.

Anna enjoyed spending time with a friend while I tagged along with the guys increasing my plant knowledge.

New homes found for mangos, egg fruit, peach palms, bananas, chaya, katuk, false roselle, lemon grass, star fruit, peanut butter fruit, miracle fruit and bamboo.

Shared some Konsey books too.

Jean Pierre had already continued on to town for his erends.


We drove through Cap Haitian to the hotel/restaurant. We enjoyed spending some time with a family here for their adoption socialization visit.

While they started the paperwork for their daughter just after we did, their official referral took almost a year longer than ours.

Anna and their children enjoyed the pool after lunch while we talked.

Praying for the remaining steps to occur much faster, for both our families.

Stopped a few times on the way home for a bit of shopping and made it back before dark.

Anna missed volleyball practice but found out the time for the next practice.

Only nine days remain before the trip to Port-au-Prince for the national finals.

Home again

A major perk or blessing of working for the Lord remains all the fantastic folks He brings into one's life.

We enjoyed our week in Cap Haitian with the Holy Cross Lutheran team from Ohio. The week did not go according to Plan A or even B due to heavy rains across northern Haiti that caused some severe flooding. [Heard news that this storm system killed 17 in Haiti]

We did not do any clinic on Monday. Did not get to visit the church at Dondon or hold a clinic there. Cory did not get to teach the school's cooks how to use moringa as none of the schools in Cap Haitian had any classes this week.

We did see 228 patients during 2 full days of clinic and 2 days of morning rainy clinics. The smaller clinics let us spend more time with patient education.

The gal who runs the hotel shared as we prayed with her before leaving how much that prayer means to her and her family. Her sister, who is in Canada with a mom battling leukemia had been asking if the team had prayed yet. They stay at the same hotel every visit so a strong relationship has developed. I've prayed for this family since our visit last year.

Yesterday after we said good-bye to the team Cory and Anna took some of them to the airport for their MFI flight while Pastor Benard drove the rest. Then we loaded up and started home.

Stopped for a cup of ice cream as a treat [bubble gum and chocolate]. Followed by a stop to check out a plant/tree nursery and a stop at the gas station store. Home. Unpacked. Checked out the leak above Eli's desk. And to bed...some with colds so good to be in bed early.

Adoption news. Since September's month of prayers 15 or so new referrals!! More I think than the total for the 1st 8 months of the year with 10 already in November. The referrals were folks who's orphanages suggested the children. Keep praying!

Rain and more rain.

Yesterday, due to heavy rains, we remained at the hotel.

No trip to DonDon or even to the Cap Haitian site.

We spent time talking about health issues in Haiti, going over the charts, reading and visiting.

In the afternoon a few went shopping.

Cory worked on the book.

Today we did get to Madelin and saw a few patients.

American Airlines did come and leave the Cap Haitian International Airport today.

Cowman International and all the schools in Cap Haitian closed for the second day due to the heavy rains.

We returned for a late lunch and heavy rains continue again this afternoon.

Two boxes of supplies did get picked up at the airport.

Lots of flooding in and around Cap Haitian with more rain coming down.

Anna and Eli both helped out today with translating.

Anna for some of the medical folks consulting.

Eli helped in the pharmacy.

John Pierre talked to Cory on the phone yesterday reporting heavy rains at home as well.

Guess our house developed a leak over Eli's school desk.

Tomorrow will be our last full day with the team providing they can fly out on Thursday morning.

Rainy Sunday in Ca

This morning we enjoyed the extra time before church. Being in Cap we decided to visit the Route 23 church which normally starts worship service at 10 a.m.

Not knowing if they would change with the time or not we decided we'd better be there close to 9:30 just in case.....we made it before the visitor's greetings and special music.

The pastor requested we stand for the church and to point us out as having put together the Creole health books that were distributed to the members of the church.

Following church an older man shook our hands and noted how the book had really helped him as he suffers from diabetes. I asked him if someone checked his feet daily for sores and problem areas and he reported that they did!! Very happy to hear this.

Tomorrow we plan to head to Dondon to hold a clinic and do some education. Pray that the rainy weather stays away and that we can get back before dark!

Saturday we saw 60 patients.

Cory taught the waiting clinic patients about nutrition and how to grow and use moringa and chaya. Also a brief talk to several visiting school principles. He was also introduced to a student from the Christian University of Limbe who seems to really enjoy agricultural work. They visited a nearby nursery he has helped with. It has an impressive selection of fruits and ornamentals.