Gener's Garden, by Cory

On Monday Cory, Gener and Yvon went up the mountain in back of the mission for a 3rd planting of fruit trees. [Cory doesn't carry any on his head so can't carry as many!]

They can only carry about 16 potted trees plus tools each trip.

The walk takes about 15 minutes, the path is steep and has a great view of the Port Margot valley.


The garden is next to forest that grew up on former garden land at the top of the small mountain.


Since the garden is on the northwest slope of a hill, the sun doesn't dry the ground much this time of year.

The planting was mostly egg fruit and peach palm, with a few jackfruit, malay apple, and black sapote.

On Tuesday Cory and Jean Pierre went to Cap Haitian to deliver more fruit trees to the Deep River Mission guest house.

He also brought Konsey II and Konsey for Kids books that will go to 5 Lutheran churches and schools.

A truck with 4 police met Cory on the road near the guest house and thought Cory lived there.

We are thankful to have had good relations with the police in Port Margot. The Cap Haitian police were out getting to know the community.

There are a few young mango trees to graft new varieties.

There are many new houses being built in the area.

Cory offered to translate for the owner so they all went into the yard and they did introductions.

They were friendly and asked if anyone in the area was causing problems.

Cory gave them each a Konsey II book.

The guest house now has a wide variety of Haitian and introduced fruit trees that guests will be able to learn about and taste.

After unloading the truck, Cory and three others from the guest house went to a town about 20 minutes west of Cap Haitian to visit a doctor they are working with doing the "Garden of Eden" farming method with mulch and no-till.

The mayor of a nearby town was also there and they were both very interested in planting new fruit trees. They were given several varieties of fruit trees to plant.

The photo of Dominican Republic goats on the Kids Konsey book cover led to some enthusiastic discussion of goats and dairy goats. Haitians are amazed that a large dairy goat can give a gallon of milk per day, which is considered a lot for a milk cow here to give.

Post by Cory. Sorry no pictures from Tuesday, which was also the 6th anniversary of Haiti's most recent big earthquake. Today marks two years since our adoption chart entered IBESR...praying to exit.

Grande Rivere

Good day yesterday. I think that each day most of us look less forward to the bumpy trip but continue to enjoy the beauty of Haiti and the people.

Saw over 50 yesterday. General items like sore/itchy eyes, muscle and joint pain, no appetite, a few infections, lots of cateracts, stomache pain....

A few uniquie ones like: 'I feel empty when I walk'. A young girl with very limited eye movement. A gentalman with a leg wound, 5 months following a motor cycle burn.

I spoke to the group at the beginning and then Cory followed. By the end of the day I started to see patients who bought one or both of the Konsey books. Very encouraging.

Cory actually sold out of the Konesy II books [had brought fewer with us] so he and Anna went to the warehouse in Cap Haitian where some are stored and picked up a new box.

Same location today. Church visit and plan to head home tomorrow.

Dondon clinic.

Tuesday afternoon we packed up the truck and headed to Cap Haitian to meet up with the Holy Cross Lutheran team.

This will be the third time we join the team from Ohio since we returned to Haiti in September 2013, but this time we will be focused on a couple of towns to the South.

Yesterday morning after a beautiful sunrise over the sea and a tasty breakfast of omletes we waited a bit for Pastor who unfortanaly experienced car trouble.

After a late start we headed out with our truck and his to Dondon, about 1.5 hours away.

Once we arrived I spoke to the waiting people while the rest of the team set up stations in the small church.

We ended up with one location for check-in and vital signs [Eli]. Three locations for seeing patients, (one for me) and Cory translated for one of the nurses. The last location consisted of the pharmacy area where Anna helped out.

Cory also spoke about nutrition to the waiting folks and a few impressed folks bought a total of 6 of the Konsey books.

Did not hear a final count but think it was close to 60 patients seen.

Today we return to the same location.

Konsey II Testimony

Yesterday afternoon after I'd just finished exercising a couple of people came to the door asking for Cory. Eli informed the folks that Cory happened to be out at the time, and they asked for me.

I stepped outside to talk to a man I did not recognize. Gerda, who'd brought the man to the house already left by the time I found my shoes and made it outside.

The man, Igliel I later learned, held a Konsey book in his hand and proceeded to tell me that he'd read both the  Konsey books and found information about a problem of his.

Igliel suffers from two medical problems he wished to discuss with me and to find out if any natural remedies could help him.

More than seven years previously, his thyroid gland swelled up and remained large for five years or so and then improved. Unfortunately, it returned a couple of years ago. The doctors told him he needed surgery, but four blood donors would need to be identified prior. His family wished for him to wait for surgery until he could travel to the USA.

He opened the Konsey book to the page that talked about goiters to ask for additional information. I explained that lack of iodine can cause a goiter but there remained other causes of an enlarged thyroid as well, and laboratory testing, available in  Cap Haitian or Port-au-Prince, could help with the diagnosis.

I showed him our salt so that he could know the English word for iodine and what to look for if he wanted ionized salt.

His second problem turned out more serious. A couple of years ago following a head injury/severe pain, he started to leak a clear liquid from his nose. Three brain scans and I assume further testing show the liquid to be cerebral-spinal fluid. Would a natural remedy help?

Wow! The only thing I think that natural remedies or good nutrition could do would be to help his immune system remain strong to fight any infections that could occur.

I explained [and later confirmed on-line] that the treatment for this type of problem I though, would be a patch of some type, not a medication.

I shared with him an aloe plant and gave him his own copy of Konsey II.

Where did you find the Konsey II book I asked? A friend received one of the books sent to the Pisgah church across the river last week. He enthusiastically spoke of the importance and value of the books.

I asked him if he could help by sharing with others in his family and community about the books. Certainly! Before he left Eli, Cory and I prayed for his health and for the Lord's healing and protection. He already trusts in the Lord.

Please join us in pray for Igliel and for the distribution and impact of the Konsey books.

Team Day Two....

Before

Day Two.

Another nice day with no rain, nice breeze and sunshine. Like yesterday most of us returned to the depo (storage room) to finish sorting the medical supplies.

The Haitian nurses started to sort and store the items we left for them to check over.

We completed this dirty job thankfully before lunch.

Other’s did a bit of sewing, worked on the Bible school props, did office work, and school!

Cory heard in the morning that the Konsey II books cleared customs and arranged for the big truck to pick-up and deliver most of the books to Fauche [some stayed in Cap Haitian for the churches there]

During

Lunch consisted of fresh, warm out of the oven banana bread and creamed chicken on toast or rice. Tonight we will enjoy left-overs. 

After

Eli [doing library] and I [books] remained behind this afternoon while the team headed down the river to Ti Bouk, for Pastor Emmanuel’s church for Kid’s club. With 5 team members, 2 Thedes, 2 Haitian leaders and puppets the truck filled up rapidly. 

Report on Kid’s Club.

Close to 100 children. Some special music, and were taught Father Abraham.

Same story as before-note Goliath in defeat. 

The team arrived back to campus right after the truck with 13,558 books arrived.

 A chain quickly formed to transport the books from the truck into the old medical storage room.

Each box contained 36 books and weighed 30 pounds. 

Only a few boxes fell apart during the move. I gave away my first copy to brother Yvon who’s picture graces the front cover. 

Will see how high the puppeteers can raise their arms tomorrow after this afternoon’s arm workout. 

Team Day and prayers

Well our Warsaw Team of 5 should begin the air heading our direction.

Cory and Jean Pierre left a bit ago heading for Cap Haitian to fit in some shopping before the airport run.

Enjoyed a light rain last night that totaled less than an inch. We did not really need rain but it will help the newly planted peach palms and flowers.

Anna's feeling better. She decided not to play on the school's volleyball team as she does not attend the school but Jean Pierre informed her that they already obtained permission and she should play in Saturday afternoon's game.

Cleaning, organizing, paperwork and school filled the end of last week and yesterday. Our updated adoption paperwork sits signed, notarized, and copied. Only a family photo needs to be printed and added to the pile so that it can be mailed to the USA.

Looking into tickets for the trip to the USA. Permission granted to purchase once we find the right flights. Sobering to realize there will be only 3 return tickets.

Cory's grandfather passed away yesterday. Thankful for good hospice care which kept him comfortable. Please be in prayer for the family.

Jean Pierre checked on the Konsey II books and they arrived in Haiti. No news yet when they will clear customs but knowing that they will need to be picked up the same day they clear we will prepare the storage areas.

Please continue to pray for Haiti's government and people.  Multiple areas with protests. We hear that the public school teachers, mailmen and doctors have not been payed the last couple of months. Tensions remain high between Haiti and the Dominican as well due to immigration policies. A general [national?] transportation strike may occur on Monday and Tuesday.

[pictures from the peach palm garden walk/location]

Will try to blog later but if it's raining like last night may not be possible, then expect the first team blog sometime tomorrow, Lord willing.

Rain and more rain.

A wet, sloppy week that helped us get more office and school work done.

The first batch of rain started Wednesday about 5am and ended Thursday night and left 4.5 inches of rain on the Fauche campus. We prayed that the rain clouds would move on to Southern Haiti where a drought exists. Know that this rain system did cover a large part of Haiti.

Friday morning the sun greeted us. YEAH! A load of laundry dried on the line while the solar panels recharged our battery bank.

Then late Friday the rain started again and continued through last night....by morning we already received an additional  10.5  of rain bringing this weeks total to more than 15 inches. And it's still raining lightly now.

If you are seeing a pattern that follows the USA fronts, yes, they are the same cold fronts that drop down through the USA, Caribbean, hit the mountains of N. Haiti, and drop rain on us, while the rest of Haiti usually is still hot and dry. One more front going through the midwest this weekend. We hope it does't give us a bad sea crossing to LaGonave next week.

Big praises this week: the second Konsey book shipped from the publisher. While we have not seen it yet a friend wrote this "The book looks wonderful with a very inviting cover which should get much attention by those in Haiti."

Adoption praise. Our fingerprints that we tried to have redone in Dec. at the USA Embassy in PAP were 'refreshed' this week. We also heard from our agency and social worker and have a better idea what to do now to renew our paperwork. Will work on the medical items this week during our visit to LaGonave and are asking around for a 'local' social worker [or at least one in Haiti] who can make a quick visit and write a one page update for our social worker.

Eli finished up a couple scholarship applications. We also signed him up for a one-week transition seminar in Colorado Springs in July. This is for kids raised overseas moving back to the USA.

We worked on thank you letters, a photo book for Eli, some on-line shopping, correspondence, reviewed our list of supporting churches to see who's on the top to be contacted first for potential visits in the USA [the list changes with the most recent visits moving to the bottom of the list], reviewed more potential scholarships, graded papers, worked on next weeks travel plans...