Upper walls started. Konsey books delivered

Monday Cory worked on accounting and office work anticipating the mason crew to arrive to start work early on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning the crew arrived and started a bit but then bad weather rolled in with heavy rains.

The rains continued most of Wednesday and the early hours this morning.

One benefit of home-schooling means that bad weather does not delay or close school.

Anna continues to study for her SAT's as well as work on her normal studies.

Thankfully the clouds cleared a bit so that the crew could continue late morning and most of the afternoon.

Cory added some of the wiring needed in the walls.

The masons not only lay the rocks but they also chip at them to make a flat side for the wall face.

They had been chipping small pieces off most of the rocks but we told them that leaving them as natural as possible is fine.
We like the natural look and I worry about eye damage with the chipping process.

Safety glasses on the way tomorrow.

A Haitian welder is prepared to come up the mountain to work on the roof once the weather improves.

Cory will need to go to Port-au-Prince to purchase more supplies and to do some bank transfers.

Please pray that the timing for this trip becomes clear, as we would both like him here for the welding and for the stone work around the windows but don't want to run out of cement and block.

While the rain is good for filling the cistern, the last few days the solar power did not charge the batteries much due to the heavy cloud cover.

I marked on the wall supports where the window openings need to left open.

Sadly before the work day ended the cement mixer stopped working. Praying to find the needed bearings rapidly so that the hours of hand mixing can be limited.

Cory also managed with multiple phone calls and e-mails to arrange the pick-up and delivery of the latest printing of the Konsey II book.

About 10, 200 are now delivered after being released from Cap Haitian customs.

And on the way Bernman received a good supply to the area where he continues to sell and use the books for evangelism.

Praying for these books, which will be sold and shared in the Port-au-Prince area and hopefully Southern Haiti, to have a big impact for the Lord's Kingdom and improve many lives in Haiti.

Quick Trip North

After painting the water cistern last week we loaded up and drove north.

We experienced our first ever ice delay in Haiti.

An ice truck blew out a tire, tipped over, and mostly blocked the highway.

Not sure if they were selling the ice or just giving it away.

We enjoyed a few days of friends and family time and then headed to Fauche.

Sunday we worshiped with our Fauche church family and Cory visited Kid's Club in the afternoon.

We enjoyed connecting with our friends again; Anna enjoyed playing some volleyball!

Monday he, the guys, and Anna visited the gardens over the river and in the afternoon we went as a family to visit some folks in Ti Bouk.

We enjoyed some peach palms, breadnuts, peach palm heart, mango, dragon fruit, some enjoyed papaya....coconut candy, good Haitian bread.

Tuesday Cory checked out the gardens on campus while I packed and cleaned.

Cows damaged 8 or 9 peach palms in the rental garden but mostly the garden's look good.

2 bunches of fruit, at least 8 still on the tree (below, before harvest)

Most of the peach palms in the rental garden are too tall now for livestock to damage. They grow back but it wastes time and production.

We brough some of the peach palm fruit back to Délice to share with the people here.

Wednesday we headed back, about 9 hours with a few stops, back up the mountain to Délice.

Thursday we checked on the house site and driveway work.




Anna did a bit of school but picked up a cold on the trip so lots of resting as well.

Cory plans to head to Port-au-Prince on Monday for a major shopping day for building supplies and food.

We will try to get back into a school routine.

During the trip we stopped at the Ortlip Center for a break and saw Berman, who is promoting and selling our Konsey books.

He has sold over 600 and requested 5,000 of the Konsey II books when they arrive.

 He does radio talks with material from the books and visits many churches to share what he has learned.

We are very thankfull for his help and pray for some good promoters for the books that go to Port au Prince later this month.

Donations to cover the cost for Konsey books that are given to pastors, teachers, medical workers and families in churches.  Tap for link.

Update and Planting Cacao

"springs" of water in the school yard

More rain over the weekend. Parts of lower campus actually had water bubbling up from the ground around the school and the school's dinning hall foundation.

We enjoyed a visit from Dieucel. We heard how his family evacuated their house, one by one, piggy-backed on the back of a tall man.

 How the water came up almost to his wife's neck as they moved to higher ground.

They returned to their home after a the flood waters receded only to have to evacuate a second time.

We listened with praise in our hearts as he shared with us how a pastor in a very hard church got excited about the Konsey books and purchased a box for his church.

 The Lord blessed the church with an increase of offerings after the people started to read the book.

He told us also of a place in the Dominican where many Haitians live that received 2 or 3 boxes of Konsey.

 So very glad to hear how the Lord continues to spread the books to Haitians.

flood washed peanut fields

Last week we brought 97 cacao trees to the new gardens and kept 3 to plant on campus to compare the USDA selected "super trees" with the other cacao on campus and see how well they grow under peach palms.

We have had over 60 inches of rain the past 5 weeks so the paths around here are very muddy.

We also had to delay planting until the river was low enough to cross with wheelbarrows of trees.

It was a long, hard 45 minutes or so to get to the gardens, dodging or hitting stones placed on the trails in some areas to help with walking over the water and mud but hard on the wheelbarrows.

The weather has been so cloudy that for now the pigeon pea crop in the area is mostly lost.

There just isn't enough sun so the plants that didn't die from flooding have dropped most of the pea pods.

 They might still produce a later crop.

The peanuts that didn't wash out look ok so far, might be OK if we get sunny weather now.

Our young fruit trees and peach palms are doing well. The rice looks thin in most of the garden, probably not planted close enough or just lacking enough sunshine.

Mud running with the wheelbarrows. Cassava/yucca from our garden

Planting cacao

Peach palm and rice in best part of garden

Local pigeon pea garden

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.

Trip Two.

Glad to be home again for a couple weeks before we head to LaGonave for a team meeting.

Wednesday, Oct 26th we headed South, planning to continue on to Port-au-Prince after dropping Anna off at the Ortlip Center. However once there we learned about a delay in purchasing the relief supplies so we stayed at Ortlip.

Thursday we headed into town and spent the time at the Gilles guest house working on computer, talking with guests, reading, and praying.

Friday we joined many other volunteers at a Wesleyan school building to prepare the kits for distribution. Over 600 buckets and 600 boxes/bags were prepared to give away.

First a hole was drilled in the side of the bucket for the water filter to be fitted in once the families received their items. By the end of the day over 600 buckets each held: oil, canned fish, spaghetti, a water filter kit, and a personal hygiene kit. The food bags/boxes held a 16 pound bag of corn meal and 16 pound bag of beans.

Then I counted as 150 sets were loaded into a truck for Bainet mountains and a second truck loaded for two locations near Torbeck [just past Les Cayes] with 300 sets.

Thank you for the prayers for our safety.

Another truck would need to be rented on Monday to bring the last 150 sets to the Petite Goave campus for the mountain churches in need there.

Saturday we followed the truck heading to Torbeck. Police and the local mayor joined us when we passed through Cayes to help with the distributions.


Sunday we returned to Ortlip.

On Monday, protests in Torbeck closed the road and since then a Unicef truck of relief supplies was looted near Torbeck.

Monday we brought about 1,400 Konsey books to a conference center where all the Wesleyan pastors from all districts were to meet for a Summit this week.

Each received one of each of the Konsey books and some will be able to pick up extra copies for their churches.

We also donated 4 boxes of konsey books to a veterinarian friend doing a lot of work in the far west, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew.

Tuesday we returned home.

Education still needed

A talk with one of the nurses who helps to run the pharmacy on the Fauche campus stressed the need for good health education.

Her health issues include: high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritic pain, and itchy skin. She shared with us the burden of buying her own blood sugar monitor, the test strips, insulin, and broccoli.

She tried to follow her Haitian doctor's instructions-checking her blood sugars every day, wearing shoes, eating broccoli...but soon ran out of strips, and unable to refrigerate the expensive broccoli, it spoiled.

Reminds me of professors talking in medical school about asking patients about barriers to care..in this case..money.  Being able to afford to see the doctor and buy some of the items I think made her forget to check the Konsey books for advice.

Better to spread the test strips out to once every 2-3 days to avoid running out, or at least have a few left to check one's blood sugar when not feeling well than follow a well-meaning doctor's advice to check daily.

Better to use one's money to raise or purchase locally grown vegetables, fruits or tree leaves than to pay expensive prices for an imported vegetable you don't know how to use.

Even better-plant the chaya bush starts from Cory and grow your own green veggies.

Better to try some home remedies for itchy skin that persists despite medical treatment than suffer doing nothing.

Better to learn to use aloe gel and massage to ease the pain than to suffer with only occasional relief when pain medications can be purchased.

Better to learn how to reduce stress, make better nutritional choices, improve resistance to illnesses, and prevent sores/illness than to have to go for expensive tests and treatments.

So we chatted a while about practical ways she can help to manage her problems and she received chaya starts that same day.

A few days later I headed down and talked to the doctor who was very understanding. But I felt I needed to do more and so this week I've started walking down to clinic and chatting with the patients waiting to be seen.

Both days so far I've enjoyed connecting with people and talking about ways to improve and protect their health. The first day a few people arrived after I'd discussed helpful information for acid reflux, so I asked a young teen who already heard my talk to give some advice.

His detailed answer showed how well he listened.  The young doctor walked by yesterday on his way to see patients and enthusiastically noted how helpful my talking to patients could be for their health.

I'd gotten discouraged in the last few years trying to connect with a couple different groups of people but I think this could really work!

Health issues already motivated these people to spend money on health care and they really don't have anything better to do while waiting... a motivated, captive audience! They return home with new, practical information that can treat their problems and help them avoid other problems. Win, win.