Happy Resurrection Day, everyone! Thank God for that empty tomb, which not only means that Jesus is alive, but that we also can have abundant and eternal life through Him!
No School, but Plenty of Activities
Over 800 students at MOHI enjoyed a week and a half off from school. That didn’t stop them from coming to rehearsals for music and dancing, though. I love how involved so many of the young people are in after school and weekend activities. It helps keep them off the streets and encourages them to make good decisions all around. Besides, I LIKE them.
Construction
Paul Fallon, the architect for our school project, as well as the Be Like Brit Orphanage, just spent a couple of weeks with us. He was able to oversee the pouring of the final bit of foundation footings that was left to do. He shares a bit about this event and some of the workers, along with photos in his blog. Paul spends about 2 weeks each month working with us here in Haiti. We are grateful for Paul’s commitment to these projects, as well as his love and patience for the people of Haiti.
33 yards of concrete in the final footing pour
We’ve spent the week watering the footings, to ensure they will not crack. The intense heat from the Haitian sun can easily “cook” the concrete too quickly, so this is one of the finer details we are paying attention to. Tomorrow the forms will come off and we’ll start getting ready to lay some CMU – aka blocks.
Health and Nutrition
Amalia Ciottone, RN, with one of many little ones she saw here on Wednesday.
Dr. Greg and Amalia Ciottone and their Child in Hand (CiH) team joined us on Wednesday for a hard day’s work. We gathered children from the area, along with their parents, in order to register them in the upcoming Nutrition Program. This is CiH’s second visit to Grand-Goâve. They have already begun tracking heights and weights of many of the children, and are expanding their reach in our area right now. Doctors also consulted sick babies and offered education to the moms. CiH will have a permanent presence in Grand-Goâve at the Be Like Brit Orphanage, where they will have a medical clinic. We are excited to be partnering with them for the long-term health care of the children of Grand-Goâve and beyond.
Staff
I love our staff of department heads here in Haiti. I thought I might share a tidbit about a couple of them with you.
Some, like Pastor Edon, have been with us from the very beginning. I appreciate the faithfulness and vision that they have maintained throughout the years. Pastor Edon is the local pastor for the main church in Thozin, as well as the administrator for the main school. He lives right behind the Thozin campus and makes himself available virtually 24/7. Don’t worry, he does get plenty of time off, but he doesn’t demand it.
Over the years, we’ve made our share of mistakes – especially when we first started out here in Haiti. We hired a man from Port-au-Prince to pastor the church at the beginning and almost lost the entire mission because of it. He quit, prior to getting fired, and we designated Pastor Bauvais as the interim pastor. One year later, it was so obvious to us that God was raising Edon up to pastor the church. He has a heart of compassion and truly cares about the people in his care. Pastor Edon knows more students in the school than anyone else. He has met with all the parents and has been a good neighbor to many of them for many years. He is an important part of the foundation of MOHI, whom we appreciate so much!
Renord is probably the most organized person on our staff.
Renord St. Aimé has only worked for us for about a year and a half, but he is amazing – REALLY amazing. His mother-in-law and several of her adult daughters have been attending church at MOHI since early on. Renord was working in Port-au-Prince doing bookkeeping at a hospital, but he really wanted to work closer to home, so he came to see us. We interviewed him and decided to hire him. He manages all inventories, purchases and donations of goods at the Thozin Campus. This includes all construction tools and materials, food for the 29 schools that we provide food to, World Food Program stores in our possession, donations visitors bring to MOHI, furnishings, generators, etc. He also keeps track of subcontractors and gives me monthly reports on different projects. He helps us to implement systems and actually understands the importance of having them in place. He’s very hospitable, too, always making sure visitors are well taken care of. I sometimes wonder how we survived without him.
Be Like Brit
We have been partnering with Be Like Brit for over a year now, and we are just so thrilled with the work that is being done through this partnership. Between seventy and a hundred families have found work on their construction site. The bar has been raised in construction, with BLB being an example and also a training ground for all those working on the orphanage, as well as those working at the MOHI School Project. The Gengel family has been a blessing to us and we are happy to be able to facility a variety of things for this organization.
Friday afternoon we had a family time (LONG overdue!) out on the ocean and were able to see the BLB construction from a different perspective, as you can see in these pictures. We were all so excited to see this work that we’ve been a part of, so clearly visible from the ocean.
