MOHI Board of Directors member, Pastor Carlos and his wife, Rita; Chals & Chel Finn and their “G3” team; and Alan Bowdler and his team from the University of Akron are all here making this an incredible week. It started out with a sad moment, as we learned of a fire just down the road from us, in a very poor village. A woman had gone home, after picking her preschooler up from school. She put the children down for a nap and placed a pot of beans on the fire. Beans take a long time to cook, so women usually take care of other tasks while waiting, so the mom took a bucket and went to fetch some water. It was a very windy day. She arrived back home to find her tarp-covered home on fire. A neighbor saw the fire from his garden, where he was working, and he had already arrived and pulled the 18-month old, Milove, out of the house. He was too late to save the other child, who died there.
Some of the burns suffered by an 18 month old in the house fire that killed her older sibling
I asked our friends on Facebook if they would help. There was nothing we could do for the loss of life, but with your help, we were able to help with the loss of material goods. Clothing, shoes, toiletries and cash helped to sustain them and get them back on their feet. Their neighbor brought Milove to the medical clinic at MOHI each day. Leah and Chel made house calls for the weekend, to care for the burns, but also to see the living conditions. Leah was so happy to see how well Milove was being cared for. Her wounds are doing well and no longer need to be wrapped. We will continue seeing her daily to make sure she continues to heal well. Thank you so much to those of you who answered the call and immediately donated to help this family. God bless you!
Medical clinics were held in Thozin and St. Etienne.
Clinic in Thozin
A full day of clinic in St Etienne
Stocking up on medicines means lots of work for Tammy, as she makes sure everything is logged into the new database that Pastor Kevin created for us.
Early in the week there were lots of preparations going on for the women’s conference, in Thozin. The event is organized and run by the married women in the church. They do a great job of getting EVERYONE to pitch in.
Cleaning the street light with a mop and changing the bulb – all part of preparing for this week’s women’s conference.
With the focus this week on the conference, we did slow down the pace a bit with construction and remodeling projects. However, we didn’t stop. We are so grateful that Alan Roseberry was able to spare a couple of hours to install the water feed valves and instruct Jackson in completing the plumbing in the new school. Alan is the one who did all the rough plumbing in the building, with Jackson’s assistance. Thank you, Alan!!!
Making doors and moldings, painting and new valves for water feeds
Aquaponics, plumbing and covering drainage area
cabinets in the dental room
School was in session Monday through Thursday, this week. We gave everyone Friday off to enjoy the conference.
Pastor Lex works with a preschool class on lining up to use the bathroom. They like the new bathrooms so much, we have to tell them they’re not allowed to lay on the floor!
The conference started Thursday evenning. Pastor Carlos, Sister Rita, Pastor Hakine, and local missionaries (Michelle Meece, Tammy Groder, Angie Sutton and yours truly) shared at general sessions and workshops. Leah and Team G3 also did a couple of community health workshops, with a focus on natural medicines. I’m not sure who learned more, the team or the Haitian women?
A wonderful time was enjoyed by all at the women’s conference in Thozin.
Women’s Conference
MOHI “Dance Troupe”
heading to the church
Team G3 sent each woman at the conference home with rice and beans.
Folks had a wonderful time distributing food in a local village, loving on kids and doing other tasks to help out at MOHI.
The team went out into a village to distribute food and visit with our neighbors.
So grateful for help sorting shoes, sneakers and sandals!
Love those little ones!
I am so blessed to have American friends here in Grand-Goave. When we first came to Haiti, 14 years ago, I didn’t have any American friends here. I often longed to have someone to talk with who would understand the difficulties and enormous frustrations I was going through. I thank God for my husband, who put up with me as I adjusted … and STILL puts up with me, as I continue adjusting! But today, there are several American missionaries, expats and families in the area that we are able to enjoy time with somewhat regularly. AND, let me tell you, we know how to have good fun!
Goofy missionaries!!!
After church fun – kittens and brownies!
We so appreciate Pastor Carlos, Sister Rita, Chals, Chel and their team, who will be heading home tomorrow. They have blessed many during their time here! We look forward to spending most of this week with Alan and the Akron team. I know it’s going to be another great week!