Thursday, November 11, 2010

One in One Hundred

Every so often you get a great picture, and this is one of mine: this man and child enjoying a cold lemonade together. Wonder what they were thinking right at that moment?

I visited a small mountain village last week. They call it Fontina. They tell me 422 families live in Fontina. Where there is no working well, and where they have to walk 4 - 5 miles to get their water. To boot, water from that spring has tested contaminated. Fontina, where 22 people died last month. That's one percent. 1 out of every 100 people in that village died last month, many of them from diarrheal illness... from bad water.

I think if we band together, you and I, we could do something about this.

One week from tonight I am gathering with friends to talk about stuff like this and to formally and publicly launch Starfysh. If you're free, I'd love you to join me.

Blessings,
Steve

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if this will be helpful, but I wondered if you were familiar with an organization named ECHO. http://www.echonet.org/content/Haiti_Earthquake_Resources They have some information on water purification resources.

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve. An old friend of mine sent me this regarding Haiti. I wanted to pass the info along to you. Might just be a 'God connection.' Here is her wall post to me:
Hey Kendra. When you talk to your doctor again, will you please tell him 2 women (Laura Clancy and Sue Riggs) are going to try to contact him and to please return their calls or emails when he gets them. I know he is a doctor and very busy so he may not return their calls if he doesn't realize what they are contacting him about. Laura is my friend that is moving to La Gonave for another mission that they have set up there. She would like to meet him since they are doing work on the same island. Also, they may be able to help each other out. Sue is a nurse that wants to move to Haiti to work as soon as possible. Her long term plan is to work in the clinic that Laura will be setting up in her village but it will be a while before that clinic is running so she was wondering if your Doctor may have use for her in the area on La Gonave that he is working in. She is ready to move there as soon as she has somewhere to stay and something permanent to do. Thanks!
Blessings,Kim

Hope it's something that works out for both of you! Take care, Kendra

Steve said...

Thanks for the ECHO link! I was vaguely familiar with them through a Haiti agriculturalist missionary friend (hi Cory) but I'd not been to he ECHO website yet. Great site. Great resource.
Networking wins the day!

Steve said...

Laura, Sue, Kim, Kendra,

Thanks for connecting! Laura, I just sent you an email. I'll say it again: Networking wins the day.
"A cord of three strands is not easily broken."
Blessings,
Steve

Anonymous said...

Dr Edmondson...

My name is Jim Looman and i live in Holland MI. I was part of a work team that went to LaGonave in the 80s to put a new roof on one of the buildings in the mission compound - which included a hospital. At that time the mission was suported by the wesleyan methodists. Could it be the same location?
God bless you as you serve HIM in that poor poor country. My wife and i are retired and have served at a mission in San Juan PR for the last 10 years. My email is jimalooman@hotmail.com

David Fritz said...

Steve,
Will make my first trip to Haiti and Anse a Galets Dec. 1. Thanks for your blog as I plan and try to anticipate what I'll face.

Curious which school you took the photos at? Will be working in and around St. Bernadette's.

Oh, and coincidentally, I started my career about 30 years ago at the Ionia Sentinel-Standard. Small world.

Dave

Steve said...

Hi Dave,
I think they just call it Wesleyen College, even though it is really an elementary/secondary school.
And you're right! It is a small world.