Faithful

54 years old and diggin' this grandpa thing.

I guess I'm weird... Most people, when I ask them if they make resolutions say they don't. But I do. Every year.

They're never specific. Vague bullet points more than anything... Eat smarter. Simplify. Pray more. Write more. Stuff like that.

This is the week, the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, that I'll start thinking about mine for 2011.

Looking back, my resolutions have never really stuck. I fail. I forget. I fail and I forget... every time.

I will always and forever look back at 2010 as a watershed year in my life. Exhilarating. Exhausting. Humbling. Gratifying.

In the final analysis, resolutions kept or not, the main thing I want to be able to say at the end of each year is that I've been faithful to God's call on my life.

To be faithful... not a bad resolution.

Cholera Update

Thanks to your kind donations, we were able to wire $10,000 directly to the village hospital, where, immediately, construction supplies (wood, etc.) were purchased and workers were hired (Haitian workers by the way). And TODAY we are erecting a free-standing cholera treatment clinic, isolated from the regular hospital and clinic. Large army tents (the ones used to house hospital patients in the days after the earthquake) will be erected atop raised, plywood platforms. Elevated latrines are being contstructed, under which large plastic waste containers will prevent cholera-containing human waste from seeping into the ground water.

We have determined that the cholera we are seeing on La Gonave right now has three origins:

the village of Pointe des Lataniers (small, northwest seashore village),

Bodin (small, southwest seashore village),

and the mainland (people who have contracted cholera on the mainland and then traveled over to the island).

As I write, we know of no cases of cholera which have been contracted from the water in the village where our hospital is. This, of course, is very good. But as long as there is even one active case, a wider epidemic remains a worrisome possibility. People in the village are, understandably, a bit worried (and perturbed) that the cholera patients are coming to their village to the hospital. Hence the isolation hospital.

Please keep La Gonave in your prayers. They don't deserve this.

Good Times

Someone took this picture of my daughter, Katie, and me on our way to a small seaside church down the coast some 45 minutes by boat. Friends, it doesn't get much better than this. Good times.

You know you're serious about mission work when you wear hats like that to church.

Cholera on La Gonave

Just minutes ago I received word that cholera has reached La Gonave in a more than sporadic way: 40 confirmed cases (13 of which are currently at our hospital). At least three persons have died, but everyone who has reached medical care at the hospital has survived. There is another possible "hot spot" in one of the villages on the island and an assessment team is on their way now to that spot.

As I type, a temporary facility is being constructed near the hospital for the purpose of isolating all cholera patients from the rest of the community.

We have an immediate need:

1. Pray for God's help here. Cholera is serious and rapid.

2. Huge amounts of disposable items are required immediately (sheets, linens, etc.).

3. Immediate funds are required to erect this temporary (or not-so-temporary?) field unit (purchase wood to construct beds, purchase tank sprayers, etc.). We will place some supplies on a container to be sent down, but those containers take awhile to arrive and be cleared (2-3 months!). As important as this is, the unfortunate reality is that this does not help them TODAY.

4. Pray that panic will not occur. Panic would be absolutely counter-productive. What is needed is order, cooperation, level-headedness, and unity.

I am still processing this and will keep you posted.

Steve

Surrounded by the Greats

I must tell you the truth. I am frustrated that all our supplies for feeding kids are still held up in customs. We are pretty much ready to go otherwise... just waiting for a call. Lord, give me patience and do it quickly.

I have had SO many congratulations and kind words said about our launch event a couple of weeks ago. Everybody thought it was a great success and, while I agree with that, I do wish it would have been a bit longer...

For one, I missed connecting with tons of people! I am STILL learning of some of you who were there that I never got a chance to even say hi to. Yikes!

Secondly, I really would have liked to take some time and acknowledge some of the people that were there who had far greater credentials than I will ever have: heads of well-established non-profit organizations who have been moving heaven and earth in Haiti for years, career missionaries to Haiti, doctors and agriculturalists and pastors who have sacrificed more and have more experience and knowledge of Haiti in their pinky finger than I'll ever possess. Just moments before I took the stage, Dr. Kris Thede pressed into my hand a book she had written which JUST came off the press just a couple weeks earlier. It is a health and wellness book she wrote... IN CREOLE... for the Haitian people. Why wasn't the likes of Dr. Thede on stage instead of me?

In the very kind introductions given me that night, several commented that I was a humble man. Hmm. That's tricky. I mean, how do you respond to that one? If you "aw, shucks" it and shrug it off, well, that's just weird. But if you sit there and nod that you agree you're humble, well, that's just as weird.

But I've thought about it long enough to have formulated my answer: I agree. I am humble. There, I said it. But, please understand, it's only because I find myself (actually I'm placing myself) in the presence of giants. Giants in faith, giants in deeds. Giants in dedicated, sacrificial service. I guess I'm a groupie.

It's easy to be humble when you're surrounded by the greats.

Blessings,

Steve

PS Help me pray our feeding program cookware out of Port-au-Prince customs!

PSS Sorry, Kris, to single you out, but you and Cory are modern day heroes!

I am Thankful

I am thankful for water: running, clean, and close.

I am thankful for food: plentiful and safe.

I am thankful for shelter: I will stay warm and dry tonight, tomorrow too.

I am thankful for a loving family and good friends. I am blessed having people around me that love me in spite of my screw-ups, quirks, hang-ups and idiosyncrasies.

I am thankful for carpet and smooth roads. For lights in my home and a flush toilet. For measles shots and for mosquitos that don't carry germs that will kill me. For farmers markets and shoes that fit. For a mattress and a soft pillow.

LORD, God, teach me how to do more than just be thankful. Teach me how to pass along your blessing to those less blessed than me.

The Most Valuable Thing

Here are a few pics from launch night. As it usually goes, pictures don't do justice to how things looked and felt.

The most valuable thing in the room was not the multimillion dollar jet backdrop. It was my granddaughter, Sophie, apple of Grandpa's eye. What a night!

On Our Way

A couple nights ago about 385 (they say) friends of mine gathered at an airport hangar, of all places, to talk about what could be. It was fun and humbling. People asked if I was nervous. Yes, of course, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

I've heard it said that if you're nervous when you go up in front of a crowd, just imagine that everyone you're talking to is sitting out there in their underwear. This tactic did not work for me, for when I looked out over the crowd I saw many of my patients. And it occurred to me that I had, in fact, already seen them in their underwear.

I was not comforted.

I really do appreciate you who came out to "hang" out with me last Thursday. I am really blessed with great friends. I did start to get a little edgy about the kind words being said. I told someone afterward that I felt in a way like I had attended my own funeral. But there I was, sitting in a chair, sweating and fidgety, so I guess I wasn't dead after all.

It was, of course, in the script to have a few folks endorse me a bit. I felt like it was important for people to know that I was serious about this Haiti thing and that I had somewhat of a history of proactivity down there. But, friends, you have to admit it got a little soupy and long.

At any rate, do know that I so appreciate the kindness shown me, not just on launch night, but leading up to it, and since then too. I have a good life. I thank God for you all.

Well, it occurs to me as I sit here blogging that I don't have any pictures of the ordeal to post. It was one time I didn't think to have a camera on me! I've seen a few pics out there, but I don't yet have them. When I get a few, I'll post them.

Also, I want to thank a bunch of folks for things they've done for Starfysh on my behalf. I think thanks-giving will be my next post.

We are on our way!

Overwhelmed and humbled,

Steve

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

Picture Day

One of the very cool things that a couple members of our team (Stacy and his daughter, Hannah) did a couple weeks ago in Haiti was to take school pictures of every single student at this school of 900 students. They had NEVER had school pictures. After two days of all day picture taking, Stacy transmitted them via email up here to Michigan where his wife picked them up, sorted them, and shipped them, along with frames, down with my daughter Katie who had the fun of distributing them. So they each received a nice 4x6 portrait in a frame AND a sheet of 4 wallet-sized pics.

That, friends, is what I call "good stuff." Bringing smiles and pleasure to kids who are hungry and hot is not all a bad thing. Plus, as soon as our cookware and tableware gets released from customs in Port-au-Prince, we can take care of the hungry issue too. Hope the cameras are rollin' for those smiles! We're hoping soon (A.K.A. any day!). Everything is pretty much in place. Propane fuel tanks and fuel are there and waiting.

Thanks to you all who are sending your gifts. Remember every $15 feeds a kid for a school month.

It is so wrong that my heart nearly bursts with things to share... these experiences and reflections and mini-epiphanies... but that I let my busyness and urgencies crowd out my actually sharing. Somehow I have convinced myself that my rantings and ruminations must first pass the muster of proper grammar and coherence before I push the "publish post" button. Naw... who am I kidding? Who cares about that gobbledy gook? It's not as if I talk like that when I bump into you at the store. I hereby resolve, then, to share more often.

Next Thursday, exactly nine months to the day since we lifted off en-route to earthquake-devastated Haiti, I will be gathering with a room full of friends to share my vision of what could be for a tiny island in Haiti. And the cool thing? We'll be meeting on the very floor space in the very hangar where we staged our equipment supplies and personnel before loading up on the plane. You're all welcome. Come to the Amway Hangar at Gerald Ford International Airport in Kentwood, Michigan. Get there before 7 as parking could be tricky. Details / map / RSVP button at http://www.starfysh.org

Hope to see you there!

Steve

Gotta Come

Well, I take my team back to the mainland this morning for a day of rest and recuperation. They have worked hard and accomplished much this week. I'll take them to the airport to go home on Saturday and I'll pick up another small team and bring them back to the island with me. My daughter, Katie, will be on that team, so I'm excited about that too.

I love to bring teams down. To be sure, part of it is the fact that we can get lots of things done. The biggest thing for me, though, is that I love to share Haiti with folks. I remember experiencing it for the first time back in the early 90’s and how my worldview was pretty much turned upside down as a result. And I’m just convinced that being here is the only way to do it. Wikipedia can’t do it. Neither can power point.

Wanna find out about Haiti? Gotta come. If you’re interested in coming down with me sometime let me know. I’d love to bring you with.

Li Gou

Today I am happy to finally say that after months of waiting the xray system has finally been installed and calibrated. Three staff are being inserviced on its use right now. We are up and running! Thank you Bill Wright and Connie Pennock-Root for coming down for the install and inservice. Thanks too to Radiology Imaging Solutions and Spectrum Butterworth Radiology Department for their kind and generous donations of (expensive!) equipment and xray film. I love seeing collaborations like these come together.

Today my team went to a place locals call “the poor house." Here reside fifteen of this world’s most down-and-out creatures. The reason they are there, though, is that in addition to being poor, they have no one. No family who they can live with. No one. When I heard someone mention it several months ago, I walked down through the village and found them: “the least of these.”

Their cinderblock “home” consists of a couple of long-ish buildings, each with three rooms. Thankfully there is a latrine. They cook over small charcoal fires built on the ground. Their rooms have rocky, lumpy dirt floors. There are no beds at all. Everyone (not hyperbole here... EVERYONE) sleeps either on the dirt bedroom floors or on the uneven concrete porch or in the yard. The inside walls have never been painted and are so dirty black that when you step into the rooms it is like walking in to a cave. It is so dark you cannot see. And since there is no electricity you can only imagine the blackness that night brings around there.

The outside walls were once that characteristic bright green so popular in Haiti. But dirt and grime now cover those walls; they are anything but bright.

The concrete cistern that catches rainwater off their roof has cracks in it, so it leaks.

The people here are older folks, for the most part, although there are a few children. It is a pretty quiet place, where you’ll not find a whole lot of hope or happiness.

Today we painted rooms a light yellow and put smooth concrete on the floors of their rooms. We installed a small solar panel on the roof, which provides electricity for four LED lights. Tomorrow we’ll deliver 15 really nice beds that several of the guys built. And we’ll put mattresses and sheets on each one. And we’ll patch the cistern, so they don’t lose perfectly-good water.

My role for this particular trip down here has been that of overseer/coordinator so I’ve done a lot of troubleshooting and walkie-talkie-type stuff. When I rounded on the poor house this afternoon, I took with me one of those big orange coolers full of ice-cold lemon aid. After admiring the work being done, then, I filled these little plastic cups and just passed them out for these parched, dusty, beautiful people to drink. One old man was blind, and I had to crouch down and press in close in order to press the glass to his lips so he could have cold lemonaid. Between his swallows and as I lifted the cup back and forth to his lips I could hear his weak voice repeating over and over... "Li gou, Li gou" "It is good. It is good." One of the more poignant moments of my life.

Thanks, Freddy, for grabbing a camera and capturing this moment. I owe you one.

The Announcements

I saw this young boy at the hospital today. He suffers from cholera.

I heard from someone today that this cholera thing is all over the news up in the States. I don't know exactly how bad it is that they're reporting, but I do know that right now, just a hundred yards from me and my laptop are a several people recovering from this quick and terrible disease. I think, at least I hope, that they will be fine. Treatment for cholera is pretty effective with antibiotics and aggressive rehydration. The problem is that many cannot reach medical care before they are very, very sick.

I went to the church right down the road with my team this morning and the whole service was good. But I want to tell you about "the announcements." I frequently "do the announcements" at my own church back home, but I've never had to do announcements like theirs.

They only had one announcement today. The announcement in this church (and I'm guessing every other church in Haiti) today was about cholera: what it is, how to recognize it, how to avoid it, and what to do if you come down with it. They described how it is contracted through the water. They cautioned their people to not drink out of the river nor use that water to bathe or wash clothes. They explained the importance of good hand washing, of seeking immediate medical attention if they experienced rice-colored diarrhea. In very plain and frank terms they explained that cholera could kill them. And this is exactly how the announcement in church this morning ended: "If you get cholera you might die. Do you want to die or do you want to live? We want to see you next week, so follow this advice so we can see you next week."

Well, that about does it for the announcements in Haiti today. I guess I think of "the announcements" a little differently now.

Please pray for this little island of precious people. I don't want them to die. I want to see them next week.

Steve

Cholera

Arrived on the island this afternoon after a long day of travel. Loaded down our 32-foot boat HEAVY with project equipment, tools, and supplies and people. In the process of loading, my Blackberry fell into the water. Aargh!

Cholera is here on the island. This is very concerning, of course, as we do not know how widespread this could become. We will be fine... we are drinking safe water, but the vast majority of people on this island do not have access to potable water.

I'll keep you posted

Steve

I Have Much to Share

These children were forced to have class outside because of the severe earthquake damage to their school building. This week we will be building them a roof to cover them from the sun and rain.

Early tomorrow morning I will arrive in Haiti for a two-week period. I have 16 people coming down at various times over that time to hang out with me and to work with me and to, hopefully, capture a piece of the vision I have for La Gonave... this dot on anyone's world map. A dot that would probably disappear if you placed a push pin on it. But a dot where 100,000 souls live under the same sun that shines on you and me, and who breathe the same exact oxygen atoms that we have breathed in also, at one time or another. We cohabit this ball, these Haitians and me, and it makes me think. Why am I so lucky?"

Today, my forced exhale betrays my impatience over someone who cut the line in the airport McDonalds. Tomorrow, I'll hold hands with a kid who hasn't eaten in three days. And I'll remember again that God gave breath to both of us. And that we are brothers.

I ask for your prayers for Haiti this week. In a land where, already, diarrhea is the primary cause of childhood death, cholera has raised her ugly head, stealing 140-some lives here over the last couple of days.

I'll probably blog alot while I'm here. I have much to share.

Steve

Perspective

A few weeks ago I took a professional videographer to Haiti with me and we spent time doing an aerial video survey of much of the island of La Gonave. I enjoyed seeing the island and villages from different angles and perspectives. Evan Fiddler, there in the back, enjoyed seeing the island while pretty much dangling out the open side of our plane.

Evan gathered great footage. I gathered a fresh perspective and deeper appreciation of an island and her people.

I'd like you to come

There it is, 12 miles across deep, warm Caribbean waters... LaGonave. Where life is hard for 100,000 people. Where I have chosen to make my difference, with God's help.

On Thursday, November 18, 2010, we introduce Starfysh to the world. I'd like you to come.

Mark your calendars.

Steve

Hot Dogs for Haiti

Brian and Jen had a crazy idea a few weeks ago. They thought they'd invite a bunch of neighbors, family, and friends to their place after work on Friday evening for hot dogs and lemonade. They stuck a big pickle jar on a card table and asked for donations to help children through Starfysh.

Sue and I stopped by. What fun! Simple: hot dogs and lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. It was crazy busy. I saw one guy stop his car in the middle of the road in front of the house, run up to stick money in the jar, then run back to his car and keep going.

They made $1700 in that two-hour, front-yard tailgate party. Man, there is good money in hot dogs.

Clear your calendars for Thursday, November 18th at 7PM! Details coming....

Steve

Driven

Out there it is, in the distance. Anse-a-Galets, the largest village on the island of LaGonave.

I am so way over my head.

It was one week ago tonight, at around 2AM as I recall, that I awoke out of a sound sleep and sat straight up in bed, in a sweat. And yes, it was 90 degrees in my little Haitian bedroom but my sweating that night, I'm pretty sure, was borne of fear. No, that's not it either. Overwhelmed-ness... yes that's it. Overwhelmed-ness.

What in the world am I doing, trapse-ing around down here, stirring up the pot of my life, when I could be back home with my family and dog? And what have I done, committing myself to a project where, if God doesn't show, I'll fall flat on my face? And why so many things, for crying out loud? Why agree to speak all over the place, and take on so much in Haiti and start this nonprofit and lead these two upcoming teams and sit on my church board and, and, and. Oh, yes, I almost forgot... and keep up my busy family practice?

Some might say I'm driven. Guilty as charged. To a fault, I suppose. But the way I figure it, I've got one go around in my life and I want it to count. And if I go down in flames a few times along the way, oh well. It reminds me of the the verse, "To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me." Driven? I think so.

I must write more. It's cathartic. A good discipline for me. Richard Foster, in his book, Celebration of Discipline, makes a good case that God extends His grace to us in and through the disciplines of our faith. And I must say, I think God speaks to me as I grapple with truth and wrestle with syntax.

Blogging, for me, is less talking to you (whoever "you" are) so much as talking to myself. Usually I start out typing not knowing what will come out. That's why I never title my blog until after it's written.

Things are falling into place in Haiti:

The xray machine has been safely delivered to the hospital and will be installed by a biomedical engineer the week of October 25th. We are bringing down an xray technician to then inservice the hospital staff on its use.

We currently are awaiting delivery and customs clearance of all the cookware, burners, and tableware to the school where we will be feeding kids this school year. We finalized some details last week while I was there. Small, but important things like storage rooms, security. We ran through a mock run-through, envisioning where the kids will line up for their food, where they'll sit when they eat, and how each kid will wash their own dishes after they're done eating. We want the first day to go as well as possible.

Blessings,

Steve

Strange and Telling

I was perusing my library shelves looking for a good book for the airplane when I noticed a strange and telling juxtaposition of books. I think you can figure it out.

(It's telling because it betrays my freakishly wide set of interests. By the way, I have the entire two-volume set of every single cartoon Gary Larson ever drew. Fun times.)

I'll be in Haiti through Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.

Steve

Announcement

The time has come to make our first public announcement. Not that Starfysh has been any big secret, but as of today, we will begin our intentional, inform-the-wider-audience efforts to get word out. The letter below is the first of many I personally will write. It is addressed to my patients and practice community. It will be posted on the walls of the rooms where I see patients and I'll have extra copies available for them to take home if they want. I plan on putting it in our newspaper. It's not fancy at all, but homespun is how people know me around here, so to be fancy-schmancy about things would not feel right to them, nor would it to me.

Now I can finally write thank you notes to all you who have donated to past projects. I've been holding off until we received our 501(c)3 notice so I could acknowledge your gifts as tax deductible. Now I can.

Dear Patients and Friends,

After 18 years, now, of investing my time and energies into a tiny mission hospital on a small island off Haiti’s mainland, I find myself unable (and unwilling) to extract myself from that work. I am drawn, like a magnet, to the precious and needy people there and have decided to raise the stakes of my commitment and investment in that land. And I am about to ask you who know me and trust me to find it in your hearts to support me in what I am about to announce.

Over the past year of soul-searching, I have come to the stark realization that the impact of my work in Haiti, while significant down there and gratifying to me personally, cannot grow significantly under my current modus operandi of personal trips and projects. The time has come to involve you, my patients and friends. The time has come to multiply myself, to leverage the great human resource that is mine... in you.

This all said, I am pleased and excited to announce the creation of STARFYSH, a grassroots nonprofit which will greatly enhance the positive difference I can make for a small island of about 100,000 of the world’s poorest, hungriest, and sickest people. It is grassroots because it almost had to happen, the result when people with pent-up energy all of a sudden have an outlet, a cause, for that energy. A cause that resonates.

I have a few out-of-the-chute things I want to do during this first year, but the most urgent is to feed a bunch a kids who are going hungry right now. As you read this letter, there is sea-container full of plates, glasses, silverware, cook pots and cook stoves churning its way through Caribbean seas on its way to Haiti... enough to feed 1,000 children at a school right down the road from the hospital where I work. As it stands, these kids will not eat unless we can make it happen. And, while I know there is a world of needs out there, I figure I can make a difference for this village, for this particular bunch of hungry kids. And I humbly ask if you would help me feed these kids.

72 cents will feed a hungry kid a good, nutritious meal. Feeding them every school day adds up to $15/month, $180/year. $720 would feed all 1,000 kids on any given school day. Any way you concoct it, it’s cheap. And I am determined to feed them.

I have a pipeline of projects being developed, all cool and worthy and needed. They are increasingly-strategic, with issues of sustainability built in, but right now... today... food is what is needed to bring these kids out of their malnourished state. 72 cents a day will do it.

I promise that 100% of your gift will go to the project of feeding these kids. Zero will taken out for other things. Also know that whatever you give will translate almost immediately into the sight of a smiling school child holding his or her plate while it is piled full of rice and beans.

If you will help, you can drop off or mail your tax-deductible gift to my office in Saranac (107 North Bridge St. Saranac, MI 48881) or mail it to Starfysh 3725 Oak Creek Court SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Make checks out to Starfysh, and write “Feed Kids” in the memo line. Please provide your name, address and email so I can send you a thank you and receipt.

If you’re OK with grassroots and want to learn more about the island of La Gonave, Haiti and what I am up to down there, explore starfysh.org.

We can do this.

Your friend,

Dr. Edmondson

Co-labor-ation

These 19 boxes of plates and glasses and forks were added to our container shipment today. I appreciate Doug Porritt and his ministry, Rays of Hope, for their important role in getting food and relief supplies down to Haiti for folks like us. It's collaboration like this that wins the day. As people and churches and agencies fulfill their God-given roles, the job gets done. Call it strength in numbers; call it synergy. "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken," was how Solomon put it.

Besides, this sharing the work load we call co-labor-ation gives us time to relax, and to notice the little blessings right under our noses. Check out the tree frog taking it all in from atop this hosta leaf. I bet he almost croaked when he saw all those boxes.

Steve

XRAY crosses the waves

Here's a pic of the xray system on the boat getting ready to cross the sea over to the island. Next step: installation. We're working hard to get the engineer down there quickly. It is so sorely needed.

Please pray that it will happen quickly... only because when we crank it up, the level of care that can be provided will go up immediately.

By the way, that's Haiti missionary Matt Tegen accompanying the equipment on its watery journey. Thanks Matt. See you soon!

Give Away

These eight large and heavy boxes contain supplies that will help to feed hungry kids: cookstoves, cooking pots, tableware, etc. Also contained in these boxes is an xray view box and a boat load (literally, as it will turn out!) of medical supplies for our hospital: suture, scalpels, IV tubing, catheters, syringes and needles, wound care items (gauze bandages, tape, irrigation supplies, etc.), orthopedic supplies (casting material, splints, etc.).

These supplies have all been packed on to a large, 40-foot container and will arrive in Haiti, by ship, in about a month.

Thank you for giving. Your gifts, I promise, will make a huge difference in the lives of people in a quiet, impoverished, and hungry village on a little island in Haiti.

AND!... now that we have received our 501 (c) (3)... I can officially tell you that your gifts to Starfysh are 100% tax deductible. Also you who have given already should know that gifts dating back to February 3rd, 2010 are fully deductible, and we can now send you receipts to use when you file your taxes.

$15 will feed a hungry school child every school day for an entire month. And we want to feed 1,000 kids. School in Haiti starts October 4th, so feel free... give away!

Thanks friends,

Steve

I'll Try to Get a Picture

There it was... waiting for me on the kitchen table... the letter we'd been waiting for. I knew it would come, the letter.

Seemed silly, getting my little digital camera out. "What are you doing?" my wife inquired. "Taking a picture of our letter!" Her smile reminded me of when she looks out in the garden at me getting my goofball pictures of jack-in-the-pulpits and hostas. (I don't know, but I've always suspected that such smiles are not ones of pride or affirmation so much as they are of pity that I can't find something better to do... like fix the kitchen faucet that's been dripping for the last six months).

That's alright. The letter, like my hostas and jacks, comes at great effort and after much waiting. Good things come after waiting, it seems. Consider gestation. Now that I think about it... it was about nine months ago that Starfysh was conceived. Poetic.

The xray equipment made it safely to the island yesterday afternoon.

I'll try to get a picture.

In Some Cases the Difference

More good news today. The xray equipment you helped me with cleared customs yesterday and is, AS I WRITE, en route across the sea to the village of Anse-a-Galets, on the island of La Gonave. There, in a tiny mission hospital (the island's only), it will make a difference... in some cases the difference. You have made a difference... in some cases the difference.

If you click on the map you can find Anse-a-Galet, on La Gonave's northeast shoreline The space shuttle took a picture of La Gonave, just for us I'm sure.

The Byrth of Starfysh

Dear Friends,

Sorry for my silence... I have been biting my tongue as we wait for word...

But today I am very happy to announce that we received a determination letter from the IRS officially recognizing Starfysh as a tax-exempt non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

My self-imposed silence is over. We now may (and will!) boldly move forward in bringing compassion, dignity, and hope to an island of people I have grown to love an awful lot.

Spread the word. A Starfysh is born.

You Will Surely Know

Hey folks,

I hope you'll pardon my silence, lately. I have suffered a pretty severe case of blogopenia (Latin - "lack of blogging"). I've been going to BT for it and I think it's helping.

Much continues to happen in the background of my silence, while we patiently check our mail every day. It will eventually come, that letter. Tomorrow or next week or next month. But I hope it's tomorrow. Don't worry... verily, verily I say unto you, you will surely know.

I networked hard today. That's fun. I love to network and to create networks and teams and to line up things. Want proof? Check out the picture. That's my pilot reading our Starfysh brochure DURING our flight back to the mainland. Hey, I'm hard core... what can I say?

Thanks for keeping touch,

Steve

Then the Earthquake Hit

One of the goals of my most recent trip to Haiti was to show the school children how to jump rope. I think you can tell from their smiles that that they really appreciated my willingness to demonstrate my skills.

I returned from Haiti two weeks ago, laying more projects groundwork. Met with those who will be administrating our feeding program and have been seeking wisdom and counsel of those familiar with Haitian culture and who've had experience with various types of feeding programs. Please pray for this, as we want to get it right. Hungry kids who could care less, really, about logistics and accounting just want a good meal now and again. And yet, logistics and accounting and accountability structures and hiring workers and fuel sources and eating utensils and security... all this and more we must get right or the food won't land in their stomachs. (Get this... on average, every hour one Haitian child dies as a direct or indirect result of starvation).

Starfysh is still awaiting official "non-profit" designation by the IRS. Until then, and while we wait, we are holding off on any major fundraising efforts. (On one hand, it makes me nervous, because the first day of school in Haiti is just eleven weeks away, and we want so badly to give the kids a good meal. As we wait some donations are trickling in, which is nice. Thank you.) We did hear about our application from the IRS a couple of weeks ago. They contacted us with some very minor technical stuff, which we see as a good sign... i.e., that they apparently have no issues with the substantive stuff we submitted. Another topic for which I would appreciate your prayers.

I cannot tell you how many times people have asked me something like, "Are things improving in Haiti?" My response, many times, has been to quote Wes Stafford, president of Compassion, International, when he said,

"Haiti was home to one of the worst disasters of our time. Then the earthquake hit."

Pray for Haiti. Haiti's issues are so complex, so deep, and so entrenched. No government can fix her. Not the U.N. Not Bono. Not Jack Bauer. Money won't fix her. Not even Oprah can fix Haiti. Only God can fix Haiti.

So pray for Haiti.

Another Face of Malnutrition

There are 30,000 young children in Haiti who suffer from mental deficiencies all because their mothers were iodine deficient. This two-month-old baby faces such a problem.

Totally wrong, for it's totally preventable.

My Deepest Respect

Hanging out with my good friend Jonas before taking off from La Gonave this morning.

When I go to bed tonight I won't have a high power fan blowing 94 degree air into my face like I have for the past week. Touche, long-term missionaries for giving up comforts of home to serve in such difficult conditions. You have my deepest respect. Thank you.

And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

I Did the Math

I happened upon this tiny orphanage during my journey today. It is less than 2 months old, made up entirely of boys and girls orphaned by Haiti's recent earthquake.

They have no sponsoring agency, just a loving woman caring for them and a local business owner who offered up a small building to house them. They were running out of food, so my sister and I decided to help. Long story short, we stocked their shelves with rice, beans, spaghetti, charcoal, cooking oil, and sugar (for sugar drink). We spent $324 for a month's worth of two meals a day for eleven kids. I did the math: 49 cents a meal.

Best $324 I've spent in a very long time.

Starfish

I took a picture of this starfish today. In the background you can see Anse-a-Galets, the village where we will be feeding a bunch of hungry kids soon.

I return home tomorrow, after a good week. Good connections made, details nailed down. Many stories to share.

By the way, the starfish was alive... so I threw him in to live another day.

Hunger Up Close

There are tons of facts and figures you can find on hunger and malnutrition. Facts like...

76% of Haiti's children under 5 years of age are underweight or suffer from wasting or stunted growth, and...

every 6 seconds a child somewhere in the world dies from a malnutrition-related disease, and...

2.4 million people in Haiti are "food insecure" (don't have enough access to food), and...

one out of every three babies born in Haiti are born underweight.

Holding this little boy this morning made me forget those numbers. For a few moments, it was just me and him.

School this Morning

These kindergarteners have met in an outside classroom since the earthquake. They were studying the human body when I was there this morning. This photo was taken less than two hours ago.

I visited many classrooms today, talking with them and answering some of their questions. In many of them I asked for a raise of hands of how many had eaten today. Average was 1-2 out of 30.

None of the children you see have eaten today.

72 cents would fill one of their little bellies with a well-balanced nutritious meal and drink.

Update from Haiti

12 miles out from where this picture is taken there is an island of people in great need. I think I'll go out and see...

Sorry for my delay in posting. Until tonight I've not had internet access. This trip has been difficult but good. Difficult because of travel delays and hitches. Good because my sister Kathy is with me (her first trip to Haiti with her big bro). Difficult because it is ungodly hot (9:30 PM and 92 degrees). Good because important pieces of the child feeding program are falling into place. Difficult because I miss my wife, kids, and grandbaby (Sophie, 7 months old, apple of grandpa's eye). Good because it is good for me to leave comfort and ease for a bit and be reminded that comfort and ease are not really what life's all about.

After a day on Haiti's mainland, we journeyed the 12 miles out to La Gonave (calm seas, blistering sun), getting here mid afternoon today. I squeezed in a brief meeting with the schoolmaster of the school whose 1,000 children we hope to feed this upcoming school year. I will spend most of the morning at the school tomorrow (visiting many of the classrooms and exploring the school buildings and grounds). I'll post some pictures. After lunch I'll head over to the hospital.

I received news just today that the xray you all helped me raise money for will be flown from Fort Pierce, Florida to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Please pray for a quick (and inexpensive!) customs process. We are arranging to have xray tech personnel fly down to inservice the staff and give a refresher (continuing education) course on xray positioning techniques, etc.

The hospital remains a very difficult situation, but I am excited that very good things are happening, the most major being that an organization in Scotland has raised the funds necessary to replace (raze and re-build!) the condemned building.

More tomorrow.

Over My Head... Again

Three weeks. This has been the longest gap in blog-posting since I started it right after Haiti's earthquake. My bad. Just busyness, that's all. Blame busyness.

Even though this is the first post after a 3-week hiatus, I will be brief and to-the-point with my updates:

1. The xray equipment was shipped from the manufacturer in New York this week, and is enroute to Haiti.

2. Starfysh continues to wait for official word from the IRS on official non-profit designation. Even while we wait, we are growing, maturing. Web and print materials have been produced. God is bringing passionate and skilled and connected people to us. Initial projects are in place.

3. The first and most pressing need will be to get these school children fed. It is crazy and ambitious, I know, to think we can START a new organization with this huge endeavor. (Why didn't God show me a tiny little school to get our feet wet with?). But here we are. And there they are. Hungry.

4. I'll be in Haiti this week, spending time at the school and the hospital. I'll try to post something up most days, here and on our starfysh facebook page.

Please pray that God will show up, because I'm clearly over my head... again.

Steve

Sophie

I'd like to introduce you to the newest love of my life. Meet my granddaughter, Sophie.

In less than four months, a thousand eager, hungry kids will walk through the schoolyard gates for the first day of the Fall school term, likely not expecting to eat that day.

We want to surprise them...

72 cents will feed a hungry school child one hot, nutritious meal.

$15 will feed a hungry kid every school day for a month.

$180 will feed them for a year.

Please consider helping me... I can't do this alone.

Would you help me feed a thousand kids? AND...

Would you help me find people to help me feed a thousand kids?

Would you help me find people to find people to help me feed a thousand kids?

I've placed a fact sheet on the Starfysh.org site that you can print off and use.

Thanks folks

Steve

Rodgersia

This Rodgersia has taken quite a few years to take off in my garden. Worth the wait.

Rodgersia was named after Admiral Rodgers of the Pacific Expeditionary Fleet that discovered the species in the far east.

Bring it on Alex Trebek.

Lamium

Lamium (AKA deadnettle) is a fairly easy to grow. It's a plant that thrives in shade, something I have plenty of. I have several growing right next to the path. Thanks to Gail B. for giving me the heads up on this one and for giving me a start. (Remember with all pics on this site that you can click to zoom in for a closer look).

Note: this is not the kind of "nettle" (weed) that you get "nettles" from. Those kind of nettles have tiny irritating hairs on them... NOT fun to get into.

Shameless Audacity

This is a rare, through-the-woods sunset that we get to see from our deck every once in a blue moon.

I saw on the news last night where some group in Grand Rapids held a fundraising campaign to rescue several city swimming pools from shutting down this Summer due to cuts in the city budget. They raised almost $180,000 in a really short period of time. Which is great for the kids and families of our town. The guy they interviewed said that 80% of the donations that came in were under $100, which I thought was really great, because that tells me their fundraising success wasn't mainly because of a couple of gigantic gifts.

I was glad to see that news report, because I figured if one town can raise that much money in a week or two to keep 3 city pools open for 7 weeks this Summer, then we should be able to feed a 1000 famished school kids for a whole year.... all for about the same amount of money.

I was reading in Luke's gospel this week and ran across these words of Jesus:

Suppose you have a friend and you go to him at midnight and say, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him." And suppose the one inside answers, "Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything." I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

The passage goes on to tell of God's eager willingness to give Himself to folks, if they would just ask.

The phrase that stood out to me was "shameless audacity." Sometimes I think people must think to themselves that that Steve's got a lot of nerve asking for project donations all the time. To be honest with you, I think that about myself. I am nervous about what people must think.

For me, though, what compels me to swallow my pride and write a blog or drop a bunch of letters in the mail is sort of like the last minute desperation those city pool fundraisers felt. That is to say, it's now or never to make the ask.

I know... shameless. Audacious and shameless.

Out on a Limb

I visited this classroom during a recent visit to Haiti. This picture was taken in the early afternoon. These children had had nothing to eat yet that day. Same as always.

The next project need is significant and urgent and big. And, while I know I am way over my head on this, it occurs to me that I have sort of lived there, (way over my head, that is) for a while now. And, while my life would be much easier without all this Haiti hyper-involvement, I feel the need to press forward in this God-adventure. Because for all the second-guessing and sheer terror I've gone through these last five months, God has not failed to win the day. He has provided... every time.

The way I see it, to NOT move forward might be to risk NOT seeing a miracle that God really wants to do, if only someone is crazy enough to ask the mountain to move.

The way I see it, who ever said, "the safest place to be is in the center of God's will" is dead wrong. I mean, who says "safety" is what following God is all about? Heck, if I wanted to be safe, I wouldn't be going to Haiti every time I turn around. If I wanted to be safe, I certainly would not, at the age of 53, be going out on a limb by forming a non-profit organization. If I wanted to be safe, I'd choose smaller projects... safe projects... projects I could pay for myself if the funds didn't come in. And, dear friends, if I wanted to be safe, I certainly would not choose feeding one thousand children as my first feeding program project. I mean, that's just silly.

I have truly gone out on a limb. But friends, here's why...

On Monday, October 4, 2010, some one-thousand children will gather for the first day of school in one of the most desperately-poor places on this planet. And if we don't do something between now and then, these thousand kids will have nothing to eat. For the entire school year they will not eat. Simple as that.

And, simple as this....

72 cents would cover the cost of gas to drive to the grocery store. 72 cents would also cover the cost of one hot, nutritious meal for a hungry child in Haiti.

$15 would buy lunch for two at Applebee's. $15 would also feed a hungry Haitian child for an entire month.

$180 would buy a nice digital camera. $180 would also feed a child every school day for a whole year.

$720 is about what the average garage sale makes. And that's what it would cost to feed 1000 hungry kids on any particular school day in Haiti.

Now, to fully fund this project would require nearly $190,000, and I am fully aware that right now, unless I have some closet bazillionaires out there, my own personal sphere of friendships and acquaintances is probably not wide enough to get this gargantuan job done. That said, I am asking any of you who are touched by this need if you might consider a fundraising effort of your own to feed "x" number of kids. And to share this vision with yet others who might be inspired to raise funds to feed their own "x" number of kids.

Within the next couple of days, we will be adding to our site a downloadable project facts sheet that you can print off to use for your own fundraising purposes. If you want it sooner than that, contact me and I can email it to you.

One last request: I am collecting stories of all the different fundraising efforts going on and will post them on our website. Send me what you can: stories, pictures, and of course results of your efforts. It will be fun to see the different ways folks raise money for this good cause.

I am nervous.

Steve

The Paradox

This swivel-head fake owl is supposed to deter the woodpeckers from pecking at the cedar siding on my house. He's not very good at it. The flowers in the foreground are Weigelas.

Here is the paradox...

It is not as if our hearts are stone. We do hurt when others hurt and we cry when others cry. This is compassion, and most of us, in fact, have a good measure of it. But when the problems over which we grieve are large or complex, our measured response seems to lessen. Suffering, natural disasters, poverty, hunger, injustice... it's just too much! After all, what difference can one person make anyway? Seeing ourselves as tiny by comparison, we feel inadequate for the task of solving gargantuan problems and providing for overwhelming needs. The very enormity of the need becomes the very thing that paralyzes us from responding. We shift our attention away, thinking, even praying that someone more famous or with a bigger bankroll or with more connections will come along to help these particular starfish.

Furthermore, it is obvious that people want to, and are ready to do and to give and to help. But it's all so impersonal. We pick up a brochure or we see the need on TV. But, without a personal connection to those who challenge us to give, we decide that now is not quite the right time to get involved. What a sad disconnect: plenty of human compassion and ready resources, but a comparatively puny response to our confrontation with desperate human need.

But we all like the starfish story, don't we? It frees us from the burden of saving the world. The story resonates with what we all intuitively know to be true... that singlehandedly I cannot change the world, but I might be able to make a big difference for a tiny part of it. For a child or a village or an orphanage. If only someone would invite us for a stroll down the beach...

STARFYSH is your invitation. Would you join me for a walk down the beach?

XRay Project Funded

Needed: $10,500
Received: $10,500

Well done, friends. In these days of seemingly all bad news, you have proven, once again, that the human spirit is alive and well.

We'll have to do it again sometime.

Steve

XRay Project Need Met

If it hadn't been for the 2 day, $12,000 + supplies + plane + personnel earthquake response...

If it hadn't been for the 8 day, $12,000 response to buy tarps for the tent refugees...

... I probably would not have been as antsy about the time is has been taking to raise $10,500 to replace the broken xray machine at a small mission hospital in Haiti.

But I looked back on this blog for when I posted my initial plea for help: April 12th. Just 47 days ago! Dear friends, in less than 7 weeks you and I have provided a SIGNIFICANT and long-term improvement to the basic medical infrastructure on the "forgotten" island of La Gonave, Haiti. The ability to diagnose and care for the diseased and injured just got better.

Received so far: $10,367... a measly $133 away from our $10,500 goal.

La Gonave is not forgotten after all.

We have placed the order and the xray unit is on the production schedule. I'll keep you posted on the progress of production, delivery, installation, and use.

Thanks folks, you have come through again. Next on our strategic plan to impact the island is to feed kids at a school (of nearly a thousand kids!) where currently the kids do not eat. As you can imagine, this is also urgent. Go to Starfysh.org to learn more. I'm sure I'll be blogging about this one too.