Cold Protest

My garden frog is not happy. April 28th and the forecast for tonight is low 30's with possibility of snow flurries.

Even the trout lilies have closed their petals in protest.

Great Expectations

Waiting is hard. From red lights to pregnancies most of us are let's-get-on-with-it type creatures. And when it comes to impatience... I am the chiefest of sinners.

I strained hard today to see if they were coming up. But hard as I looked, I could find no signs of emergence just yet... no shoots, no cracks in last year's mulch. Ironic, don't you think, that my Great Expectations hostas are among the latest of my hostas to emerge? I know they're in there, those shoots of cells... multiplying and arranging just so. But I want to see. It would be so fun to see.

But, hard as it is, waiting is good. If hope is the "expectation of something good" then I have lots of that. Something really really good is just around the corner, just out of sight.

*Note: you can zoom in on the picture by clicking on it. Zoom away... all you'll see is mulch.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Heb. 11:1

Li Leve Vivan!

Rising up from beautiful village churches all around La Gonave: "Li leve vivan!" He has risen!

He has risen indeed.

Toys

Kites are a common site in Haiti, making and flying them a favorite child's pasttime. Check out this one... it's about as high as the moon.

If you want to see creativity and ingenuity, watch a Haitian child create toys out of pretty much nothing (this kite fashioned from a plastic garbage bag). "Toys of Haiti" would be an interesting picture book (probably a good one for American kids to look at). Think I'll start taking pictures.

Helleborus: First Flowers of Michigan Spring

This patch of Hellebores (a.k.a. Lenten Roses) are growing up in our woods. They're among the first bloomers around our place and they hold their blooms all season long. The flowers, instead of wilting and falling apart, dry and pale out, and remain in the garden as dried flowers. They self seed easily and, unlike my hosta shoots, the deer and rabbits leave them alone.

They are not stocked at too many nurseries and if you do find them, they're fairly expensive, usually more than $12-15 per pot.

Now, if I could just fill my woods with them...

Cholera Hospital / Clinic

I stopped by this little boy's cot at the cholera field hospital last week. His little body was fighting to survive this quick and terrible illness. I hope he'll survive. I think he will... most do if they can get to a hospital in time for IV fluids to get started.

You don't hear much about Haiti's cholera problem any more, what with all the other news vieing for the world's attention. It is still a big issue down here. Word has it that 1,000 people are contracting cholera every day here. As of last week, just our little field hospital on La Gonave has seen 406 cholera cases. 12 have died here. And this is the dry season. The rainy season is arriving real soon and the worry is that this could accelerate the number of cases we are seeing.

Starfysh is covering the costs of staffing this clinic. We also have two large pallets of IV fluids and tubing kits currently enroute down.

. . . While the Snow is Still on the Roses

Michigan woke up this morning to two inches of snow. (A week ago we had a high of 84 degrees). The snow really jazzes up my Lenten Roses, don't you think?

I walk through the garden alone while the dew, er... snow... is still on the roses...

Donkey Shy

Ran into alot of nice folks last week. This man and his burro stopped for a picture. It's obvious his burro was pretty camera shy.

Today being Palm Sunday, our message in church this morning was based on the Scriptural account of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem while riding on a donkey. When we read the passage it made me think of what Mother Theresa said one time. In responding to someone praising her for her life's work she deflected, "Thank you, but do you think that, when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday, that the donkey thought it was all about him?"

My back is kinda sore today. Hope I carried Jesus well this week.

You Gave Me Something to Drink

I have enjoyed moving about the island of La Gonave for the past few days, visiting several of her beautiful villages that I've not been to in the past. These kids lived in a little home near the village well.

Water (clean and close) continues to be the single most important and urgent need in Haiti, particularly on the island of La Gonave. Ironic, don't you think, that an island surrounded by more water than you can imagine struggles so with the availability of fresh, not salty water. The problem is that salt-removing reverse osmosis and other desalination systems are very costly to maintain. Village wells, chlorination programs, and various types of water filtration systems are what are required for the kind of water that won't make people sick.

"I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink." Matthew 25:35a

First Water

Still on Haiti's mainland. I attended a three hour long (yikes!) village development meeting this afternoon, listening to the people that live there (71 households) work out the details of maintaining the well that would go into operation in their village (i.e., hours it would be open, what wage to pay the well guard, how much to charge for water, etc.). They ended up agreeing that they would collect 15 Gourdes per month per household (approx. 38 cents American) that they would use to save for well maintenance and repair costs down the road. Completely self-sufficient and sustainable. The picture here shows the first water out of the well.

Out to La Gonave tomorrow.

Pumps, Piping, Cisterns

Spent the morning with a development worker (a water systems engineer) seeing how they are bringing water to the community they're working in. I learned alot about pumps and cisterns and energy sources and piping issues. Truly impressive, amazing work.

This picture was taken about an hour ago... villagers washing clothes and bathing at a spring. Sadly the water is contaminated (due primarily to human factors. (I think clicking on the picture will let you zoom in a bit).

Why Pirates Say "Arrgh"

Spent the entire day on Haiti's mainland today, meeting with people a lot smarter than me when it comes to doing development work here. Visited lots of village wells. Will be going to a village well management committee meeting tomorrow. All Haitian.

During our travels today we ran across this little rum distillery. Had to jump out of the truck and check it out. Any of you rum drinkers out there should probably drink something else. This was truly nasty. The rum of pirates.

Ohhh, so that's why pirates say Arrgh!

Brown Hair

Perusing my pics, I ran across this 18 year old photo taken during the early years of my travels to Haiti. This little boy's family lived down near the airstrip. In case you're wondering, this is Rickets, caused from lack of vitamin D. Very sad.

Check the brown hair I used to have!

Jumping on a plane in less than two hours. I'll blog if I can, but it is very hard from where I go. We'll see.

Pray for me. I'm going alone this time. Pray for safefy and productivity.

Lots of Ibuprofen

It's going to be a rocky start to your morning commute. Leave early... traffic is moving well below posted speeds. And remember... yield the right of way to the women and children hauling water all along the way. And if you've got room for a weary traveler, stop and let them hop in. "Do unto others..." as Someone has said.

As you can see, getting around on La Gonave is difficult and slow. And in order to deliver people and supplies, we are looking for vehicles that can handle roads like what you see here.

And ibuprofen... we'll need lots of ibuprofen.

Heading Down

Heading down to Haiti this Sunday. I'll be meeting with the folks who will be drilling village wells on the island of La Gonave. I'll also be readying our small guesthouse for our first work team scheduled for late May / early June.

I'd love you to come visit me on La Gonave sometime.

Container Items Released

I'd like to introduce you to my granddaugher, Sophie. She is the apple of Grandpa's eye. I love Sophie so much.

I just received news that several of our container shipments have finally been released from Haitian customs! (The one with all our feeding program supplies has been there since last August). I must be honest... it has been aggravating to me to see good will held hostage by inefficiencies along the way. And, while I confess it is aggravating at times, I am at strange peace about it, knowing that these "inefficiencies" are but symptoms of much larger, structural illness. I've been losing no sleep over the stuff on the dock.

We have acquired a small guesthouse on the island that will serve as a great project staging grounds here in the early going. As things grow over time, we might need more, but this is perfect for now. We are outfitting it (generator/electricity, water, furniture, etc.) now and it will be ready for our first official work team slated to come in late May. I am excited.

I am learning that this adventure of moving with God is not just the taking of one step of faith and then your're good to go after that, but that seemingly every step that follows is also an act of faith. It's all good, mind you... no complaining. It's just scary sometimes.

I need your help, those of you reading this, and I'm just throwing this out there... in faith, knowing that God works through those who love and follow him: We need island transportation.

Until now we've been borrowing and renting vehicles to get us around and we can't continue to do that much longer. We have figured out how we're getting the vehicles down there. Now we need to just find them.

We need...

Two - Heavy Duty (e.g., 3/4 ton) Diesel trucks.

Two - Hauling Capacity 4-Wheel ATV's

Two - 125cc Motorcycles (we can purchase these right there in Haiti for about $1200 each)

We could also really use some warehouse space here in Grand Rapids where we can stage the supplies enroute to the island. Maybe even one with a small office in it.

If any of you out there in blogland and facebookland has connections with folks who would like to donate to a cause that can bring radical, transforming change to a little island in Haiti... would you mind putting in a good word? You can use the www.starfysh.org site as a resource in talking to them.

Thanks folks. We are doing some very cool things for a very desperate people.

Blessings,

Steve