Exploring Agriculture

  Meet Louisa and Laurens.  They are here from BC exploring the possibility of developing gardens - community gardens - with the Haitians.  Laurens is a soil specialist and Louisa is a horticulturalist.

An interesting note is that they spent quite a bit of time church planting on the reserve at Hobbema, Alberta.  That is where we started our ministry.  We've had many interesting talks.

Primary Vehicles

 This is our van to transport teams and goods.  Right now it is out of use - head gasket problems. 

This is Ivon, our Haitian mechanic with Joe, our Canadian missionary mechanic.  They are working on the bobcat - it also has head gasket problems.  With these two vehicles out of service, it adds complications to our day to day operations.

Meet some of the Haiti ARISE Staff

We would like to introduce you to some of the great staff that help run the day to day operations here on the ground.......

 

Geanne - Office Administrator

Anel - Head Painter and many other things
including buying drinking water and fresh
bread daily

Sterling - one of three administrators of the
new Technical School

Cadet - Guard and chief purchaser of construction
materials
(He doesn't play basketball for the Briercrest Clippers
as his t-shirt says.)

Jemsley - one of six guards how work 12 hour
shifts to keep us safe

                                             



First Team

On Saturday, we welcomed our first team.  They are from BC., and Washington state.  They are here for one week to set up the computers in the Technical school and get them online.  Also, a couple is here to explore the possibility of developing gardens here -- both for our campus and a community garden in the Children's Village when families are living there.

Welcome to.....Louisa, Tom, Darrell, Hannah, Jack, and Laurens

Night Sky

The night sky here is amazing!  When we sit on the roof top in the evening, we often just sit and stare at the sky.  It gets so dark that we can see the constellations and the occasional falling star.
The heavens do declare the glory of God!

Getting Settled

Well, we have been here for five days and are getting settled and adjusting to the heat and humidity. So far, we are here with Cassie, a young lady here for two months to teach English.  It is very quiet, but it is a great opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the staff and practice the language.  It is pleasantly surprising how many words and phrases are coming back!
There are many good things happening at Haiti ARISE.  The church is going as strong as ever with Sunday service, Tuesday service, Thursday Prayer time. On the other days, there are Bible studies for women, men and youth.  Once a month the boy's club and the girl's club meet.
The medical clinic is running smoothly - operating three days per week.  It is fully staffed by Haitians.  There is one doctor, one male nurse, one pharmacist and a young man in reception.
The Technical school, which many teams have worked on over the last 2 1/2 years is now offering a few classes.  There are over 200 students registered and there are classes six days every week.  Some of the classrooms are used for Sunday School, so it is used all seven days per week! That's the way to use space!
The classes being offered now are carpentry, plumbing, computers, electrical, tiling, and English.  They are mostly taught be teachers from Petit Goave who found themselves out of work after the earthquake destroyed so many schools.  They are thankful to be teaching once again. There will be other classes offered later and the Bible school will meet in that building, but the classes have not yet begun for the fall session.
This is all very encouraging.....
People will start arriving later in the week -- so Cassie, Wade & I will have company here in the 'big' house.