Bread and water. . .
We arrived safely in Jeremie mid morning, and started beavering away! We dumped our gear at Place Charmant and made our way to the Gebeau Depot to retrieve mobile medical supplies and Croc-like footwear donated by a neighbor back home in Metamora. . .
. . .of, and before I forget, it’s around 80 degrees and sunny here. . .way better than the blizzard on Wednesday back home!
While at Gebeau, we visited the start-up bakery that the Jeremie Haiti Project is supporting (Birmingham First is one of about 20 Methodist churches that make up JHP). Pastor Claudel’s wife is supervising operations, which at the moment is bread baking two days a week. The aromas were terrific, and as luck would have it we got there about the time the first batch came out of the overnight. A dozen rolls for $1. . .or 8 cents a piece. . .it was delicious and would fetch a couple of bucks at Starbucks!
Our two trucks were loaded to the gills with mobile meds stuff, folding tables and chairs we take to our mobile medical locations (since the villages we work in don’t have these things), and some food we purchased in Port au Prince after arriving yesterday. Back at the hotel, our loyal and hard-working ground crew drifted in during the afternoon and helped disgorge our duffel contents and began the tedious work of breaking down bulk meds into individual portions.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Chiraque to help paint the school we helped rebuild following Hurricane Matthew. You’ll recall we rebuilt the adjacent church last year and celebrated by serving the village a meal following rededication services. We’ll do the same tomorrow to celebrate finally putting the village back together. So many of you made this possible. . .the physical plant is certainly important in the villagers’ daily lives, but more important is that someone. . .all of you. . .cared enough to lend a helping hand, one way or another.
As for “water”, our team is focused on trying to make a difference. . .long term. . .in the life of Chiraque. Over the years, we have rebuilt the church and school, built a second school and installed solar power (both of which survived the hurricane), and built church pews and school benches. We’ve brought laptops for the teachers to share the wealth of the internet with their students, and we stabilize the teaching crew by contributing monies (via the Jeremie Haiti Project) to their salaries. . .which can sometimes run 8-9 months in arrears from their official employer.
We turn our attentions tomorrow to investigating drilling a well in the village. When roof run-off is totally gone, villagers walk 30 minutes downhill with an empty 5-gallon pail. . .and obviously longer to return home. We might be able to drill a well 5 minutes away, and power it with the already-installed solar power system.
And maybe, just maybe, the well might allow the village to create terraces for fruit trees and crops, serviced by well-supplied drip irrigation, and become a part of that virtuous upward economic cycle.
That’s our dream, and we hope to share it with you because we’ll need more believers and more supporters to make it happen!
More tomorrow. . .best, John and Nancy Smith
. . .of, and before I forget, it’s around 80 degrees and sunny here. . .way better than the blizzard on Wednesday back home!
While at Gebeau, we visited the start-up bakery that the Jeremie Haiti Project is supporting (Birmingham First is one of about 20 Methodist churches that make up JHP). Pastor Claudel’s wife is supervising operations, which at the moment is bread baking two days a week. The aromas were terrific, and as luck would have it we got there about the time the first batch came out of the overnight. A dozen rolls for $1. . .or 8 cents a piece. . .it was delicious and would fetch a couple of bucks at Starbucks!
Our two trucks were loaded to the gills with mobile meds stuff, folding tables and chairs we take to our mobile medical locations (since the villages we work in don’t have these things), and some food we purchased in Port au Prince after arriving yesterday. Back at the hotel, our loyal and hard-working ground crew drifted in during the afternoon and helped disgorge our duffel contents and began the tedious work of breaking down bulk meds into individual portions.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Chiraque to help paint the school we helped rebuild following Hurricane Matthew. You’ll recall we rebuilt the adjacent church last year and celebrated by serving the village a meal following rededication services. We’ll do the same tomorrow to celebrate finally putting the village back together. So many of you made this possible. . .the physical plant is certainly important in the villagers’ daily lives, but more important is that someone. . .all of you. . .cared enough to lend a helping hand, one way or another.
As for “water”, our team is focused on trying to make a difference. . .long term. . .in the life of Chiraque. Over the years, we have rebuilt the church and school, built a second school and installed solar power (both of which survived the hurricane), and built church pews and school benches. We’ve brought laptops for the teachers to share the wealth of the internet with their students, and we stabilize the teaching crew by contributing monies (via the Jeremie Haiti Project) to their salaries. . .which can sometimes run 8-9 months in arrears from their official employer.
We turn our attentions tomorrow to investigating drilling a well in the village. When roof run-off is totally gone, villagers walk 30 minutes downhill with an empty 5-gallon pail. . .and obviously longer to return home. We might be able to drill a well 5 minutes away, and power it with the already-installed solar power system.
And maybe, just maybe, the well might allow the village to create terraces for fruit trees and crops, serviced by well-supplied drip irrigation, and become a part of that virtuous upward economic cycle.
That’s our dream, and we hope to share it with you because we’ll need more believers and more supporters to make it happen!
More tomorrow. . .best, John and Nancy Smith
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