CODEP

We began our month hosting a wonderful group from Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Bill Mebane and his son, Bill from Marine Biology Institute (our own fish guy!) and others from the church came with servant hearts to help us in many ways. Kathy had a great time doing village medical clinics with Dr. Bill, sharing information about oral rehydration and clean water. Rick took the group on several hikes through the CODEP project. Bill and others worked on finishing the new fish nursery, a needed addition to providing good fingerlings to the mountain fish ponds. Andrew, associate pastor at Chestnut Hill, left his beautiful imprint at L’Acul by painting a wall mural in the L’Acul courtyard.

The day Dr. Bill’s team left, John Winings arrived with a group of Presbyterian pastors. It was not the usual week, as the national food price protests took place while they were here. (More on that below). We were able to do the usual things the first 3 days, like market, church, hike around the beach, and visit Pastor Gabriel’s family. On Monday we visited Siloe, APKF, and nearby gardens and fishponds – but because of the closure of the roads, they spent the next 3 days close to home, finishing work in the fish nursery, mixing potting soil, and planting boxes of flowers and vegetables near the fish tanks. The men pushed a lot of wheel barrows of gravel in from the beach.

They shared their second night here with the Building Goodness group that had arrived on Saturday afternoon. Although the pastors were scheduled to leave on Friday, Rick recommended staying over and leaving Saturday, everyone again shared the guesthouse on Friday night with a total of 15 people. Kudos to all for making a difficult situation so enjoyable!

The builder team had left on Sunday morning for Gwo Mon, walking in several hours to the building site. There they spent the next 5 nights living in small tents while they constructed another CODEP house, earned by many sweat hours of planting trees. Because they were finished a day ahead of time, they used up all their scrap lumber by making furniture and shelves for the lucky homeowners. They also went with April (who spent the week with them) to see CODEP nurseries and other projects. The day we sent off the 2 teams, April, Rick, and Kathy all sort of took a deep breath and spent the week-end catching up on doing whatever felt good, like reading, walking, eating, and e-mailing. After a few days all the washing was done and we all got back to doing what we do normally, spending time in our various ministries with the Haitian people.

April stayed on a few more days to help Rick build a pergola over the septic cement out back and to help him and Clement with some fish ponds. We ate all the non-rice and bean dishes we could, like French fries, salad, Jell-O, and we even had chicken nuggets and honey mustard sauce, or at least we pretended it was. The teams left Snickers bars and they were great, but we were all hungry for a hamburger!

Rick held many meetings with animators and took up some impressive fingerlings to restock ponds. He and Clement have worked everyday building cement block compost corners in the big mountain fishponds. Water has been drained and pipes cleaned and repaired. A good fish harvest was enjoyed without the expense of any outside fish food.

Kathy went back to working with the beach kids and with the nutrition center. Because our garden technician Guyteau had a bad accident on his motorcycle, we also had to spend some extra hours in the L’Acul garden. We are so happy that some of the women who bring their children to the Wednesday morning nutrition classes have taken a great interest in planting their own gardens. We were able to start them off with seedlings and are making plans for garden classes.

Now for the “interruption.” The country began burning tires at road blocks on a Monday and didn’t stop until Friday when the roads were opened again by noon, mainly so everyone could go to market and eat. Of course, another week and a half of school was lost. Some of the schools are such a shame here, poorly run, and mostly just a way to employ a few people and rob parents of money better spent on food. We are so disappointed that on any given day up to half the beach kids are not in school for a number of very flimsy excuses. Many parents just do not see the value of a good education. The result is often the main problem—children raising children.

Finally, yesterday we received word that 2 of the older men in Epiphany Church, and long-time neighbors, have fought over a goat in a garden. The dispute turned ugly and a machete was used and now both are spending the Sabbath in jail cooling off. It should make for an interesting Sunday service.

When the Presbyterian pastors were here and up in the mountains, roadblocks had been placed in several places along the road home as the country was preparing for a manifestation over high food prices. After several forced stops, they arrived back at L’Acul safely and in good spirits. Everyone was singing the praises of Rick, Mimi, and Clement and their “cool heads and patient spirits.” When people are sick, hungry, jobless, and kept illiterate it finally erupts. That in a nutshell is what motivates us to be here in Christian love, helping the weak, sick, and hungry as it says in the Bible. In our positions, we are given opportunities everyday to respond to people in need. So, we spread the Good News and help those needing help—one without the other is incomplete. We are humbled that in our weakness God is still working through us. He does not ask for something from us that He has not already supplied us with.

On a lighter note, we celebrated April’s 30th birthday on the 27th. She is such a blessing not only in our ministry here but to everyone whom she meets. Her constant joy is contagious both to us and to all the Haitians who are privileged to know her. We shared the day with the team from Grace Community Church by having a beachside picnic and birthday cake.

May His Word make you restless to help others and may His Spirit move you to do mighty things in His name!

Peace to you all,
Kathy and Rick