May 1, 2004
To our Family, Friends, Partners and Supporters,
Sharyn and I send our continued appreciation of your constant
support and commitment to this work of Christ, which calls us
all together.
It has been a little more than a week since we returned to Haiti.
Upon returning, we found all in excellent order. Friends here
and in Port-au-Prince spoke of widespread but focused looting
and civil disorder in Port-au-Prince. You probably saw it all
on TV or the Internet. There were no absolutely no problems either
where the CODEP compound is located or in the project area. Life
continued as usual. The plane we returned on was 100 percent full,
and the baggage handlers told us it was that way every day.
Mimi and Clement greeted us at the airport. Ten miles from home
the truck had mechanical problems. A wheel bearing broke apart.
We went the remainder of the way on a tap tap and spent that evening
and the entire following day getting the truck repaired and home.
A few days later a small group from Philadelphia arrived and spent
a week focused on the tilapia facilities at L’Acul. One
of the members works at Woods Hole Biological Labs in Massachusetts,
and he and this church are working on formulating a fish food
and floating pellet for use in Haiti. The main ingredients are
several locally available leaves that are a byproduct of your
reforestation efforts. (Check the recent article in the Christian
Science Monitor here.
Additionally, they installed a salt-water sea pump and a larger
air pump. These will greatly improve the habitat and allow for
better testing of developing rations.
One big complication to our lives and the work began just a few
days ago. The Cormier River silted itself closed about 18 months
ago. Its latest meanderings include silting in a large sugarcane
field just a couple miles from the compound. As the silt deposits
rose, the road became the last course and that is where the river
now flows. It continues to deposit tons of mud on the road. Daily,
busses and trucks are mired. Five of the last six days it has
been totally closed. Many hundreds of vehicles are stranded, unable
to pass thru the mud. Presently we take a tap tap or truck to
the mud and hire a horse to carry us across. Then we wait for
a tap tap to come from this side, drop off passengers and turn
around, and then jump on. It adds hours to a simple trip to the
mountains. Fortunately, with hundreds of horses and thousands
of people, there is something of a party atmosphere.
The potential for anyone, especially Americans, to become frustrated
with such a situation is great. Being with this work group, watching
them adapt to knee-deep mud, aborted plans, and unique challenges,
Christ’s patience was exemplified.
Do pray that this road-flooding problem is resolved soon. Food
supplies and fuel cannot be moved to the south. People traveling
may spend days waiting in line or sleeping in buses. It is much
more than an inconvenience to thousands of people daily.
For those who might be interested in visiting CODEP in the future,
please contact Jim Pease at the Haiti
Fund Web site. If you need information from the field, please
write us directly. And please, please, print hard copies of this
note to share with your friends and church families. Missions
is one of the best-kept secrets in many churches. Share the good
news of what God is doing.
In Christ,
Rodney and Sharyn
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
136 |
