June 10, 2004
Once again Sharyn and I greet you both as friends and co-workers,
and we bring greetings from the hundreds of people you worked
with here in Haiti this past week. Some really exciting happenings
took place because through your prayers and gifts you showed you
care. I can say God, the people of the CODEP project, and we especially
are grateful.
Our last update about the floods generated a lot of prayers and
a lot of replies. Actually, one lady, Alexa Smith, responded about
15 times herself. She writes for the Presbyterian News Service
and did an article about the CODEP work—your work! Not just
an article but a front-page story on the PC(USA) Web site, complete
with pictures. You can find it by clicking here.
Print it and share it.
The main road has once again been cleared and remains flooded
but without mud. Ten-foot high piles of mud line the road. Two
huge bulldozers spent a week pushing and re-pushing the mud. It
has remained open for over a week.
Summer school teacher recruitment is doing well. We now have
six new teachers-in-training. Due to the February political problems,
schools will run late this year so summer school will have a delayed
start. We hope to start the first week of July. The lost bean
harvest due to the flooding will have a negative effect on school
this year. Normally we set tuition at the equivalent of two full
day’s pay that a parent would make for each child that enrolls.
Sadly, this year many of the most needy children will be unable
to attend.
On Monday we poured the six-inch concrete roof of Wisline’s
house. Haiti is in the hurricane belt and concrete roofs that
are six inches thick don’t blow away very easily. They do
take hundreds of hours of forming and supporting as well as an
incredible host of Haitian laborers to mix, carry, pour, and work
the concrete. We began at 6:00 a.m., and many of the workers had
spent two hours getting to the job site. We were done and the
concrete well set before the afternoon rains came. Presently the
concrete is curing under a large pool of water collected by the
roof. (Concrete gets stronger when it cures under water.)
When we finished Wisline’s concrete pour, we gave gifts
to all the helpers. There were boxes of shoes, curtains, and suitcases
of clothes sent down on the last container. We also opened a couple
extra boxes of nails we had and each person left with a small
handful to use as they needed to help fix their own homes. There
were lots of smiles.
Our group leaders and animators have been asking if we could
locate any fertilizer to put on our newly planted trees. Early
last week we finally found some. We received 100 bags—five
tons—and had it all placed on the new seedlings by the end
of the same week. Rains each night have relocated it to the root
zone and already the appearance of the trees is better.
We finished planting the rest of the spring trees. The rain continues
to bless them. Please remember CODEP participants have already
planted 380,000 trees this year. CODEP members now have planted
117,660 more. Total this year: 497,660.
As I’ve said before, don’t think “trees,”
think “firewood, flood prevention, income, hope.”
Think (Genesis 2:9) and Revelation (2:7). And dream of the part
you made possible.
At daybreak Saturday, two days before the concrete pour, I went
to Wisline’s for a final check of the concrete forms. I
was surprised to find the forms far from ready for the 14 and
a half tons of concrete scheduled to be put there early Monday
morning. I had planned to return after a couple hours and had
taken little water and no food. By 4:00 p.m. we were almost done.
The three Haitians and I had worked nonstop all day. About that
time, Wisline finished preparing a plate of beans and rice for
each of us.
As I sat perched on a stone, leaning against the concrete column
of her soon-to-be-new home eating beans and rice, I looked down
the hill into her yard. I saw a smoky cooking fire, a dozen neighborhood
kids, and a thatched roof house where she lives. I thought of
one of my favorite verses: “and anyone who has left houses
or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms
for my name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and
shall inherit eternal life.”
Thank you for being part of that promised blessing to us. And
thank you that because of your blessings, we can be a blessing
to others.
Mme David is a dear old saint from a local Episcopal church in
the mountains. Many of you have met her in person or in video.
She worked with CODEP for many years. In the video “Hope
for Haiti,” she was the older lady who we handed the picture
of herself and Bishop Duracin. A number of years ago we built
nearly 100 concrete steps on the steepest portion of a trail from
her house so she could get out to the road and get to church.
She has recently become very sick and needs prayer. Her daughter,
Mme Elise, is one of the CODEP leaders.
A second prayer concern is summer school food prices. The price
for food has skyrocketed. Traditionally we have given the summer
school children a meager breakfast of bread and peanut butter
(protein) and a lunch of rice and bean sauce. Not only will the
food price squeeze the lunch program, each day it affects the
poor, who also need food.
For those who might be interested in visiting CODEP in the future,
please
contact Jim Pease at this Web site: http://www.haitifundinc.org.
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’s service with you,
Rodney & Sharyn
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
136 |
