11 March, 2008

Hey Friend,

For those of you who hosted me during my time in the States in 2007, I hope that you can imagine with what joy and gratitude I am writing this note. Last year, I rarely let an opportunity pass to tell anyone about the need for a new truck in the Road to Life Yard-Moringa project, which is part of my work at MPP, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (Farmer’s Movement of Papaye).

The new truck with part of the Road to Life Yard crew. In the driver's seat: Fenèse. From left to right: Mark Hare, Octave, Baldy, Dificil, Timasè, Camy, and Fedlin.

Last year at this time, the 1994 Toyota gas engine pickup we used for hauling manure, goats, lumber, plumbing parts, and cement was in very bad condition. By the end of July, it had gasped its last. One of the MPP animators, Erisson Previlor, got the truck to Port au Prince, where it was determined that the engine needed to be completely overhauled or replaced. Rather than spending $4,000 or $5,000 for repairs, MPP decided that the money would be better spent on a new truck. That was hard to argue with, although at that point we had just over $10,000 for the new truck, only a quarter of what we needed.

Without the truck, we didn’t stop working, but we had to get creative: going to town on bikes for the weekly purchases, dragging 20-foot rebar tied to the bike seat, hauling PVC pipes by burro, collecting manure nearby, walking to visit communities. Nevertheless, there was work that never got done the way it should.

In November, I spent a week at home in Ohio before traveling on to Nicaragua to be with my fiancee, Jenny Bent. While in Ohio, God, working through Her people, did marvelous wonders, and we received the rest of the funds to purchase the new truck. The manual of our Landcruiser, model HZJ79L-TJMRS, includes the observation that the truck is “more like a small truck than a big car. With normal maintenance, this vehicle can do a minimum of 200,000 kilometers in rough conditions.” That, my friends, describes in a nutshell exactly what we need.

Ma Antoine (left) and Apolleon in the community of Seramon, with ten tires she and her husband have prepared for planting to vegetables.

On February 21, a Thursday night, the truck arrived in Papaye loaded with old tires, which we use for growing vegetables. It had taken over three weeks for all the paperwork to be resolved. On Friday morning, the MPP driver, Fenèse (Fe NES), went with me and the tires to Seramon, a rural community where folks have been waiting for about a year for old tires so that they can begin producing vegetables in their yards. On the way to Seramon, Fenèse and I stopped by a hardware store to pick up two bags of cement to do some repairs on a simple cistern we helped build last year in the yard of Alidor and Izmène. We dropped off the cement in Izmène’s yard and left the tires in the yard of Apolleon’s yard, a local farmer who has evolved into an avid promoter for the Road to Life Yard.

On the way back to Papaye, Fenèse and I stopped at the hardware store again to pick up cement, drainage pipes, and other supplies for two water systems in the moringa project. Later that day, Fenèse went up the mountain to Bassin Zim to pick up a load of manure for our vegetable gardens and then drove back to Hinche with Timasè (TEE MÂ SERE´) to purchase some odds and ends we needed for the simple meals we prepare each day for the crew. Timasè is one of two women who live close to the Center and have begun preparing food and learning techniques for producing more food in small spaces. In addition to all our errands, Fenèse made six or seven trips on behalf of MPP’s administration. Not bad for the truck’s first day on the job.

I am now in Nicaragua, making preparations with Jenny for our March 16 wedding. Back in Haiti, the truck is working hard. Next week is MPP’s General Assembly, which is held every four years. It is a big deal, and each of the crew members has established clear goals for the work they want to accomplish by March 16, the day participants in the GA begin arriving. The truck will make the crew’s work easier and help make sure that MPP’s National Training Center is ready to welcome the 400 or 500 visitors. By next Sunday, the plan is to have the Center gleaming, with all of the ideas we’re working with clearly presented, ready to make their ways into people’s minds and hearts, ready to continue spreading, multiplying, and evolving.

“Thank you” is too small for all of you who hold me and this work in your hearts and prayers. The gift of this truck is just the latest in the assistance you have provided for ten years now. It’s too small, but it is what I have at hand. Thank you. Please continue to hold me, the Road to Life Yard crew, and now Jenny Bent and the work she will be doing in MPP’s health clinic, in your thoughts and, as you see fit, in your prayers.

In Christ,

Mark

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 269