Oriani Haiti Clinic Report

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Clinic news from Oriani, Haiti

Sometimes it seems the clinic is almost a life of it’s own, something that we are a part of instead of the clinic being something we are doing.  It never ceases to impress me how well things are working and how God’s presence is seen and felt. It humbles and inspires me. We are nothing and HE is everything. So very many people pass through the doors, each with a need or a story to tell. The following experiences are just a sample from yesterday morning…

The former devil possessed young man named Delson (I wrote about him earlier) came in just to say hi to us. He was clear in his mind and as I visited with him he says he remembers nothing of his former possession experience. I asked him if he remembered coming to the clinic a couple months ago and he said he remembered just a little. When I asked what part he remembers he said he remembered us asking him if he was wanting to be free and if he wanted Jesus instead of the devil. God answered those prayers and he really is free from the tormenting possessing spirit that controlled him, gave him superhuman strength and made him speak in other tongues. When he was asked if he never carried a magic bottle around anymore, or if he had a red devil-handkerchief, or if he had powders in his house, he replied emphatically NO NO NO to everything. Said he left it all and had cleaned house.

And then there was the CUTE little girl who had fallen into the large cooking pot, burning severely her leg and buttocks and her arm up to the elbow. The skin came off her arm like a glove. Leaving fingernail holes in the “glove”. She came back in for her 5^th dressing change yesterday and it is so amazing how it has grown back without infection or anything. Thanks to antibiotics and faithful dressing changes. This charming little 4 yr old girl will be healed to the honor and glory of God, but what made me choke up and almost cry… is the fact that she is growing up in a very ungodly home that is filthy, depraved, immoral and demonic. About as bad as it comes. Pray for Wandaika and her mom and dad.

And then there was the child (around 10 yrs old) that had TB in her lymph glands in the neck. Painful and horrible open lesions that erupt. This is the first time she came to the clinic. The grandparents brought her and said that the sores were because the mom had nursed her with “bad milk” when she was a baby. We are going to help them get on treatment at the CSI tuberculosis clinic 3 hrs away.

Another case that took attention all day was a lady that came in that was pretty badly hit with cholera. We don’t have a Cholera treatment center here anymore and we really shouldn’t infect our clinic with this disease, so we laid her on a cot outside and dealt with her out there. After drinking lots of ORS she had enough fluids that we finally could get a vein and get some IV going. Her sis had cholera the other day at our clinic too. I caught the husband tying a red cord with matchsticks around her neck as a devil charm. I pulled his hand away and told him this clinic didn’t serve the devil and if he wanted help here he couldn’t do that. He listened. What struck me again is the fear and ignorance of some of these people. They need teaching. They need Jesus. One precious moment was the time Jeetan (our Haitian nurse) had a baby come in with a devil charm tied around the stomach. She grabbed a scissors with a flourish and quickly said to the mother… “I cut this cord off in the name of Jesus”.   SNIP!  And into the garbage it went.

A man was sitting on the bench waiting to be seen by the nurses and then he just passed out and slid onto the floor. I heard the people with him say that he hadn’t eaten for a couple days and that’s why he went “indispose’ ” (unconscious). He also had a very high fever.

That was all yesterday, and then there was the other 80 people of the day with their many varied problems.

We want to put out a plea for a nurse who wants to come to Haiti to work in the clinic. Please help us find one. The Haitian Mission board (to whom I am answerable to) encouraged usto find nurse from our Church if possible. I urge any nurse who has a conviction for this great work to prayerfully consider it. The work is very rewarding. You will likely go beyond your “comfort zone” at times, but you will realise that every effort made to help people here is a positive, even if it is beyond our scope of practice. These people often have no other place to turn to. Our main health care workers, Dr Ozias, Nurse Heather Isaac, and Nurse Jeetan are doing awesome in their work, but we all feel that God so often has to help us understand how to help people, and then we trust Him to fill in our gaps.

I see the calendar says it’s almost November and if there is anybody that feels to top up their year 2013 donations, we urge you to consider the clinic and the needs here. I hear God has again blessed many areas “back home” with good harvests and successful businesses. We thank God for that and for your help. If you need info on who and where to send money, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We can arrange donation receipts too.

Our family spent a few weeks back in Ontario in Sept. It was busy getting our things arranged to be gone to Haiti for another year, but it was also refreshing. But now we are happy to be back here with our dear Haitian friends and church that we love. Pray for us. We feel needy at times. I recently was reminded by the Holy Spirit to never let our “program” “our duties” even the “clinic responsibilities” to ever blind my eyes to the person, the individual soul, that God puts in my path each day. Pray for our church here too. We have an adversary, who is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And he is trying to bring division and problems between brethren here too. It seems like position and honor are highly sought after in this culture. Pride is terrible thing.

God bless you all       K. T. and family

Good News Update July 2013

Dear friends; since our last update the crew has returned from Haiti and the dam is completed as we planned. Thanks so much for all your support in whatever way you have given! This has been an extremely dry year in Haiti! The normal spring rainy season only gave a few showers, not nearly enough to water the crops and produce food for the many families all over the country! The hunger is beyond what has been seen for many years! The floor of the basin behind the dam is seeping water like it did after the initial construction, this water is collecting in the river bed downstream from the dam, more on this later.

 

We need silt from rain runoff to seal the basin, after the initial construction only one rain has “came down” as they call it, or flash flooded. It brought down some silt, but not enough to do the job. With the extremely dry conditions we are still waiting for enough to seal off and then fill the basin.

We need to return soon to complete some downstream erosion control to prevent a reoccurrence the wash out that happened last hurricane season. An estimated 8ft wall of water came over the dam during Hurricanes Isaac & Sandy last fall. This tremendous force needs to be broken up and diverted to successfully maintain what we have. Our plan is to install some Gabion below the dam to take this brunt force. Gabion are large wire baskets which we will fill with rocks and tie together, a very common erosion control technique used in Haiti as well in North American. We have been consulting some US engineers and we think we have a workable solution. We anticipate this taking about 2 weeks for a small crew; our estimated budget is about $35,000. Of this we have a good 40% and we still need about $20,000, we would appreciate those of you who would feel to help with this to do so. Thanks again for your help and support of dear hungry folks, including Church brethren in Haiti.

 

Currently the water that leaks through the dam is continuing to run down the streambed. We are currently diverting that stream into a clean out on the pipeline about ¾ of a mile downstream from the dam. This is not a new idea; it has been done many times since the pipeline was installed. The downside to this maneuver is that a flash flood can fill the cleanout with rocks, and plug the pipe (this has also happened several times over the years). To prevent this, the Water Committee has hired a full time watchman to close the lid if a flood seems imminent.

 

Since the country is so dry, the irrigation system is a real bright spot, since those farmers can keep growing a crop. We are happy with the Water Committee’s performance, and it seems they are taking their job very serious. When we appointed the Committee, some in the community thought it was a power grab by those folks on the Committee, and did not want to recognize them. As they have gone about their work in a conscientious manner and with a visible presence from us on a frequent basis working with them and supporting them, it seems that the community is also taking them serious. They have also used their authority to deny water to those who have not paid their water fees, and to have some vandals arrested recently, which establishes the pecking order, so to speak. This seems to have further heightened the respect the community has for the Committee.

 

On the Mexico front, The cool of winter is over - and the heat of summer is on, recently reported as 120°F! Our involvement at Agua de Vida continues. This past winter we donated a van for Mario & Veronica's personal use and a 15 passenger van for the children. Now they can go on field trip as a family! Or just have reliable transportation again.

 

A new beginning at Agua de Vida is Babies! They have recently accepted 4 babies and with it a new commitment. This also includes higher cost of operations! We are putting out a plea for monthly commitments for the next five months. If the Lord speaks to your heart you can give your monthly donation to GNFI. This will be a blessing to all involved with the children at Agua de Vida enjoying the benefit of faithful givers. May we join God in his passion of loving the children of the world.

Wiebe's Quotes on Six year old Haitian girl weighing 23 Ibs.

Here is an article I recieved six days ago from Wiebe's Quotes. I believe the last time I contacted Keith the hunger situation has abated somewhat in their area. However we need to rememer how good we have it and not forget that we may be able to help others. At least I need to remember that. It never hurts also to sigh a prayer for a family like this even though you may never see them. The end of the world will come not because of injustice alone, but because people lack faith in God.......

Last week we had a 6yr old stick thin girl of average height come in to the clinic and she weighed 23 lbs. 23!!! 23 lbs on this growth chart is the weight of a thin 2 yr old! http://www.pampers.com/en_US/article/images/articlemedia/WeightgirlB-36m.gifLet me tell you… a 23 lb 6yr old is a sight that you don’t want to see. When her clothes came off I went out to the ambulance garage and bawled like a baby. Mostly out of frustration at everything. Why does this happen to a family? How can we help people be self-sufficient? Why am I able to eat so well and not they? What can be done? Why is it always so political? Why do we have to be so careful on who and how we help? Did Jesus send them to us? If so then what then does Jesus want us to do? What would he do?  The whole family of 8 is in bad bad shape. The local brethren with whom we consult on these kinds of matters said that the family had descended too far and they now need survival help. So even though we don’t have program for this, we concocted a nutrition program where they will come in every 2 weeks for weighing and checking and then leave with food. Just pray that they don’t fall sick. If they do… they could die easily as they have no reserve. The girl’s big eyes haunt me every day. 

Pray for us,

Keith Toews

Administrator- Confidence Health Center

Oriani, HAITI

Tel (011) 509 37 83 9058

www.chcenter.wordpress.com

Articles on Haiti Hunger

Here is an excerpt of an article sent to me with a link to the whole article below. This was news about two days ago. 

Three years after an earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and international donors promised to help Haiti "build back better," hunger is worse than ever. Despite billions of dollars from around the world pledged toward rebuilding efforts, the country's food problems underscore just how vulnerable its 10 million people remain.

In 1997 some 1.2 million Haitians didn't have enough food to eat. A decade later the number had more than doubled. Today, that figure is 6.7 million, or a staggering 67 percent of the population that goes without food some days, can't afford a balanced diet or has limited access to food, according to surveys by the government's National Coordination of Food Security. As many as 1.5 million of those face malnutrition and other hunger-related problems.

"This is scandalous. This should not be," said Claude Beauboeuf, a Haitian economist and sometime consultant to relief groups. "But I'm not surprised, because some of the people in the slums eat once every two days."

Much of the crisis stems from too little rain, and then too much. A drought last year destroyed key crops, followed by flooding caused by the outer bands of Tropical Storm Isaac and Hurricane Sandy.

Here is the link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/two-thirds-of-haitis-people-face-hunger-and-malnourishment-as-problems-worsen-in-storms-wake/2013/06/10/9253ec30-d1a1-11e2-9577-df9f1c3348f5_story.html

Help Haiti Distress

For those interested in our conference to help our church in Haiti. Get your deacons to phone Daryl D. in W. KS in Scotts ___.  He is a committee man that can give the latest info. Our congregation has went through these channels and found ways we can help in the present situation. I only post this to encourage others to find ways we can help. Thanks.

Hunger Distress in Haiti

I thought to mention that there is a hunger distress in Haiti. It also involves our church members with around 70% or more affected. Last years hurricanes and a dry spell have affected parts of the country. Read the last report of the clinic posted today. I have more information but I do not feel it necessary to post it here at this time. Pray for this need and our brethren there. If you or your congregation want to donate contact the Haiti Liaison committee for the particulars. I think the bottom line is to pray and get informed from the right sources and share the concern with others.  Thank-you.

Clinic News from Oriani Haiti

What people say…
-No I don’t want to be a Christian yet. I want to play and gamble some more. And, I’m still too young. – Redin (57 yrs old)

-I come from a far area that is 5 hrs walk. This clinic is my only hope! And God! God first, then the clinic. – Sylvie (a frail woman with a skinny and sick 4 yr old child)

-I can make a semp (incantation and sign) and have the Devil show himself in a bodily form to you. “what form?” He is a spirit so I never know what form he will visually show. Sometimes a body of a lion with the head of a cow. Sometimes a huge writhing snake that will stand head high and look me straight in the eye. You would be VERY scared! It takes a brave man to be in voodoo. I am brave and I can talk to the Devil. “why do you do this?” For power, and because he does things for me. Helps me or my children get healed, or he gives me money in gambling. “so why aren’t you healthy, fat, and rich?” I am really not in that anymore, because the price the Devil demands is high. Everything he gives me demands a sacrifice. To get money he takes my health. To give me long life, he demands me to sacrifice my child to him. Everything is a tradeoff and it is not worth it. – Woolow (a young man who used to work with a voodoo priest)

-The children who come to school are so hungry they sometimes just cry. They can’t study or concentrate. We teachers are about the same. When I don’t get supper and then no breakfast the next day, then by 11 am I am almost too weak to stand before my class. – DieuFe (our best-paid church school teacher who makes 3 dollars and 50 cents a day, which is not enough to buy clothes and food for his family of 10)

-A man Jesus came to me and bathed me and then covered me in powder and then asked for my hands. When I gave him my hands he squeezed them so hard that my bones still hurt. I now have a magic belt-buckle that can make me invisible.– Daniel ( a wild young man who was demon possessed until we gathered a group of church brethren to pray for him. He got delivered, PRAISE BE TO GOD! It took 5 men to carry him in to the clinic and he walked out normally.)

-I don’t want to be healed if I fall sick. Why do we want to stay here on this earth? In Heaven with God there is no hunger, pain or sadness. Why do we fight to live here? I don’t understand that. “ok but what about your family? Think of them!” Why? If they know I am in heaven and am just waiting for them to come join me, won’t they be happy? We need the eternal view! – Fre Junel ( a nice young healthy family man who looks “beyond”)

-Pray for us all in this time of hunger and desperation. Focus your prayers that the women of the community and even our church ladies won’t sell their bodies for food or money, and that the men won’t be tempted to steal. – Fre Julian (he told me this yesterday with tears in his eyes)

-Yeah I know my Bible stories! “yeah? ok who were Jesus’s disciples?” umm… I can only name a couple. “ok who?” umm… Adam and Eve. – Ognel (a young man who knows EVERYTHING)

Our new clinic inauguration was a great success. We had almost 500 people show up and we served rice and beans for about 350. It was all done Haitian style. A service was held in front of the clinic, thanking God for what has been accomplished. A sermon, singing and speeches by many notable people. We were privileged to have several special visitors one of whom was CSI director who opened the service. The next Monday we opened the doors for the poor, the sick and the curious. We were swamped till 7pm. The whole first week was chaotic with EVERYONE coming. Even had people who were paralyzed for many yrs who were carried in on beds to get healed at the new clinic. Was kinda heartbreaking to see that and then see their disappointment when we tell them there is nothing we can do for these extreme cases. Our first baby born to the new clinic (a girl) was named Benjiana, after her parents Benjamin and Juliana. Cute eh? We have seen a lot of serious stuff lately again. Knife fights, demon possessed man, huge MRSA infections, fingers cut off, strokes, extreme blood pressures, etc etc.

Heather is going back to visit Alberta for the month of June, then coming back to take her place here as nurse again. Here is her bloghttp://www.haitianinspirations2012.com/ . We are so happy for her commitment here. RN Kristi Friesen from Manitoba is coming to fill in for Heather for the 6 weeks. We have hired Nurse Jitan, a Haitian RN, and she is taking a lot of the work pressure off of Heather. We are hiring another assistant now as well. This makes us a staff of 8. Six are paid workers (Haitians). It has taken several months to build the block wall (2253 blocks plus a rock foundation) around the property, but now it is finished and the rolling gate will be installed this week. That all cost a lot of cash. What a TREMENDOUS relief to not have to look after a mason crew of 10-12 workers every day and keep them paid and etc etc. I now feel I can breathe again, and I can start spending more time in the clinic.

We thank all of you donors who made this new clinic possible. But please don’t forget us now… because operating costs are still a weekly worry. Why is this clinic so necessary? Because this clinic is now the ONLY health provider for a HUGE area that is 4-6 hrs walk in all directions. Within this area there are 4 nice(ish) Haitian government and private hospitals and clinics that are all closed due to the Dr’s not coming to work, or they stole the meds, or the government doesn’t pay the workers, etc. It’s beyond awful the way the system is dysfunctional here. When the people see a place that is consistently open, has meds, has nurses, and operates with the love of the Great Physician… it makes Clinique Confiance en Dieu a popular place. And we are happy to be here working and doing in Jesus’ name what God has given us to do. It is exhausting but incredibly rewarding work. God has opened so many doors with these dear people and at the same time they have taught us so much about faith and giving Him our all, that we feel we are the ones who have been blessed.

Other than that… our family is still very happy here and since our current schoolteacher has offered to come back to teach our children next fall, we see God is still keeping our way open to stay.

I could write a lot about the tremendous hunger in some areas of Haiti now again, but I won’t. I don’t want to desensitize you to this need by constantly talking about it. But it is a yearly cycle here and now it is extra acute. Pray about it. Pray for these people. If you feel to donate to the clinic or to this community, we will be happy to channel your funds to where you want it to go.

Last night a group of us were singing the song… “I Am Sending You” (to the barren lands and dry, to the hungry,… etc.) Because we live that song and feel the cries around us, we broke down and wept during that song. Was just too real.

May God bless and keep you all in His will and may you also be rewarded for the place you are filling in His kingdom,

Keith Toews

Administrator- Confidence Health Center

Oriani, HAITI

Tel (011) 509 37 83 9058

www.chcenter.wordpress.com

Wiebe's Quotes on Haiti

-I don’t want to be healed if I fall sick. Why do we want to stay here on this earth?

In Heaven with God there is no hunger, pain or sadness. Why do we fight to live here?

 I don’t understand that.

Question: " Ok but what about your family? Think of them!”

 Why? If they know I am in heaven and am just waiting for them to come join me, won’t they be happy? We need the eternal view! – Fre Junel ( a nice young healthy family man who looks “beyond”)

Keith Toews

Administrator- Confidence Health Center

Oriani, HAITI

Lasstic Update-- Feburary 2013 Update 3

Lastic Canyon Update #3                                02-12-13

Bon Dlo por Tout

Before I report on the technical stuff and on our work progress, I’d like to paint a word picture of the canyon we work in. The Mountains rising steeply above us are covered with a patchwork of farmed plots and some scrub brush, much of which defies the imagination that it could be farmed. Goat trails meander through the entire mountainside, and provide the transportation route to get to the farms, and to bring the produce back down. Prior to our work the Village of Lastic, a miserable collection of about a dozen mud huts, was about three miles from the nearest road that could be traversed by a 4X4 vehicle. In the early phases of the work the road was extended through the village and on another ¼ mile or so to our jobsite. Beyond our worksite the mountains rise in waves as far as can be seen, and climb from our jobsite elevation of 2400’ until they reach the top of Pik la Selle, about four miles to the South at 8800’. A large amount of traffic passes through our jobsite every day en route to the river for water, to do laundry, or simply passing to unknown villages in the distant hills. Sometimes cattle or goats are driven through on their way to market, and bags of mountain produced charcoal are “head carried” out to market. The rough road that we carved into the site, with steep hills, gravelly section where the trucks spin out, etc. has become the main commercial highway in the area!
We have a small fairly flat work area where we can turn a gravel truck around. In one corner is our container used for secure storage. In another corner is a tent we have erected for our foreman/night watchman, Leesyan. Nearby is the fire pit where the cook and her helper toil daily producing the noon meal for our entire labor force. Alongside the container a local entrepreneur has set up a little kitchen, and prepares little deep fried treats for sale to the workers. Across the turnaround area another enterprising soul or two have their little selection of goods arrayed on the ground, hoping for a sale to the cash rich workers. In a canyon with a barter economy, we are now paying about 130 workers cash wages of nearly $3000 a week, an amount I’d guess was only seen on an annual basis before.
The footwear of choice for the men seems to be big black rubber boots, especially those that are obviously oversized. Most of the men are sporting a new pair, we see other “new to them” clothes (the majority of the people in Haiti wear used clothing imported in bales from the US). A couple of days ago, our cook and her helper both showed up for work in new dresses! As in brand new, sewed especially for them, new dresses! The cook’s is a pleasant bright purple, and her helper’s was a tiny floral print. To the best of anybody’s knowledge, the cook has worn the same dress each and every day since we started four years ago. After one day of purple, we’re now back to the old one.
And the children! We have about 75 women on the payroll, and a large number of them have families. I would guess that most of their children from about 8 years old and down are also in the camp area, with the older ones sitting and holding those from about the age of three down to several that are only weeks old. They sit in ragged rows around the site with wide open eyes, and watch everything we do. They are remarkably well behaved, and seem to have endless patience. When it’s feeding time, the mother will break away from the rock haul, come take care of business, and be back to work in short order. Our daughter Kellie spends hours in that pack, playing with the infants, teaching English and learning Creole with the little kids, and doing a cross cultural immersion.
Many of these children are clearly suffering from malnourishment, many are actually sick because of the “hunger time” going on since the crops were destroyed by the hurricanes, and it very likely that what we have mistaken for patience is actually a lack of energy to run and play, or otherwise act like a normal kid. Our workers have supplied some of the ones without clothes with some small garments. If you want to see some proud little boy, imagine giving a four year old his first pair of pants, and watch him strut around and show them off to the entire world!
Every day we have an opening and closing ceremony as each worker turns in his time card, gets his shovel, wheelbarrow, or whatever tool he will use for the day, and is assigned to a crew with a specific task. In the evening the process is reversed, the tools are handed in, and every worker that is expected to return is given his employee card back again, which they guard very jealously. One day last week some of our crew observed the children playing “work”. They had little bits of paper, each one came up and handed them in, where given a stick “tool”, and then started carrying rocks around. Over on the side the little girls were busy playing cook. I didn’t see it, but they reported it was as much fun as a circus.
And speaking of the cook, I must tell you about the employee cafeteria. It is Haitian custom that an employer is responsible to feed his workers while they are on duty. In an urban environment this would usually mean that each worker would get a daily meal stipend in addition to their regular wage, and they could go out at lunch time and buy a meal. Since the noon meal is their big meal of the day, and there is obviously no other place nearby were even a small group could get lunch, we have hired the above mentioned cook and provided the tools and raw materials for her to work with.
If you take three rocks about the size of a pint jar and lay them in a triangle with about a 4” gap in between, a round bottomed 3 gallon pot called a “chodye” will sit comfortably on top of them. A small fire can be lighted with sticks poked in from all three ways, and the fire can be easily controlled by adjusting the sticks in and out to make a larger or smaller flame. Another pot for the meat or onion sauce can be added by placing another two rocks nearby and the next pot resting on them and leaning against the main rice pot. A small amount of the fire can be transferred, and now there are a couple more holes to feed the sticks in.
The menu doesn’t vary much. The base is rice in large quantities, with a small amount of beans or lentils mixed in. She also prepares a meat sauce from the canned chicken we buy for her, and a small amount of that is poured over the top for flavoring, and usually a few rings of raw onion laid over the top. Back at the start of the project we were advised to provide one chicken for every twenty workers twice a week. Don’t think of a plump 4 lb barn raised broiler with some fat; think a skinny 1.5 lb bantam that has never been feed anything in its life, and has been chased daily by dogs in hope of a meal, and you can see what even a little bit of canned chicken can do on a daily basis. Because of our larger than normal work force, she is cooking about 1 ½ 25KG bags of rice per day! That’s about 83 lb of rice per day, cooked to perfection over a fire in three large chodyes!
We also have a repair dept. Since we have tools and a welder on site, the locals bring little broken things to be fixed, and they have huge faith in our ability to take a pile of scarps and make it right again.
And then there is the sick ward. We’ve had two workers injured by dropping the rocks they were carrying, one on the hand and one on the foot. These are our first two “lost time accidents” in our hired crew in the four years we’ve been working. We take them down to the clinic in Fond Parisien about once a week to be seen by a nurse, but the rest of the time I change their dressings in the canyon every second day. While we are working at that it is not unusual for somebody else to show me a wound, an ulcerated sore, or some other problem caused by daily life in a Haitian canyon, and we do what we can with them.
Two weeks ago a girl of about 14 came walking out of the mountains and asked for help. Per her story, about three days earlier when gathering firewood, a branch she was trying to break off whiplashed and ripped her top lip off from one side to the other. It was hanging down the side of her mouth, and splinters of the wood were still embedded in it. My son Jalen ran her down the mountain in the Ranger to look for help. The first clinic they went to refused to stitch it because the wound was several days old, but the second place they tried agreed to help. They did a good job of cleaning it up and stitching it back together, and provided them with additional dressings and both pain pills and antibiotics. Every several days she came back out to our site to have her dressings changed, and finally a few days ago we took her back to the clinic for another doctor visit, and to have the stiches removed. She lives about a five hour walk across the mountains, so it’s unlikely we’ll see her again, but the repair to her face, and the chance for her to live a productive life instead of being a hideous outcast, made it a very rewarding experience.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch .  .  .
We have been doing a small amount of work amid the daily life that swirls around us. Last update we had just laid the base course of the new dam. That work progressed steadily, and the final of about 225 yards was placed on the 9th of February, well run through with six tons of steel. We then moved on to building a splash pad for the spill pipes, and to bank reinforcement, with an eye toward future erosion prevention. The one storm caused breach to the canal wall has been rebuilt. We breached the wall in one place to allow us to wheel barrow gravel and supplies through. Now that our dam concrete has been poured, that one should be repaired shortly. We’ve added some thrust blocking, and the fountain in the Village of Le Roche has been rebuilt higher up the bank in an area that’s somewhat protected by trees, which will hopefully protect it from future erosion pressure.
Next up will be a mix of repairs and strengthening projects. We are modifying the control gate locations for what we believe will be easier and better control of the water. We have also added significant protection the mouth of the canal so we can prevent the big storm driven rocks from entering, and have planned for a steel gate that can be dropped down to completely close off the canal. The materials for this gate are in the container, and we’ll start its construction as soon as we can get the goods through customs.
The nine km long pipeline that connects to the dam/canal/headworks we have built follows the riverbed most of its journey to the farming valley. We did one repair last summer to a spot exposed by a storm, and Hurricane Sandy exposed it in two more spots, which we will be encasing in concrete. With the huge amount of overburden removed from the riverbed by Hurricane Sandy, by my estimate as much as 250,000 yards per running mile, this might be a recurring problem. It is possible that someday the upper section will need to be re-laid or exposed and encased in place, but that’s another day  .  .  .
Our group of volunteers has been working hard and enjoying the project as well. Today the house has 17 in residence – Jalen left this morning and Carlin arrived this afternoon. He was the last one scheduled in, and most of us here now have one way tickets, so we’ll finish the project and make our way home. There has been a little GI disruption, and almost every day somebody stays home from the canyon to be nearer to the “facilities”. That combined with the usual insect bites, unexplained rashes, an a large swelling on the leg of yours truly the size of half a grapefruit keeps it all interesting.
While all of this has been going on, we’ve also been working with the Water Committee trying to move the administration along. In a meeting about 10 days ago we made some real headway on the budget and administration. We have rented an office, and hired a full time administrator for the proudly named “Pwoje Iragasion de Lastic/Fond Parisien”. He will have a full time assistant with some office duties and some field oversight. Next in line is the chief Sentinel (ditch tender) with his five assistants, and we’ve even got a janitor on staff for an hour a day! Up in the canyon our foreman and the Village of Lastic Chief is a man named Leesyan. He and his son have been hired for security of the dam and canal, and will be responsible for the operation of the gates, keeping the grates and sand traps clean, and minimizing “dezod”, or mischief. The entire operation, including 11 employees from administrator down to the janitor, office rent and supplies, transportation, the ever present miscellaneous account, and a monthly stipend for the three man Board of Directors, will be covered by our annual operating budget of $15,300 USD. In addition, we will be collecting about $15,000 USD for the capital improvements fund. As the funds in that account grow, we will start making improvements to the system, and possibly expand the system to additional farm ground that we cannot currently reach.
There is a farmer group in the area called the “Planters Group”. These men had thought that if the water ever came they would be in charge of it. When we held community meetings last year, and discussed the system upgrades and repairs that were to be done over the summer, they also expected to be in charge of the funds. As many have learned in this and similar cultures, such funds have a strange way of diminishing, and seldom last until the end of the project. After the attenders at last summer’s meeting approved the repairs, we went ahead and got them done. This effort was spearheaded by our animator Fre Bob, Sam Willhite, and our local minister Fre Brutus. We have completed some very necessary upgrades and storm damage repairs, and we completed it only 3% over the approved budget. This amount is a loan to the irrigation project, and will be the first thing to be repaid from the capital improvements fund. Our brother Brutus has agreed to be the treasurer for the district, since he has the respect and trust of the entire community.
After we had heard some rumblings in the community that the Planters Group was accusing us and the various locals involved of doing a power grab for the water, and other unpleasantries, we invited their leadership to a meeting at the district office. It was well attended by about 20 of them, including the three main agitators. In it we laid out our budget, plans for administering the water, the key employees, the maps, and every component that we could. There were some heated discussions, but when they heard that the repairs had been completed so close to budget, and when they heard the final amount that will be charged for the water, they started to listen much closer to what we had to say. We parted on good terms, with handshakes all around. Apparently they have had several meetings themselves since then to discuss the whole project, and today their leader came to the office and told our administrator that they had decided “to walk with us”. Their members have been advised to pay their water fees as soon as possible, and to be on board and support the canal workers. This is a huge answer to prayer, because a number of the group are influential community members, and to work without their continuing support would be very difficult.
There are a number of conversion factors involved, and translation of the costs will be a little difficult. Most business transaction here are handled with a monetary sum called a Haitian Dollar (HD), which does not exist in fact. They use a land measurement system called a Kawo, and often speak of a quarter of that as a Ka. All that being said, we will charge 275HD per Ka for annual access to all the needed water, which equates to roughly $41 US/acre. For a comparison, a few days ago I spoke with a local grower whose land is outside the district. He can get water from a well that is run by another aid group. He purchases as much fuel as he can afford, delivers it to the group, who pours the fuel into the tank of the diesel pump engine. They start the engine, and the water is his until the pump runs out of fuel. This costs him about 220HD per Ka for ONE IRRIGATION. When he found out what we would charge only a little more for a year’s water, he said “It is a gift! It is a gift!”.
A number of the locals had enough faith to plant their crops on schedule even though the system was not in operation. Those bean crops are just now coming into bloom, and are getting pretty dry. We were all prepared to run a little water into a clean out on the pipe so that the beans could be watered, and then both Saturday and Sunday nights we had good rains. This could herald an early end to the dry season, but since we are about completed in the canyon, I don’t think it will hinder our work.
There are interesting times ahead of us, and I’ll try to explain some of it next time, but if our current plan holds, we’ll start filling the dam next Monday. That will be a stressful day – 1st of all because it will be a “test by water pressure” of our design and construction, and because when we initially filled the dam in 2011 most of the water seeped away into cracks in the rock, and lots of heartache resulted from that problem. We won’t know if we learned the right lessons from those events until after we start filling the dam. Please pray for us on that day and for the filling of the dam.
Let there be good water for all!!

Oriani Clinic Haiti Feburary 2012 Update

As I scooped up a handful of beach pebbles the other day, I stopped and looked at them closely. All about the same size, and rubbed smooth. A red one, a yellow, brown ones, and white ones. Together creating a mosaic that from a distance looks like uniformity. Is this the way God wants his children to live? Each complimenting each other’s abilities and beauty. Races of people living blended together in unity.....

I need to thank some of you for your generous gifts to the clinic. We now have an ultrasound machine! (but waiting for more training). We have a suction machine that has already definitely saved the life of a newborn that was plugged up so badly with mucus. We thank you all so much! Our new clinic is almost complete. We have only some cabinets and some plumbing to finish and we are ready to move in. The clinic is beautiful! The Haitian “boss” we hired to do the construction did an amazing job. A big thanks to the CSI boys too for their expertise and help at different times. 150 locals collected and carried rocks on their heads for the project, 24 did mason work, 7 painted, 32 hammered big rocks into gravel, 12 dug cistern and toilet holes and also footings. It’s been a big help to have our older son Trevor back here in Haiti again, helping to finish up the clinic. Seems I am pulled away to a thousand other things each day, so much so that it makes it hard to get any big things done. So many needs, and people needing to talk, or show me their gardens... or damaged houses etc etc. But we are excited that our move in date and inauguration for the new clinic is Feb 15^th. It will be amazing to have all this extra space.

We have also been able to build some houses with money that some of you have sent in. The house recipients say a great big THANKS to Scott City, KS church for the houses we were able to build with their special donations. CAM too has been able to bless some people in this area like this. Another project that we have been involved with is a work for food project using CAM food boxes. We have had 9 teams of 20 men each working at building and repairing roads that were damaged in hurricanes this past year. This is amazing how much this kind of manual labor 180 men can do. This now enables trucks to get back into the more remote places and haul produce out to market. So much just rotted away earlier.

The clinic is running fine and being very effective. Heather patched up another 4 guys who got into a motorcycle wreck again. Lots of stitches. One of them has been in to be patched up and stitched so many times!!! We get upset at him, we bawl him out for driving so fast, we threaten him that next time we may not even help him, but each time he comes back with this crazy mischievous grin that we can’t resist. Each time he promises to quit being such a crazy driver. A women came to the clinic yesterday who looked about dead. Her blood sugar was basically zero. With quick action and IV meds she came back to consciousness and in a couple hours was ready to go home. Heather has done really well at delivering babies too. Two of them this week and one is only 4 lbs. No intensive care units here and no incubators. We pray that this little kid from a first-time-mom will make it. A week or so ago, a lady arrived carried on a motorcycle but as she got to the gate, she slumped off the moto and fell down dead. She likely died en route. A lowly poor person is taken out and buried quickly, but a pastor’s wife like this is often made a big deal of, and taken to a morgue in the city in preparation for a large funeral with all the trimmings. Our patient numbers keep creeping up. Last week Heather said she alone saw 325 patients that week. Each Wed. we have PG day where Heather is busy all day looking after the health of lots of pregnant ladies. Checkups, classes, and giving them their monthly vitamins, etc. She has close to 300 women on the program, and the results are obvious. We do NOT have the infant or mom death rate that there used to be in this area! Not even close. We aren’t even taking as many women down the mountain for the 3 hr. trip to Port for labor and delivery complications anymore. Thank you God for being able to make a difference in these women’s lives! Our new clinic has a room to specialise in maternity issues more so we are hiring a Haitian RN to work for us. Clinic operating costs will rise some, but her expertise and help is very much needed, so we trust God to provide. Other than that our staff will remain the same. Our Haitian nurse assistant has changed because our former one, Se Willy, had her baby, but we are super happy with our Haitian sister, Mirlin, who is now helping our nurse Heather Isaac (from Alberta). Mirlin is fluent in English as well.

Our household is a busy one. We have Mirlin, Heather, and Sallie, (our children’s teacher) all living with us. Sallie is a first time teacher but is doing a awesome job. We and the kids all love her happy face. We have had and are continuing to enjoy lots of visitors as well. We had a nice couple from Milwaukee, WS, spend a few days here. They want to come sometime and start a clinic in another zone called Gwo Cheval. We are excited for Jesse and Kirsten and their plans. Now we have Russ and Monica Giesbrecht and their 4 children here visiting. Russ has been a good help putting finishing touches on the new clinic. Russ and I went exploring some new far off country under peak La Salle (Haiti’s highest mountain). Next day we took a horse ride along some steep mountain trails and down into some valleys, and visited a bunch of our church members who live farthest away. We have been having forest fires here in the pine forest too. The hills were red with fire all night the other night.

We enjoyed revival meetings and communion with our church here and now there is another 20 in Bible doctrine classes. I am trying to help out there more this round. The class is being led and directed by our Haitian brethren though. It is such an encouragement to watch them do these classes. I am inspired by the soundness of faith and with the conviction with which our brethren here teach these classes. I am also inspired by the convictions of the ones taking the classes and their desire to learn. We have had more people recently who have started coming to church and express their desire to “mache ak ou” (Walk with you). Sunday had 308 people. Clinton, want to come build another church? J We had 2 devil worshippers recently who became born-again. They invited the church people over to assist them in burning their idols and symbols. So we walk down narrow mountain trails to their houses. It was touching to listen to their testimonies, pray with them, and watch them burn their stuff. Another faith booster I had recently is when our foster daughter Ketli was sick with the flu. She coughed bursts of 3 coughs together every 2-3 minutes all night long. We gave her all the meds we could give... but to no avail. I hardly slept at all and I had to get up and leave early that next morn. At 4 am, in desperation, I placed my hand on Ketli’s chest and prayed God to take the cough away and let her sleep. She stopped coughing immediately and went to sleep. Candace said she slept without a single cough for the next 5-6 hours! Thank you Jesus! How can people not believe in God?

Help us pray...

· For the poor people here, for their health both spiritually and physically.

· That the clinic workers can be blessed with wisdom to heal bodies and that we can show Jesus to the unsaved

· That we can live in the center of Gods will and that He can steer our lives.... and our future

Keith Toews

Administrator- Confidence Health Center

Oriani, Haiti

(011) 509-3783-9058

www.chcenter.wordpress.com

UNSHAKEN: Book about Haiti Earthquake by Dan Woolley

Find this book and read. 65 hours under Hotel Montana. Probably find it at Christian bookstores. I'll tell about it later.

FEB Lasstic Updates 2013

Dear Friends,

As I said in my last update, we had an advance crew in to set the HQ up, and prepare for our arrival. Neils & I arrived on January 14, followed quickly by several others. We ramped up to a household size of 17 and expect to be between 12 and 17 for the next number of weeks. My wife and youngest daughter arrived on the 25th. The household breaks down to 12 men working on the project and 5 wives and children looking after the household.
We started with getting a road into the canyon. We were told of the mass rearrangement of the landscape caused by the two hurricanes, but it is another thing to see it at first hand. The river bottom has deep canyons cut into the gravel, and it took a lot of work to cut a road that could be used by gravel trucks and general vehicles.
Even as the road was being built our young men hiked up the canyon with shovels, wheelbarrows, and misc. supplies. They got started on the canal repairs, and as soon as the road was ready, we started hauling in construction materials, we brought up a container for a storage and workshop area, and we concentrated on getting everything ready for a big concrete push. Our mechanic arrived from Vanderhoof, BC on Jan 21, and his 1st job was to get the rock drill going and up to the canyon. That went pretty good until the guys laid the drill over on its side while loading it on the truck. A few days later it was back on its tracks and in running condition again.
There was an oil leak in a hydraulic cylinder that worsened as we worked our way up the canyon. Some investigation told us that parts were not available in the country, and when the oil leak got to about 1 GPM we knew we couldn’t proceed. Sam flew to Miami while I got the parts ordered for next day delivery to the dealer there. Nothing every works that smooth, even in a supposedly civilized country, but he was back in about 72 hours. $350 worth of parts turned into quite a bit more than that in cost to the project. Can anybody say “$1000 O-ring”?
One of the effects of the storms is that in our work area in the canyon much of the gravel has been washed away, leaving boulders on bedrock. The drill is not really an all-terrain vehicle, being really made for more controlled conditions. At its best, it goes about 1 MPH, so it took the help of the excavator and a little patience to get it worked up to the dam so we could drill in the required anchor holes needed to attached the new construction to the bedrock.
The effort required to get it there was worth it. Even though our regular drill operator was unable to come this year, once we got it to the dam our crew was able to complete all the anchor drilling in one afternoon!
While we were waiting for the drill to come up, we spent the time in prep work. Two work areas were constructed by building retaining walls on both the upstream and downstream sides of the dam, and a level area created by hauling in dirt to fill them. We cut steel drums in half lengthwise and welding them together to form chutes, and these were anchored down the rock to the bottom of the new dam. We were able to clean the riverbed down to bedrock in most of the area under the dam. We placed large boulders in the middle of the stream, and with sheets of plywood and by plugging the leaks with dirt, we were able to divert the stream into about ½ of the channel. We poured about 10 yards of concrete into the newly exposed channel area, and from there fashioned a bridge from 1” rebar over the flowing water. We have poured about 1’ of concrete over the bridge, all of it bristling with rebar, bedrock anchors, and tie-in points. In our test runs while pouring the over mentioned concrete, we were able to mix and place about six yards per hour, which is close to double what we were able to produce in 2011 when we built the original dam.
Last year we were able to drive trucks right to the dam site when hauling sand. Since the dam was completed, we have built the canal and control structures, so we now have to move all out materials by wheelbarrow and bucket. Hurricanes Issac and Sandy damaged our project, and also damaged much of the local infrastructure and crops. This should be bean harvest time, but there are basically no crops to harvest, so many of the locals are desperate for income. We started hiring workers from the canyon just like normal, and every day when we arrive at work the crowd of potential workers is bigger. We have been using about 115 local workers on the materials haul, and the hopeful crowd is often 300+. Some of them have walked as much as four hours after hearing that there was employment in the area. Besides the locals whom we know from working with them over the years, we have concentrated on hiring those who are widows or have young children to provide for. It’s really heart breaking to see the disappointment in the faces of those not needed for work on any given day, and some will stay around all day just hoping that some work will come up. The work performance has been better than average as those with jobs realize that there are plenty of replacements if they get caught shirking.
Transportation is always a challenge here. The roads are rough enough that vehicles decline rapidly. Our 2011 DMax with about 20K miles is ready for its third set of tires, has some broken suspension parts, is leaking oil from the rear end, has a broken bed mount, a small amount of body damage, and most recently, the 4X4 system has quit working. This is why we pretty much need a full time mechanic on site. We have rented a Nissan Patrol that was used quite a bit when it was new, we have our recently rebuilt quad, and most exciting, we purchased a new Polaris Ranger Crew! Much as we like our other stuff, the Ranger has quickly captured the place as the favorite vehicle for canyon runs. It is smoother at 30MPH in the canyon than our DMax equipped with an off road suspension kit is at 10 MPH.
Looking ahead we expect to start building the lower section of the dam in earnest yet this week. We expect to have a side crew or two repairing fountains, installing the control gates, and similar miscellaneous works. The locals are anxious for water on their growing crops, so we hope to have at least some flow available to them by the middle of February.
We were also privileged to host Raymond & Vera at our compound over the weekend. They were in town getting the last supplies that they needed before heading out west to start construction on the bridge project. The last of their materials have cleared customs, and their construction crew has mostly arrived. We hope to be able to spend a weekend out there soon to see their progress.
And finally, our long awaited container is scheduled to dock yet this week, and our contact at CAM says they usually get them about a week later. To make due until then, we have purchased some items, rented and borrowed others, done some “doing without”, and generally progressed as best we could. It will be much more convenient when we have the good tools that we need here on hand. I think the crew is getting tired of hearing me say “well we have one of those in the container . . .”
Most of the locals wear used clothing from the US. There are many printed t-shirts with a wide variety of sayings, some gender or situation appropriate, many of them not. Since almost none of the mountain folks can read, what their shirts say is a non-issue for them. We compare notes about shirts we have seen, and how they fit or did not fit the situation. I think the best of the canyon shirts was worn by one of our workers, and on the back it read “If what you did yesterday still looks BIG to you, you haven’t done much TODAY. Go do something big!

2012 Lastic Canyon Haiti Irrigation Project Update

To Lastic Friends everywhere -

We haven't been reporting recently, but we still have been busy. In the last update sent on February 20, 2012, I stated that we were planning to come/go back to Haiti for an organizational meeting. Neil and I did return for several days of meetings in early March. At this time we have both a Operational and a Capital Improvements Budget approved.

In the meeting where much of this took place, at our suggestion, everyone also agreed to pay for their water based on land area. In the past when water has been available, they paid based on the number of hours water was delivered to their garden. This seemed to make for a lot of conflict - somebody had to monitor and record the time, and there were questions about whether the water was flowing full, or if somebody upstream was sneaking a little of the side, etc. An annual fee based on area based seems to have much less potential for conflict.

A snag in the plans occurred when we discovered that nobody really knows how much land they have! Our budget is based on the total watered acres, and I believe that to be a fairly solid number, but when it comes down to an individual farmer and his bill, nobody knows! The community asked us to determine the area of each property, and after a small discussion, in which they unanimously promised to accept the results, we agreed to take this on.

Some time was spent in planning, and we finally kicked off the mapping project on May 9th. The CPS unit located on the north side of PAP provided most of the effort, and their House Papa, Waylan Litwiller, was an enthusiastic leader. The local water committee provided each of the two or three mapping teams with a local guide who knew each farmer's name, and sometimes an interpreter as needed. While standing in each field, the perimeters were discussed and agreed upon, a field number was assigned, the field was traced out onto a high precision aerial photo of the area, and a log kept of that information that includes the farmer's name. In the case of difficult boundaries, the mappers used a 200' and a 300' tape measure to verify distances. I used my precision GPS to spot check the work, and to determine some boundaries in tall corn, in the banana groves, and other places where measuring was difficult. After a few days, the Unit Papa and boys had the project well in hand, and I could feel comfortable with returning home.

The mapping continued right along. The day's work was uploaded to me every night, and I started to compile and draft the results. The mappers turned in maps for anywhere from 50 to 100 gardens per day, so I did not keep up. They also kept track of areas that needed to be checked with GPS because of difficult circumstances as noted above. To date, the smallest garden mapped and calculated is 1323 sq. ft. (0.03 acres), and the largest is 2.1 acres.

Toward the end of the project, I returned to help for a few days and covered the areas that had been reserved, as well as generally helping to advance the mapped areas. It seemed that water was flowing everywhere we walked, so we were often working in muddy ground, but as I observed to the rest of the workers, it doesn't seem too bad when you know its mud made with Lastic water!

The field work was finally finished on June 4, and the semi-official count for gardens being irrigated is 1,217!!! 1,217 families able to raise more of their own food! We observed heavy farming activities, with brush, weeds, cactus, and thorn bushes being cleared, and a wide variety of crops being planted. The early corn that was irrigated up in February is well over our heads, the bananas are thick and lush, and we saw various beans, squash, melons, garlic, papaya, sugarcane, tomatoes, citrus, and other crops growing well.

The next step is to finish calculating the area of all the farms, prepare maps for the water committees to use, and prepare a "water rights" certificate for each grower. At this time we will also check over the maps to be sure every irrigated property is accounted for. This feels like it is a big job, but we're working through it, and hope to be done in mid July. At that time we will again return and meet with the water committees and keep the process of organizing moving along. Anybody with AutoCAD experience that is interested in helping is more than welcome to contact me! Maybe we can share the load.

A very vital part of the whole project is the 9 km of pipeline that was installed in the late 90's. Per the records it has 2.5 km of ductile iron, and 6.5 km of PVC, most of which is encased in concrete. We feed water into the top end, and take it out down at the bottom about 2200' lower in elevation, but we have done almost nothing to the pipe along the way, and mostly have only a very general idea where it lies within the river bed. This year during rainy season the river bed shifted in the larger channel, and the erosion uncovered a section of the pipe. At the place it was exposed it was concrete covered PVC. The force of the water driven rocks eventually knocked off some concrete and cracked a hole in the PVC, which soon filled with rocks, and plugged the pipe. When I was in the area in early May we were able to clean out some of the debris, but we could still not get the water flowing. We also used Raymond's dozer to partially re-route the river to stop the immediate damage.

Raymond has recovered very well from his surgery, and the docs gave him the green light to go back and build roads. Raymond and Vera returned to Haiti the last part of May, and Raymond took the final unplugging and repairs to the pipe in hand, and had his dozer working about 3.5 days in the river, both burying the exposed pipe, and further re-routing the channel. This work was finished and the water is flowing steadily once more. Right now we have no other plan but to keep an eye on the situation. Hopefully the pipe will stay intact for many more years.

We're hoping to do some more mapping of the farming valley this fall. I think we have only enough land with canals to use about 60% of the water we can deliver, and there are certainly some additional districts that have good farm land, but right now there are no canals servicing them. I know that to get water to most or all of the additional areas will require at least some pipelines, so the planning/engineering needs to be done and then the most feasible areas selected and worked on as we can. It seems maybe we are not quite done with everything there is to do . . .

Oriani Haiti Clinic Update---Got Ambulance Needs SchoolTeacher

June 2

ACHTUNG- AUSSCHAULTEN- GANGSTALTEN- EINZIEHEN- UNTERBODENSCHUTZMITTEL

These are the words that glare at me from the dash of our recently arrived 6-wheel drive Pinzgauer Ambulance. We are very excited about this new addition. It’s old and its tough. It is a former Swiss army ambulance that’s been refurbished and sent to us by Jeff Hageman from Toronto. It took 3 months of agony at the customs and insurance departments to get it cleared, but now we have it in our grubby mitts.  Hooray! The container also had tonnes of misc things like dried soup mix, bed mats, exam tables, med supplies and many other things to help us do our jobs here. A HUGE thank you to all who helped put that together and get it sent here! You have no idea how important these things are here, and I wish you could see how the Haitians have tears in their eyes when they see help arriving like this! They remember the days when people died like flies here. Especially women and babies. Did I tell you all that I did a community survey that showed that a full one third of children born to these mothers have died? That’s bad! Even for Haiti. With God’s help we hope we can help change that.

Ashley Dirks went home April 25^th , so Heather Issac from Alberta is our new full time nurse. Dallas’s girl Rachelle Koehn is full time translator for her.  Heather is on fire, not scared of anything, is a very hard worker and is doing well. She is a joy to have around here. The Haitians love her already and they say she is very beautiful. J She has delivered babies and seen some pretty interesting situations already. A couple days ago a 20yr old lady came on a 3 hr donkey ride to get help. She was about dead from anaphylactic shock. Her breathing was almost closed off and she was grotesquely swollen.  Today she is alive due to Heather’s quick responses and care.  Our mindsets are so used to counting our time here as worthwhile or not worthwhile depending on patient numbers and success rates, and there are many cases we could relate to you, but when I sit back and reflect on it all... I just rest in a peaceful confidence that we are where God placed us for His own reasons, and as we serve Him and mankind we don`t need to justify things, to be proud of accomplishments, or be ashamed of lack thereof. Sometimes I need to remember that each individual is of innumerable value, and that if I have to spend all day in Port with some poor mama and her 7 yr old abused child.... going from one hospital to another... advocating for them and trying to find someone who will help...  that is not time ill spent.  And maybe our efforts here are as much for our own good as it has been for others. I need to learn to trust God like these Haitians do. We thank you for your support that you`ve shown, in donations, in prayer, in calling, or email, or by looking after our things back in Ontario. May God bless you as you feel part of HIS work too.

It tears us up to see so many “poverty orphans” here. We just don’t know what to do sometimes. We have a half dozen moms now who are struggling to be able to feed and look after their children. The dads are not in the picture, and these young moms are offering us their children, saying that their love for them is making them give them away so that they can be better cared for. We have hunted for foster homes, for orphanages, also for ways to help them keep their own kids... and all to no avail so far. These kids are not getting what they need, but how can we help? Helping them get institutionalised may not be “help”. Every time we think we have seen the poorest of the poor... there is another family that we become aware of that is even more wretched. We visited a house that was made of banana leaves with a mud floor. It was raining so we ducked our heads into the low building and sat around inside with them. Picture this in your mind... mud floor with water puddles, 5.5ft high roof that leaked, the whole house was 7x11 ft and that was divided up into two rooms, the back half (5 ½ ft x 7 ft) was bedroom for 6 people, so we all huddled in the front room where all the rest of the household stuff was. In this 5 ½ ft x 7ft room was 14 people AND a little warming fire of sticks in the middle of the room. This smoky little fire was the only thing warm and dry. This is the home that our little foster daughter Ketli comes from. She is about 18-20 months (nobody remembers when she was born) and she has been with us now for 5 months. If God wills... then we will be happy to keep her for another 150 yrs! When she came to us she couldn’t walk, she was 12 lbs, and full of worms and other various sicknesses and infections. Very literally on deaths door. Today she is the happiest little thing, is talking Haitian and English, and walking very well. She is almost completely recovered and is a real charmer to us whites and Haitians alike. If she was the only person that was helped or saved by us being here, then it would still totally be worth it!

Trev, Zack and I spend about a week in Port awhile ago. We were trapped down there because half way up the mountain the people were blockading the road in protest. We couldn’t get home.  We tried to get thru one time but they got riled up and that’s when we realised they had strategically placed men up on the cliffs above us who  then started rolling rocks down towards us. We quickly realised we were in their control. After some quick negotiations they let us meet Ashley on the other side of the trenches who had come down from Oriani and was waiting for us to take her to the airport. Sure shows the volatility here.

We are very much hampered by the size of our little clinic so upon consultation with the Clinic Committee, the local Mission Committee and a group of donors back home, it was decided to get a piece of land and build a clinic that better suited the needs. We have started this project now and it is going well. The block walls are going up and the cistern is about done. I placed our son Trev as the overseer of a lot of it so that I can still spend time at the current clinic.

Some of you have been concerned and interested in how the hunger problem has been here, and I am happy to say it is now starting to turn the corner. The gardens are producing again, and even though the crop is mediocre... it is not a failure like all of last yr was. The longer we are here and as we allow these people to become our people, we can see how these times of hunger have serious effects on them not only physically but also mentally and spiritually too. They are stressed! and as they hear their children cry from hunger, they struggle mightily against depression, against frustration, which then sometimes spills over into fighting between husband and wife, neighbour to neighbour and even with fellow church members. The heat is on! And the devil smiles. Recently a neighbour took all his wife’s belongings, like clothes etc, and burned them all in their front yard. Then he proceeded to beat and whip his kids till the blood flowed from them. Tonight I heard he chased her into town and was threatening to kill her with a knife but others intervened. They say he was a good man that just snapped recently because his wife wasted all his last 2 yrs worth of savings on gambling. (she was trying to get ahead too).  Another man came to the clinic today and had been in a knife fight over some small debt some guy owed him. It’s awful. These are a smiley and friendly people who often amaze us with their happiness despite having so little. But we are learning that this behind the smiles and laughter there is deep desire to be able to better live, and to better provide for their families. Pray for them! They are a very giving people who give each other food and care in special ways and circumstances that make us ashamed of our cautiousness. Their lives in relation to their fellowmen is best described in the words of one dear Haitian church brother... ``we are a people who like to beg, but also love to give to others, even to the point of giving our daily food away!``.  

Last Sunday we had over 200 people in church and quite a few were new faces too. It’s interesting how they make all first time newcomers stand up and introduce themselves. We had 56 children in Sunday School. We have had up to a hundred children before. These kids are the future, and my heart swells with joy to see them coming to church, memorizing verses and singing etc. Dallas Koehn is still teaching doctrine class to a group of 20 people. It sure is good to have a minister like Dallas here. We enjoy their company alot too.

Lacy is now done teaching school for our children. We had our program Fri night under the banana trees, with an almost full moon rising in the evening sky just above the children’s heads. Was the most amazing and beautiful setting imaginable. The children re-enacted Tom Sawyers whitewash job. Was really good. We do not have a teacher nailed down for next year yet. If God touches any of your hearts to come spend some time here in Haiti with us and teach several children, please get in touch with us asap.  Lacey has amazed us many times and has done a tremendous job. We are sad to lose her. She taught the previous year too and so she has been living and working with us for a long time. She is loved, and will be missed by all of us when she goes home to Pincher Creek soon.

Candace is out picking green beans and peas. And visiting with Ketli’s grandma.

Trevor is cutting 2x4s for the clinic

Zack is in his welding shop fixing somebody’s motorcycle fender

Cam is riding bike out by the gate

Chase is laughing and talking to his friends

Christina is reading and swinging her legs

Ketli is outside doing what toddlers do best, toddling around checking things out.

And I... am heading out to do some maintenance on the truck

Keith Toews

Administrator- Confidence Health Center

Oriani, Haiti

(011) 509-3783-9058

www.confidencehealthcenter.org