May 1 Activities

May 1 is an Agricultural holiday here in Haiti.  To celebrate, the school decided to have the kids plant trees along the road.  Will they survive the goats, droughts, motorcycles, donkeys, people, etc...?  Who knows?  But, even if only a few make it, it will be an improvement over the current conditions!

Picking up their trees.

On their way to plant!

Smiling all the way :)

 

The teachers helped, but the kids did most of the work themselves.

 Even little Isabel got in on the action!

Rain!!!

Yesterday we had RAIN!!!  It started around 8:30 and poured for almost two hours.  Then it kept coming and going for the rest of the day.  All together we got 6.5 inches!!!  We have never seen that much rain in one day since I moved here in 2006.

Manis and Samuel make canals in the rocks so that the water will go to the trees.

Streams in our front yard!

 Just a pretty shot.

 I love the look of raindrops on leaves.  It is like a sign of hope to me.

While the rain brought great joy and will soon be bringing much green, it also wreaked a bit of havoc in the area.  Some people had parts of their gardens washed away.  Others lost livestock.  The torrents of water took along anything in its path and unfortunately there were some livestock out to pasture near the ravines.  

The ravine that normally carries rain water down from the mountains overflowed.
The water then flowed down the main road (shown here) making it a second river.
These I took today, but you can see where the water went through. 

Inside the gate at the Lemuel garden was pure mud.  

You can see how the water rushed through here too.  

Water still standing under some of the plantain trees.  

 The water that turned the main road into a river reached all the way past Lemuel's gate and actually ripped the gate right off. If someone had not been there to catch it before the other side ripped off the water would have carried the whole thing away. 

One of the biggest discouragements, despite our joy over the rain, is that the ground on the north side of one of the school cisterns caved in allowing water to seep through the footers and put enormous  pressure against the north wall.  The walls were designed to withstand pressure from the inside out, not the outside in. The wall eventually collapsed.  We have thought through how to fix this problem and we are happy it happened now and not after it was covered, etc... but it is still disappointing. 

When we went to see it yesterday afternoon it was only a third way full.
It rained a few times after that and the water seeped in all night and now it is almost completely full... not exactly the way we were planing on filling it, though!

Thank you to all of you who have, and continue to, so faithfully pray for rain.
Despite the set-backs, everyone is smiling today and full of hope for what the next harvest might bring.

P.S. I have had a LOT of computer, email and internet issues over the past few weeks.  If you have tried to contact me and have not heard back, please try again.  I may not have gotten your email, or you may not have gotten my response.  Thank you!

 

Water Truck

Goodness, gracious! I just realized I never posted our newly painted water truck! Bryon Sparling, Amy Alexander, and Xhevat Krasniqi, who were here from Canada a few weeks ago, as well as Gilbert from our own staff, did a beautiful job painting the truck.

The truck has been making several trips a day to a water source about an hour away in order to fill (or close to fill) the Lemuel water cistern. This cistern holds 23,000 gallons! It has never been more than half full before!

Beautiful, beautiful water!

Youth Beach Trip

A group of youth, some who are going to school in PauP, some who are here on the Plateau, put their heads together to form a Youth Committee. We have tried starting youth initiatives before but they always ended up falling apart. This time, however, we had nothing to do with it. They made their own committee, planned their outing, their entertainment, everything...

After the Easter Service the committee distributed a little bit of rice, beans, and oil to everyone who had signed up to go (participants had to pay 100 gourdes - about $2.50 US) so that they could all make food at home to take along to the beach.

That afternoon the committee and some others went to the beach to clean up the trash that had washed up so it would be clean for their trip the next day.

The committee stayed up till 2AM finalizing their preparations!

The second vehicle pulling out of the Lemuel campus on the way to the beach!

The youth committee had planned a series of games and activities.

Those who enjoy music entertained everyone...

... and Met Guillaume, one of the school teachers, gave a challenge to the youth.

Packing up after a great day.

All loaded and ready to head home.

The Youth Committee
The beach trip was a great success. We are so proud of these young people taking the initiative to plan something for their fellow youth. They are pictured here with Berlin Lilite, longtime Lemuel staff member.

Easter Break

My apologies for the delay... our internet has been sporadic for the past week so it has been hard to get much done online.

Over Easter break the students attending school in Port-au-Prince came home. What a joy it always is to see them again! They worked hard filling the school foundation with gravel and clearing thorns and brush from a football field sized area. Those going into State exams this year were working to earn the money they will need for the exam. Others were just working for some spending money or to be able to hep their parents.

The guys worked all day loading, transporting, pouring and spreading gravel.

The foundation is all filled in!

While the guys worked outside, the girls helped in the house:
cleaning, cooking, washing dishes and watching Ani.

Soccer Camp and Harvest Festival

Goodness gracious! I started this post last week and then the internet cut out so I left it and just today remembered that I had never posted it! I am sorry it is so late!


Soccer Camp:
Xhevat did such a great job with the soccer camp. The boys were so excited to have an activity just for them and an excuse to play soccer :) They also liked getting water without having to go far to get it.

Stretching before they start...

Playing shirts versus skins

Xhevat talking with the boys.

After the first day Xhevat got the hang of how to do the water and was able to do it himself.

On the last day Xhevat had a surprise party for the boys.
He brought jerseys for all the boys who attended the camp every day.

After a time of prayer...

...the boys got special drinks.

Then each one was presented with a certificate.

The ladies had prepared crackers with Nutella...

...and popcorn for the boys.

After all the food and formalities they had fun teaching each other dances.

Fete Moisson:
We were so happy to have Bryon and Bonita Sparling, Amy Alexander and Xhevat Krasniqi with us this year for the harvest festival.

Packed Church

People standing outside. The porch is not finished yet so for now they used tarps for shade.

A visiting music group from another church sings a song.

The wife of long-time PauP staff member Wilson Cupidon, led the service.

PauP staff member Leon Cameus (behind Bryon), gave the message and then Bryon prayed the closing prayer while Sam translated.

Then the auctioning started!
The first items up for auction were homemade coconut candy and plantains.

Intense bidding on a rooster.

Sam won some sugar cane.

The first of several goats to be auctioned.

Visitors from other churches heading home.