Soccer Camp, Church Porch, and Cash-for-Work

Soccer Camp:
This week we are so excited to have Mr. Xhevat Krasniqi with us! Xhevat is doing a soccer camp with about 30 boys every afternoon. These boys are usually busy in the afternoons going for water and taking care of their livestock and therefore wouldn't be able to come. So, Xhevat and his wife, Krista, raised funds to pay for enough water trucks for the kids to be able to get water here every day! I didn't get any pictures of the soccer yesterday as I was translating, but here are some on the first water distribution. Some of the boys had not heard about the water so today we will probably have a lot more buckets.





Church Porch:
Progress has been made on the Church porch...

Building up the foundation and footers

The school kids helping to fill in the foundation with rocks and gravel

The porch as it is now

Cash-for-Work:
Back in December many people gave toward the food baskets and the food-for-work program. With all that has been going on we had not yet started the work programs. This week though we have had over 30 people working to collect gravel and rocks to fill in the school foundation. When we have food donated it is easiest to do food-for-work. But, when we have cash, it actually goes farther when we just pay in cash instead of buying food and then paying with that.

This is Sylvain.
Sylvain is from another area about 30-45 minutes away. He has been coming to church now for about three years. Sylvain has some mental and physical handicaps that cause him to often be left out of things. In all the piles of rocks I saw today, though, his was the biggest. This is probably the first time in his life Sylvain has been able to work a real "job" and get paid for his work.

Sylvain and his rocks.

Most of the others who are collecting rocks and gravel are women and children. Each pile belongs to someone. They will be paid by the size of their pile and how many days they worked.

Gravel is collected in buckets and then carried to their pile.

Also part of the cash-for-work program, these men are digging a hole for burning and collecting trash.

Progress on School, Church and Kitchen!

Before I get started on the pictures and the updates on all that has been going on, I just wanted to remind you that you can now follow this blog through e-mail. A few hours after the blog is updated you will get an email with all the pictures and information... you don't even have to go to the blog! To sign up just enter your email address in the section circled in this picture.



The Church:
Church members have been giving money and materials for some time now in order to build a porch on the front of the church. Work started on Tuesday as they dug the placement for the foundation.




The School:
The cisterns are almost finished!!!

The holes were dug out by hand... this one took only one week!

Gravel and rocks were poured in the bottom and then topped with rebar connecting the sides to a center post that will keep the walls from pulling away under the pressure of the water.

Mixing the cement powder with rocks, water, etc...

Pouring the cement mixture in the bottom

The bottom must all be poured in one day so that it doesn't crack.

As a result, they had to work late into the night.

The second cistern. The beams are holding up the plywood used to hols in the cement when the pillars are poured.

The other cistern.

The Kitchen:
Russ Finkbeiner, from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Canada, who came down twice already to help with roofs, wanted to make another trip to catch up with friends and keep up contact and relationships here. While here, he helped Sam almost finish the kitchen. (He also helped dig out the foundation for the church porch - see above picture) Instead of sanding all of this by hand, Russ is sending a sander that will make quick work of this big job. Then, all that is left is the counter tops and painting or varnishing!

The WATER TRUCK is here!!!

It is finally here! Our very own water truck! It made it here yesterday afternoon... a few hours before our last cistern of water ran dry. The pump on the well is currently broken so the whole community (including us) has had a difficult time getting water. But yesterday, on its way here to the Plateau the driver stopped and filled up with water at a source about an hour and a half away.

Manis announced in church this morning that, in response to God's blessing in providing this truck, we would do a water distribution this afternoon... as I write this they are still distributing...

Getting the pump set up...

all the hoses attached...

...and we're ready! Unfortunately my camera memory ran out JUST when the water started gushing out... so fast that it knocked over a drum! I quickly erased some old pictures in time to catch...

...the drums all full of water!

They filled buckets from the drums as the pressure is too high on the pump to fill buckets with it.

PRAISE GOD FOR WATER!!!
The people were so excited and were thanking God for His provision. Everyone was getting to the point of desperation and even a few buckets are a huge relief at that point.

We had enough funds to cover the truck and getting the water tank built but fixing up the truck took more than we had anticipated. As a result we now owe $4000 on the truck. Please be in prayer with us that God would provide these funds in His perfect timing.

oops... Retreat pictures

I had said more pictures to come... but forgot to post them!

Singing

Bible Study with Krischelle

A lesson in dental health from a nurse.

They also had a lesson in table and eating manners, trivia competitions, get-to-know you activities and much more!

The youth really enjoyed the retreat and appreciated the efforts of those who gave much time and even more energy to make it happen.

Retreat

As I sit here I am listening to the music and cheering that goes with an intense soccer match.

We had decided to not have retreat this year. We just didn't feel like we could take one more thing on. But just two weeks ago the church committee (of which Samuel is a part), Almais (our bookkeeper in PauP) and some of the school teachers decided they would take responsibility for it. They wanted to be able to provide an activity for the church youth - both those here on the Plateau and those dispersed in various cities for school. It was quite a flurry of activity to get everything ready in just two weeks but they have done a wonderful job! It has been such an encouragement and joy to see how well they have done and how "unneeded" we are! It is always good to see that what you have given has taken root in some and they are able and willing to reproduce it for others.

Breakfast

Agape team planning their strategy

Cheering

More cheering as Zetwal and Agape get ready for a relay race.

They had to take water in little cups and fill...

...a bottle on one of their team members' heads.

Next was the soccer game!

The yellow team won!

The Bible Study is due to start soon... more pictures to come...

RAIN!!!

Last Tuesday, while I was on my way to Port-au-Prince, Manis called to say that they had had some rain on the Plateau. I got back on Friday and was thrilled when, on Saturday, it rained again! - albeit only lightly. But yesterday we had a downpour! A few days before I had left for P-au-P our cistern had gone completely dry. Yesterday we watched as the water poured in from the gutters! Praise God for His provision!

Idalia Wrote Her Name!

Idalia Petit-Frere, known to most as "Mme Tiferne" has worked at the Lemuel house for 7 years. She is always ready to offer a smile or a laugh and she serves joyfully and sacrificially. In all my years here I have never heard her complain. This year she has started coming to the Adult Literacy classes. Having never gone to school, and never having been given much value or chance at learning, she has had a difficult time. But we were all so proud of her when, on Wednesday, she WROTE HER NAME to sign a finance receipt for Krischelle! Before, she always had to make an X or put her fingerprint. We were so excited when she wrote her name for the first time (outside of class), we all started singing and dancing around the house. She had tried to run away so Krischelle wouldn't make her sign her name but after she had done it she was so proud of herself. Is was a great thing to see.

Idalia in her outdoor kitchen

The Signature