Saturday, June 30, 2012

Aflac's Baby Ducks



We celebrated the hatching of our duck eggs this week! It is amazing what comes out of an egg.



These baby ducks have beautiful colorings.



And cute little wings too :)



Aflac is a proud mother. She looks after her baby ducks well. It is fun to watch them waddle behind her.


Here is Aflac "lining her ducks in a row" :)

Friday, June 29, 2012

Sewer Remodeling

 



We redesigned our septic tank covers. Notice the thick cement covers to the left of the picture. It took 4 of the older guys to manouever the lids off and they complained every time they had to do this. In order to make the process easier we built up the sewer base one block level and Ysmaille had his guys weld up a metal cover. Now we keep a padlock on it and check it periodically to monitor the level of the septic tank. It's fun to make improvements :)

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Chicken Fever

 

 
A couple of the young chickens died of "chicken fever". A Haitian remedy of aloe and coffee is mixed together and fed to the chicken.
 
Mackary is shown here giving a spoonful of the home remedy to one of the chickens. The guys chased all the chickens in the yard and a spoonful was given to all our chickens in the yard.. and the home-made recipe worked! No other chickens died since drinking this remedy. Maybe we should patent it and sell it to raise funds :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Demolition

Recently there were a lot of dump trucks parked on our street.
The drivers of these dump trucks were waiting their turn to fill their truck with rubble.
The UNOPS program is demolishing homes that were marked red (uninhabitable) after the earthquake. This back hoe quickly got to work bringing down the damaged home on our street.
After a few scoops of the back hoe shovel the dump truck left with it's load and another truck took its position. We still have a couple more houses/apartments on our street that have to be demolished and have the rubble removed. Until then the damaged buildings remain a reminder of the earthquake.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

End of School Exam Shopping

 



The last day of school was Friday. The students have written their exams and the Grade 6 students will be writing their state exams on July 3rd and 4th. It is tradition in Haiti that when you write state exams you wear new clothes (or the newest clothes that you have). Parents are proud when their children reach the milestones of the state exam. Their entire elementary education hinges on these sets of exams. If they pass the students will go on to secondary school and if they fail they will have to repeat the school year. Both Manu and Yvens are going to be writing their 6eme AF exams to graduate from elementary school. We decided to go shopping to the Acra Department Store on Delmas. We got inside the gate to head to the parking area and we couldn't find the building. The guard told us it was damaged during the earthquake. It just goes to show how much shopping I do here in Haiti. I asked one of the older guys to help Manu and Yvens find something on the street and they came back with a pair of jeans and 2 shirts.



Take a close look at the photo and you will notice that they chose Polo Ralph Lauren and Lacoste, 2 designer labels. They make them here in Haiti and they are a lot cheaper than in Canada. They sell here for $6US. I have never been a preppy person and laughed when I saw what they chose. If you want cheap designer clothes that are made in Haiti come and pay a visit :) This is my support the Haitian economy photo :)

Friday, June 22, 2012

Death of Chrismanie's Baby


Chrismanie's baby died on early, at 4:00am on Wednesday morning at home. Her mother had taken her to a clinic to be seen on Tuesday but wasn't able to see a doctor because there were too many people looking for medical care that day. She returned home and  planned to return to the clinic early the next day. During the night her condition deteriorated and she died.

Her family buried her that morning in the ground near their home. Chrismanies didn't have the opportunity to obtain a birth certificate for her baby and she dies officially as an unregistered person and basically is considered as never existing. Pray for Chrismanie and her family as they mourn the loss of their 1-month-old child and that the health system improves here in Haiti




Tuesday, June 19, 2012

MICHELLE'S SURGERY

 


My sister Michelle has been busy fighting the cancer. She has had 2 surgeries, 1 week apart to cut the cancerous portions of the liver away. It is a new procedure. Hers was the 3rd case done in North America and the surgery was videotaped so that other doctors can learn the technique. She may be discharged from the hosital today. This is a photo of her, her husband and 3 of her children. Pray for strength and healing for Michelle.
 

Monday, June 18, 2012

CRC - Pastor Training Seminars

 

Pastor Pierre and a group of pastors/church workers that he knows have eagerly been participating in seminars organized by Christian Reformed Missions at their Ministry Centre in Tabarre. This photo shows 13 of the participants that we sent. 14 went. This group of people were attending the Timothy Leadership Training Seminars that lasted a period of 3 days. They were able to sleep in the guest house at the Ministry Centre.


Some of this group attended the first leadership course. Pastor Pierre and a few others participated in the second course. A diploma is issued after a project plan is implemented over a 6 month period. Of this group of people, Pastor Pierre was the first one to be awarded with a diploma.


Here is a view of the grounds of the Christian Reformed Ministry Center. Once again 14 people participated at the two day seminar for Ministries of Transformation. At these seminars they learn how to transform the community they serve in and reach out to those in need. It is great to see Haitians being trained in leadership and building community. We sort of have a problem in that there are quite a few more people interested in participating in the seminars and they have reached a maximum at the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre for those they can accommodate in their programs. Pray that a missionary can come to Haiti to help out and enable more people to be reached through Pastor Pierres' ministry of sowing seeds amongst the people he comes in contact with.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Last Day of School Before Exam Week


Today was the last day of classes for the school program. Next week is exam week! Pray for all the students who will be writing and for their safety on the streets. The Dignite buses are used for student transportation by the government. Students dressed in their school uniforms freely ride these buses, a big savings for their families. President Martelly wants to one day have it that all students may attend school. It is good to see a positive photo such as this one.... a bus just for the students :)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

THE DUCK LIFE

 


 
Aflac now has a mate and his name is Daffy. The children enjoy watching Aflac enjoy the water.


 
Daffy has a problem. He doesn't like water and wants no part of bathing. Manu held him to pose for the photo. Daffy jumped out as soon as Manu let him go. You can see the smile of Aflac's beak. Take a close look :)


 
Aflac enjoys splashing in the water.


 
When Aflac was finished with her bath, she hopped out and flap dried.


 
Then she waddled to a sunny spot to dry off.


 
Daffy, after he escaped from the tub of water made a beeline for the shrubs to hide.


 
Daffy camouflaged himself with the poultry.


 
Aflac enjoys coming into the house begging (quacking) for bread. Here she is by my bedroom door.


 
Only when the coast is clear will Daffy come inside.


As well as their search for food, they intently scouted the house looking for a nesting site for Aflac. At this point in time Aflac layed 10 eggs and her nest is on the roof. Any day now we will have Jr. Aflacs' and Daffy's wandering around the yard. I will show photos of our nursery when it is completed.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

School Uniform - T-shirt Donation

 

Love a Child regularly provides us with donations of Feed My Starving Children rice meals. Sometimes they donate other special things. Every year we have our school uniform determined by a common shirt or t-shirt that is donated. Here is "Danzou" and Amos taking the t-shirts out of the box to prepare for the distribution to the students.


Amos is modeling one of the racing t-shirts.


The t-shirt is from the Coca Cola 600 :)


We started handing out the t-shirts to the oldest grade. Seen here are the students in the 5th/6th Grade class.


"Danzou" is one of the students we had to stop supporting in our school program mid-year, but he is understanding about the situation. His mother died during the earthquake and he enjoys hanging out here.


Here is one of the students admiring his uniform :)


Both the girls and the boys were given the shirts.


For the younger students, we gave them a t-shirt anyway to bring home to another family member.


This is a photo of some of the students from the grade 3/4 class.


The students enjoy getting extra treats.


Mackary Thomas is a student here who also spends his time here other than school days. He is one of our supper cooks for the evening meals:)


The school is in its last week of school now. Exams will begin on Monday.


Here is another view of the Grade 3/4 and the Grade 5/6 classes.


Jn. Eddy is the Grade 3/4 teacher and also our school principal. He handles meetings with parents and students.


Another shot of the class.


This is the Grade 1/2 class
 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Chrismanie's Baby


If I needed to get into an accident with our pickup truck, I couldn't think of a better way to smash it, then bringing someone to the hospital for medical care. Here is Chrismanie with her newborn baby girl. This photo was taken 4 hours after delivery of her baby


Chrismanie is naming her baby after my sister Michelle. Here is Michelle Jr. at 4 hours of age :)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Plastic Surgeries



For the last week we have been bringing food to the Bernard Mevs/Project Medishare Hospital for the families who have children and in the case above plastic surgery to correct problems. The plastic surgery team comes from The University of Miami and they have made several trips to Haiti especially to fix congenital defects like cleft lips/palettes. The lady pictured above is one of the patients from Cite Soleil that was seen at a medical clinic that a medical team from Alabama held here at Coram Deo a couple of weeks ago. Pray for all those who had surgery and pray for all the teams who come to Haiti to help provide the Haitian people with medical care.