Kenscoff Mountains - Pastor Pierre - Part 1

Tomorrow at the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre there is another 2-day seminar for Pastor Pierre and 18 other pastors/church workers on Strategies of Transformation. 15 of the 19 people who participate at these seminars live in the Kenscoff mountains. Some walk for hours to reach the road. Here are some photos from the mountains of Kenscoff.

This man was carrying a bundle of grass on his head.

Below is the end of the road! The rest of the way is on foot.

Beyond mountains are more mountains until you hit the sea!

Here is a river running at the base of a mountain. In the dry season, the river is low and dry in places. This man is cooling off in the waters of the river.

These girls and theri mother are resting before continuing their journey.

The people in the mountain areas are poor. These boys are putting mud over the sticks of their family's hut.

Houses are for sleeping in and shelter from the sun and rain. Some of them can be pretty small.

These children are helping their mothers with the beans.

Mud huts are the norm in the mountains. They are called in creole "Kay Pay" (Straw homes)

This girl is starting to apply mud to the wall of this home.

Families tend to have more children in the mountains. The mortality rate is higher as well.

A grandmother, mother and her children.

This house is a good size. If people have trees on their property they sometimes will cut them down to make boards and build houses with wooden walls.

One of Pastor Pierre's church workers talking with a mother. The smallness of the house is a good indicator of the poverty of the family.

With the greenery around them these people are doing well.

Pastor Pierre and the people of the church want to have a more solid structure for their church. Every year the church gets blown away during hurricane season.

He has started work on building a foundation.

Work is being done slowly as money is available.

They want to build the structure a little wider than the current one.

This is the toilet area. Eventually there will be walls put around it :)

Some os Pastor Pierre's exteded family.

Erosion is beginning a problem in the mountains. As people continue to cut down trees, the soil washes away during heavy rains.

A family in front of their home.

A mother and child.

Life is centred around the "Lakou", yard. Because the houses are small, people spend their time outdoors. This mother is doing her daughter's hair.

This man doesn't have any land and lives in the "lakou" of another family. Their house is one of the smallest.

The entire family sleeps in this small hut.

This young boy is cutting wood with a machete. Children learn to work at a young age.

A family in front of their home.

Teams - Part 9

Harry Zekveld didn't get to finish all he wanted to say that day :)

Almicy Charles spoke and thanked Harry Zekveld for doing the seminar on shepherding the flock and also said that he hoped there would be another session done next year.

The work team from the Strathroy, Providence United Reformed Church were working with Almicy Charles' organization constructing the 2nd story of the school/church in St. Marc.

Charles suggested that Harry Zekveld come to Haiti a couple of days ahead of the construction team to focus on doing seminars.

It is good to see people interested in participating in these seminars.

At the end of the day we made 2 trips with Kimosabee to drive everyone back to our house :)

Pastor Pierre was a happy man :) He enjoys seeing his people get help and is on fire for being part of the Great Commission!

We rely on Kimosabee not only to get us around but for the other people who travel along with us from time to time :)

These are the 3 key leaders in Pastor Pierre's group. To the left is David, who is a leader in the church of Pastor Pierre. He works with him in contacting the other churches in the mountains of Kenscoff. To his right is Pastor Valery who is from Belladere. Acouple of times a year there is a facilitator meeting with the group leaders at the Christian Reformed Ministry Centre. The facilitators are responsible for organizing the study groups at the different churches in their respective areas. The key of the program is to learn at the seminars and to work in the communities with others so that many more people will benefit from the seminars that are offered by the ministry centre.

One day Manu came home with a package of Plump Nut/Medika Mamba., a high protein, vitamin reinforced peanut butter mixture which is used in the treatment of severe malnutrition. I asked Manu where he got it and he said that he bought it from a street vendor in the neighborhood.

It is sad that something used for malnutrition treatment is being sold in the streets. I sent out $10H and told Manu to buy 10 more packages. We gave these to Benji's mother, a hydrocephalus boy who is malnourished. Pray that humanitarian aid gets to those who need it and not stolen or sold on the street. It is sad to see things that are meant for the poor and those suffering from malnutrition getting sold for a snack. If corruption would go away so much more could be done in Haiti.

Woodmael Raphael came to Ed's clinic one day with his father.

He is a quiet boy and his problem is not visible when he is fully clothed.

He was severely burned a year ago when a pot of scalding food fell over him.

When the wound healed the scars formed keloids

These keloids grew quickly. They make it difficult to stand up straight and to sit.

Scar tissue does not expand. As Woodmael grows his problems in sitting and standing will only get worse.

One area of his left elbow area was burnt as well.

There is a plastic surgery coming to Haiti on April 24th from the LEAP Foundation to do cleft lip/palette surgeries as well as other plastic surgeries. Maybe they can help Woodmael. The surgeries will be held at Hopital Espoir, which is a hospital located in the Delmas 75 area. Vanessa of Angel Missions is looking for medical care for Woodmael at the Shriners Hospital in Ohio. Pray a door can be opened for Woodmael. We have already started his paperwork to obtain a passport. Yesterday Amos picked up his archives extract of his birth certificate.  It took a couple of weeks for the archives to process the request.

Bony's father had a severe leg infection. He was in the Cap Haitien area and never sought treatment until the wound became gangrenous. The family thought that he was cursed and had sought treatment at a hougan (witch doctor). The problem only got worse. Now he is receiving medical care at Bernard Mevs/Project Medishare Wound Care program and his leg is starting to heal. He goes for dressing changes every 3 days to the hospital. Pray that his leg continues to heal well and that he will be able to walk normally again. Pray for spiritual healing too that he would turn to Christ instead of to a hougan.

This is Toro our bull mastiff puppy. He looks quite small in this photo. He has grown a lot since this photo was taken. I just wanted to show a photo of when he was a small, cute and cuddly puppy :)

Benson told some stories at school to his classmates about his dog Toro. He told them the dog would be as big as a bull one day. His classmates all came into my room to see for themselves. They were shocked to see a puppy with huge paws. Pretty soon I will show a photo of how large he has gotten :)

Kimosabee has been having problems. The condenser on the air conditioner stopped working. It helps with our running around in the truck to have the air conditioning so we headed downtown to find another part.

The downtown air conditioner mechanic had to replace this part too. We found a match for both these parts and the air conditioning was working again. The truck is 11 years old now and every time we go to the Toyota dealer here in Port-au-Prince they never have the parts we need. It is good that a Toyota Hi-Lux is a common vehicle here in Haiti and so far we have always been able to find repair parts in the downtown market.

Anne Shebania Anesca is a baby girl who was born in December with an unperforated anus at General Hospital.

She has no rectum and as a result an emergency colostomy surgery was done to save her life by the doctors at General Hospital. She will need reconstructive surgery to form an anus.

Ed Amos examined her and wrote a medical report for doctors in the United States. Vanessa Carpenter of Angel Missions has found a hospital that is considering her case. We are awaiting the results of a hospital board meeting to find out if they will accept her case and donate the costs of her surgery and hospital stay.

Anne didn't know what to think of me at first. This is her serious, "who are you" look?

It didn't take long for her to start smiling and playing.

Pray for Anne, that the hospital agrees to take on her case. We worked on her paperwork and her Haitian paperwork is now done. She has a passport :)
Government employees helped us to get the passport quickly.