February 20, 2009
Wow! I just spent 28 days in Haiti, which was my longest stay since we began our work there in 1996. I’ve become as comfortable there as I am living here in New Jersey, which is a good thing since I’ll be spending more and more time there as our dreams for our Missionary Training School, Clinic & Hospital, Orphanage and Village School become a reality.
My good friend, John Lisle, spent 3 weeks with me helping construct another large portion of fencing across the front of our property. David Cashour, another good friend and Haiti veteran, was with us for 10 days providing excellent manpower making rebar towers for the fence columns and doing other ironwork for the concrete footings. Can you believe that every block for our fence is handmade right there on our property with one block mold?! And the water is carried by buckets (or in wheelbarrows) to where the blocks are made? Such is life in Haiti, where absolutely nothing is easy. For half of the trip, we were hacksawing through 1/2 inch rebar to cut lengths for each piece. Then we were able to locate a rebar cutter in Dajabon, Dominican Republic for about $225.00. Talk about a time saver! What was taking us so much time, sweat and hard work, now takes almost no effort at all. We still, of course, have to bend the rebar by hand; and even with a rebar bender we brought from the US it takes a lot of time and muscle.
A group from Tower Hill Presbyterian Church in Red Bank, NJ, joined us for 4 days and helped us bend some iron and pour some concrete footings one day. Then a group from First Baptist Church in Red Bank, NJ, joined us for another 4 days. Special thanks to all who came from both groups! When you look at these cement “bucket brigade” pictures, you’ll understand how difficult the simplest project in Haiti truly is!
Let me hear from you!
Craig
