The days go by and God continue to open doors within the Bohoc community. Saturday, September 10th, Carolyn and I were invited to take a walk around Bohoc with Madam Tiza. At 4:00pm, Carolyn and I met Madam Tiza at the gate to the HAFF campus and set out to see some important areas in the community and to meet her family. We walked to the Bohoc market, which was deserted because the market is only really open on Mondays, and visited Madam Tiza’s brother Paulo, her mother, her uncle, and some other close family members.
One of the houses we visted was the house of Madam Jid who just had a little boy three weeks ago. We met her son Samuel and Madam Jid even let us hold him. He was so small and precious and obviously a joy to his parents. However, I couldn’t help but think about all Madam Jid must have gone through to bear a healthy baby in the local conditions. Since being here, Tim or Elizer (HAFF’s driver), have made a number of hospital runs to Pignon with women having complications with pregnancy. It made me thankful for medical care and how much I take it for granted when I am at home. It also made me wonder if I had to live out here in their conditions, if I would survive as long as they. What a beautiful and resilient people.
Sunday, September 11th, I again attended church at the yellow church down the road from HAFF. The sound system was turned up to the highest volume as usual, leaving me with a headache about half way through the sermon, but I still enjoyed the worship music and the time to be with other believers. I do confess that church here is a struggle when I understand so little, if any of the sermon, but I have grown to enjoy the time sitting on the wobbly benches and thinking about the awesome God that I and these Haitian believers share. The Lord’s heart is indeed diverse and the lover of all nations!
Wednesday, September 14th, Carolyn, Jenny, Beth, and I were invited over to Minous’s house for dinner. The next day Minous was to leave for Cap-Haitien to go to school, so she invited us over to celebrate and say good-bye. We walked to Josette’s house and met Josette and Nana there. Together we all walked to Minous’s house. Minous prepared a wonderful meal of rice and bean sauce, a Haitian staple and mighty tasty if you ask me. They began the meal with a song, then Carolyn prayed and we ate. We followed the meal by telling jokes and funny stories. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. I even attempted to tell a blonde joke in Creole, which I actually think they got and laughed at. Props to me! However, you can never be to sure in a culture where they do not have blonde people, if they really understand the point of a “blonde joke”. All in all it was a lot of fun, but also sad to say good-bye to Minous. She will not be returning to Bohoc by the time we leave, so it was a final fair well. I pray that her schooling in Cap-Haitien goes well and that she will continue to be the shy, sweet person I have grown to know her as.
Thursday, September 15th, Tim, Carolyn, Jenny and I went to meet a community group of ladies at the local church. Apparently these ladies get together to tend a garden at the school next door and to help each other with other small business ideas. Shortly after arriving here, another missionary, Christi, told us that these ladies had two solar fruit dryers, but didn’t know how to use them. Jenny, Carolyn, and Beth who have experience working with a solar dryer at ECHO, were interested in meeting with these ladies and helping them learn how to use the dryers. Thursday we met the group of about 20 to 25 ladies, looked at the fruit dryers, and sat to talk about what their hopes were for these dryers. It was really encouraging to see Jenny and Carolyn with the opportunity to directly help these ladies with training they received at ECHO. The group was excited that they were interested in helping and made plans to meet again in the future to actually slice up some fruits and try drying them. Following the meeting the ladies walked us out behind the school to show us their garden and gave us some citrus as a gift before leaving. I thank the Lord for opening doors for us to interact more with the community. Please pray for wisdom and effective communication for Jenny, Carolyn, and Beth as they continue to teach/learn from this community of women.
The rest of Thursday was spent preparing for an open field day at one of the gardens called HAFF 2. To find varieties of crops with potential for producing better than local varieties ECHO has been conducting a number of variety trials. In the HAFF 2 garden we are currently collecting data on trials of corn, sorghum, cassava and sweet potatoes. To get a better understanding of what local farmers are looking for in certain crops Tim invited a number of farmers from surrounding communities for an open field day on Friday. Specifically we wanted to hear the farmer’s opinions on varieties of corn and sorghum, but we also wanted to distribute cuttings of cassava and sweet potato plants for the farmers to try on their own land. So Thursday we cut cassava, sorted it, tied it up, labeled it, and created bundles for each of the farmers, then proceeded to cut, sort and label sweet potato cuttings as well.
Friday morning we loaded all the bundles of cuttings and drove them down the road to HAFF 2. We unloaded everything and prepared for the farmers to come. At 9:00am we had 14 farmers at the field and began the day with a devotional. Ely, HAFF’s farm manager led a song in Creole, then another man named Millis read a passage from the bible, we prayed then began looking at the crops. Together the group walked from one end of the garden to the next stopping to make comments on every variety of sorghum, a few corn varieties, and to look at the cassava and sweet potato plots. In the beginning the group was shy, but eventually warmed up to touch and openly explain their feelings about the height, color, size, grain head, etc. of each of the varieties. Tim received a lot of really good feed back, and it was fun to watch these farmers get excited about some of the new varieties they saw. We ended the meeting by handing out the bundles of cuttings and recording who took which piles in the notebook. It was a great day for ECHO to get out in the community here and to continue building a network of local farmers interested in small scale experimentation.
After the field day we all hoped into the truck, made a quick stop at HAFF, then headed into Pignon to the market. It was the fastest trip to the market I think we have ever made and felt like a scene out of the Amazing Race. We split up the list and Jenny and Beth got half, Carolyn and I got the other half. We split in the market, got the things we needed to get, met back up and headed to the hospital snack bar 15 minutes after arriving at the market. Are we good, or are we good!? We had lunch as usual, then headed out to the Pignon airstrip.
ECHO’s Executive Director, Dr. Martin Price and his wife, Bonnie, flew in with Greg VanSchoyk the director of the HAFF mission. Martin and Bonnie are staying for the week so Bonnie can meet with the HAFF teachers, students, and parents of the students, and Martin can see the trials in the gardens and visit local farmers. I think it will be really fun for them to be here this next week and am eager to listen to Martin’s perspective on the project and ideas for the future work down here.
Friday ended with a movie night at Tim and Paige’s house and to bed early. Such a busy week! Saturday we woke at 4:30am and prepared to leave at 5:00am to climb Mount Pignon. We drove into Pignon in the dark and walked to the church where we were supposed to meet our guide, Ezekius. We couldn’t find Ezekius at first, so after walking around town a bit and asking a few people we were able to find his house and meet up with him. By 6:00am we were on the trail and on our way up the mountain. The trial headed straight up the mountain with sections of large rocks and tall grasses. It was a pretty challenging hike. It took us an hour and a half to make it to the top, but when we did it was beautiful!
The sun was still low in the sky and the clouds in the valley below had not yet burned off. At the top of the mountain we climbed on top of an old building and looked out over the valley below. We could see the town of Pignon beginning to wake up, the grass airstrip, and out over small communities in other parts of the central plateau. Everything was so green from the rainy season and so beautiful. What an amazing reflection of our creator!
We rested on the top for about 20 minutes then headed back down. We arrived at the bottom shortly before 10:00am with the rest of the day ahead of us. It was so nice to get up early, get some great exercise, and to see Haiti from again, another perspective.
“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” – Isaiah 61:11
One of the houses we visted was the house of Madam Jid who just had a little boy three weeks ago. We met her son Samuel and Madam Jid even let us hold him. He was so small and precious and obviously a joy to his parents. However, I couldn’t help but think about all Madam Jid must have gone through to bear a healthy baby in the local conditions. Since being here, Tim or Elizer (HAFF’s driver), have made a number of hospital runs to Pignon with women having complications with pregnancy. It made me thankful for medical care and how much I take it for granted when I am at home. It also made me wonder if I had to live out here in their conditions, if I would survive as long as they. What a beautiful and resilient people.
Sunday, September 11th, I again attended church at the yellow church down the road from HAFF. The sound system was turned up to the highest volume as usual, leaving me with a headache about half way through the sermon, but I still enjoyed the worship music and the time to be with other believers. I do confess that church here is a struggle when I understand so little, if any of the sermon, but I have grown to enjoy the time sitting on the wobbly benches and thinking about the awesome God that I and these Haitian believers share. The Lord’s heart is indeed diverse and the lover of all nations!
Wednesday, September 14th, Carolyn, Jenny, Beth, and I were invited over to Minous’s house for dinner. The next day Minous was to leave for Cap-Haitien to go to school, so she invited us over to celebrate and say good-bye. We walked to Josette’s house and met Josette and Nana there. Together we all walked to Minous’s house. Minous prepared a wonderful meal of rice and bean sauce, a Haitian staple and mighty tasty if you ask me. They began the meal with a song, then Carolyn prayed and we ate. We followed the meal by telling jokes and funny stories. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. I even attempted to tell a blonde joke in Creole, which I actually think they got and laughed at. Props to me! However, you can never be to sure in a culture where they do not have blonde people, if they really understand the point of a “blonde joke”. All in all it was a lot of fun, but also sad to say good-bye to Minous. She will not be returning to Bohoc by the time we leave, so it was a final fair well. I pray that her schooling in Cap-Haitien goes well and that she will continue to be the shy, sweet person I have grown to know her as.
Thursday, September 15th, Tim, Carolyn, Jenny and I went to meet a community group of ladies at the local church. Apparently these ladies get together to tend a garden at the school next door and to help each other with other small business ideas. Shortly after arriving here, another missionary, Christi, told us that these ladies had two solar fruit dryers, but didn’t know how to use them. Jenny, Carolyn, and Beth who have experience working with a solar dryer at ECHO, were interested in meeting with these ladies and helping them learn how to use the dryers. Thursday we met the group of about 20 to 25 ladies, looked at the fruit dryers, and sat to talk about what their hopes were for these dryers. It was really encouraging to see Jenny and Carolyn with the opportunity to directly help these ladies with training they received at ECHO. The group was excited that they were interested in helping and made plans to meet again in the future to actually slice up some fruits and try drying them. Following the meeting the ladies walked us out behind the school to show us their garden and gave us some citrus as a gift before leaving. I thank the Lord for opening doors for us to interact more with the community. Please pray for wisdom and effective communication for Jenny, Carolyn, and Beth as they continue to teach/learn from this community of women.
The rest of Thursday was spent preparing for an open field day at one of the gardens called HAFF 2. To find varieties of crops with potential for producing better than local varieties ECHO has been conducting a number of variety trials. In the HAFF 2 garden we are currently collecting data on trials of corn, sorghum, cassava and sweet potatoes. To get a better understanding of what local farmers are looking for in certain crops Tim invited a number of farmers from surrounding communities for an open field day on Friday. Specifically we wanted to hear the farmer’s opinions on varieties of corn and sorghum, but we also wanted to distribute cuttings of cassava and sweet potato plants for the farmers to try on their own land. So Thursday we cut cassava, sorted it, tied it up, labeled it, and created bundles for each of the farmers, then proceeded to cut, sort and label sweet potato cuttings as well.
Friday morning we loaded all the bundles of cuttings and drove them down the road to HAFF 2. We unloaded everything and prepared for the farmers to come. At 9:00am we had 14 farmers at the field and began the day with a devotional. Ely, HAFF’s farm manager led a song in Creole, then another man named Millis read a passage from the bible, we prayed then began looking at the crops. Together the group walked from one end of the garden to the next stopping to make comments on every variety of sorghum, a few corn varieties, and to look at the cassava and sweet potato plots. In the beginning the group was shy, but eventually warmed up to touch and openly explain their feelings about the height, color, size, grain head, etc. of each of the varieties. Tim received a lot of really good feed back, and it was fun to watch these farmers get excited about some of the new varieties they saw. We ended the meeting by handing out the bundles of cuttings and recording who took which piles in the notebook. It was a great day for ECHO to get out in the community here and to continue building a network of local farmers interested in small scale experimentation.
After the field day we all hoped into the truck, made a quick stop at HAFF, then headed into Pignon to the market. It was the fastest trip to the market I think we have ever made and felt like a scene out of the Amazing Race. We split up the list and Jenny and Beth got half, Carolyn and I got the other half. We split in the market, got the things we needed to get, met back up and headed to the hospital snack bar 15 minutes after arriving at the market. Are we good, or are we good!? We had lunch as usual, then headed out to the Pignon airstrip.
ECHO’s Executive Director, Dr. Martin Price and his wife, Bonnie, flew in with Greg VanSchoyk the director of the HAFF mission. Martin and Bonnie are staying for the week so Bonnie can meet with the HAFF teachers, students, and parents of the students, and Martin can see the trials in the gardens and visit local farmers. I think it will be really fun for them to be here this next week and am eager to listen to Martin’s perspective on the project and ideas for the future work down here.
Friday ended with a movie night at Tim and Paige’s house and to bed early. Such a busy week! Saturday we woke at 4:30am and prepared to leave at 5:00am to climb Mount Pignon. We drove into Pignon in the dark and walked to the church where we were supposed to meet our guide, Ezekius. We couldn’t find Ezekius at first, so after walking around town a bit and asking a few people we were able to find his house and meet up with him. By 6:00am we were on the trail and on our way up the mountain. The trial headed straight up the mountain with sections of large rocks and tall grasses. It was a pretty challenging hike. It took us an hour and a half to make it to the top, but when we did it was beautiful!
The sun was still low in the sky and the clouds in the valley below had not yet burned off. At the top of the mountain we climbed on top of an old building and looked out over the valley below. We could see the town of Pignon beginning to wake up, the grass airstrip, and out over small communities in other parts of the central plateau. Everything was so green from the rainy season and so beautiful. What an amazing reflection of our creator!
We rested on the top for about 20 minutes then headed back down. We arrived at the bottom shortly before 10:00am with the rest of the day ahead of us. It was so nice to get up early, get some great exercise, and to see Haiti from again, another perspective.
“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” – Isaiah 61:11
No comments:
Post a Comment