Bryan and Tije (Tiger)

Here are Bryan King (Farmer to Farmer) and Tije. Bryan comes to us from northern CA where he lives off the grid on a huge successful farm. He has tons to share with us and we appreciate his presence. Hope he stays longer next time!

Amanda

Amanda (Farmer to Farmer Program) is with us for a couple of weeks. She'll be training our older boys in farm techniques and has already started by teaching them how to tan a hide. Our Arts and Crafts folks will use this leather for sandals. Recycle! Reuse! Waste not, want not. Way to go, Amanda.

Special Visitor

Ernie Mainland (left) sits with Kevin in the courtyard of the Guest House this past Wednesday evening. We enjoyed having him here though his visit was very short.

When?

After nearly two hours of church this morning, Tomas is wondering to himself--"Will this ever end ?".

TiBoss

Here's Jocelyn Nelson (aka TiBoss) with a chair he made all by himself after some encouragement from Kevin. He'll be asking his older brother, Ronald (an apprentice carpenter), to make the seat and back. The chair is for his mom.

BBQ

Kevin and his team fabricated a cool BBQ grill with metal leftovers. From left: Jonas, Kevin, TiBoss Jocelyn, Judex and Wilgens.

You can bet your drumsticks that the chicken was deeelicious and the BBQ sauce that Kevin made was outta sight. Great work, guys!

A coffin for Madoche

A photo of our carpenters putting the final touches on a small coffin for Madoche Jocelyn, the infant son of one of their co-workers, Pachou. Madoche died Monday while I was in the states and he was buried this morning. The doctors were perplexed by the boy's symptoms and, of course, no autopsy was done so we will never know. Please keep his parents in your prayers.

Paige and ESPWA

Finances

Marcia, Jourdanie, Roro

Our financial situation is not good and we need all the help we can get. Kids are going without beds and linen. We can't afford to buy all the clothes they need so they go without. We can't help the poor who come to our door and they are desperately poor. Would you like to help us on a regular basis with almost no hassle? Go to www.freethekids.org and click on a donation button. You can make a monthly recurring donation in any amount you wish. $30 a month covers almost all expenses for one child per month. $15 a month covers school expenses for an elementary student and $25 a month pays for a secondary school education. Make sure you give us your email address so we can update you on what is going on. Your support is greatly needed and appreciated. As the children say-- Bondye ap beni ou. God will bless you.

St Scholastica

Will be heading out tomorrow for Port-au-Prince and will catch a flight on Friday for Miami. From there I'm heading to Orlando, Florida where I'll be staying with Ben and Regina Abiles, old friends from my military days. On Saturday Regina and I will drive to St Scholastica parish in western Florida where I will be preaching at all the weekend Masses. Thanks to Bernie Thyssen for setting this up. Please say a prayer that all goes well and that the folks at St Scholastica are touched by my words.

Bon Voyage

Here are Paige, Herold, Connie, Tije and Dan getting ready to head for the airport in town. Connie is going home after spending four weeks with us and being a Jill-of-all-trades. She was a pleasure to have with us and a huge help in the kitchen area. Dan is heading home for a well-deserved vacation. He is going to New York to spend some time with his family and friends. It'll be just Paige and Kevin out at Castel-Pere for a little while.

Pretty as a picture

This is what Castel-Pere looked like this morning. See the mountain range in the background? Wouldn't you know it that it rained less than two hours later and I mean RAINED.

Electrifying News

Returned from Castel-Pere late this morning and found these two young fellas here. They are scouts and were exchanging the light bulbs on the left for those on the right. We gave them all our incandescents and they gave us new compact fluorescent ones. They said that Cuba had donated the CF bulbs as they are more energy efficient. This is true but they do not last long here. We've had some and they cannot deal with the surges that are constant with EdH (Electricite d'Haiti). A good idea which we support though it'd be better if the power surges could be controlled.

Sunday morn

It was raining pigs and cows this morning (more than cats and dogs) but the Secondary School students still made their way to our "chapel" and did a great job of singing. Bravo, girls and boys! That's Jean Levelt Prosper in the blue shirt. He is our liturgist-choir director-catechist.

Sunny morn

We took advantage of the sun to get some small chores done this morning. Good thing we did as the rains came again around 10 AM. From left: Fritzner, Roosvelt, TiWawa and Berthony.

Short visit

Placide and Dickenson came by this afternoon for a visit.

Damaged water tank

One of our water tanks was struck by lightning this morning. Part of it melted and we had to take it off line. We have seen some terrific thunderstorms these last couple of days and lots of rain. Forecast is for more of the same for the coming week.

A little rain

This was the road to Castel-Pere this morning.

That's the Clinic at center and the Guest house on the left in front of a new lake created in the last 24 hours.

Hope these eggplants like water!

Blue scrubs

Wearing the official uniform of the day, here are EMT nurse Harold and Doc Jerry enjoying their last evening with us. Unfortunately it's not their last night in Haiti as their small plane leaving Les Cayes was too late this morning to make the connecting flight to the states.