Haiti Team Journal (Part 7)

Wednesday, March 27

We were up at 7:00 a.m.

After breakfast we went to deliver a water pump that we had funded. We drove 45 minutes through very poor villages. At one point, we even saw several women sitting on the top of a rock pile, cracking the rocks into gravel.

When we arrived at the home of the farmer who was to receive the pump, Saul, the agricultural specialist, knocked on his door. His wife opened up and said he wasn`t home. However, it turned it he was home, but still in bed, and that he had not prepared his field for the pump`s arrival! JeanJean kept laughing his big hearty laugh about this all day!

After a long talk, we left with the pump still on the back of the truck, and went to the next farmer on the list; his field was ready, and he was very happy to find out that he was getting a pump that day!

We put the pump in a wheelbarrow and wheeled it down a long hill and across the river to his land.

We set up the pump, put the hoses together, and had a demonstration on how flood irrigation works. 

The farmer was so thankful that he no longer had to haul water up the hill in pails to water his 2 to 3 acres of land!

On our way back through Pignon, we picked up more pop and JeanJean bought us all a milkshake as a thank you from the farmer for the pump.

Back home for the afternoon, we painted the school and worked on the thatch roof on another gazebo.

In the afternoon, we did a nutrition feeding program on our compound; almost 100 children showed up. We handed out bread and peanut butter, played with them outside, and helped supervise the feeding of rice and beans. It was incredible to see how much these kids could eat! We gave out the last of our colouring books and crayons. We had intended to the another feeding program the following day, but we were now out of colouring books and clothes, so we decided against it.

One 9-year-old boy at the feeding program  could\not walk, as he had malformed limbs. His brother carried him around. Although he was nine, he looked barely five years old. However, it was amazing how he could get around despite his handicap!

At night, we attended the regular weekday church service; again, it was in Creole. JeanJean preached on Isaiah 53:5 – Christ as the only way of salvation. 
Written by M. Roseboom