2nd Haiti Trip – Vol. I

Beautiful mountain view

Bill and Jesse returned to Haiti last Thursday, March 25. Upon arrival in Port au Prince, they were able to take a case of things given to them here in Joplin by Robert Cheri and his wife for their four children whose house in PAP collapsed in the earthquake. Please keep them in your prayers as the effort continues to get them out of Haiti so they can reunite with their parents here in Joplin.
The gentleman who owns the house we are hoping to lease is in Haiti for a week. Bill has talked with him a couple of times and we are negotiating terms. He’s also looking at some land there in Fonds-Parisien on the lake that we could either lease or buy. It sounds like the tents, camping equipment, and supplies may be close to being released from customs and we will need a place to go to set up a community with them with plans being developed for more permanent housing.
When Bill left Haiti a month ago, he left some money with the young ladies we hope to train for the medical team. He asked them to take it, buy rice and beans, put them in smaller bags, and take them to one of the poor villages in the mountains they had visited and give them away.
Yesterday, they drove back up the mountain to pick up a sick woman that someone had called about in the little town they had taken the food to. The Haitian girls were nearly mobbed! The town is so poor and so many people are hungry, they were desperate and remembered the girls from before! It’s one of the problems with taking food to the poor villages, figuring out how to safely get it to the people and making sure the stronger do not take from the weaker. They took the woman down the mountain for treatment and then took her back home, 12 hours on a 4-wheel drive road! It takes so long to do so many things.
There is a poor village on the lake that Bill has visited. It takes him 15 minutes by truck to get there from Fonds-Parisien. The village had a well but it was damaged in the earthquake. They now have to walk the distance it takes 15 minutes to drive to get water from the well at the HCM mission. The people are extremely poor and suffer from malnutrition. Bill has a meeting tomorrow with the American Refugee Committee, trying to find a source for food for the refugees and village people.
There are fish in the lake but many people are afraid to fish as there are crocodiles in the lake. When they do fish, they do it casting nets. Bill has become acquainted with a fisherman there. He has not been able to fish lately because he didn’t have a net. They get torn and wear out and his was useless. Did he ask for another net? No. He asked for string so he could weave another net! Bill is going to try to get him some. It is hard to find supplies.
Please keep Bill and Jesse in your prayers. They’ve only been back for five days and see so many, many needs. We don’t realize how very, very blessed we are here in our country. May God bless you all.

Children of the mountain

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Janet, wife, mother and grandmother has made many trips to Haiti since the earthquake of 2010. She works to support Just Mercy and her husband Bill and does the many things such as research, communication, ‘technical support”, etc, at home in Missouri that are often quite difficult to do in Haiti. All these activities and her children and grandchildren keep her busy.