Of Gangs, Reefs, and a Life Saved!

When Bill came home last February, we had no idea it would be so long till he could return.  Shortly after getting home, the gangs attacked the main airport in Port au Prince and it was closed for some weeks.  For various reasons, here and there, several months went by without Bill being able to return to Haiti.

Thanks to our faithful donors during that time, we continued to send funds to feed people in the three main villages we work in.  They were so grateful for the help as food is scarce and very expensive when available.  We spent time working here on a way to get some badly needed supplies in to Haiti and that should be coming to fruition soon, hopefully in the next month or two.

The first part of the UN peacekeeping force from Kenya finally arrived in Haiti in June. From what we know, they have not done much to improve the people’s situation except they did secure the main airport so flights could resume fairly safely.  The gangs are spreading across the country now taking more towns, including the town of Ghantier which is on the way from Port au Prince to Fonds Parisien where we first started working in Haiti in 2010.

The gangs ran 2000 families out of their homes in Ghantier and nothing has been done to take it back.  Please keep Fonds Parisien in your prayers as the people there, including dear friends of ours, live in constant stress and fear that they might be next.

Bill was finally able to return to Haiti in mid August with plans to build more marine habitats, giving men jobs working on them so they can feed their families while helping to preserve their future food supply.  Securing supplies was a challenge.

Gas is scarce and costs $12/gallon.  He did find some concrete though not as much as is needed for the original design of the marine habitats so he has redesigned them to be smaller and take less concrete.  He has started with some short rock habitats with concrete tops and already, ten of those are in the sea!!  (See more pics at bottom of the update!)

Meeting with the fishermen of Raket to discuss the reef project

God has plans for our time and days when we are not preoccupied with our own. While work is going on, so is helping people.  Bill tells of one instance:

“We had an emergency. Our good friend and helper, Pierre, has a lovely 15 year old daughter named Loudmi who became very ill.  We sent her to the hospital here on the island. They sent her back and she was worse the next day. We then sent her to the hospital on the mainland where they found she had severe anemia. She needed blood transfusions and five days on an IV.  She almost died!

Thanks to Agape Floats, the boat donated to JUST MERCY by Agape Flights in 2022, we were able to give Loudmi transportation to the hospitals. Loudmi is alive and well today because of that gift and the generosity of our donors with funds that paid her hospital bill!  We are grateful! Haitian hospitals don’t take a patient unless the bill can be paid.  

The reef project has already been a success in one way.  The commercial fishermen can’t come in and seine everything out of the sea right in front of the village and that’s a good thing!”

Unfortunately, Bill worked too hard and has developed a hernia.  Doctors that we have contacted have said he needs to get medical care right away.  Bill is in no danger at this point but that could change so we have been working on options to get him home much earlier than planned. We now expect him to arrive several days from now.  It’s hard to get a flight on the small Haitian airline from Les Cayes to Port au Prince as they are booked out for weeks but thank God, there was a cancellation so he has a ticket. Please pray he has no complications while in Haiti and the trip home can go smoothly so he can get the care he needs and then get back to Haiti! 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!  We are grateful as are our friends whose lives would be so much more difficult without your help!  God bless you all. 

The first thing needing done was some repair work on the raft built in 2019.

Several concrete reef tops were built to go on short rock reefs.

It takes several guys to move them.

Pipes are used to slide the tops to the sea.

Assembling a rock reef….

…and marking the spot so fishing boats do not run into them.

An underwater shot of a short rock reef…..

….and fish that are there.