Amazing Mountain Trip!

What an amazing two days!!!  I told you briefly about our hike into Balisage above Gantier on Wednesday where we visited the people and dealt with one cholera death.  Many of the sick had already gone to the Mennonite clinic in Fonds.  After visiting there  where the cholera was so bad, we got up early Thursday to head up to Pays-Pourri where we had heard that people were dying in their gardens and things were very bad.  It is also where the school we are supporting is located.  I was afraid that if it was as bad as at Balisage, many of the children from our school would be sick or dying!

Yvrose and Bill headed up the riverbed with the Global Dirt team

Bill and I decided to go with the “troops” from Global Dirt.  Yvrose went with us, also.  Though I knew the journey would be arduous, I wanted to go so badly to see the children at the school.  Our girls, Sherlie and No-No, would not let us go without them to “take care of us”, so they went along, too.  Jolius was our guide.

We drove about 30 minutes up the rough road to the river bed we would start out in.  We left a lot of the gear there with a friend of Jolius’ to wait for the mules that were coming down to carry our stuff up.  We started out walking up the dry riverbed and then the road really started up!

This was the “easy” way!  It was pretty steep, varying from 15 – 40 degrees!  I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to make it because of the trouble I have with my hip just walking a half hour at home!  But praise the Lord, it did NOT bother me for the entire two days, which was a miracle for me!!!  The problem I had was my leg muscles and wind!  Bill would sometimes be holding my hand pulling me while No-No would come behind pushing!

Janet making better time than walking

The troops traveled much faster than we did.  We would pass people, horses, mules, etc.  Somehow, Jolius procured a little horse (no saddle) for me as I was going SO SLOW!  I got on.  What a hoot!  We went off at a much faster clip than I was going but it hurt almost as much as walking!

We finally met the mules coming down to pick up our gear.  They had  “pack saddles” on.  They put me up on one and after that, I was so much happier!  It was quite the ride and kind of scary, occasionally running along a precipice just inches away!

Leah, the head of the troops, came to Haiti as a teacher and after the earthquake, started to work for Global Dirt.  She has been in horrendous places in Haiti where cholera victims are dying through lack of supplies, malpractice, and ignorance.

We stopped at the first village we came to.  Leah, who speaks Creole and always asks the people lots of question, was shocked to find that this village had no cholera.  The reason was they had bought crystallized Clorox and were treating their water!  She almost started crying as this was the first time she had run into any Haitians who were doing the right thing to avoid cholera.

School children reacting to the camera flash

We kept going (total of four hours) till we reached the school we are supporting.  School is from 8 am till 1 pm and then they eat lunch.  They were just finishing up lunch when we arrived.  It was amazing seeing those precious children who would not be getting an education if the school was not there.  After the children left, we sat down and talked with the teachers, asking questions  about the curriculum and finding out what they were doing to teach the children about the Lord.

We rejoiced to find that the rumors were false and that cholera right now is scarce in that section of Pays-Pourri so now the battle is education and supplies.  But who knows about over the next mountain?  (When we arrived back today, we found that the patient rate at the clinic next door had doubled with more people from Balisage and other regions in Pays-Pourri.)  I was so grateful to find that nearly all the children were still in school.

Jolius’ mother cooking our supper in her “kitchen”

We then walked on over the hill to Jolius’ parents home where we were going to spend the night.  They cooked lunch and supper for us.  His parents are illiterate and are now 70 and 66 respectively.  But they love the Lord and worked very hard to see that their children would get an education!!!

Spending the night in their home, I realized that many people spend their entire lives in discomfort and difficulty.  They were so gracious and generous but I finally had to go lay down on their hard slab of a bed just to try to be a little comfortable as Haitian chairs are so uncomfortable!  We brought our mats and slept on the floor in one of the rooms.  The troops slept in the storage room where the rice, oil, and books are for the school.

This morning, we went back to the school and waited for the children to come streaming in over the mountain paths.  Because Yvrose was there, we were able to talk really well with both the teachers and children.  I was able to talk with the children about God and tell them how precious they were to Him.  They started the school day with the Lord’s prayer and quoting a Psalm they had memorized.  Yvrose taught them Jesus Loves Me in Creole.  Several times I came close to tears realizing this was the only chance most of these children will ever have to hear about the love of God.   I’m so grateful we opened the school this year and pray the Lord will provide to let us continue to do so.

The troops had brought a Sawyer water filter and taught the teachers to use it.  The school has a large cistern that they use for water so that is fairly safe from cholera but there are many other things that can get in the water so we hope they will use the filter.

We took the “short cut” back down the mountain.  There were places where I sat down on my shoes and slid!  What a hoot!  It was slippery with the gravel sliding out from under our feet.  I think all of us (not the troops) all fell at least once.  One of the guys loaned me a pair of gloves and I was able to hold onto the plants to help keep me up or to protect my hands when I was sliding down sitting on my heels.

After the steep part came the upper river bed, full of gigantic rocks and portages around parts of it.  We finally reached the main river bed and walked another hour, once again a total four hour trip because I was so slow walking over the rocks.  We ran out of water before the end of the trip so we were pretty parched when we finally reached the trail head where Fegens was waiting with the truck.

After such an arduous two days, I am amazed than we are not sorer than we are!  I am so grateful that the rumor of serious cholera sickness in Pays-Pourri was not true!  However, it is spreading rapidly in Haiti and we have read that some doctors believe this is only the beginning!

We are considering what steps we need to take to help with the situtation.  Global DIRT is taking back emergency recommendations about Balisage to Grassroots and we are hoping they will be able to access some immediate help for that particular mountain region as it seemed half the population was sick and many had died.

Thank you for taking the time to read about Haiti.  Please keep the people in your prayers.  May God bless you all.

December 10, 2010

Just a quick update, particularly for those of you who are worrying about Bill and I with the upheaval in Haiti.  We actually flew home the morning of the 7th, just before the violence flared up that evening and the airport closed.  Bill struggled with the decision whether to come home or not but we had our tickets and he thought if the protests began, he would probably be unable to get much accomplished anyway so he came home with me.

There is supposed to be a medical and education team going up to Balisage where the cholera was so bad and we had gone with the troops.  Bill really wanted to be a part of that.  There were also several other things needing our attention, but now they will have to wait.

We have heard the international news as you all have.  Please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers as the violence blocks those who are trying to help with the cholera epidemic and other serious needs.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  Bill hopes to return to Haiti in about three weeks.