Faith in God School of Pays-Pourri

Bill arrived in Haiti on Thursday, October 21st.  Our first priority for this trip was to get the Christian school in Pays-Pourri back open again.  It had lacked the funding for supplies and teacher’s salaries to open for the fifth year.

Faith in God School of Pays-Pourri – 2010

The school was started by two Mennonite Christians in 2005 who had gone up the mountain with a medical mission team and found that all the people there were illiterate.  Even the local preacher could not read the Bible.  They wanted the children to be able to learn so they started the Faith in God School of Pays-Pourri and have almost single handedly supported it since then but due to changes in their circumstances here in the states, they were not going to be able to do it this year.

Bill went back to PAP next day after his arrival and bought the school supplies: textbooks (which are little more than sheets of paper with text and line drawings for illustrations stapled together), paper, and pencils.  On Sunday, several children from the school came down from the mountain to pick up the supplies and carry them back up.  Bill had driven up the road to the trailhead to meet them.  They tied them into bundles and headed back up the mountain carrying the bundles on their heads.  Some adults of our party had to go with them for a ways as people were coming up trying to steal their supplies.

The next few days were spent with necessary errands and chores and seeking to serve the people God put in Bill’s path:  Repairing a broken water line as the mission house had no water for a few days, getting papers for another 30 days to drive the truck legally, helping one of the Pays-Pourri teachers  who lives in Fonds move his wife and two children into a new house (about 12’ x 12’ concrete block with no running water), loaning a widow lady some money to start a small business to try to support her family and giving her money to buy some food (she lost her home in the earthquake which seriously injured one of her daughters), buying some string for a fisherman to make a net with (to be repaid by catching fish for some of the hungry people in his village.), buying 100 plates, cups, and spoons for the school at Pays-Pourri, receiving donated rice and buying additional rice to take to the school, etc.

Truck loaded with supplies

Finally on Sunday, Bill and our Haitian “family” loaded up the truck and headed up the mountain to the trailhead.  It had been prearranged for 11 mules to be brought down to haul the 2000 lbs. of rice and other supplies up the mountain.   As they unloaded the truck and loaded up the mules, a crowd gathered, as always.  They couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t give them the rice.  It is always difficult as everyone needs the help but this rice had a specific purpose.

At the school in Pays-Pourri, which is a region, not a town, many of the children get up and start walking at 4am to arrive at school at 7 am.  They study till 1 pm and then walk back home, all with out any food.  There is no school lunch program.  We wanted to change this, if possible.

Meeting at the school to tell the people about Hurricane Tomas and the cholera outbreak

Upon arriving at Pays-Pourri after a four hour hike, there was a PTA meeting at the school.   Bill told them about the cholera outbreak and talked about how to try to prevent it.  He also told them about Hurricane Tomas that is coming this week so if there was anything they could do to prepare, they could do so.  (Please pray that the damage is minimal or that God sends the hurricane elsewhere [though I don’t wish it on anyone else] or better yet, it disappears.  I’m praying boldly these days.  It is nearly harvest time and their crops and trees could be wiped out!)

Bill also talked with the parents about their children who attended the school.  He said that if any of the children were disrespectful to the teachers or would not do the work, they would be sent home as there are dozens more who WANT to come to school.  In a way it sounds harsh, but the opportunity to learn in the mountains is rare and precious. We are praying that God provides the funds to keep this school going.

The country up in the mountains that is so inaccessible is beautiful and productive.  When asked why there weren’t many goats, which are plentiful in the rest of the country, Bill was told that there had been a sickness there and the goat kids had mostly died off.  We would like to try to help reestablish the goat population and get chickens going. Their diet lacks protein though they do grow beans.

The Mennonites next door in Fonds-Parisien told us they have the Jesus film in Creole on DVD which they show with a projector they take to villages on the back of truck.  That got us thinking and before Bill returned to Haiti, we purchased a battery driven projector (about the size of a couple of boxes of dry soup mix) and a battery driven Bose ipod dock.  Bill had taken these two items, a borrowed DVD of the Jesus film, and our charged up computer up the mountain with him.

Watching the Jesus Film in the mountains

Most of the people in the mountains have never even seen a photograph, much less a movie, but that night, Bill was able to show them the Jesus film!  Unfortunately, the battery on the projector ran out at the Lord’s supper.  (I just ordered two more batteries today and will be taking them with me when I go to Haiti later this month. ) Bill said the people were absolutely enthralled and we can’t wait to finish sharing the gospel with them and others in this way.

The next day was Monday and Bill and our party observed school in session.  Then at noon, the first school lunch of Pays-Pourri was served!!!  Bill said 171 children were fed!!  We are so grateful to be a part of making this happen.   I am attaching some pictures of this amazing trip into the mountains.  Bill just got back down the mountain Monday night and was able to get the pictures uploaded Tuesday evening.

I would like to ask if you might prayerfully consider the following.  If you have a small group or Sunday school class, would you consider bringing the story of this school to them?  If a group of 12-25 people met once a week and took up a collection, it would only take $1-$2 per person per week to support a teacher for the school.  Each teacher’s salary is $110/month.  There are currently seven teachers.  If just seven groups took on supporting a class, it would be an amazing blessing!!!

Bill spent some time talking with the teachers about their job being more than teaching. It is also about loving those children in Jesus’ name. Please consider this as we seek to find a way to keep the school open and teach these children not only to read and write, but to come to know the Lord.

Thank you for listening and please do keep us in your prayers and especially the Haitians this week as it sounds like a natural disaster is coming their way after all the other disasters they have endured.  I am grateful that we are all held in the everlasting arms, come what may.  God bless you.

4th Haiti Trip – Vol. I

Nov. 2, 2010

                         View from Pays-Pourri                                                        Pays-Pourri school is in session!