From Haiti to Canada 2017

Hello from Waterloo Region.

                We’re home!! Safe and sound!! 

Thank you to everyone who shared in our adventure through prayer. 

Your prayers were coveted and so appreciated by the team. 

We were able to avoid using the back roads of Haiti through the mountains on our way north to leave the country on Wednesday. Instead, with larger and stronger 4X4 vehicles we were able to cross the river, the same river that stopped us on the way in, with no difficulties on the way out. 

Again, your prayers for safety on our journey were so appreciated. 

Many highlights from this year’s project:

Meeting 5 of the 14 seniors who will enjoy the new residence come December was certainly a powerful confirmation that the work we’ve been privileged to share in will have a significant impact on the lives of ultimately 24 of these displaced and struggling elderly. 

This is the third time that the teams have worked on this property in Pignon and each time we’ve worked with the same crew. This has given us opportunity to build relationships and friendships with these men. This is also the third time we’ve worked alongside Pastor Abdon of the AEM as he lives on this property. 

A highlight every year is to travel to Hinche (the home church of Pr. Giordani and our home for several of our trips to Haiti), and Sapate, (the site of our first project), and worship with our friends in the church/school we helped to build starting in 2008. These are our friends. The hugs and smiles are priceless and fill our souls. 

We are reminded that the work we do is not about the buildings but about serving people. 

God is love and it is this same love we desire to share in our work. Until next year, si Dieu vle (if God wills).

Nov 15

The team with 5 of the future residents of the seniors home.

The team standing by the Highview cornerstone.  Still looking great!

 

It's the end of another great adventure in Haiti.

Here are the teams from Haiti and Highview who served on this project.

Good morning from Haiti. This is our last day on the site. As always, time has flown by so quickly! I continue to learn that construction is all about digging a hole and then filling it back in!! Yesterday and today have been primarily about finishing off the footings and putting the dirt back in the rooms. Today we continue to dig dirt and are now preparing the rebar for the caps that make a row on top of the blocks. We've been told that we will have the wonderful opportunity of meeting several of the future residents of the home early this afternoon. That truly will drive home the value of the work we have the privilege of contributing to. We are blessed and in turn have the opportunity to bless others.

Nov 14

 The team with Jean Anil, principal at the school in Sapaate

 Poppy with Fr. Gaston.

Fr. Gaston is a Deacon at the church in Sapate and a good friend.

He lives beside the church/school.

UPDATE Nov 13

Good Monday morning from Haiti:

Had a great day yesterday visiting our friends in Hinche and Sapate.

It was first to Hinche to visit our friend Pastor Giordani at his church.

If you remember, Pastor Giordani came to visit Highview last year. 

The church in Hinche has about 600 members. 

Following church yesterday they gave out over 1200 sandwiches to those who were in attendance!! 50 baptisms last year following their annual crusade!

It's a beautiful thing to see the church growing. 

We had to leave at 11 to go visit our fiends in Sapate and join their church service. 

Always such a joy to arrive at the site of our first project. 

Big hugs! Big smiles! Fills our hearts.

Such energy when they worship. 

I'm confident all of heaven is smiling as they worship and raise their voices in praise. 

Close to 60 in attendance. 7 baptisms this past year. It's a beautiful thing to see the church growing no matter what the size.

Today it's back to digging, moving blocks and moving mortar for the posts now. It's going to be a great day! 

Keep praying please. Especially that the river will allow us to cross Wednesday morning as we head north to catch our flight back from Cape Haitien. As yesterdays rain indicated that prayer might be to going in the wrong direction . . . we need rain just not torrents. LOL

More Pics

We're Really Doin' it!

Hello from Haiti.

Yesterday was another great day on the site. We starting laying block so we're getting our first glimpse of the rooms that will house the seniors. It becomes very humbling working on this project when you know that when it is completed it will meet the needs of the poorest of the poor. We have been told that we will be able to meet some of these men and women before we leave. That will really drive home the importance of this work. On another note, when Daniel was digging around an old wall to provide some stones for the base of the footings, he came across our first tarantula of this trip. Always great excitement when the word "zariyen" is heard. It means spider!!! Keep praying. Lots of work still to be done.

We've finished the footings and have now started the block walls.

This was the river that created problems our first night

Thrusday Evening UPDATE

Today, everything went according to plan. That's a great day! We were on the site all day carrying buckets of mortar for the posts and footings. We're hoping to finish this job in the morning and hopefully start laying blocks for the 7 rooms in the afternoon. The team's doing well although a few members have become the first and second courses for the local mosquitos. Marilyn is trying to get us to use the many insect repellant bottles we have on hand! Will try to send some pictures soon of the work on the site. We covet your prayers so don't stop.

SAFE ARRIVAL

Hello everyone from Haiti. As usual in Haiti

things never go quite as planned. Flights were good. Arrived in Haiti on time. And then, no driver to pick us up at the airport. There was some miscommunication on when our flight was to arrive. It turned into a 2 and a half hour wait on the street. No problem. But then the storm came. Lightning, thunder and buckets of rain faced us as we drove into the mountains of the north. We knew we had a 4 to 5 hour drive but this even more painfully slow. And then came the river. We knew we had a river to drive through but when we arrived the water was too deep and running too hard. We couldn't get across. Now we had to find a place to sleep (Poppy was already asleep in the van!!) and hope the river was down the next day. At 10 that night we found a school where we could bed down for the night. Next morning up at 5:40 to head to the river again. We tied our van to another truck and we were off. And success!! We arrived at our Haiti home a bit late but safe. Then it was off to get to the work of building the seniors residence. Very pleased to see that the footings were almost completely dug. Today we helped finish off the digging. Tomorrow we start the concrete posts and a level of concrete for the footings. And by Friday we're hoping to start laying block. As always it is such a blessing to be here with our Haitian friends. Over and over they tell us how much they appreciate our help. And of course there are the big hugs and laughter as we see our friends and share memories. Keep praying. Always an adventure here but we're always so confident of God's presence with us.

We are finally returning to Haiti in November!

We’re off to Haiti again.

Plans are now in place for a team from Highview, including several from outside the church, to travel and work at the property in Pignon from November 7^th through 16^th 2017.
This is the same site where teams completed a wall to enclose the property gifted to the AEM during 2014 and 2015. 
The purpose for this year’s team is to complete the first seven rooms (walls, floor and roof) of a new Seniors Residence. Each room will house two seniors. 
In future years, it is planned to add a dining/meeting area and an additional 5 rooms. There are many seniors that were displaced as a result of the earthquake in 2010. Many lost their entire families in the destruction that followed and were forced to survive on the streets. This seniors residence will provide food and a safe place for them to live. 
         As always we covet your prayers for the work and our safety as we travel.

Feb 25th was our 10th annual Haiti Fundraiser and thanks to so many, it was a great success. Monies raised were over $10,000 which brings our ten year total to over $150,000!!! Since our first visit to Haiti in 2008 we’ve built a school in Sapate, now providing an education for over 400 children. We’ve built homes in the Hinche and Pignon areas of the Central Plateau following the devastating earthquake in 2010. We’ve had the opportunity to contribute to the needs of a new vocational school on the AEM property in LeJeune by building tables and benches. And since 2014 we’ve focused on the building of a wall around a property in the town of Pignon owned by the AEM.

Now that the wall is completed it’s time to start a new project on the same site, a seniors residence to provide care and lodging for the many seniors who survive living on the sides of the roads and pathways of Haiti.  This is our goal for the fall of 2017. A team is now forming. The excitement to see our friends again is growing.

                

Thank you to everyone for your amazing sacrifices and energy at the recent fundraiser. Those who served us in the kitchen, whether preparing the food or cleaning up afterwards, are heroes!!!! To all the young adults who served the meals. To all those who set up the tables and then tore them down. To all those who came and contributed to the needs of our friends in Haiti. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And God’s richest blessings.

HAITI DINNER 2017

“Here we go again. Plans are now forming for our next trip to Haiti tentatively scheduled for this coming November. Our goal is to start work on the Seniors Residence on the same site where we were previously building the wall. Our next Haiti fundraiser dinner is scheduled for Saturday Feb 25^th. Please mark your calendars for this special event.”