A LITTLE HISTORY ON HAITI

I will be doing a series of a little history on Haiti over the next while.. read and enjoy.. they are a resilient people .....


HAITI IS A DRAMATIC COUNTRY in its terrain, history, and culture. In comparison with other countries in the Caribbean, Haiti is described in superlatives: it is the most rural in its settlement pattern, the poorest, and the most densely populated. It is also the only country in the region that was born of a successful slave rebellion, and it is the first modern black republic.



Many observers have described Haitian society as stagnant, but in recent years, changes have begun. By the 1980s, the population of Haiti surpassed 5 million. Although the country continued to be overwhelmingly rural, urbanization was accelerating as the impact of soil erosion and land fragmentation on agricultural productivity forced increasing numbers of peasants to migrate to Port-au-Prince and even overseas. The population of Port-au-Prince was expected to reach 1 million by the end of the 1980s. Haiti's peasants had traditionally relied on the extended family and cooperative labor as a means for taking care of each other, but by the late 1980s, this aspect of the culture had disintegrated. Deteriorating economic conditions were forcing the poor to find new ways to eke out a living from the land, or to survive in urban slums. An unstable, but politically significant, black middle class had emerged between the traditional, mainly mulatto, elite and the peasantry. Migration and the penetration of foreign missions and nongovernmental organizations to the more remote parts of Haiti created new kinds of relationships with the outside world. The transportation and the communications systems had been greatly improved, and Creole-language radio brought news of domestic and international affairs to the country's isolated villages.

The weight of the past bore heavily on the daily lives of all Haitians in the 1980s. The country's legacy of slavery and French colonization had left a lasting imprint on the culture. In the past, members of the upper class cherished Franco-Haitian culture because the French language and manners separated them from the masses whom they wished to rule. At the same time, former slaves created a peasant culture, but always in the shadow of their urban superiors. Haiti's dual cultural heritage resulted in negative attitudes toward Haitian peasant life, particularly toward the Creole language, traditional marriages, and voodoo, the folk religion. The recent emergence of a middle class has only exacerbated the debate over what should be considered "true" Haiti.

SCHOOL IN BAIE D'ORANGE

On this trip into our mission in Haiti.. a 3 hrs. rough ride from Jacmel to the region called Baie d'Orange... if you remember from one of my earlier postings I had explained how we were in such need at this school in Baie d'Orange.. only one book per class, no desks, tarp for a roof, unable to pay the teachers, etc... since that posting we have since had funds donated to cover the cost to operate this school for the next year... most of the uniforms have been made, the tarp has been replaced with tents... they have desks and books and are getting a hot meal each day... teachers are being paid... the food was donated to us from EVERYONE at Prairie Gleaners from Medicine Hat, Ab. and their supporters .. .... thank you to everyone for making a difference.. one child at a time......
Bob & Linda

Water system for Jacmel

Cam along with Nature Zone..www.naturezone.ca
will be raising the funds for a water system for our Jacmel location... water is a huge need for the country of Haiti... they will be bringing in a system that will do a reverse osmosis purifying the water... we will have a location along the main street in Jacmel where we will sell this water.. funds raised will help with our costs of running our orphanage, and schools in Jacmel and surrounding area... Cam collected water at the pumping station where we purchase the water and haul with our water trucks to various locations throughout Jacmel and area... this water was then taken to a Lab in North America to check to see what is needed for the equipment in the purification process... Cam brought many soccer balls and soccer equipment for the children...thank you to all that helped with the soccer balls and equipment... thanks also to Nature Zone and all your supporters for making a difference... one child at a time... more information will follow as the system is brought into the country and hooked up...
Bob & Linda

Water System for Savanette

 Savanette is a location where we started our second school... the water system is a vision of Donny Mowatt, from Camberland Bay, New Brunswick... here is a short version of how it came together... Don was the one who started it then during the year he brought others into it namely his grandson Donnie Ferris & Sheldon Spencer who did all the GPS work, surveying, laying the pipe line and hooking it up to the reservoir (Sheldon doing the GPS work) these two have went three years getting all the information needed, this year Jody Graham (Renew Canada.com) where the solar system was purchased by Don, and he went to Haiti this year and installed it, Armand Cormier (Armlin@rogers.com) operates a Geo Thermal business he was interested in the project and wanted to go with Don this year, he was a valuable asset with getting water hooked up to the pump and helped with the solar panels, these four men were very professional and helpful to Don. Three years ago Don began this on his own and met many barriers also a great expense. Brad Howland from Easyclean in Sussex donated all the pipe and the pump which was a great help.
Thank you Don and team for making such a huge difference in the lives of the people in the Savanette region...

HOME SAFE... THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Had an great trip..... seeing much progress.. speaking in Frontier and Shaunavon this week-end... Bob & Linda

Update March 20/2011 Beauty in Haiti

The teams have been working hard at construction at the orphanage... we leave early tomorrow morning for Savanette.. all day hike there and back and then on Tuesday we go to Baie d'Orange where we have the land for our coffee plantation ...this is also a full day of travel... also to bless the school with books and uniforms... our teams from Canada and from Minniapolis are excited about our remote trips over the next couple of day... had a connection with a team from The Czeck Republic, medical facility, that are wanting to providing a service for our schools....

Bob /  Linda

UPDATE MAR. 18/2011

Short update from Haiti... there is so much work being done since my last trip in.. .... a Minneapolis team... another team from Eastern Canada met their sponsored child from our Chabin school... a Manitoba sponsor met her child at Chabin school...
.. there are large numbers of tanks from the UN patrolling the streets... we are safe..


Thank you to each of you for making a difference.........
Bob & Linda

UPDATE MARCH 16/2011

We had a safe tip to Haiti ... only missing one suitcase.. going to find things for Evelyn to replace what was in her suitcase.... Evelyn is from Steinback who has always wanted to go on a mission trip to Haiti.... Wayne and his son Robert from P.E.I. are with us.... the Minneapolis team arrived also last night from the Hosanna Lutheran Church...we are seeing so many things that are improving since our last trip just over a month ago... again so many teams are here.. met a team of 50 this morning... lots of construction happening.. so good to see...
watch for follow up with photo's ...

Bob, Linda & team...

CARREFOUR RAYMOND CHURCH SERVICE

For those in the Medicine Hat area and are planning on being in this area for March 12th, please join us for our banquet at the Lodge.....It is a saturday night starting at 6 PM......Please book your tickets early as we have to have the numbers into the hotel by the 9th....You can book your tickets by calling 403-878-3635 or purchase a the Book Nook or at the Gift Boutique at the Medicine Hat Lodge.....Would sure love to see you there.
Photo of the morning after the roof was completed on this school...they celebrated with a church service...You will see Neil sharing with the group..Thank you for making a difference...One child at a time....Bob & Linda

CINDER BLOCK PLANT

So close to being finished....The company that is building our press assures us he will have it in place soon....This is a picture that Chad sent looking down on the project from our Chabin school. The blue is a cover over the work area of the cement mixer and the to protect the workers from the sun and rain....The buildings are storage for equipment and a security building that will keep track of everything going in and out....

The second picture is of Jerry, Chad's dad, that did some building and welding for us...Also did some training for one of our helpers...This is a cage built around the extra large generator we have for our cinder block plant...All the equipment is run off electricity so this will not only run the equipment but supply power to our schools in this area....Thanks to everyone for making a difference....
Bob & Linda

SCHOOL IN BAIE D'ORANGE

At our Baie d'Orange school in the mountains towards the Dominican about 2.5 hr drive from Jacmel....I had met many of them on other visits but the first time I had met them at their school. I feel bad we cannot do much for them at this time. We are only able to provide them with one book per class and the teachers are volunteers till we can raise the funds to help.....We feed when we have the food available....Even with the little we can do the children are so happy...This is the area we have purchased the land for our coffee plantation....It is at about the 4000 food level....It cools off very much at night in this area...The soil will be broke in May an the trees planted at that time....That is when the rainy season is in full swing....It will be 4 years before we can pick our first harvest of coffee beans....The profits from the coffee will go back into this area for two schools....In the mean time we will need help to help these children....If your church or organization feels in your heart to help...this would be a perfect project... $18,000. per year would put 200 children through school for one year.. this provides, uniforms, books, medicine, clean drinking water, teachers salaries (9 teachers), desks and a hope for the future.. the coffee plantation will provide about 30 jobs in the area and at times 50...
THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE... ONE CHILD AT A TIME...
Bob & Linda

FUNDRAISING BANQUET MEDICINE HAT MARCH 12TH...

We are having a celebration of the Champions of Change and a fund raising banquet at the Medicine Hat Lodge on saturday, March 12th at 6:00 p.m. with the meal at 7:00 p.m.....There will be a silent auction which will include NHL items.......Come and join us for this celebration....

We change the original date from the 25th of February as another banquet was booked in the City that I did not want to conflict with.....

Tickets can be purchased at the Book Nook, The Gift Boutique at the Medicine Hat Lodge or by calling Red Carpet Events at 403 878-3635......

There is room for 400 people and would like to see it full....Get the work out.....See you there.....
Bob & Linda

SERVICES IN EASTEND, SASKATCHEWAN FEB.20TH

Just an update.....I had the privilege of sharing in Eastend this weekend....saw many people that I have known over the years. We had great meetings and the support received will be a big help....Especially the help with the water needed in Haiti..... Thank you to everyone....Was like going back home.....Thank you to Pastor John and the community of Eastend.......Bob & Linda

THE CARRFOUR RAYMOND LOCATION

The local cooks cooked up food for our team and the helpers.....everyone got lots to eat...all were such amazing workers....the locals pitched in and helped.....
It was a joy to see and for the locals that had never seen anything like this before,
Thanks again so much......
Bob & Linda

Energy to go!!!

After my last trip into Haiti I had to take some time away from the office to rest....Thanks to everyone that dropped me a note on Facebook with Champions of Change award.....What a privilege to get to do what I do and have the most amazing wife, family and friends...

The first team to Haiti with us on this trip was a team from the Free Grace Church in Lethbridge Alberta.......I had shared there a number of years ago and it was awesome to have a team of 11 come in to help...They built 19 rafters 40 ft long for our Carrefour Raymond school...This is a school we had to stop construction on a couple of years ago because of lack of funds... They have been using tarps and tents up to this time.....It was amazing to see how fast this went up...in about 4 days they had the structure up and sheeted in....The celebration for the local people was on the sunday morning just after completing it on saturday...We celebrated with a service sunday morning...
Thanks so much for making a difference...One child at a time....
Bob & Linda

Thank you Donnie Mowatt and team

It is a work of engineering marvel to get the water from a spring at the bottom of the back of the mountain at our Savanette location up to our school....It is a one mile line with about a 2000 foot elevation from the spring to the top of the mountain... This has been on Donnie's heart for several years to get water up the the Savanette school and village....The people in the area would carry water up the mountain in 5 gallon pails every day....Donnie got it set up with an electric pump run by solar panels.....Thank you to Donnie and his team for making a huge difference in the lives of the people in Savanette.......Bob & Linda

TO HAITI AND BACK...

Thanks to the teams that came in to help...Lots of power outages....A huge project was completed with a roof on our Carrefour Raymond School....This is one of the 4 schools that are under construction but we do not have the funds to complete them... With all the challenges all worked out well....Thank you...
Bob & Linda

THANK YOU

Just a short note to say Hi and to thank everyone for their e-mails and facebook notes...... the children and staff in Haiti are so excited about the recognition and the donation from Manulife Financial and Champions of Change.... this will be a big help.... the need is still huge, so please donate if you can... Miles & Rosemary will be going down with me on this trip... a team from Free Grace Church out of Lethbridge will be in Haiti for two weeks with me and a team from the Urban Refuge and Evergreen Churches in the Minneapolis area will be there for one week..... we are looking forward to an exciting and productive trip.. thanks again to everyone that has been helping with your support through donations and those that have come down to help in Haiti... next teams will be in the fall.. book early if you are wanting to go...

we are preparing for a Champion of Change celebration here in Medicine Hat on Mar. 12th, 6PM at the Lodge.. get your tickets early... it will be a fundraiser also... contact person Leanne....leanne@rceweddings.com
Bob & Linda

Champions of Change Video

http://www.cbc.ca/change/video.html

Please take a look at the video of the Mark Kelly show "Champions of Change"