Hardest decision I have had to make todate!!

I had to announce to the Chabin grade 6 and 7 students and teachers my hardest decision to date. Our classroom sizes are to be 30 students and at the present time we have 89 students in grade 7 breaking it down into two classrooms still is pushing the envelope with regards to the regulations set by the Haitian government. The same will happen for next year from the Jacmel school and the Chabin school the number would be about the same. So the announcement today was to let them know we could only take the top 30 students with the highest average. This means that 56 students will not be able to attend grade 8 next year and about the same for grade 7. I told them to study hard so they can be one of the 30 and to pray to believe for a miracle to have a sponsor join with us to cover the cost it would be to accommodate the extra students. The costs would escalate as we would need extra classrooms built, extra high school teachers, uniforms, books, food and buses for transporting.

First day with our new school bus!!!

The sound was off the scale when the children saw our new bus coming to pick them up at school on Friday. We have been blessed to have a truck (taptap) to date but we had run out of space. For the upcoming year we will need both vehicles but it will make it much more comfortable.
What a huge blessing... Thank you to all those that helped make this possible.

Performed my first wedding in Haiti

I had the awesome honor to perform the wedding of Ellen Stewart from Canada and Nego Pierre Louis of Haiti. They work with Danny at the orphanage. It was just at sunset along the beach on Danny's property.

Thiotte school

After we left P.A.P. on Tuesday we went as far as Awesome Pete on the most south east part of Haiti and then on the way back out we stopped at our Thiotte school. We were late arriving but many of the children waited to meet with us.
Today we present the new bus we bought for the Chabin school. The children will be picked up at noon for those that get bussed back to Jacmel. Pictures to follow. Also today I get the honor to marry a couple that work for Danny at the orphanage. Ellen is from New Brunswick and her husband to be Nego is from Haiti. The ceremony will take place on the beach. Pictures to follow.
It is the start of the rainy season and we had much rain last night. Everyone is doing awesome....

Need of a boat!!

Roads are too harsh causing much wear on driver and vehicle. For what we save on wear and tear on a vehcile it would make the boat a great investment. I have asked our Director Pastor Wilbert Placide to see if we can find a boat for our Pastor in the southern tip of Haiti so he will be able to come and pick us up for further trips into this area. The boat would also be used for fishing to help bring in some much needed support for the Auesome Peter location. We can go by boat in less then two hours from a town about a one hour drive from Jacmel. The drive is 13 hrs. on some of the worst roads in the world. I'll have more information on this hopefully before we leave next week. If your business or church would be interested in donating this boat for our work here, please drop me a note. We could also use it for some of our other locations that are near the ocean. More info to follow...

Mission team Mar/09 & meeting Government Officals

Above is a picture of our team. From Winkler on the left were Bill & Cornie the next to them is Dave from Medicine Hat, Rylee a news reporter from the TV station in Medicine Hat and then beside me is Dick a film producer from Medicine Hat that is shooting a documentary on our projects in Haiti. Dick will be finishing up his shooting on this last week that we are here. News back from some of the team members that they have arrived home back in Canada.

The top picture is at the Director General's office in PAP. We are lookng at my computer at the presentation I have on our projects in Haiti. It was a very productive meeting and we will see in the future what will come out of this. The Director General called it a miracle of what we have accomplished in such a short time and he was also amazed at the remote regions we have set up schools. This is something we have known all along but it was good to hear this coming from a man of such high authority. The response from him was very incouraging for something working in the future from support of some sort from the Government of Haiti. The verbal commitment was helping with supplying equipment that we would need in our technical school in Chabin. One of the courses will be teaching will be heavy duty equipment operation, welding, construction, plumbing & electrical. Any help with supplying equipment would be a huge help. Also a footnote is that this is the first interview the Director General has ever given so we felt priviledged.

Well worth the drive!!

We packed up the team for their trip back to Canada on Tuesday morning. Along the way to the airport we visited with Government officials from Haiti. After dropping the team off at the airport we visited our City Solite location. There were no incidents but you could feeel the tention from a couple of x gang members. You could tell as they had bullet hole scars and mission limbs. Thee were only a few that were not friendly. It was heart wrenching to see what we saw in this region. A region that has been war torn for so many years. The top picture is of City Solite, the next picture is at our Mapou location in the mountians where they were devestated with mud slides and flooding from 1994 leaving the area devisated. There were an extimated 3000 peopled killed during this time. This area has the largest number of orphanes then anywhere in Haiti. The bottom picture is at our Awesome Pete location on the bottom tip of Haiti boarding The Dominican Republic. It was 26 hrs. of some of the most difficults roads I have ever seen over a two day period. We got to meet all the children, have our meetings and get home safely with only one flat tire. The last day was 100 miles in 13 hrs. That was the good day.
The trip was so well worth it as these are the latest of our schools that we have opened. The children are so excited to be getting an education.

Mar.23 Update

We had a great hike up to our Savanette school today. The children are so happy and great full to be receiving an education. The picture above shows from our travels the other day where Dick and Rylee got a birds eye view of the countryside. Rylee is with Chat 6 TV station. She is a news reporter and putting together some stories of our work in Haiti. Dick is also from Medicine Hat and is putting together a documentary about our projects in Haiti. The team leaves tomorrow after a tour of our City Solit school and a meeting with the Minister of Culture. This meeting has been requested by the Government. This is a good thing! With the possibility of co-operation
from the Governement of Haiti it would allow us to expand even faster. We are hoping they will offer to help pay for half of our building costs of the schools. I will keep you posted on this. Dick stays in Haiti with me till our return on the 1st of Apr. .... Thanks so much for all you help...
There is still so much need. The regions that we have started up schools have seen such a transformation in ever aspect of their lives. .....

Thank-you for making a difference!!!

This is the first toy this little girl had ever been given. Now with schooling, a hot meal each day, books uniforms, and a hope for the future.... words can't say thank-you enough...

Along the road to Goye

Dave was enjoying the view while he was hanging over the cliff. I was just giving a helping hand. The scenery is breath taking.

Goye School

The first picture shows the children at the Goye school collecting their toys. The bottom picture shows one hundred of the children that are attending school this year. The principal informed me that there are 300 children registered for school when it starts in Sept. The people there told me we were the first missionaries that have ever been to their location. The joy and excitement in the community was present everywhere. .... Thank you to each that help for your support...
Without you this is not possible......

Update Mar.21/09

We had quite an amazing adventure on Friday going into the mountains to our Basfrontal and Goye schools. The pictures are from our Goye school about 8 miles north Bainet. Here Bill and Cornie are giving out soccer balls and toys to the children. This is one of our latest schools we opened in Jan. and my first time into this area.

Update Mar.18/09 Haiti

We hit the ground running when we got to Haiti. This is the first chance I have had to update my blog. Everyone is doing great with no ill effect from the trip and the first two days in Haiti. The picture above shows the foundation of the school/church that we are building in PAP. We stopped there the first day and met with the minister of Culture. They have made new rules for construction of schools in Haiti and that they have to have an engineers stamp on the blueprints and inspected. This creates no problem for us as we build our schools at the highest standard there is. This is as a result of a couple of schools that collapsed in PAP over the last year. They were not one of ours but I think it is a great idea. We spent most of the day in the Jacmel schools and Chabin school. Over the next couple days we will be traveling to some of our outlying schools with Savanette on Monday. All the children are so happy. Rylee is getting lots of reports done for her news broadcasts and Dick who is developing a documentary is getting all the filming done as we go to complete the project. Dave, Bill & Cornie are doing great also.
I'll get back with more pictures and write ups, hopefully in the next couple of days...

Family shows appreciation for help

This is one of the houses we were able to help rebuild after the terrible hurricanes last Aug. They were so thank full that they made up a LifeLine Haiti sign to put on their house.
Thank you for those that help with your financial support.
Thank you for making a difference......

Construction started in Port au Prince

We are so excited with the start of construction at our Port au Prince location. This is on the west side of PAP in an area called Diquinni. This shows the foundation being dug and the holes for the pylons. We hope to have the foundation ready in less then 4 weeks. More photo's to follow. When this school is completed on it's first phase we anticipate we will have 400 children. With the second phase we would have an additional 400 students. Our hope is to have the first phase ready for Sept./09.

Funds raise for bus!

We are so blessed to have the money to purchase a bus for transporting children from Jacmel to our Chabin location. At the present time we have a truck that transports 71 children. There will be an addition 40 children needing transportation in Sept. With receiving the funds this far in advance it gives us an opportunity to see if we can purchase one or two buses from Canada and ship them down. This would give us two buses for the price of purchasing one down there. We are on the look out for buses so if you have a lead on one or more please let me know. We could use at least 5 buses at this time for our projects in Haiti. Thank you for your support. Together we can make a difference..... Bob & Linda