Update Sept. 30/2010

We have been getting lots of rain the last 4 or 5 days... the pictures attached are just a couple of items that came from our friends in Winkler... what a blessing this has been.. there is much more and I will have more pictures later...

We took two of the team from Minneapolis to Port au Prince yesterday.. I'll take you on the trip with us just to give you a glimpse how things can be down here... we were just leaving Jacmel ready to take the curve to the left onto the straightaway that goes past the Texico when we met a gravel truck, one of the smaller type, that had something under the front of his truck... there were sparks flying and smoke coming from underneath and he had the truck floored as hard as he could go but it was dragging him to a stop... as we got closer to him we could see it was a motor cycle under the front of his truck.. we went about 400 yards and right in front of the Texico was the body of the guy that had been driving the motor cycle... we were the first ones on the scene.... a few people had gathered and the body was twisted badly and he was taking his last breaths.. as a crowd gather some of the young men got tire irons and went to the gravel truck.. the driver had fled because he knew what was coming if he stuck around.. they would have beat him to death if they would have found him... he is probably gone to the Dominican... we had called the police and they arrived shortly after... talking about the police the report is that 650 people have been arrested and are in jail as a result of the police man friend of mine that had been killed last week... just giving you a glimpse of what happens down here...

We spent time in Leogane yesterday and I'll share some of the problems we are having with schools starting this year.. for example in Leogane we had 340 children attending a school in a house that we were renting for $2000. per year.. the house has been repaired since the quake but so many houses are still destroyed so now the demand for housing has gone up to where the rent is now $12,000. for the year which makes it impossible for us to open the school.. we drove down streets where every house on the street was flat to the ground... these were house in the upper class of the city... 85% of the houses were destroyed in Leogane...

On the way back the storms got strong and made the trip through the mountains very interesting to say the least...

For good news we got word yesterday that the Haitian Government is giving us $2500. for two of our schools to help with teachers salaries...this works out to about 4 month salary for the 2 schools...  they are also going to supply some desks...also the Senator from Jacmel  is having a meeting with us tonight to discuss the problems we had at the port with our containers and all the duties and taxes we had to pay..... he assures us we will get some of the money back that we had to pay... we are encouraged by these small jesters and are hoping this is just the beginning of what is to come ...

We must keep patient and keep pressing in to help the children...

Update Sept.29th

Just a short note to say hi and that we are all safe... I haven't been able to get to the internet as often as I would like to give updates... we were able to pick up a new welder in Port au Prince yesterday... thank you to those of you that donated towards this to make it possible.. it has help us up with the construction of our cinder block plant but now we will be able to get our welder Jerome going full speed on construction.. back to PAP today to take Jill and her team back... preparing for the team from Coastal Church to arrive on Tuesday... we have been getting lots of rain over the last few days...
Bob & Linda

PIC. OF THE DAY

Two of our precious orphans...thank you for making a difference... Bob & Linda

Haitian Policeman killed last night 24th

It was a sad day to hear of a friend of mine that was killed the night of the 24th.. it was a full moon night and I can remember in the years of police work there were always crazy things that would happen on the night of a full moon... my friend went to arrest a man during the day and the man came at him with a large bolder to smash him over the head so my fiend shot him in the leg and arm and then took him to the hospital where he is recovering fine.. later in the evening some of the victims family were worked up and showed up at the police station... the other office ran out the back but my friend stayed back to explain to the family what happened.. they didn't wait for an explanation, they just attacked him with machetes and killed him and then set him on fire... in the photo attached he is sitting in the back row with a stripped shirt and a white hat...he is sitting in the picture but is a big man and had a gentle spirit... the cells are now full as many have been arrested...

Medical team from Lethbridge

This team had a number of nurses and a Dr. from Alberta.. they held clinics up at Chabin and saw and treated over 80 patients per day for the week... they also visited our orphanage a couple of times.. the children are doing so well.. we had one little girl that was experiencing eye problems... one of the nurses recognized she could be lacking vitamin A and after a couple of days taking vitamin A her eyes cleared up... pictured are some of the nurses with some of the children at the orphanage...

Minneapolis team.. departed Sept. 24th.

Team from Evergreen and Urban Refuge... photo attached... they got out just in time... they planted trees in our orchard in Chabin, unloaded containers, painted and tiled at the orphanage, spent time with many of the families, preached at the Jacmel church...thank you for making a difference one child at a time...
Bob & Linda

Update Sept.25/2010 from Haiti (Survived the storm)

We are safe and grateful to back in Jacmel after a day in Port au Prince yesterday... we took the Minneapolis team back for their flight and while we were there there was an up expected storm come up.. it must of been part of a hurricane as the winds were tearing off the corrugated steel of buildings and fences and tossing it like Frisbee's .. the rain was coming down sideways with visibility only a matter of meters...the report we got was 5 people were killed and a number of others injured.. Pastor was separated from us picking up something from the hospital... he had these huge sheets of steel flying over him as he was running for cover... even many of the patients left the hospital as they feared an earthquake was going to happen...the roads were partly blocked on the way back home during the night from the landslides... it took over 4 hrs. to get out of Port au Prince... the storm hit Jacmel but not as sever...
Thanks for your support.

UPDATE SEPT. 18/2010 FROM HAITI

This has been the first change to get to catch up... seems to be never ending challenges but with every challenge there is always a solution..... when checking into Air Canada in Montreal on Tuesday morning it turned out one of my suitcases was over by 3 lbs. and the other one was right at the max... the lady wanted to charge me $100. for being overweight by these 3 lbs. .. maybe not such a big deal but $100. would feed many children a hot meal here in Haiti... anyway I tried to explain to her the mission we have here in Haiti and if they would waive the charge.. I could not get her to change her mind so I asked for the supervisor... after a short conversation with him he saw it my way and waved the charges.. one small victory.....

The teams arrived all the same day on Tuesday, with Miles and Rosemary on the same flight I was on and the medical team from Lethbridge about 1 hr. later.. the Dr. was not able to come because of a death in the family but he is arriving today...
Chad & Tim's team arrived last night from Urban Refuge and Evergreen.. they all pitched there tents on the roof of our school in Chabin.. I will have more updates and pictures in the days to come...

By the time we arrived in Jacmel on Tuesday night it was after midnight and then up at 3:30 AM to go back to PAP to work on the release of the containers.. it proved to be successful as two of the containers arrived last night at Chabin... the Winkler container and the Medicine Hat containers are on our property in Chabin....the third will be release Monday... we have found that there were some items missing from the containers at the Port in PAP... I guess it is the price a person has to pay for helping in Haiti but it just is not right... besides that they charges us over $20,000. for the 3 containers of which most of it was food for the children...this will be our last containers.. next we will ship over a school bus with with supplies and barge it over from Miami... now the challenge to unload these containers off the trailer.. no equipment like we are use to back home....the trailers don't have rollers or chains...

Also last night three of our staff had to go into Jacmel to get gasoline for the generator for the team staying at Chabin.. Nel, and two of our drivers.. the guy driving my truck is a good driver and operates on of our water trucks..on their way back to Chabin at around midnight they come to a very sharp corner on the road and met a semi that was a runaway.. they moved over as far as possible up against the guard rail but the semi still clipped the front end of our truck.. it was a matter of inches and they would have all been killed...by the time we finished up with the police reports it was around 3AM this morning.. the driver of the semi spent the night in jail... we are so thankful they are safe.. the truck can be repaired...

***

It's Never Too Late
Any day could be the day if you don't give up.

UPDATE SETP. 11/2010

Our banquet is on the 28th of Oct. at 6PM at Chinook Village on 13th St. ... Alexa will be doing the organizing and selling the tickets for the fund raiser... I will post more when I have the info...Ph. 403-581-6385 for tickets or to purchase a table of 8.... there will be a live and silent auction...

Pastor Placide, our Director of Operations from Haiti will be our guest speaker and then the following week he will be in Winkler... watch for info on when and where he will be speaking in Winkler.. Cornie Remple is the Winkler contact..chremple@hotmail.com

I will be ministering at Pastor Les Fischer's, Full Gospel Church in Strathmore, Ab on Sept. 12th and leave for Haiti on Sept. 13th..

WATCH FOR UPDATES... Bob & Linda

FUNDRAISING BANQUET FOR HAITI

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We will be having a fund raising banquet for our Mission in Haiti sometime near the end of Oct. or the 1st. of Nov here in Medicine Hat.... we will have more information in the next few days of the  date and location... we are hoping for the 28th of Oct...
Part of the fund raiser is to auction of three amazing paintings and drawings that were prepared by some of the girls at the Cascade Colony near McGregor, Man.... we will be auctioning these paintings and drawings at the banquet... you can bid on them on line by e-mailing me your bid and the picture you are bidding for... if you are the highest bid on line this is the amount the bidding will start at the banquet. Should no one bids a high amount you would be deemed the winner. DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO GET A BETTER LOOK....
E-mail me with your bid... lifelinehaiti@gmail.com

WATCH FOR UPDATES...

School Locations and more...

The picture I have added marks the locations of our schools in Haiti.. as it looks right now we will not be able to support all of them financially this year as the funds have not come in to cover operations.. we are doing the best we can with volunteers to open all the schools but we have very few books, no uniforms, unable to pay the teachers and everything else that goes with the operation of a school... we will keep trying to raise the funds and we know in time funds will come in... we can not give up...
I will be leaving for Haiti next Monday ... we have teams coming in from Lethbridge and Minneapolis.. the team from Lethbridge is a medical team of 11..there are two teams coming in from Minneapolis during the next month, first Chad with a team to help with construction, planting trees and much more and then later Jill will be coming in with a team from Evangelical Free to look at the possibility of helping with the purchasing of some school books in some of the areas where we are needing help... Don & Linda Weisbeck will be coming in to look at the mico loan projects we have going and may get involved in helping run this program.. they are from Brooks.. Don is the former Mayor of Brooks...
We are so gratefully for the teachers and staff of the Catholic School Division from Medicine Hat that are providing schools books for 4 of our schools ... this is in honor of Mr. Love who has been a long time teacher and principal here in Medicine Hat.. he was forced into early retirement because of a health problem and in honor of him they took up a collection from the teachers and staff and with this money will be providing schools books to 1200 of our students... there will be more info and pictures on this down the road... THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE...
We return from Haiti on the 20th of Oct. then returning back again on the 16th of Nov.
Book early if you are wanting to go during this time.. there are a few spots left...

Update on containers... still stuck at the port... hopefully they will be released by the time I get there next week.. this has been very frustrating as we have about a million meals in these containers along with building material and tools, tents, blankets and much more... we have been having to purchase food now for some time locally which puts a huge burden on our budget as we did not anticipate to having to purchase food when we knew this food in the containers would be there... they also charge us $40. per day per container while they are at the Port... they are only hurting their own people with these stall tactics... we have had staff going to Port au Prince every day to try to speed up the process...containers have been there since May...

THERE WAS TO BE FUNDING AVAILABLE THIS YEAR TO HELP WITH THE PROJECTS FROM THE HAITIAN GOVERNMENT BUT THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED... THESE FUNDS WERE TO BE SUPPLIED FROM OTHER COUNTRIES AS A RESULT OF THE EARTHQUAKE... MAYBE TOMORROW... WE CAN NEVER GIVE UP HOPE.....

I will have further updates as soon as they become available.. in the mean time thanks for hanging in there with me and helping any way you can..