We're home

Many of you know by now that we flew home unexpectedly two weeks ago. We were made aware that another missionary was working to take us to court in Haiti. While we don't believe we did anything wrong, we didn't believe that fighting a court battle was a good use of donated funds or our time, and most importantly, we didn't believe that a fight would bring glory to God, which was why we were there in the first place. We were also worried about the stress of the situation and it's impact on our kids. We decided that since we were employees of our organization and did not have the ability to negotiate to give the other missionary what he wanted, the best way for us to bring peace to the situation was to leave the country.

We are sad that our time in Haiti ended so suddenly, without the time to tie up loose ends, say our goodbyes, and find closure for our family, but we are content to be home and are starting to put together our life here. Less than a week after arriving home, Peter was offered a position with the engineering firm where he worked before our move to Haiti. We know that in this economy that is no small thing and are thankful that God provided a job for us so quickly. We spent the week looking at houses in Portland and had an offer accepted for a nice home on a quiet street yesterday. We are looking forward to moving into our own house and settling in, but we're really enjoying the time we get to spend with my parents while we live with them in the mean time.

The ministries that we worked with while in Haiti are continuing. Last Monday, 93 students who have been sponsored in Borel started school with books, backpacks and uniforms. We are thankful for the help we have received with finishing up the last minute things that we didn't have time to take care of before we left. The ecosan toilet is operating well and continuing to serve the Pierre Payen hospital. The water filter project was just ready to begin making filters, and will continue as well. The board of Clean Water for Haiti Charities Organization of Canada, along with the leadership of Project Help-Haiti, are looking into some new options for the project which are exciting and involve more leadership by local Haitians. We were able to finish the work yard just before leaving and it is a beautiful space in which to build filters.

We are prayerfully considering how we can continue to serve the country and people that we grew to love during our time there, even though we aren't able to live there any longer. Upon reflecting on our experiences in Haiti we recognize that we gave and were given to. We loved and were loved. We shared ideas and learned from others, especially how to better live in community. We know that our time there was God ordained and we are thankful for the journey. Thanks for following along with us.

God bless.
Peter, Sara, Noah and Abe

Update on the sponsorship program: 93!

A big thanks to each of you who has sponsored a student through the sponsorship program here in Borel. As of yesterday, we have 93 students with sponsors! Yesterday morning as I was gathering information and taking pictures of 7 kindergartners to enroll them in the program, I realized that this might be my favorite job ever. I mean, come on. Look at these faces!

Merina - Age 6

Schnaider - Age 5

Besides the cute kids, it has also been fun getting to know and work with several directors of local area schools. After our initial 50 students were chosen by a local ministry partner, all additional sponsorships that came in were divided between schools in our immediate area and school directors were asked to nominate students who they knew to be in great financial need. The director of the secondary school in front of the mission, Met Miguel, went through school on a sponsorship through Project Help many years ago. When he heard that a new sponsorship program was starting up he jumped in to help. I've been so thankful for the help of all of the head masters and directors because ultimately they understand the school system here better than anyone and they will be helping to support sponsored students and hold them accountable for attending school and working hard.

School is starting October 3^rd, so we only have 2 ½ more weeks to pull everything together. We hired a local sewing “boss” through one of the school directors, and he has done a great job of making a uniform for each student. There are 10 different schools represented in our program and each has a different uniform for kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school, so his job of buying the right fabric and sewing the right uniform for each student is not easy. My closet is full of uniforms and as soon as I empty it out, he refills it.

We're providing each student with a backpack. Peter and I always try to buy as much as we can locally to help feed into the economy, but for backpacks I was worried that I wouldn't be able to buy enough new ones for each student. Most students would buy their school bags in the market, shipped second hand from the states. I looked into buying them online but couldn't find anyone flying in with enough luggage space to deliver them. I checked with the managers of the two biggest grocery stores in St. Marc and explained the sponsorship program, and they agreed to help me in finding all the backpacks that we need. Yesterday I gave out bags to 3 students who start school before the rest. When I asked if I could cut the tags off for them, they all were quick to say no, and wore them out with the tags on. They were so excited to be getting something new.


We'd love for you to pray for these kids throughout the school year. I believe that each student was ultimately chosen by our heavenly Father. We hope to encourage them and their families, while lifting one financial burden. Also, we'd love your prayers for us as we work to finish paying for school and collecting uniforms, books, and supplies for 93 students. I know it will get done, but 2 weeks doesn't feel like much time in which to make it happen. Also pray for the relationships we are working to build with the students that they would develop at a healthy pace.

Work Yard History

We are excited to say that a lot of progress has been made on the Project Water work yard over the past month and we are on schedule to meet our goal of producing filters by mid-October. As of today, the storeroom walls and roof are finished, the well and pump house are built, and the metal roof covering the filter production area is one day away from completion. This progress has been made in spite of a long list of obstacles (a list that includes things like generator break downs, roads being blocked by people protesting because of a lack of electricity, and the challenge of building flow in a new work crew) and because of the hard work that everyone involved has put into it.

Every day a steady trickle of people passes through to see the progress that we are making and to ask about what we will do in the “big house” when it is done. Through talking with our employees and these visitors, we’ve been able to piece together a rough history of the place that will be Project Water’s home. This history is an interesting window into the pasts of both Borel and Project Help’s mission compound.

In the 1930s, before Project Help or its founder, James Wallace, came to Borel the mission property and surrounding area were owned by the American Fruit Company, which grew fruit crops for export to the US. American Fruit owned and farmed a large amount of land throughout the Artibonite Valley, including what is now the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in nearby Deschapelles. During this time, the Project Help compound was used for equipment maintenance and worker housing. We have actually dug up several engine parts that may have been thrown out and buried as a part of American Fruit’s work.

The timing of the things that happened on the property between when American Fruit left and now is unclear, but the uses during this time were many. The ground in our work yard is fairly fertile and has often been used to grow pumpkins, corn, and potatoes. Our filter production area is built over a concrete slab and one large block wall that were part of a stable that has been used to raise cows and pigs. Our storage room is built on an elevated slab that was part of the stable, but then later housed a sugar cane press. We’ve heard several stories about people walking by on the path behind the building, yelling, “Give me cane!” and holding out their buckets to receive hosed out cane juice.

With all of the uses Project Water’s home in Borel has had over the years, a few things have held constant. With each “movement in the line”, as a neighbor called it, the site has been actively connected to the needs and people in the area. The longtime residents of Borel feel that the history of this property and the mission campus in general is a part of their history. As we build our work site, we imagine building on this history to create a ministry that the residents of Borel can see as their water project, a project that is here to understand and help with the problems that they face in everyday life.

First week of school!

We’ve heard from many people this week asking how the first week of homeschooling went and letting us know they’ve been praying for us. Thank you! I believe that those prayers were answered. The first week of school went really well despite a crazy week in other respects. Excitement was high in our house as the boys went to bed Sunday night. Peter made a sweet little school table for the boys that we sneaked into the house so they would find it first thing Monday morning. On Monday they were so excited that they were up, had eaten breakfast, gotten dressed, cleaned their room and were sitting at their table waiting for me by 7:00 am. It was hard to convince them that school was over when we finished all of our activities for the first day, so they kept doing worksheets and coloring for a couple more hours.

We’ve had fun learning about the first 5 days of the creation story and numbers 1 through 5. What we lacked in construction paper and glue sticks that I didn’t think far enough ahead to pack and bring in with us back in March, we made up for in experiences that are easier to find here than back home. For example, the mama chicken who laid her eggs in a bucket in the shop and has been sitting on them for a couple of weeks, finally emerged with a new batch of chicks on the same day that we learned about God creating birds. Yesterday we went to the beach and Noah used his snorkel to look for sea creatures. We found a tiny little fish and a crab. Just wait until we get to the “insect” unit. We are going to have plenty to observe and study.

We have some new neighbors and friends that have helped some with school and definitely helped in calming my nerves about home schooling. Ken and Betty McIntyre retired from teaching and felt like God was calling them into missions. They arrived here in Borel on Wednesday and have already encouraged us greatly. Ken retired as a college math professor and Betty is a former elementary school teacher and reading specialist who most recently has been working as a mentor to teachers to help them improve their teaching. She has given me some great pointers and ideas for helping Noah learn to read. As a bonus, our boys already think they are wonderful and adore them.

I know that every parent thinks that their kids are smart and gifted, but it has been fun for me to watch how eager they both are to learn. They haven’t accepted that thing that so many of us grow to accept that makes us feel like we aren’t capable of or good at something. One of the qualities that I would most like to change in myself is that I always hesitate to try something new if I don’t know that I’m going to succeed at it. It can be crippling sometimes and I don’t want to pass it along to them. They both totally believe that they can learn and do anything I ask them to. I hope they can hang on to that confidence while at the same time discovering that failing at something is part of learning, and it isn’t something to be afraid of.

Stalled out

There are times when living here starts to feel normal to me. I don’t always notice anymore that the kids playing soccer outside my house are naked from the waist down or that we are weaving around potholes that could swallow us whole as we drive down the road. Sometimes I forget that back in the States there is power all the time and I can drink water right out of the tap. There are times when living here starts to feel normal, and then there are times when I am reminded that this life we are living is very, very different from my former life. My jump in the car, sail down the freeway, run into the store to grab something, former life. The last week has had more than its fair share of reminders that, “yep, we’re still in Haiti.” We are feeling stalled out. Everything takes at least 6 times longer to accomplish than is reasonable. Plans mean nothing but tears of frustration. The little engineery time-lines that Peter likes to make just push us closer to the edge when we realize that we are not even on the line anymore, but have veered off onto some other alternate universe time-line where people wait in bank lines for half of their lives.

A glimpse at our week:

People in neighboring town are frustrated over lack of electricity so they begin blocking the road which is our only road to St. Marc and banks, grocery stores, construction supply places. Sometimes they block it with rocks, sometimes with big trucks with flattened tires, sometimes with brand new shiny tractors, sometimes with the vehicles of unlucky passersby. We must time our trips according to their protests. Need to go to the bank. Can't. Need to buy construction materials. Can't.

Finally get a day to go to the bank when the road isn't blocked. Arrive as the door is opening and find myself to be 187th in line. Wait for half an hour to get in the door. Wait another hour before a rumor starts to spread down the line that the bank is out of cash and will not let people withdraw money. Entire line erupts in yelling and tousling. Hide behind tall man in front of me. Hear people throwing punches. Watch armed security guards drag people out of line and out of the bank. Smile a little inside knowing that my wait in line just went from 4 hours to 3. Remember that waiting in line for 3 hours at the bank is not normal and check myself.

Internet provider sends out an email letting people know their modem must be powered on between 12 and 1 on a specific day for updates. We know we will forget to start the generator at that specific time so Peter sets his alarm on his telephone. Plans change and instead of me leaving for the day, he leaves for the day. I completely forget about the generator. His phone battery dies so he can't call and remind me. I remember at 1:15. This little mistake means that we have no internet for a week and have to send the modem to an office about 4 hours away.

Yesterday -
Plan: Cut steel for molds.
Actual: Try to figure out why the generator isn't working. Watch an electrician take the entire generator apart to find the problem. Feel heart sink when it is discovered that the problem is big. Make a 4 hour trip to St. Marc to get one piece of steel that shop needs to finish the gate for the work yard but forgot to put on the list of needed materials. Go try to find brand new missionaries arriving at the compound to pull them out of a giant mud hole their vehicle fell in on the way to the mission. Can't find them. They get out by digging in the mud with pieces of wood. Eat dinner at 9:00.

Today -
Plan: Put roof up over the work yard.
Actual: Go to Port au Prince to buy a new generator. Check at two stores and find out that neither one will have the generator we need for at least a week (in Haiti language that really means more like 2 or 3 weeks optimistically). Eat in an actual restaurant for consolation.

By this morning so many things had not worked over the past couple of days that we just laughed with each new development. "Oh, a flat tire? Of course. The accountant with the funds for the new generator can't be reached? That makes sense in my life today. There are no generators here? Well, that's fine. I had already assumed that would be the case." We laughed because the alternative was crying or yelling at the universe, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!" Before leaving this morning Peter asked me, "Do you think it is more likely that the big truck will break down in Port or that the generator won't fit on the small truck?" Or option C - there will be no generator to pick up. Really, why are we even playing this game today?

The literal and figurative road blocks this week feel more extreme than usual. If it is not big frustrations slowing us down it is a million tiny distractions. I sometimes visualize the unseen world and wonder if the battle is heating up. And then I wonder if it is not the enemy but our Father slowing us down. Teaching us patience. Teaching us humility. Teaching us that all of our plans are silly if based on our own skill, stamina, and might. Ultimately I guess it doesn't matter. We're called to be joyful. To be patient. To trust. I feel like swearing. But I will try to be patient instead. And maybe the most frustrating part is that I know that all of this is trivial, that some people have real problems, and still it is throwing me off my game. This week it feels like a mental health professional could make a bundle off of me.

Pretty pink potty

The construction phase of the toilet project at the Pierre Payen Hospital is finished! It might be the prettiest outhouse in all of Haiti. It is big and pink and hard to miss if you visit the hospital. It sits right outside of the maternity ward and our hope is that the soon-to-be and new moms will find it a place that makes them feel like they are cared for. It is open to clinic patients and all of the hospital staff as well.

We think that this....



...beats the pants off of this...


...any day of the week when it comes to helping people feel valued, cared for, and dignified.

But, here is where the real magic happens...

The poop (since starting this project we have become much more comfortable with that word) will be dumped in these bins and covered with carbon rich materials such as banana leaves, saw dust, and ash, and will sit and compost for several months. The temperature will reach a point that kills all of the harmful microbes in the waste. It will then be a safe and beneficial soil additive for local gardens. No more cholera infested waste leeching into a nearby river. No more typhoid caused by shallow latrines filling up with rain water and running through someone's yard or house....at least here. Neat, right?


Monique, our eco-san toilet technician, will be responsible for emptying the barrels into the compost bins, processing the compost, and keeping the toilets themselves clean and sanitary. The granting organization included funding for a part time position to keep the toilet and composting facility running. Monique is a mother of four who currently also works party time cleaning the maternity ward after births. She is excited about the technology and is not afraid of handling the waste. If you think of her, could you say a prayer of encouragement for her? She is a neat lady and we're really glad that she is working with us.

Working on this project has been a special blessing for us. When we went home last December a friend asked Peter what he dreamed of doing in Haiti in the future and Peter said, "toilets" which brought some giggles. We never dreamed we would have the chance to work on a sanitation project so soon. We are thankful to Project Help-Haiti for asking us to be involved and to the granting organization for seeing the importance of community sanitation in this place where waterborne disease is such a problem.

The other side of Compassion

I have been a Compassion International sponsor since I was a kid. My parents sponsored a girl from Uganda starting when I was about 12. I still remember her name - Anyango Faith. She was probably about the same age as me. We would write letters to her as a family and always got excited to get her letters back to us in the mail. When I left home and went to college I sponsored a boy from Peru named Manuel until he aged out of the program. We now sponsor a little guy from Kenya named Martin who we try to correspond with, but have found it tricky since we're in a place without mail service and with spotty internet.

Since moving here it has been fun to see the other side of the Compassion program. When we lived in Pierre Payen one of our neighbor boys, Mandela, was sponsored through Compassion. He brought me his sponsor's picture and name, and her letters that he had been saving. I never knew if the kids we sponsored felt any kind of connection to us or cared about getting our letters. The letters were obviously important to Mandela and he asked if I would try to get in touch with his sponsor to let her know that he was a friend of mine, that he was doing well in school, and that he loved Jesus. Four of the Project Help schools are host to Compassion programs, including the one here in Borel. We've gotten to know several families who have kids in Compassion.

There was no way to capture on film how many people were in our front yard.
Can anyone spot my blond-haired, Creole speaking son in this picture?

Last week there was a Compassion International Camp held here at Project Help's compound for some of the sponsored kids who had been selected to come from around the country. The 300-ish kids were so very excited to be here and lots of sugary drinks were consumed, which caused it to be loud, and chaotic, and LOUD, and there were times during the week when I didn't handle myself with much grace - example: when the kids decided to play soccer on the grassy area outside of our house at 5am with empty plastic bottles and I stormed outside in my pj's to beg them to **please** wait until at least 6am to drive me crazy. One really fun surprise was that Mandela, our neighbor from Pierre Payen, was invited to the camp. We didn't know he was here, and he didn't know that we lived at the compound until the second day when he spotted Peter. He came right over to our house to say hi to the boys and give me a hug. We didn't have any responsibility for the camp itself and because we and the students were busy, we didn't spend time with them for most of the week. The final day, though, the kids had more free time and spent it playing soccer and basketball in front of our house so the boys and I went out to visit and play. I asked if I could take a picture of a couple of boys in their Compassion shirts and explained that I was a sponsor for a little boy in Africa.


And then the kids swarmed around me full of questions. They were hungry to know what it is like on the other side. 'How does someone become a sponsor? How do sponsors choose which child they will sponsor? Can a sponsor come and visit us here? My sponsor doesn't write many letters, but my classmate's sponsor does - why?...' It was fun to talk with them and ask them questions about their experience as students in the Compassion program, while at the same time sharing with them this one sponsor's heart. It was clear to me that just as important as the financial help with school was the communication and the relationship. They all knew their sponsors' names. They all wanted to know if their sponsor could come and meet them. It was all about wanting to know their sponsor better. As I stood there talking to them and learning their names, it reminded me again that in both Compassion and compassion that we are called to practice daily, it is the relationship, and not necessarily the giving, that really changes us, teaches us, helps us grow, both as givers and receivers. And there are people needing compassion all around us, all the time, offering endless chances for relationships, for growth, for knowing Jesus better. I read this truth recently here: (Go check it out. The whole thing is good!)

...because when you know “poor” people by name, whether they live in Los Angeles, or Port-au-Prince, something changes inside you. In fact think Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, not just for our neighbors sakes, but for our own as well, because he knows what happens inside our hearts when we let in those who are vulnerable, needy and even repulsive near us. WE become vulnerable, needy and dare I say it, even repulsive too. Our own motives and shortcomings and entitlement and laziness come to the surface and stare us in the face. And that IS uncomfortable.