Today we visited a school in Raymond that is part of a ministry we "inherited" with the orphanage.
Driving to the school in Raymond we noticed that much of the road had washed away in a landslide—we were driving very close to the edge. Danny had said that this had just happened recently. Nick asked what the implication this would be for the school and community if the road washes away. Danny said that this is the only road to the school and village and it would isolate them from getting anywhere with vehicles. So the next thing we asked is how it could be fixed and Danny showed us where the road had be reinforced with large metal crates of heavy rocks.
We drove a few more minutes and through a small stream that also had a landslide situation. The road goes through the stream (like many roads in Haiti) and actually Danny said that 3 people who were crossing the stream on foot drowned two weeks ago as the current swept them away and they were killed. This road needs work!
We got to the school and saw the awesome things that were happening. Danny was able to convince village leaders to let the school use the church building for their school. There had been LITERALLY 180 kids in one tiny little building. Now there is space in the church building (still only one room) for several classes. It’s so great. This year Danny was able to secure funds to provide new uniforms and school books for all the children in the school. (Mind you, this is a FREE school—which in Haiti is not common). Just last week Danny had a crew that built a new outhouse. It replaced a simple hole in the ground that had been used prior. It’s great because it has three stalls so that there can be a separate ones for boys, girls and teachers. Also instead of using just plain outhouses, there will be actual flush toilets as there is a river nearby and the kids will be able to flush it with a bucket of water.
This is the school for which all of the school supplies that were collected through Eddie Mullin’s gel group will be used.
Speaking of water, there is a fresh spring that runs through the property that can provide FRESH water to the land. This is a good thing because we have the potential of getting clean running water to the small school on the property, and any other community buildings we could build on the 1.3 acres that belong to HCH there. Cool stuff.
Here’s some pics of today and yesterday:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ng.mangine/FirstDayInHaiti
http://picasaweb.google.com/ng.mangine/HaitiTrip01
Nick and Danny are currently at Basin Bleu to take a look at the construction and pay the workers building the church there. We’ll upload pics/stories about that later.
Okay, one more funny story about Nia (yes, I am THAT parent) I was in here feeding the baby and wasn’t really paying attention to Nia (not that that is uncommon) and she was outside with Aline (one of the nannies) washing clothes. She’s actually been “helping” for probably 45 minutes now, just yammering on not really understanding that Aline doesn’t speak English. She just nods every now and then. Nick has our camera at Basin Bleu, so I can’t update a pic now, but Leann snapped a few so I’ll share them when I can…
Have I mentioned we love it here? Our dreams for this place only grow bigger and bigger.
