Cholera Hits Haiti

Mission to Haiti – October 31, 2010

We are finally ready for our first guests, Dr. Bill and Ruth Cooper from Fort Collins, Colorado.  Dr. Bill is an old friend whom we have known for a number of years.  The whole idea of a new seminary was his and he was its guiding spirit, architect and chief fundraiser.   During the year that we spent at the OMS Vaudreuil compound, Dr. Bill stayed with us in our house every other month, and we often would spend time after a meal listening to him as he shared with us one of his stories about his days in Detroit where his Dad worked for one of the automobile companies, having literally walked out of the backwoods of West Virginia.  It was a sermon by Dr. Bill one Wednesday evening that convinced us that rather than come in once or twice a year as part of a week long work team that we should take the same leap of faith that Joshua did at the Jordan River and volunteer for a longer term as a missionary.

This past week has been largely about the outbreak of cholera that has taken the lives of several hundred Haitians, and we are told that in the majority of cases it is the children that have suffered the most.  The students here at the seminary have been asked to spread the word this weekend and subsequent weekends when they return to their home churches regarding the importance of boiling water before drinking.  The town of Limbe that is about thirty minutes from us has reported a half a dozen cases of cholera.  What we don’t know is whether these are home grown cases or whether those coming down with it have picked up the parasite elsewhere and contracted cholera once they returned home.  We also heard that a rumor has been spreading among the Haitians that this is all a plot on the part of the Dominican Republic to destabilize Haiti even more than it is. 

Our water here on the seminary compound comes from a deep drilled well, and we should not have any problems.  However, having said this it was in late September of 2008 just after we returned to Haiti from Canada, having gone home for John’s mother’s 97^th birthday, that Dorothy experienced the same symptoms of cholera that they are now reporting, vomiting and an inability to control one’s bowels.  Fortunately our resident medical missionary, was close at hand and immediately put Dorothy on an intravenous drip that is the same treatment that is used for cholera.  No one mentioned the possibility that what Dorothy had was cholera, but in retrospect it sure sounds like what they are currently describing as cholera.  As they say, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

We visited with Pastor Job of New Life Evangelical Church and School at Grison Garde and he told us the well that our work team helped fund in early May of this year is now a reality, and, in fact, Pastor Job was able to get not only the well drilled for the school but was able to get a well drilled for the community as well.  With this outbreak of cholera it was a great thing the team was able to do because otherwise the people surrounding New Life Church and School would be walking down to the river for their water, the same river where clothes are washed, baths are taken, and livestock are watered.  However, with the wells now a reality the possibility of cholera or other waterborne infections is now greatly reduced.  Pastor Job sends his thanks to the work team for their help.

Dorothy’s birthday and our anniversary have come and gone.  We were going to go to the beach at Cormier to celebrate but because of the cholera situation we decided not to go and instead ended up working.   The one memorable event that occurred on Dorothy’s birthday was that John fell off a ladder (well, really it was one foot on an unstable dresser and one foot on the ladder – give your head a shake!!) while installing curtains or according to John, he was pushed.  The jury is still out as to whether it was just an accident.  John, having survived the “accident” was able to celebrate their anniversary, so they went to Lakay, a restaurant in Cap Haitien for an anniversary lunch of a hamburger and pom frites (French fries).    Despite John’s injuries they both had another anniversary to remember.

Happy Anniversary to St Andrew’s 

The peace of Christ to you

John and Dorothy      

God's Perfect Timing

Mission to Haiti – October 24, 2011

We continue to work away cleaning, washing, and scrubbing anything that doesn’t move other than insects that are fair game.  We have more or less finished the major cleaning of the guest house that we are living in and are now concentrating our efforts on another smaller house that will take the overflow of visiting professors we are expecting in mid-January.

This past Sunday we were able to visit our home church, Eben-Ezer Evangelical Church in Cap Haitien (Fougerole), and were delighted to see upwards of 600 in the congregation.  We were blessed to have the opportunity to hear the senior choir of 60 voices and thought them so good that they should be releasing a CD.  They were so amazing and the precision with which they sang reminded us of the precision with which we remember the Irish step dancers in “Lord of the Dance” a few years back.  It was like old home week with many of our friends welcoming us back.  We are always blessed when we attend a service at one of the four churches where St. Andrew’s are supporting an education program for the children of the church and community.

On Tuesday the two new diesel generators that are to replace the existing ones which officially gave up the ghost this past week arrived but not without an element of suspense.  As the crew was traveling from Saccenville to the airport to off-load the generators from the Missionary Flights DC3 their dump truck was stopped and the trailer and front-load tractor were seized by the police because in Haiti it is a requirement that tractors be licenced and insured with the government.  The truck and crew continued on to the airport without the tractor where they enlisted the help of several of the passengers who were flying into Cap Haitien to manhandle each of the diesel generators off the plane and on to the truck, no mean feat because each of the generators weighed over 700 pounds.  The generators are in the process of being installed here at the seminary, and as I write this note I can hear one of the new generators running in the background.  It is music to our ears, well almost.  We should also mention that while it was not planned, two of the passengers who were traveling to Cap Haitien on a OMS work team unrelated to the generators were also engineers and it is these two men who are now installing the new generators.  Go figure; there is no such thing as a coincidence.  It is all part of God’s perfect timing.

While we are thankful to God and know that it is only through Him that all blessings flow, we need to accept that the less than hoped for financial results of last Saturday’s annual “Run for the Children of Haiti” were part of His perfect plan.  Perhaps we have been too complacent in our fund-raising efforts for the schools and orphanage.  Perhaps we have assumed incorrectly that everyone at St. Andrew’s is aware of the Haiti mission and the cost involved in delivering an education program for over 600 children as well as feeding children in the orphanage.  Perhaps we need to diversify our fundraising efforts as well as undertake to deliver a more effective program of communication.  It is no longer enough to assume that the congregation will support the mission in Haiti simply because it has always been there, and fundraising has been done the same way and at the same time each year. 

We still have one more opportunity this year to regain financial equilibrium.  Last year we officially commenced a Haiti Christmas Gift program whereby someone could make a donation to St. Andrew’s HEARTS and give to a friend or relative a gift such as tuition for a year for a child, or uniform, shoes & books for a child, or a food program for a year for a child.  There were a number of different opportunities to help a Haitian child while giving someone a gift that would mean so much to the individual.  Contact Sandra in the church office should you decide that this would be a perfect way to celebrate Christmas by sharing with those less fortunate.  A Christmas gift card will be provided to the donor to give to the family member or friend.

This coming week we will be celebrating both a birthday and our wedding anniversary.  We don’t quite know how we will be doing the celebrating, but as always it will be a different experience from what it might have been were we home.

God bless you all.

John & Dorothy

We Are So Blessed

Mission to Haiti – October 17, 2010

Two hymns titles come to mind today as we write.  Praise God From Whom All Blessing Flow, and We Are So Blessed (a Gaither tune).  We have been challenged two days in a row now to make our day a “thank God” day and to focus on our blessings.

In Haiti where you would wonder how the Haitian people could be thankful for anything in the months following the earthquake, it continues to make those of us who have so much in comparison with the average Haitian, marvel that time and time again they reach out to God in thanks for what little they have.  It makes us cringe when the things that we find as blessings from God that we should be thankful for are so beyond what Haitians accept as the norm.

We are thankful that we now have Internet and Skype so we can stay in contact with our family and friends back home while the average Haitian is fortunate if they have a cell phone because landlines are few and far between.  We are thankful that we now have electricity 24/7 while the average Haitian cannot begin to think of a life with electricity.  We are thankful for the abundant rain that we seem to receive each evening around supper time that keeps everything so green and lush yet for the average Haitian these torrential rains can be as much a curse as a blessing, particularly for those who are living in the tent cities on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

  And, we are thankful for the wisdom to know our physical limitations in the heat and humidity, and can sit down and rest with a cold glass of water while the average Haitian must toil without thought of a moment of relaxation if they are to find enough work to feed themselves and their families.In a nutshell, we have been so pampered and so spoiled that we have lost sight of the things that we should really be thankful for such as simple food on our table, a roof over our heads, and friends and family to share it with.  We are so blessed.

We talk about setting up a RESP for our grandchildren to attend university or college while 50% of all Haitian children never see the inside of a classroom.  We were reminded only yesterday of how precious education is to the Haitian people when we heard of a 28 year old man who was in grade three having never had an opportunity to attend school until very recently.  As we sat about eating our Thanksgiving dinner of homemade glorified macaroni and cheese with canned ham we chatted about how for many Haitians the concept of passing a plate of food around a table would be unheard of because with hunger so prevalent to pass a plate of food to someone else without knowing whether you would get another plate of food to replace it would be foolhardy.  We cannot begin to understand or appreciate what our life would be like if we had to live the life of the average Haitian.  We are so blessed.

We do not know as we write this week’s “Mission to Haiti” how successful the “Race for the Children of Haiti” was and whether HEARTS raised sufficient funds to continue its support for all the 4 schools in 2011.  We pray that St. Andrew’s and the community were generous and that the schools St. Andrew’s supports in Haiti will continue to thrive and give the children of Haiti a small measure of hope so their lives will be changed because they had the opportunity to attend school.  We are so blessed.

We pray that you have a great week.

John & Dorothy McCluskey

Scrubbing and Cleaning

Mission to Haiti – October 10, 2010

After a 1 day delay caused by Tropical Storm Nicole as it slid up the east coast of Florida and the USA we finally arrived in Haiti on Friday, October 1^st with approximately half of the 750 pounds of luggage and our other necessities.  The balance arrived this past Tuesday.  We were greeted at the airport by a couple of our Haitian friends that we have known for some time, and rather than bringing us immediately to Saccenville we were able to stop and pick up a few groceries and were immediately reminded how expensive food is in Haiti because so much of it is imported.  We were also reminded of how hot and humid it is in Haiti.  By the time we made it to Saccenville all we wanted to do was find a shower and stand under it, but first we had to unpack several of the containers that made it to Haiti with us so that we could make our bed before we collapsed into it.

Our home away from home, La Ville Auberge

Our first few days have been spent cleaning the house that is our home for the next several months, and shopping for a few more groceries and other things that we could not begin to bring with us.  We went to the local church on Sunday, Maranantha, and were blessed by a young Haitian composer who has written a number of spiritual songs and a group of young local women who sang his songs so wonderfully.  The message, well it was in Creole, from Romans 12. 

There have been a few glitches as well.  The generator here at the seminary has been causing difficulties for the past month, and the maintenance person responsible for it has been keeping it running on a hope and a prayer.  Well, Friday night (the day we arrived) the generator had a tantrum and quit, which would not have been too bad because all the buildings and houses have a back up battery inverter system.  However, what we did not know was that our house has also had problems with the batteries so everything in the house, refrigerator, water and fans quit shortly after we went to bed and as a result we wallowed in a sea of sweat for a good portion of the night.  Our prayer of that night was answered when the Haitian power system kicked in later on and we had power for a good portion of the next day as well.  To replace the 8 batteries cost in excess of $1,000, an expense we had not planned for, however, we now have power and are so, so thankful that we do.

The other glitch had to do with the internet.  Our laptop has served us well over several years, but like everything having to do with computers, change happens on a continual basis.  The internet service provider has updated something or other since were here in 2007/2008 and as a result our computer could not access the system.   As a result we were unable to let anyone know that we had arrived safely.  Fortunately, Stacey Ayars, one of our fellow missionaries at Saccenville, has a blog and let it be known last weekend that we had finally arrived in Haiti.  Wednesday, Stacey’s husband, Matt, was able to do a fix of sorts that has now allowed us to access the internet.  Praise the Lord that both glitches were of a sort that we could get them looked after within a few days.

Tonight, Wednesday, we were reminded again that we are no longer in Canada.  We were in Vaudreuil where the majority of the missionaries live for a bible study and potluck supper.  When we returned home Dorothy went out to the laundry room and was greeted by a tarantula about the size of a man’s hand.  Dorothy shouted and John came running to catch or kill the hairy beast.  Fortunately, the tarantula cooperated and John was able to sweep it out the back door without killing it.  However, we had not been in bed very long when John noticed a wolf spider about the size of a woman’s hand on the wall three feet from his head.  This time John shouted waking Dorothy, and he jumped out of bed looking for something with which to kill it.  Wolf spiders move very quickly and by the time John returned with the brand new toilet bowl plunger the spider had moved up the wall and was scooting across the ceiling.  John pursued it with plunger in hand and just when we thought it was about to escape it fell to the floor where John gave it a mighty whack.  Try going to sleep after all that excitement, exhausted or not!!  In place of counting sheep we found ourselves counting spiders.

All in all it has been an uneventful week of settling in, glitches and spiders aside, and a rather smooth reintroduction into missionary life in Haiti.  We were blessed with safe travel, have good friends, see gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, and have a lovely house with beautiful tropical plants surrounding it.  It is our earnest prayer that we will be able to help and share responsibility here at Saccenville.  God’s timing is always perfect and He will make us ready when a situation present itself that will allow us to invest in the life of a Haitian.  Please pray this week for a team of students from the seminary that is going to Port next weekend to do evangelism. 

We were speaking with Pastor Vilmer Paul of Heavenly Light Church and School this morning.  He is so enthusiastic about the academic year that started this week at his school and the challenges that lay ahead.  He is so appreciative of the help that his school is receiving from St. Andrew’s, and the difference it is making in the lives of the children in his community.  We only wish you could be here to listen to him because it is your support of the “Race for Haiti” that is being held on October 16^th that makes this all possible.  You can and are making a difference. Keep up the good work.

May God less you and keep you this week.

Dorothy and John

Haiti Bound

Mission to Haiti – October 3, 2010

We are writing this note while still in Florida.  Tomorrow, Thursday, September 30^th we fly into Cap Haitien.  We had a lovely drive down.  God’s handiwork could be seen from the beautiful harvest moon as we were leaving to the mist rising over the fields as the sun rose higher in the sky.  Our views of the mountains of West Virginia as we drove through them were spectacular.  Florida has been hot and humid.  Tuesday the temp was 94 degrees with no humidex factor included.  It must be God’s way of preparing us for Haiti weather.

Tropical Storm Nicole blew through southern Florida on Wednesday dumping all kinds of rain of differing amounts dependent upon where you were.  We were driving today from Orlando (almost across the road from Disney World; did we go there? no.) where we have been staying, to Fort Pierce to catch our flight with MFI (Missionary Flights International), a distance of approximately 100 miles, and experienced little difficulty along our route. 

We only wish we knew what the customs and immigration people have in store for us when we land in Cap Haitien because we understand that they are getting tougher on those entering Haiti wanting to know not only how long you will be staying but why, and whether what you are doing might be better done by a Haitian.  We would love to work ourselves out of a job by training Haitians to take over once we leave.  We are taking in with us over seven hundred pounds (We’re not sure how many kilograms that is.) of ”stuff” to make our job a little easier and our house more of a home.  You may ask what kind of stuff, and we can only say that when all you have been told is that you have in your home are five single beds, one chest of drawers, a sofa and chair, one lamp, and a dining table with six chairs it leaves a lot of room to add your own personal touches.  We have also been told we have a stove & fridge, one pot and one pan, but aren’t too sure that we have a microwave.  (We did buy 1 package of chocolate chips.)  All of it will not make the flight tomorrow so the rest will come in next Tuesday.

It is our plan in the coming weeks to add some furniture and lamps.  The tables can be ordered from a local cabinetmaker, but the lamps will need to be ordered in from the USA and flown in, again by MFI.  The cabinetmaker does good work with the limited equipment that is available.  We were quite impressed with the quality of the tables we had made the last time we were in Haiti for an extended period.  I am sure there will be many other things that we will need before we feel really settled, but the one thing we know will not need to be brought in or ordered in are the many old friends that are still here both Haitian and other missionaries.  

Our devotion this morning touched our hearts with its emphasis on mission and prayer.  It was taken from Jeremiah 1:7-10.  We cannot précis so here it is in its entirety.

 

A Vision for Prayer

“But the Lord said to me,’ do not say, “I am only a child.”  You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.  Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘ Now, I have put my words in your mouth.  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and the plant.’”

What a grand-scale vision is today’s reading!  Uprooting nations and kingdoms?  Destroying and overturning realms?  Building and planting in remote corners of the earth?  Little wonder we quiver and whine, “That’s not for me.  I am only a child.”

But God is with you as you grab hold of this magnificent vision.  That’s right, God has appointed you over nations and kingdoms.  He has appointed you to uproot and tear down … through prayer!  God will touch your mouth and give you the words to intercede for the nations of the world.  If you can’t actually serve on the foreign mission field, you can travel there through prayer.

The world is starving for your prayers.  And the Devil is terrified of them.  So don’t let Satan shrivel and shrink your vision down to a size that he finds more manageable.  If your heart needs to get pumped up, read Jeremiah 1:7-10 one more time and rejoice over God’s vision for you to reach the world through prayer!

Dig out an old National Geographic map and thumbtack it opposite your desk to remind you of God’s grand-scale vision to reach the world with His love.  Ask Him to fill your mouth with intercessions and then start building and planting through your prayers.

Enlarge my heart, Lord, to pray the way You would have me to pray for the world!

Would you pray for us, and may God keep you in His care.

Dorothy and John

p.s.  Remember the run walk on Saturday, October 16.  The Haitian children in the schools St Andrew’s supports need you!

Our vehicle loaded to the hilt and heading for Florida

Missionary Fllights International DC3 to Haiti being loaded at Fort Pierce

New Blog

Thank you to Stacey Ayars for setting up our picture on this blog.  She is amazing.  The Ayars' family live next door to us in Haiti and are missionaries with OMS International.  When you start reading this blog you will see pieces that have been written specifically for our church bulletin with pictures now included.   We do hope to write on a more regular basis now that the blog is up and running and hope you check in once in a while to see what is happening in our world at Saccenville, Haiti, and at the Ville Auberge, the name we have given to our guest house. 

Dorothy and John