Community Visit Updates

Jeanne and Jules made their regular quarterly visits to the communities in late September.  Here are the key updates:

Water filtration systems delivered!

Jules loaded up his truck with buckets to attach to water filters.  He was able to deliver 50 filtration systems to each of our partner communities (thanks to Unlocking Communities who were able to source the Sawyer filters and get them to Jules). 

Our partners in the villages were very grateful to be able to share this resource with their communities. Clean water is such an essential need!  As they distributed the water filter systems, they were also reminding the people that “clear water is not necessarily clean water.”

Pastor Deristil and the water filters delivered to St. Martin

St. Martin:

Thanks to funds from Chestnut Mountain Presbyterian Church, local leaders repaired the church roof with galvanized metal, to better withstand the sea air. Broken gutters were replaced and piping for the water catchment system has also been repaired, providing a source of water for the community.

Local leaders also made minor repairs to the school building.

Meloniere:

Pastor Voltaire’s home has been disassembled, so that they could possibly rebuild on the previous foundation, which is still intact. He and his wife are living in a tent, in the meantime, until they can rebuild.

Due to the strife and fuel shortages in Haiti, building materials are extremely scarce and costly. Therefore, Jules and Jeanne have advised us to wait until January before beginning the home repair and rebuilding process for structures damaged by the earthquake.

The church is also in significant disrepair and needs to be rebuilt, so the community has moved their seating outside for church and school classes until that work can be done and the school is able to be finished.

Plain Matin:

Pastor Pharyl has assembled a building team and they are making good progress on rebuilding the church (thanks to funds from their local denomination).  Once building costs have leveled out, we will partner with this building team to begin to rebuild the many homes that were destroyed in the earthquake.

Jeanne and Jules interviewed people living in the tent city in Plain Matin, whose homes had been completely damaged by the earthquake. You can find those interviews here and here.

Bassin Caiman:

Gratefully, very little damage was done in Bassin Caiman and the bread oven and corn grinder microbusinesses are still in operation.  The community was also able to have the local toilets emptied of their waste so that they could continue to be used for the next 10-15 years.  (From what we understand, this was not a very pleasant job!)

The principal of the school at BC organized training for their teachers prior to the new school year which began on October 4th.