Monday, December 3, 2012

Back to PAP

Yesterday was such an amazing day. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of photos of the parts I wanted.  I had to hand my camera to another person and the batteries died not long into the ceremony/dedication of the water building but I DID get some.  Here is a sample.

We drove home at about 2:30 pm. and got to the guest house at about 6:30 pm. for dinner and to just chill and celebrate ALL that the group had done this past week.  Two water systems!  Many people will be healthy now.  Praise God!  We even managed to stay within our budget though we did spend the excess on
some things like snacks/drinks for the celebration for all, an exterior light for the water building for security, fixing the fence, etc...

Redgi went home for the night (I am at the guest house with the team) and will pick me up/take me back to Carrefour today- from there, who knows.  Tomorrow I have four friends coming to stay with me at the house in Carrefour.  How exciting to be able to share it with others.

As we were driving in there were so many people walking to the church- took this out the front window.

People gathering for the celebration.  The stove and such were there to show some of the things/classes they will offer at the professional school.  They will charge about $50 US for the year for a class but they are planning to teach things such as cooking/baking, sewing, masonry, computer, etc.. 

Women waiting for the celebration to begin

The mayor of Chantal is on the right in this photo (I am sitting behind the person speaking).  Pastor Cornet, Pastor Duval, Pastor Junior and a visiting Pastor Blackson were all in attendance as well.  The Mayor got the first jug of water and he even said he would encourage the people of Chantal to come out for water- that it is better and cheaper than what is sold there!  :)  :)    This will encourage people to come to Chaveneau and hopefully take some classes at the professional school and will  ultimately help the community become more self-sustaining.  Praise God!

Pastor Cornet was thanking me and Bower Hill Community Church who was responsible for the project.  I thank them too!  For caring about the people of Haiti, for coming to help and for their friendship/hospitality they showed Redgi and myself this past week.  I am blessed to call them friends!  (and they are committed to a 3 year follow-up)

More people at the celebration- trying to find some shade!  This string line/ribbon was later cut by the mayor!

I spoke about our commitment as an organization to their community and working WITH them- not to give hand outs which will be gone shortly after they are received, but to help them become a community that is self sustaining- providing jobs for those in the community, providing better health/nutrition, providing education so that they can be part of a positive future for Haiti!  :)

Darenda spoke as well.  She explained how they could have picked many "causes" and even once they chose to help provide clean water to Haiti they could have chosen many other locations, but God brought them HERE!  Now the people of Chaveneau must continue to "pay it forward" and go to others to help them as well- whatever that looks like to each person/family.  We pray this is only the beginning!
There are unfortunately no photos of the people getting their certificates for attending the classes and for learning to be operators, of the cutting of the ribbon and my favorite part- of ALL in attendance getting a taste of the clean water from a cup.  They were sooo excited and the mood was so positive.  I wish everyone readying this could have been there with us as well!  THANK YOU again for helping this become reality.

No comments:

Post a Comment