Sorry people for posting this late – the generator went out early last night so I was unable to post this… this my Thursday night blog post….

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Thursday Blog Entry

A 5.0 earthquake this morning…. in the Dominican Republic….early about 2am… so was that what woke me or those blasted dogs????. What-the-what! Guess I can’t blame this one on Megan Samples…. but although it was not felt… it’s just too close for comfort. I think Pancha agrees. Last night it rained…. as this is the dry season… very welcome. Tonight it is pouring… unusual but then again welcome. All I can say is … interesting.

Last night Wednesday night) I was ecstatic the dogs were not barking.. I thought Father had banished them to the backyard after we kind of told him they were keeping us up…. never occurred to me that they were not barking because it was raining… but as soon as it stopped raining those blasted dogs started barking and barked all night…. It’s pouring now… hopefully it keeps raining!

Well happenings for today… Tuesday we had a village given our name as a honorary name for what we have done for the people of LaTorre Bouchan and today we were told by a village committee that we have brought light to the darkness…. wow how do you top that? Today we did “little” things… we toured the primary school and another large building that currently houses a part time medical clinic. This village desperately needs a secondary school…. the distance and the road the kids have to walk to get to school is unbelievable. The village told us that a secondary school was on their wish list…. after touring the set up the clinic building is really large and underutilized so we decided and Father R agreed that it would be perfect for a secondary school ….all we need is a building in a box building to make into a medical clinic.  All dreams but dreams that would change the daily plights of a few hundred students who have to walk or hitch rides down the mountain everyday …rain or shine to go to school.

Showing team spirit at the school

After our tour we met with the village committee that would help us decide who would receive the first batch of solar lights… I think we had about 27…. We taught them how to use the lights and ho to maintain them. That’s when they told us that we had brought light to darkness. They told us that many people either burn wood, charcoal or use kerosene to light their houses… if they had the money… many times they do not… so they live in darkness without the sun. Father Roosevelt explained that not only do children not get to do their homework but it is unsafe … he floors in these houses are dirt and insects and “things” come in when its dark… and now since there is light the people will have a better life, children can study, people can be more productive. The villagers are excited about the lights….  I mean really excited.  So they were going to give them to the families that needed them the most… Friday night we are going to visit a few of the homes to interview the people and also see how they make a difference in these homes…. I am excited about this. The company we purchase these lights from also matches lights so we are lighting the world one match at a time (Can’t claim that one … Meghan and Pancha came up with it )

Bringing Light to the Darkness

The pigs story continues… so two of our men left at 6am Thursday morning to drive to Hinche to purchase (hopefully) 16 healthy pigs … and they left in a tap tap J We received a call around 2pm on Thursday that they had bought 13 pigs… they were going to spend the night in Hnche as there was another market on Friday morning and they wanted to see if they could et more pigs…. They will return with all pigs Friday afternoon for the pig distribution. The key is that they are being really picky and only want very healthy pigs… hence this epic journey. Hinche is 2 hours one way … so I think this demonstrates that the community is taking this project very seriously. What more can you ask?

So I finally proved to everyone that there is a Home Depot in Haiti…. Eko Depot. It took a but to get there but once there everyone agreed … Eko Depot = Home Depot. We plan to shop there in the near future for the next phase of the Mont Lopital Economic Development Initiative or MLEDI for short

We then went to see Father Roosevelt’s home for orphaned children. They were adorable! There are only 11 children at this home so far…. All orphaned and in the custody of Father R. We took photos for the sponsors… although we need about five more sponsors (hint hint hint)

Father Roosevelt, SIFE and Orphange Kids

Well once again our journey was ending… we climbed back in the van and head back through Port au Prince and up Mont Loptial….normally  a rock and roll ride…but tonight it was in the dark and wow was it ever dark. When we got back we had a wonderful surprise… they made us Plantain Pudding… now that may sound questionable to you… but let me tell you it is AWESOME! It was a great day… we had fun… and changed the lives of a lot of people. We may not be able to change the country of Haiti… but we are changing the lives of many of the Haitian people.  And tomorrow we have the official start up of our pig cooperative. How cool is that??

Let me leave you with this…Margarete Meade once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

Rebecca