Eye clinic in Tricotte Wednesday morning
Last Saturday Pastor Alfred Paul, from the village of Fiervil in the mountains east of Tricotte, came to visit me. He walked for three hours, having heard that we may be able to do an eye clinic. He shared that he has many people in his church that struggle with their reading due to poor eye sight. I hadn’t planned to do an eye clinic on this trip but I couldn’t say no so I told him I would free up Wednesday morning at 9:00 and be able to see up to 25 patients. I also told him not to spread the word or we would have multitudes to deal with and I just didn’t have the time for more.
Well by 6:00 Wednesday morning Pastor Alfred’s people were beginning to gather out on the street in front of our house. By 9:00 there were 26 gathered — he wondered if that was okay that he had one extra and I accepted. So at 9:00 my interpreter, Garry Charles and I started seeing patients. I always explain to them that I am not a doctor and that I can only diagnois minor needs. However several years ago we were able to purchase a RETINOMAX machine due to the generosity of some of you. This machine enables me to do a fair job of determining the patients need.
By 12:30 we had seen 39 people. It is such a joy to see their faces light up when they see clearly for the first time in a very long time. One man couldn’t remember when his left eye was injured but it was since he was a little boy. I could not get a reading on that eye at all. So as I was going to the glasses inventory I prayed that God would lead me to the right pair of glasses for this man. God did and oh the excitement on this man’s face as he could see well. And the bonus was — they were bifocals and the reading part was perfect for him as well. God is so good!!!
The generosity of many of you who have donated glasses has made clinics like these possible. We are grateful to God for your contributions. If anyone has unused glasses you would like to donate, we will see to it that they are used to meet the needs of Haitians like the man from Fiervil. (If you are able to attach the presciption, that is very helpful as well).
Glasses can be dropped off at the Starfish Ministies office (at our home) at 1811 Main Street in Lynden or mailed to us at:
Starfish Ministries
1706 Front Street #440
Lynden, WA 98264
Tags: medical clinic
Some of you may remember Bernie writing in a newsletter four years ago about a young man named Nodi. It is such a blessing to see how God continues to lead young men like him. Since Bernie’s newsletter, Nodi has gone to plumbing school in Port-au-Prince. And right now he is back in Tricotte, using the things he has learned, giving back some of what he has received.
Glenn has been giving Nodi plumbing tasks in the orphanage, as they work to improve the water supply there. But Nodi doesn’t stop there. He has been at the house where Glenn and Bernie stay, cleaning up and lending a hand wherever he can. We thank God for Nodi and the things God has done in his life.
Tags: orphanage
On Saturday, Bernie and Glenn, along with Exalus, who works with our schools in Haiti, visited Remoussin, a village about a mile downriver from Tricotte. Exalus was concerned about some cracks that had been developing in the school building since the earthquake.
Glenn had been to Remoussin in February, and at that point there was no visible sign of damage. But Exalus was right; there had been damage and there are substantial cracks now. It appears our best option is to take down the building are rebuild.
In the village of Ravine, the school was in great shape, but the church building requires repairs, which we have now begun. And in the village of Means, the church (which also housed the school) had become so bad they had already taken it down. The 130 school children in Means are now meeting under a coconut leave shelter. We need to build a new school there.
There may be other construction and repair needs as well, although these were the ones Exalus and Norius were most concerned about.
Glenn & I are having a great time in Tricotte. It had been six months since we were here.
Glenn has been working on the village water system. He’s installing two new 1600 gallon water tanks in order to increase the storage capacity. We currently have indoor plumbing for our girls in the orphanage but didn’t have the capacity for the boys — so this is going to get the boys the much desired indoor plumbing as well.
This morning I helped distribute clothes at the orphanage. The kids were excited. They don’t often get new clothes. Some friends in Susanville, California put together a new “dress” clothes package for each of our kids and today the kids received it. Tomorrow we will be giving out new shoes as well.
While I had them all together I took this photo of the boys –
and this of the girls –
The kids thanked me over and over again and I pass that on to you.
This area of Haiti hasn’t had any significant rain since November. The recently planted crops are suffering and will fail if they don’t soon get some moisture. Please pray that God would provide the much needed rain. Thanks much.
Bernie called from Haiti this afternoon. He sounded upbeat and energized to be back ministering to and with many old friends.
He had a window seat on the plane as he flew into Port-au-Prince Wednesday. As the city came into view, the thing the struck him most was all the blue. Blue? As they descended, he realized that the blue was tarps, make-shift shelters all over the city providing the only protection for thousands of Haitians from sun and rain. On the ground was more of the same, a giant tent-city of tarps and anything else desperate Haitians could scavenge to provide a bit of shelter.
Many Port-au-Prince residents had their homes destroyed in the earthquake. And those whose homes were not destroyed are afraid to return to them as they still continue to experience aftershocks. Just last week there was a magnitude 4.4 aftershock (on Thursday, May 6), that terrorized the city once again. And so they live in the streets or in any open space they can find. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: earthquake, evangelism
Dear Friends,
We wanted to take a few moments and share with you where we are in our disaster relief efforts in Port-au-Prince and how we have been using the resources you’ve helped to supply. As Pastor Diogene indicated in our update Monday, we have supplied food to approximately 10,000 people since the earthquake in January, and for many of those, this was their primary source of food. Our family sponsorship ministry – where sponsors have committed to supporting a family for a six-month period while they re-establish their lives – has been going strong for the last two months, with more than 100 families sponsored. And now we are preparing to help families reconstruct homes lost in the earthquake.
Our approach to this reconstruction will be to support Haitians as they rebuild. Where some might be inclined to descend on Port-au-Prince and rebuild for them, we believe this kind of supportive partnership is a better course of action. And our support will come in several ways:
- Financial. The way we’ve done this in the past (after the 2008 hurricanes) was to pay for materials for one phase of construction at a time, such as the foundation or the walls. The homeowner provided the labor. And when that phase was completed and inspected, we financed the next phase.
- Labor assistance in specific, specialized areas. We brought in a team that installed the metal roofing on several of the homes built in 2008-2009.
- Guidance through the construction process. Using our Haitian partners, we want to visit and encourage these homeowners regularly while ensuring proper construction.
Pastor Diogene has suggested that we reevaluate some of the outdated construction methods used on many Haitian homes. We agree with him that, while we want to use familiar and available materials (concrete blocks, metal roofing, etc.), there are techniques that will streamline construction and produce a better, more solid home. These range from small changes in the mortar that will increase its strength to better methods for tying together walls. Our goal is to keep things “Haitian” while being good stewards of the resources we’ve been given and producing well-built homes that will last for many years. So Glenn and Doug, along with our Haitian construction partners, are in the process of evaluating building methods right now. Pray for wisdom for them as they consider these things.
As always, thank you for the part you play in supporting our Haitian brothers and sisters, especially during these difficult times for them.
Serving our Lord together,
Bernie, Sheryl, and Philip Bovenkamp
Tags: disaster relief, earthquake
Several families in our church lost everything they had and did not know what to do. But through the Starfish Ministries food distribution program, they have survived. Our food distribution program has a great reputation among the Haitian people, and I want to thank everyone who contributed for their help to make this possible.
The food distribution has helped approximately 10,000 people in Haiti. Half of them are in the area around our church and the others are in other parts of Port-au-Prince and Haiti. We still feed them and will continue for another month.
One of my pastor friends said, “You can not imagine the impact on my church people. Even though many organizations are distributing food in Haiti, Starfish is treating people with respect. I want to thank those donors for their help.”
And we want to add our thanks to that of Pastor Diogene and his pastor friend. Thank you for all for your generous support.
Tags: food relief
What an Amazing God!
Janary 12, 2010 around 3 o’clock I started taking courses for the second semestre , the teacher come in to the class for the first time and started teaching. This is called [the Art of Oratory], this class talks about how can somebody be a good speaker. At that time , I paid attention to listen to him. I can also expect that he is really good in what is doing. Every Tuesday we have two hours with him. We have a break time every 45 minute. We didn’t even go out to enjoy the break time. We all stayed in the class , giving our ideas about the class we are taking. One of us said: “This is the best class we ‘ve ever had, we hope that God will help us to emmagazine and practice then all in our ministries. Break time is finished the teacher restarted again. I could see in the room there is an absolute silence there every one paid attention to listen the teacher. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: evangelism