Where do Haitians get their drinking water????

The outbreak of cholera in Haiti is a very real and scary thing. It is hard enough to take all the precautions to drink clean water, cook with clean water and bathe with clean water on a normal day. Well, what would you do? Walk an hour farther both ways to get clean drinking water or just take your chances with the water that is closet? I know your answer but if you were in their situation you might choose differently. Tons of children like these get there drinking water every day from sources like those in the pictures I have shown below. Tonight, many are
dead. The cholera acted so quickly, no one even had time to warn them. The voodoo beliefs cause them to question seriously whether someone is out to destroy Haiti by poisoning their drinking water. This is a common practice to get
rid of the enemy in Haiti, poisoning food or drink. Needless to say there are many who are
suspicious and can't understand how or why many are sick and dying.
We are told that if you act quickly and get the person started on an IV and antibiotics that it can be treated rather quickly. The hospital at the town of St. Marc is the one we would normally go to. It is about twenty-five miles from Carries. The doors of this hospital have been closed and police are guarding the gates. This is for three reasons: they don't have enough space to put people and they are laying people on the floor because there aren't enough beds, they don't have enough staff, IV fluids and medicine to treat everyone and they don't want those who aren't contaminated coming in and running the very high risk of contaminating themselves and others.

We do not use river water or water from the canal at Carries. Our source comes from the mountains. However, on both sides of us, they use the river and canal water. Preparing, we have bought IV fluids to have on hand and antibiotic injections. We told our school children about all the precautions to take in washing their hands and boiling their drinking water. Please, I am asking your prayers, once again for the people of Haiti. We ask for God's hand to remain on us. We pray for protection against this and that God would keep us all in good health. We pray that this would be contained very soon and that there would be an end to the suffering.

If you could just pray about this tomorrow, maybe everytime you go to do something that involves water, drinking, taking a shower, etc. it would be very much appreciated. May God bless and keep you . dee

"Running water", Haiti style...

"Running water", Haiti stlye is the talk of the village, when I, Mdme Kiki come flying down the path on my red, Yamaha Rhino!!! Dogs, people, goats, cows, horses, guineas, and a duck with seven little ducklings behind her, scatter like flies with my approach. The boys, Bob and Lele, quickly fill the gallons with water from our huge reservoir that Wilckly built and that provides water for most of the community. Today my task was to carry water up the hill for the masons who were laying some cement blocks in preparation to cover one of our buildings. Fortunately I only had to make two trips.

Maybe you are wondering why in the world would I be carrying the water in these gallons. Our water truck is broke down at the moment. We have no source of water up the hill where we are establishing. We will have it we just have to "hurry up and wait for it", because that is what we do in Haiti. In the mean time, any water I need for washing dishes, mopping the floor, taking a bath or flushing the port-au-potty, has to be carried up from down the hill.

You could say there are things in Haiti that are a little less than convenient. For example, imagine the misery of watching people take hours, days and weeks to cut some weeds or clean the whole yard by hand instead of mowing. Now, however, thanks to my husband seeing the need, we now have a push mower. If you saw what we had to mow, you would say, "She's kidding, right?". No, I am not but I thought you would at least enjoy hearing about how I mow my "yard". I have five of our boys/young men, who are 15 to 20 years old. They walk in front of me with a long machete and hack at the tall weeds. Another one is responsible to remove any sizeable rocks from my path as to not ruin my mower blade. Another is responsible to remove any plastic, trash, bottles, cans or other unidentified objects from my path. It's quite a sight to see the line of us "mowing" as I come along from behind with the push mower. I must say that it is looking pretty decent around here. The boys are hard workers if I can keep them on the task and they've been doing a good job of it lately.

Just another day in Haiti. dee

New shoes for the Ilris family

Elves, pronounced Elvis, is our hired driver. Many times Wilckly is occupied with the mission work and is not able to stop and drive people where they need to go to take care of important things. For example he may be meeting with preachers who have traveled from the mountain churches, sometimes eight hours or more walk from Carries and even though they didn't have an appointment he can't just tell them to come back tomorrow. It is necessary then for us to have someone who can drive the truck and do other things. He has been a faithful servant. He was in the back of the truck when we had the accident. He injured his collar bone. He is doing fine now. He came home from the hospital and Wilckly brought him straight to our house to make sure he was taken care of, had his medications, had plenty to eat and was able to go back to the doctor for follow up. He was an okay worker before but he has become one of the main people we can depend on now. He said the way he sees it, God preserved all of our lives for a reason. He says if there is any way for him to help us keep serving this God who cares and provides for us, he will do it.

All of his children attend our school. He told me it was pretty rough to buy uniforms, shoes, books and all for such a big family. Some of his children are sponsored already and so he knew he would have some help there. He asked if there was any way I could help them all have a pair of shoes. Thanks to all of you who helped provide earthquake relief, we are still separating, sorting and giving to those in need from all of the things sent in the containers. This is how I was able to help each one of his children find a new pair of shoes. Thank you so much for making this possible. Their smiles were worth a million bucks to Wilckly and I as they each came, one by one and thanked us with a kiss on the cheek and a sheepish grin. Another day in Haiti concluded. I'm gonna get some much needed rest.

Today in Haiti...

Marc had the x-ray which confirmed his arm is broken again in the same place. It is in a cast that he will have to wear for a month. Praise God they didn't have to put the metal fixation back in.

Amos and Ti-Bonhomme both have fever, chills and vomitting. Djouvensca escorted them on a tap-tap to the hospital at Pierre Pyen. They hospitalized both of them and put them on IV's. They said one has malaria and the other one they aren't sure because the tests were negative. It was a busy day dispatching one group to PAP with Marc to see about his arm and the other crew in the other direction by tap-tap. I had to co-ordinate everything needed for the hospital stay not only for the two patients but for the two people staying to assist them. We sent bottled water and a thermos for ice. We sent cups, bowls, silverware and food. We sent sheets, pillows, towels and laundry soap for the girls to wash them by hand at the hospital. We sent toothpaste, toothbrush and soap. We sent a plastic tub to be used as the urinal. Well, that's what it's like in the hospitals here in Haiti. Fortunately, Djouvensca is so used to being sent to the hospital to take care of people that she was able to remind me of everything that needed to be sent. Don't forget, more money and calling cards for the phone to be in contact.

Please pray for these young men. They aren't sick very often. I know it is serious when they don't even get up out of the bed and don't eat.

School started Monday with 26 students present, which is actually an all time high for us on the first day. They most we've ever had is twelve and that was twelve of our own kids. Today there were 38. We will keep you updated.

We are proud that 7 of the 12 sixth graders from our school, took the state test and passed it. They worked very hard to accomplish this. We will miss them as they move on to another school as we are not yet able to start our secondary school but we are praying it will be in our near future. I am sending pictures of some that passed and their proud parents.

Harder by the day...

It was predicted that it would happen this way because it always does. What is it about trauma and disaster that fascinates us so but as soon as the hype is gone, so is our interest. I believe at the Emmy awards they gave one to someone who had helped a lot in Haiti. He said the award should go to the person who can keep our attention focused on Haiti and the enormous amount of help that is still needed, whoever can keep the need alive derserves the award. I don't know, but I do know there were several missionaries here living among the people before the tragic earthquake, they were here during the earthquke and they are still here doing the same thing they were before, helping the Haitian people in an attempt to save their souls.

We appreciate all those who gave over, above and beyond after the earthquake. However we have such gratitude for those who were faithful in their giving before, during and after. We know without your comittment and dedication to the Lord and to our ministry we would be totally helpless. Thank you.

Many of you have asked the question, "Is there any improvement, are things changing for the better?" It's a loaded question. Especially as nine months after the earthquake "some" of the people have just now moved into "temporary" housing which isn't even rain and wind resistant. Temporary, what does that mean? How LONG does that mean? In the mean time the tent cities continue to spread and cover the countryside near Port-au-Prince and the empty spacec in Port-au-Prince.

Blessing Hearts International feels like she is making improvements. Our church under the banana plants after the earthquake has moved into a building. The school is being moved to its new building also. The containers we shipped and empty ones we were able to purchase to sort and use for storage are place strategically on the property. The backhoe has been put to work clearing the land and preparing it for more buildings such as housing for employees, cafeteria for the school kids, workers and families to eat, different buildings for a carpenter shop, welding shop, mechanic shop and the list goes on for our dreams are gigantic, hunormous ones but we know that our God is BIG ENOUGH!

I have put the rhino to good use carrying anything and everything, people, water, clothes, wood, rocks and more. It works great as I can drive where ever the boys and I are working, picking up rocks and sticks out of the way so that we can use the pushmower to mow the grass. Many places it is way to high so they have to walk in front of me with their machete's, wacking the weeds off so I can mow over them. It's quite a site to see. We are physically making tons of progress but it is still ever so slow. We are so thankful for the backhoe that has speeded things up by eliminating some of the manual labor that causes the construction to drag on and on.

Our main goal however remains to live among the Haitian people and live out the love of Christ among them. We are thankful that the people are spiritually awakened and hungry for the word and for answers after the devastating earthquake. Our greatest joy is still what makes the angels rejoice and that is when a sinner choses to follow the Lord and commit his or her life to Christ. It's happening! and for that we are truly grateful. Hold on strong and don't let go. Remain faithful to the Lord as He is the only one who will never leave you!

Praise!

Well, it has been quite the experience, to say the least, since May 16, 2010. God has showed His amazing power, watchcare over us all and His amazing healing power in all who were involved in the accident. This is Marc Dorce after the accident when there was so much gravel embedded in his arms that they decided to amputate both of them immediately because even if he survived without the amputaion of them infection from all of the embedded gravel would cause gangrene to set in. BUT, OUR GOD IS BIGGER THAN ALL OF THAT! The last thing Marc told me is don't let them cut my arms off Mdme Kiki. Insistance from me, his wife Monique, and an American nurse named Stefanie led them to the decision to leave them on. Every day for a week, Dr. Halpern from Tampa, Florida and the team, carefully cleaned and debreeded the wounded arms and hand. The back of his hand was a complete blow out. They took a piece from his forearm and grafted it into place. He is doing well. He was in the hospital from May 16th - June 22nd. He has movement that they never expected. He is determined to feed himself, dress himself, bathe etc. Yesterday, October 7th, he went to the Medishare hospital to have the metal fixation removed from his arm. He came home yesterday and is doing quite well. His daughter, Alexandra, who is three said, "Now you can clap your hands when we sing daddy!"

Marc is a faithful servant. He is Wilckly's cousin but we have raised him since he was 12 years old. He is a strong, dedicated Christian young man. He would go around every Sunday visiting one of the 15 different churches in our ministry. He would take a tap-tap to PAP to run errands for us at a moments notice. He walked the 9 hours to the Terrible Mountain and back instead of riding a mule. The bottom line is, with everyone he meets, he wants to know if they have their life right with the Lord and know where they will spend eternity. Thank you so much for the millions of prayers that have been lifted up for this young, faithful servant. dee