January 2013

Happy New Year!

Terry and I hope all of you had a very good Christmas and are ready for 2013.

Thank you to all who sent cards/emails for Terry concerning her Mother’s death. Since it happened around the holidays, it was especially hard on her.

2012 was quite a year in Haiti. From very dry, to much rain, and always hot. Progress was made in the destruction of damaged buildings from the earthquake (3 years ago) but mostly in the business sector. A few new hotels have been built in hopes of bringing tourism to the country. You might think they would start at building things a tourist would want to see, but in this case the hotels come first.

The country was hit hard by more than one storm, damaging crops and killing several people — most notably Sandy. The tropical storm system sat just off the south coast, bringing heavy rains each night before it moved across the southern peninsula and became a hurricane. One night, after several nights of heavy rain and wind, a piece of tin popped up right over where Terry was sleeping. The heavy rain was not funny; it pouring in on her was…to me. It wasn’t a trickle, but more like someone pouring from a bucket.

Not funny, though, because there are still those over three hundred thousand living in tents, and because of the cholera that is still killing people and may never completely stop.

In December we did our Christmas parties at the schools and we have posted some pictures of these. It may just look like kids eating beans and rice, but it is a big deal to them. Before going Terry had put together a checked bag full of individual bags of candy for each child. We bought more there to hand out and drinks for each too. Along with the beans and rice, we included chicken with this meal. That is a real treat for them.

We begin 2013 (our 19th year in Haiti) with high expectations for the year. Those expectations are to continue to do the same things we have been able to do in years past: God, schools, nutrition and health care. Those are the things you have helped provide and, God willing, we can continue to provide them.