Fall and Winter 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends, Romans 16:20 tells us, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus will be with you”. There is no doubt that Satan has had a hold on Haiti for many years. This year has been no exception if not a bit worse. These past 8 months the gangs who control the country have ramped up terrorism, kidnappings, murders, robberies, road blocks, just plain destruction of property of others. The country is completely shut down as there is no fuel to be sold. Just like this country, think what would happen if we had no fuel for eight months. The Interstate would be empty of vehicles, walking to the empty shelves of your local grocery store, no electricity, for heat or cooling, no water from the sink faucet. Hard to even think of-but it is happening in Haiti right now. As Thanksgiving approaches, please pause a moment to thank the Lord for our abundance of food compared to the other 90% of the world.

Drilling Before Locked in Crack

Christmas by itself, has no comparison as to the joy and peace it brings into our lives as it is Christ the Lord who will save us from our sins and heal Haiti from its violence. Not wanting to dwell on Haiti’s problems, I would like to share with you 2 villages that come to mind where we spent lots of time on projects. Ivwa is a area, 2 mi in the mountains but a 7 mi drive up the most terrible of roads. This is 7 years ago and it is so bad now a vehicle can not go, only a cycle. And the government will never repair it. The first time as we went to Ivwa to repair a pump we met many women on the road going down to the village with sacs on their heads.

Upon our return trip in the evening we met the same women coming up the steep road with the sacs. I asked where they had been. They had gone to the village as that was the day the corn grinder was operating. They had walked 14 mi, mostly walking waiting, missing work at home and then cook the evening meal. I said we can surely help in some way. Long story short, the next year, loaded on the truck were three grinders and diesel engines. After one year we had installed the grinder, engine and built 20’ x 20’ shed to house the machinery. Several years later, the head of the area came and said they had to run the corn through 3 times to get the meal the correct consistency for making their bread. I went up to see what was happening as maybe they had been running the grinder without corn, thus wearing out the burrs. No, they assured me, but how could it be so worn out? Come to find out, now 3 other villages were coming to the Ivwa grinder each week to get their corn ground to meal.

Grinder Installed in New Building

Also in Ivwa was a very large beautiful spring at least 3’ across. Someone years ago had built a concrete, cover box over the spring 20’ x 20’ and installed 3 shallow pumps. It was like a box turned upside down. Well, after years of pumping, water always spills around a pump and here the hogs had mud wallow right beside the sides of the cement. They had rutted so deep that now the hog mud was seeping into the clean spring water. We got out our shovels and dug a ditch to at least drain the mud hole. After we left, a Canadian Organization came in and really made it nice with concrete ditches and a roof over the pumps.

The Matriarch of the Village Putting Corn in Grinder, as a Young Girl She Would Have Pounded in a Hollow Log

Boken Toni is another area we helped only this time it was 45 mi in the opposite direction. We had been called there by another organization who was helping the village to clean out a well and at least get some water into the village. The hole was already 55’ deep, we cleaned it and then went another 15’ and hit good water. Installed a pump and this kept the people from having to walk 3 mi to a well in a village where we had helped build a cistern and piped water from a submersible 500’ away. They were charging the Boken Toni people a few cents for each buck of water. We told them the pump is ours and if you do not start sharing we will remove the pump. Water became free.

Pumps Surrounded by Hogs in Mud

At this point we should have gone home as there was big trouble ahead. A church in the States had been helping this village and they wanted another well drilled. We were going good until at 77’ the bit got locked in a crevice and was stuck. We worked for 3 hours but could not break it loose. We found a fellow with a pretty good sized wrecker and we very sure he could pull it up. He broke pulleys and cables trying and the pipe did not move a quarter of an inch. So, we covered the open drilling pipe and took the drill and went home. Eventually, we brought hand diggers to the site and had them dig just a normal well shaft, only this time a pipe was in the middle of the hole. When they got to 77’ the workers pulled up the stem, un-screwing the lengths as they came up out of the ground. We had our pipe back but sorry to say the diggers went another 15’ and never encountered even damp soil, so we abandoned the project.

As of now all of the pumps in Montrois and within a short driving distance are all working as the fellows dare not travel too far from the compound. Last May I was with Roberto in a river bed discussing a possible project. His phone rang and he said , “We have to go now”. After driving a while I asked him what was the deal. A buddy of his knew where we were and alerted Roberto to get out of there as he had just seen gang members walking down the street with guns. We took some back alleys and streets and arrived home all safe but this is the life and pressure the people of Haiti are living under at this time. Please continue to pray for Haiti. Pray also for the people, the government and our workers as they continue to do the Lord’s work under some very dangerous circumstances.

Sincerely,

Chuck and the Water4Haiti Board

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas