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Can you imagine being thirsty, but knowing the water you drink may be contaminated with cholera? SIFAT teams are making a difference by installing purification systems and training local Haitians how to do maintenance and upkeep. Now, they have hope! Hope that life is looking up…hope that they will not only survive, but also thrive! In 2011, Bahamas Habitat will provide air transportation for 12 SIFAT teams. As I write, SIFAT graduate Trey Reed is in Cape Haitian, which is now the area with the highest cholera outbreak in Haiti. SIFAT is working with medical clinics, partnership organizations and SIFAT graduates to install water systems where they are most needed. In May 2010, SIFAT taught 15 Haitian community leaders at our Alabama campus during a three-week intensive session on practical skills, such as food production and water purification. We have made a 3-year training commitment with approximately 70 Haitian community leaders to hold seminars and provide technical support. To accomplish this, Dr. Byron Morales from Ecuador has joined our staff to conduct seminars periodic training sessions in Haiti with these community leaders. Your continued prayers and support are needed now! To donate to our work in Haiti, please designate “Haiti” on your check. If you are donating online, e-mail hurttc@sifat.org with the subject online donation for Haiti, and we will make sure your donation is applied to our Haiti fund. Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. She is now in her second year as an intern.
Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. She is now in her second year as an intern. We are still having long lines to get gasoline, and we may soon be without since there is another blockade in Caranavi like the one at the end of April last year. When the gas trucks don’t get through then we don’t have power because our electricity comes from diesel generators. Right now, we are on a limited schedule. Just think if you had to do everything that uses electricity on certain hours. It makes it difficult. Of course, we are not as dependent on power like everyone is in the US. We are hoping the blockade doesn’t last too long because much of our food and supplies come by bus and trucks from LaPaz. September was very hot and dry with many wild fires in the countryside. One blazed through our farm (Two Trees) and destroyed the building and all of our cocoa trees. This is the 3rd time our trees have been destroyed by wild fires. It seems like every time the trees start to mature they are burned. Some of the young trees that were planted last November may survive, but we won’t know for a while. Join us in praying some may be revived when the rains start. They don’t have any burning regulations here and with hot dry winds and temperatures over 100 degrees the fires spread rapidly. In September, everyone is burning their fields getting ready to plant rice in October and November. We have had a couple of rains that helped put the fires out. There is no way of controlling fires here. Once they get out of control, they just have to burn out. However, we now have some areas we haven’t used for planting before cleared. With the help of some of our students and Delia (our groundskeeper at the Internado), Rachel has planted beans, peanuts and watermelon. Andres (our farm worker) has already planted our rice before the undergrowth came back up. Rachel, Mateo and I joined the principal of the schools in the surrounding communities for a visit to two schools, so we could share with them about the Internado. The small schools in the communities only have classes through the 6th grade. If they continue their education, they need to attend middle and high school in Ixiamas. We really had a fun morning sharing the word of God with these children. We made gospel bracelets and sang some fun songs like Father Abraham. We have plans to visit more schools in the next month to spread the word about everything we offer families here at our boarding home. Pray for the doors to open for children that need our services in the upcoming school year. Bolivar finished with three wells in Nuevo Esperanza before his visa expired, and he returned to Ecuador. We still have many people in outlying communities that need clean water. Please keep this in your prayers for a new project next year. Please remember all the staff and children here in your prayers as we are beginning to make plans for the new year. The school year here is from February to the beginning of December, so our year is quickly coming to a close. Grace, peace and love, On August 1, the last of our guests left. Troy is back to the USA and college classes, while Bolivar traveled to Santa Cruz for some additional training in well drilling. It was really quiet around the Internado, especially after having guests here since June. We did have some excitement on August 6, which is Independence Day in Bolivia. All of the students were in the parade in Ixiamas. The girls were majorettes all dressed up in their costumes, hair and makeup to perfection. What a good time they had fixing each other’s hair and makeup with the help of Veronica (the dorm mom). Rachel and I cooked chocolate and carrot cakes along with cornbread muffins to sell in town. We set up our table in front of the town government office where all the festivities were taking place. We had mocochinche, which is a fruit drink made from dried peaches with cloves and cinnamon (really good), and our cakes for sell. It was a good day for sales; we sold out and cleared more than 300 bolivianos, while watching the parade of each class of all the local schools.  It was quite a parade and fun day. Our current intern in Ixiamas, Bolivia, is 2008 Practicum graduate Becky Forrest. Becky served on short-term mission trips in 2007 and 2008 in Ixiamas. She is now in her second year as an intern. The last two months have been very busy with visitors at the Internado. On June 14, Rachel’s parents, Marcia and David Parsons, along with interns Olivia Singleton and Troy Wetherholt arrived in Ixiamas. Each of them worked on many projects around the internado. Troy was here to assist Bolivar Sanga with the water projects in many of the surrounding communities. Bolivar has trained with Water for All, International (WFA) to learn this appropriate technology that uses manual power instead of machinery to dig wells. The first water project was in Puerto Ruso, where with the help of the Tshimane Indians that live there, two clean water wells were drilled with man power and no mechanical systems. You may read more of the water projects in Troy’s previous blog posts (click here and here). |
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Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. One year later, SIFAT continues to install water purification systems to provide clean, safe drinking water to a country torn apart by the devastating earthquake, hurricane and cholera outbreak.
Much has happened since my last post. First of all, I am now home, and I will not be returning to work at the internado next year. Leaving was very hard and emotional since the staff and kids had become my family. However I feel God is leading me somewhere else yet to be revealed. The last two years have been a remarkable experience for me. I went to Ixiamas thinking I was going to help the children of the Internado, but as with most missions experiences, I have received so much more than I gave. There is no better way to increase your faith than to step out of the box — living in Ixiamas for two years was a giant leap for me. I just can’t thank God enough for giving me the courage even though there have been moments when I cried, “Lord what am I doing here?â€. Now, I will try to highlight some of the events since my last post.