March!

As the month of March wraps up, we are finishing our first 6 months here. It is amazing how time seems slower in some ways here, but it has already been half a year since we left Indiana! March has been one of our busiest months yet with lots of highlights to share-

I, Allison, finished up my first trimester of work with Haitian nursing students. They did such a great job learning and practicing new skills. The energy and excitement of these students never fails to amaze me! They are taking exams this week and will start clinical time in the hospital next week. I am excited to work with them there and help with their real hands on experience.

I also finished my time with the Indiana Wesleyan University nursing students. It was wonderful to have them here- to share in their hospital experiences, see their love for the people of La Gonave, and to invest in their lives. In the second half of their semester here, we had some great adventures. I was able to join a day trip across the island to the small community school in Bwa Chandel where we did health and developmental checks for and spent time with students. We also had a great party with the two groups of students together. The friendships they formed were so fun to see.

A few photos from our trip to Bwa Chandel

The Haitian American nursing student party

One last photo with the American nursing students

I got to participate in a great learning experience with some of the kids from the Children’s Village when a visiting team did sewing workshops. I helped as they learned basic hand stitches, applique techniques, and sewing machine use. The kids all had their own bags at the end of the week.

We had a beautiful Easter with a combined Creole and English service at church, picnic lunch and yard games with other missionaries, a nap, and evening worship. I am so thankful for the Lord’s sacrifice and gift of salvation and the opportunity to celebrate this with his children here!

Kites are everywhere on Easter

We continue to do work and see progress in the Aquaponics garden. The battle with worms, mosquitoes, and heat continues, but we are impressed by the ongoing harvests we have. The strongest crop right now is tomatoes and the ladies who cook at the Village are loving this. We took a trip to the hatchery, Caribbean Harvest, in Port au Prince to get more fish food and some tilapia to replace those that have died. It was fun to see the place where all the fish come from and make connections with people where we have just had email and phone calls before.  We think we have found a solution to our red worm problem that we talked about last month! We are waiting for the arrival of some carnivorous fish, gambosia. We will put them in the planting trays and they will eat bugs but not plant roots. Nicolas and the older kids at the Village continue to do a great job working in the garden.

The huge fish tanks at Caribbean Harvest

Our beautiful tomatoes!

We wanted to take a minute to introduce you to Steven, one of the boys who has been a huge help to us. Steven is 13 and has been under Madame Soliette’s care for 7 years. He is from Anse-a-Galets, but both of his parents died when he was very young and he lived with his grandmother for most of his life up to age 6. When she was no longer able to care for him, Steven’s grandmother brought him to Madame Soliette. He says that he is very thankful to live at the Children’s Village, his favorite class is French, he has good friends here, and he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. Steven has impressed us so much with his hard work in the garden. He acts as a leader to the other kids working with him and helps to keep the young kids from destroying everything J Almost every afternoon, Steven takes responsibility to get the greenhouse key, feed the fish, clean up the equipment and log his work all on his own. We are so thankful for Steven’s help and that we have been able to get to know him more and more as time passes.

Sunday, Jason, Nicolas, and Steven

The feeding log sheet... you can see all the work Steven has done!

Thank you so much for your encouragement, prayers and support as we try to be the hands and feet of Christ here in Haiti. We appreciate all you do to make our life here possible!