Here are a few glimpses into life and work on the Plateau in June!
Ilfran takes a quick snack break during his morning's work at DDL. Maya sits by hoping he'll share!
It's been very, very hot.🔥 (Note the heat index...our faces feel like they're on fire sometimes.)
Jackson and Charilien work on ramparts to reinforce the walls of the chapel building, which had some scary looking cracks!
Williamso inspects the canal bringing water into the huge water hole. The canal needed to be fixed, because the slant wasn't quite right to bring the rainwater run-off into the hole. Not many days after, it rained and the hole was filled to the brim!
Mme Celisa sorts through food stuff from market. Boo-boo the orphan donkey tries to see what he can sneak out behind her back! 🤭
The Haitian gourde continues to lose value, and food prices (and pretty much all other prices!) continue to rise.
We had some great rains in June! This is an aerial shot of our two big, community water holes after the last big rain. After years of trying various water solutions, we are finding large rainwater catchment reservoirs to be the most effective first step for our community.
Recognize this place? This is the road to DDL. It runs through the ravine. This is the sheer amount of water that runs down from the mountains and out into the ocean. We plan to capture even more of it!
I (Krischelle) tried to cross with Maya, and she almost got swept away. So we just watched instead!
We continue to invest focusedly in this group of young guys. Here they are in a keyboard class...
...and here they are learning a few practical skills in putting up a small sun shelter. They also work hard during the week, learning many valuable life and leadership lessons in the process
It's not just about the skills. It's also about the opportunities to speak into their lives that arise in the midst of working and living life together. It has been a joy to watch them grow. They are a fun group.
For several days, the Sahara dust cloud phenomenon made the sun look like the moon as it rose and set.
Manis and Williamso survey and discuss a plot of land we rented for 10 years for the purpose of reforestation. We are excited about this parcel. It's a pretty little spot (you cannot see the entire thing in the picture) and already has a variety of mid-sized trees on it.
Once again, I apologize for the sparsity of posts these past few months. Would it make a difference if I told you that I am currently sitting on a rock outside, sweating and getting bitten by ants, so that I can connect to the shaky internet signal on my phone, which is perched on my gate?
Things are happening in July! The government has begun to lift COVID restrictions slightly and has announced the opening of school on August 10th. The coming days remain highly unpredictable, but our staff has returned to work, and some exciting things are underway as well. More soon!