The construction has begun!

Sorry for disappearing after the hype on Notremene's house... I hope this update is worth the wait :)

My parents visited last week & we had a great time! It was their second time in Haiti & they felt much more at home. They wanted to get a feel for my "real life" so we tried to stick to my regular schedule as much as possible...cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping in the open-air market, teaching, bandaids, mending clothes, visiting friends in the community. They were able to meet Preslet & visit Notremene at her house. It was a great week & their expanded comfort zone makes home seem a lot closer, now for the rest of my family... brother? sister? cousins? aunts? uncles? ... I'm waiting! :)

Here's my mom & I teaching the grade 1 class "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"



Now for the anticipated update on Notremene's house!!! We received the rest of the money & the renovation has begun!!! Here are some pictures I took this morning.

View from the mountain you need to pass to get to her house, her house in the second house:



The old tin roof has been removed & the guys are building a wood frame for the new roof:









Notremene is extremely grateful, here she is showing me the materials for the new roof:



And her sidekick bring a chair for me:

Almost there!

We have $750 of the $1000 CDN we need to reach our goal of $750 US!

Thank you!!

Thank you so much for the responses - after just a few hours we have already raised half the money!!

True inspiration!

I have been lacking in my communication these past few months & have been earnestly seeking inspiration in this area. Well today, despite a bad head cold, I feel truly inspired!!

It started with H2H’s gift catalogue…

2 generous supporters donated money to buy “emergency food”. Pastor Luc & I talked about whom we thought was most in need at the moment & as our conversation continued my excitement grew. There is an older lady in our church (who just laughed when we asked her how old she is) who is blind & treks ~20 minutes over tough terrain to attend church 3 times each week. Notremene has a small support base & is usually accompanied by her great nephew, Frenel, who is 10 years old. Pastor Luc & I went for a hike this morning & visited her in her home.





2 sides of her house are constructed of rocks & the other 2 have bed sheets hanging where the walls should be. She has borrowed sheets of metal to help keep the wind & rain out but needs to return them to their owner soon. The tin roof has many holes and the few possessions she has are soaked each time it rains.

The roof:



Inside (2 rooms):







The kitchen:



This inspiration started with money donated to buy emergency food and I’m hoping we can multiply the resources to make Notremene’s house solid before the rainy season hits hard…the end of this month!

We estimate it will take $750 US to finish the walls & replace the tin roof. If you would like to be involved please email me as soon as possible as we’d like to start the construction immediately.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Here's a letter I sent out by email, thought I'd share it on the blog too in case I missed someone.



Hi there,

Well, my intent was to email you to say Happy New Year but that would be embarrassing since it's almost the end of February so I'll say Happy Belated Valentine's Day!! That's still a bit embarrassing but I'll have to live with that :)

I spent the Christmas holidays with my family & thanks to an unusual amount of snow I was forced to have some much needed down time. I really enjoyed just hanging with my family. They have been incredibly supportive of my decision to make this "Haiti thing" indefinite and have made enormous sacrifices to not only support me but to walk along side me.

The months preceding the holidays were the toughest I've had to experience since coming to H2H. Having typhoid & malaria at the same time really took a toll on me physically and emotionally. There was a particularly bad day when I had back to back fevers through the night & most of the following day. When my "nurses" were satisfied that I was sufficiently covered in
smelly t-shirts that were doubling as cooling cloths (their hearts were in the right place) I was left alone to sleep. As soon as my bedroom door was shut I heard shuffling under my bed & Eliyou (our youngest boy) appeared. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making sure I didn't die. He didn’t want to pray for me, because he prayed for his mom & she died, but he did sleep with me the rest of the day. There were many memorable moments during those weeks when I was so sick but this one had the biggest impact on me. It made me realize not only how sick I was but how deeply I have connected with the kids. I truly love them as much as they love me.

During the first days of my recover it took some acting to convince my friends & family that I was well again but those days are long gone and I am feeling 100% again. I came back to Haiti on December 31st and spent a week celebrating the New Year with the kids. It was so much fun! They are now back in school & into their normal routines but I still feel the "just arrived" adrenaline when we play. Also, I returned with some great Hooked on Phonics materials so teaching ESL has gotten a lot easier... & a lot more fun for the kids! Check out my blog to see pictures of the kid’s Christmas celebrations and a truly amazing update on Preslet.

Now that I've said Happy Valentine's Day & given you a bit of an update I'd like to say a sincere thank you to all of you. My first decision to come to Haiti for a year was a little unnerving but still very exciting. This time I used the word "indefinite" to describe the length of my stay and that was down right scary. At first I had many sleepless nights & avoided anyone who
I thought disagreed with my decision. But when I faced the source of my fear head on - a lack of faith - my confidence grew & so did my support base. God has softened my heart to love these kids & He has been faithful in providing for me. So thank you for being so willing to support me and thank you for your patience with my lack of communication. Blogging & emailing are often a struggle as I feel like I have to digest what I'm feeling & experiencing and it is, at times, hard to find the right words to describe it all. Also I'm usually exhausted by the end of the day & the bed
usually wins over the computer! I will try to do better!

Thank you again for your support and prayers and I do love hearing news from home so please email me when you have a chance.

Rebecca