SILOAM SCHOOL AT LABASTILLE

(AKA Haiti Mission School)

2010 Annual Update

2010 has been a very rough year for Haiti... rougher than usual. First came the earthquake which led to mass migration and tent cities with little in the way of sanitary facilities or fresh water or food. This, of course, led to the worst of our fears...the cholera outbreak.

The good news for our school is that we were little affected by the earthquake or the other disasters. Some of the walls in the school were damaged in the earthquake, but unlike many in Port Au Prince and other places, no one was injured. Repairs are being done. And so far, although the cholera has reached Jeremie, we have heard of no problem at the school. The single hurricane that passed over Haiti this year, passed directly over the school, causing dirt floors in area homes to become pools of mud, and the creek (our main source of water) to run brown. The area also suffered major damage to crops (and therefore livelihoods). Thankfully no lives were lost in the Labastille area. We continue to pray for God’s watchful eye over Labastille and her little ones..

We began a school lunch program in April and thanks to generous donations, so far have been able to provide a hot meal for the children and their teachers every school day. We are convinced that this will make learning more productive and will aid those who struggle daily to feed their families. We have finally figured a way to send money easily and securely to our local administrator, Dieudonne, so that he can buy the food. We also sent small year-end gifts ($50 each) to Dieudonne and the teachers.

We realized that because of the growth of the project, we would no longer be able to consider this as simply a mission of the Caldwell Church and so began the process of incorporating as a not for profit 501(c)3 corporation. After a long and somewhat arduous process, we finally completed the process in October. So we are officially known as the "Friends of Siloam School at Labastille, Inc."

Donations can now be given directly to us or can continue through the church. While we're at it, you should know that we began the year with $12,530.92 and received another$ 14,542 and with a few days left in this year have $9,631.97 remaining. That's the good news... the other side is that it costs $1600/month to provide the food so that will use up $8000 of the $9631 just to provide the children with a meal of rice and beans each school day until June. Our work is still cut out for us!

The new class began in September and now we have 85 enrolled in 4 classes. A new teacher was hired and necessary supplies were obtained to allow them to function.

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On a more personal note, JoEllen and I had hoped to go to Haiti in January of 2010. Of course when the earthquake struck, our plans were put aside as we worked with our friends here and around the country to raise support for those in the earthquake areas. We were unable to find out anything about Jeremie or the school for several weeks and when we finally did, were pleased to hear that things were better on that end of the island. One student transferred in whose parents was killed in Port Au Prince and she came to live with her grandmother.

We were finally able to go ourselves in April and since we couldn't get reservations to fly from Port to Jeremie, we rented a car to take us. In typical Haitian style, nine of us and our luggage managed to fit inside a seven passenger SUV for the 12 hour trip to Jeremie. We traveled through the worst of the damage and so were able to see and record much of the destruction. The worst was in Leogane, where virtually every building was flattened. Again, thankfully we at long last arrived safely, where we stayed with our good friend Pastor Maccene at his school and orphanage outside Jeremie. He was of great assistance in helping us to understand more about the Haitian education system.

A few days later, a dozen of us made the trip to Labastille to see the school in operation. Naturally not much education was accomplished that day but we had a chance to share the gifts of school bags (lovingly made by many of you) and supplies that we had brought to the students and teachers. They were able to make some small presentations to us. We love to see and hear their songs and recitations. (We also took photographs of the students and will be sending a current picture to those of you who have made donations.) Continue to pray for them, please.

Later, Dieudonne, JoEllen and I, and Junior (another Haitian) traveled back to the school to actually spend time there with school actually in session. We were very pleased by the diligence and energy shown by the teachers and students. We also had a chance to watch the cooks preparing the rice and beans for lunch.

This helped to raise for us an issue for which we are very much concerned… fresh water.  There is no water at the school and so they need to make the hour long round trip down to the creek to get water to cook the beans and rice.  Although this water is boiled and so it is safe, children also bring water which has not been purified.  We are particularly concerned about this with the cholera epidemic and other water-borne diseases and so our goal for the coming year is to try to find a way to provide fresh water at the school

We hope to be able to travel to Haiti in March this year to set things up for the coming year and to deal with these things.  We continue to join all the children of Haiti in thanking all of you who have provided funds and other help and especially for all your prayers.  THANK YOU!!! Watch the website for more current updates

TOM AND JOELLEN