Our Work in Nouvelle Terrain

Woah, life's been busy since I've been gone. Hi everyone, my name's David and I'll be writing a few blog posts to update you on the goings-on here in Haiti :) Looks like the last post was about the volcano erupted in Guatemala and Linda (Or, as I call her, Mom) went there to help with the relief work. That was last June ! Sorry for the long wait between posts...I'll try to get the next one out sooner.

While Mom's busy with all her various projects, Dad's been chugging along with the rebuilding of the church in the village of Sonis, Nouvelle Terrain that was blown away during hurricane Matthew in late 2016. Nouvelle Terrain (which means, "New Land") is about a 3 hour hike from the nearest "road"...over a few mountains, down into a valley, and then up the side of another mountain. It's quite an adventurous hike for us...especially when you're carrying supplies. We've hiked in there for medical mission teams, for water safety education, and for building projects.

Hurricane Matthew was quite a while ago, you might say. How come it's taking so long to rebuild a church ? Well, we want to build something that will last and won't be blown away by another storm, it's difficult getting supplies to the village, but most importantly we want to encourage the community to help themselves. We don't want to build a church for them...we want to help the people of Sonis build their own church. So, the wood being used for the church are cut by a local wood farmer nearby, for example.

We've also had other projects going on in Nouevelle Terrain aside from the church building. We recently finished a 12-week long Midwife training with the help of a Haitian midwife as well as an American RN midwife. There's also a project going on to build a motorcycle pathway to the village. Dad bought shovels, pickaxes, and hoes to supply to Pastor Saint Pierre for this project. Finally, we have entered the "plannificating" (ie planning) stage of a new project to pump water up the mountainside using a special, homemade, water ram pump that Dad's built.

So, after two years of carrying supplies and plannificating this church building, the building process has started ! The foundation is finished and made of sturdy, rebar-reinforced concrete; the framing is also finished. We've got some pictures below to show you.

Great progress is being made and we're proud of the community, Pastor Saint Pierre, and all of you who've helped through prayers and financial support. Next up, we need to get a bunch of plywood wall sheeting and hike it up there. The sooner the better, otherwise the framing might get damaged by the mountainside winds.

Please consider donating to help us with the work we're doing in Haiti. There are many projects we're involved in and many more we hope to undertake, but we can't do this alone. Thank you very much for all your support ! Tax deductible donations for this or any other project can be made at The Chance to Dream's website https://www.thechancetodream.com/donate

That's all for now. Talk at you next time !