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Missionary Update September 2010 Dear Friends and Supporters of Clean Water for Haiti: Today is a big day here at Clean Water for Haiti. In a few short hours our family is leaving for the airport to head to Canada, something we've been waiting to do for several years. In the last two weeks our adoption was finished up, we got Olivia’s Haitian passport (the last step when adopting from Haiti) and her Canadian visa. It is such a relief for Chris and I to finally have the freedom to go as a family. We've each taken trips separately in the last few years, but we desperately need time away as a family. Now that we are free to travel we have decided to take a sabbatical and will be spending the next 3 ½ months in Canada. We get to start our time off with our first face to face board retreat in 4 years. We’re looking forward to being able to visit and plan and dream with our board and see where God is taking Clean Water for Haiti. Please pray for all of us as we move forward together. After the board retreat we'll be spending some good time with family, doing some camping, and just settling in to our new “normal”. We really want to take advantage of our time at home and use the opportunities we have to share about the mission with people. If you would like Chris and I to come speak at your church or service group, or anything really, where we can be telling people about what we do please let me know. We have an open calendar right now and know that connecting with people on a personal level is so important to the growth of the mission. You can email me at office@cleanwaterforhaiti.org to set something up. It may be a bit of a surprise to most of you that we’re leaving for such a long period of time, but we've been working towards this as a team here in Haiti for a while. A month and a half ago it seem like we were getting close to the end of our adoption journey so we started making plans with Peter and Sara, the other couple that is here working with us, to get everything in order for our departure, whenever that was going to happen. In the last weeks we have been preparing them to take care of the mission in our absence, and we are SO grateful that they are here, they are willing, and that they are more than capable of taking on the responsibility. God has provided just what we all needed when we needed it. Peter and Sara are excited for the opportunity to run things as there really is no better way for them to learn as we work towards opening a new site next year. Speaking of the new site, we've made some progress and had some setbacks. When we started our search for a location everything was a possibility, and as of June it looked as though we were heading south to the Leogane area. A month later things shifted and we started looking at Gonaives. In the past month we have looked at several houses and were on the verge of signing a rental agreement for one last week. Unfortunately that fell through. The good thing though is that we all feel very led to starting the new site that the Craigs will run in Gonaives. For those of you that have been following the mission for several years, you'll remember that in 2004 we started a project there to help after hurricane Jeanne, but had to close it down in 2006 because of funding issues. We have always had a soft spot for Gonaives since, and there is an incredible need for filters there. When Chris, Peter and Sara visited Goinaves several months ago the Craigs had an overwhelming connection to the city, so we are all excited that this is where we’re going to be. We know that God has a plan for Clean Water for Haiti and it’s only a matter of time until we find the right house for the Craigs and a rental property for the production yard. In the mean time we have connected with a wonderful group of missionaries that have and will continue to be a great support to all of us as we navigate set up there. Starting a new venture like this means that we have to trust that the funds will be there. As we've been planning for the last year, and now getting things ready for our board retreat, we are reminded that we will need to increase Clean Water for Haiti’s funding by 20% next year to meet our goals of maintaining the work we are doing in Pierre Payen and starting up operations in Gonaives. One way that you can “pitch in” is by making a one-time donation to the Global Giving Challenge on behalf of Clean Water for Haiti. The Global Giving Challenge is a one month challenge for organizations like ours. If we receive $4000 US from 50 different donors (or more) by the end of September we will be added to the Global Giving community and it will provide us with a lot more exposure, plus Global Giving will match the $4000. Would you consider donating to this specific challenge? To do so simply visit our page on the site and follow the instructions to give through their secure server: www.globalgiving.org/6142. I want to share a quick progress report with you too. We've had a good summer this year as far as filters go. In fact, in August we installed a new record – 326 filters in one month! Not only is that a new record overall, but it’s a new record for filter installations during the rainy season. Last year our summer average was about 90 filters. Sometimes we just can't get where we need to go when we've had hard rains and there’s a lot of mud. What’s made the difference? Our new 4x4 delivery truck. It’s a work horse and you can see what a difference it’s made this year. Thank you for supporting projects like purchasing equipment that help us to do our work better and more effectively. In one month we were able to help over two hundred more families than we were this time last year. I think those are the highlights for this month. We hope this update finds you well and we thank you for your continued support of the work here in Haiti. You are helping to change lives every single day. Blessings, Chris – info@cleanwaterforhaiti.org Leslie – office@cleanwaterforhaiti.org Phone: (intn’l code)+ 509-2547-3210 |
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