Stop Traffick Fashion

Heard about this store online. Check them out here. Also, the link will be permanently on the right hand side of the blog under “Human Rights Groups.” Below is a quote taken from the “about us” section of their website:

Stop Traffick Fashion is a boutique about restoration and change. Human Trafficking is the fastest growing form of international crime and the second largest source of income for organized crime, recently surpassing drugs. It’s time to listen and act … and shop! Each purchase from Stop Traffick Fashion directly helps the survivors and organizations rescuing and providing rehabilitation to survivors. Men, women, and children who have been rescued from their captors make nearly all of our accessories. Shopping at Stop Traffick Fashion provides income for these workers as they strive for a free and healthy life. In addition to the direct impact, a minimum of 2% of all sales revenue will be donated back to our partner organizations who rescue victims and provide rehabilitation and training.

Start shopping.

Water Filters

After spending a ton of time researching and looking at different options, we (NWHCM) have decided on a more or less “official” household water filter. The Sawyer Point One water filter is an exciting, simple, and efficient way to filter water, in virtually any location. I (Curtis) had the chance to spend some time a few weeks ago with a representative of Sawyer Products in Haiti and was impressed with what I saw. Here are some pictures from our earliest trials in La Baie:

This is the water that we started with, straight from a mud puddle.

Filling the bucket connected to the filter.

A full bucket, ready to be filtered.

Filling up a cup.

Skeptical onlookers.

The water did not have a bad taste or smell.

The water also passed the Haitian taste test.

In the future, we hope to make it possible for people to sponsor one of these filters through the new website. Ideally a person would be able to get on the internet, pay for the filter, and even decide in which town to place the filter. From there, I would be in charge of getting the filters and placing them in the homes of a Haitian family. This is a very basic outline of the program, for more information on the filters see the link to Sawyer Products on the right, or feel free to contact us at any time.

We think that these water filters could have a huge impact on the remote areas of the Northwest, both in everyday living and also in emergency situations like the the hurricanes from last year. We are thrilled to start this project and to give you the opportunity to help bring clean water to homes in Haiti which otherwise would not get it. We will make sure to post updates on this project whenever possible.

New NWHCM.org

The new website has arrived. Check it out at www.nwhcm.org.

Also, have a look at the tour and FAQ page of the website, which explains the many new features of the new site and how to navigate the pages as well.

There are many new options on the website, including sponsoring children, programs, and missionaries (shameless plug). There are also new ways to donate, using EFTs and CashLINQ, and we are using a new software that will allow us to serve you, the donor, in a much more efficient way. We are excited about this new site and the step forward that it represents for the mission and our work in Haiti.

Make sure to check it out, and tell your friends.

We Need Your Help

Anybody who has followed this blog or been to Haiti and visited La Baie knows that we are in need of a vehicle.  There have been numerous posts about opportunities to get a vehicle, and unfortunately none have come through, for various reasons.  Several people have given money towards the purchase of a vehicle, and we were close to doing so last year before the hurricanes hit and we had to divert most of our resources towards the building of houses outside of the flood zone (It should be noted that money which was given specifically for a vehicle has not been used for construction).

Heartland Community Church (also linked on the right) and TouchGlobal (also linked on the right) have teamed up to build a Jeep that will look something like this, although less millitarized.

TouchGlobal has previously built Jeeps similar to this one for projects in the Congo, and after a lot of discussion and planning, the project is underway as we speak.  We really feel that this vehicle will meet the needs of the roads in Haiti and also allow us to replace parts and maintain the vehicle in a way that is both sustainable and reasonable for our location (Chuck already has his hand’s full as it is and does not need another thing to work on).

As with any project, we do need some help funding. We ask that you consider partnering with us in this way as having a vehicle will be a huge advantage in our ministry, and also in cases of emergency. There is really no way to describe how much having a vehicle will help not only us, but the people that we serve. We are excited to take advantage of this opportunity and we will keep everyone updated as much as possible as the project progresses.

If you are interested in donating to this project, send a check made out to Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, with a note on a separate piece of paper, distinguishing the gift for a vehicle for Curtis and Danielle Rogers. The check can be sent to the following address:
P.O. Box 829
Versailles, KY 40383

For more information on this vehicle, or on donating money, please email us or also see the “Support” page on this site.

And Ana Begins

So there are a few tropical things forming out there in the Atlantic. The closest is set to go North of us in a few days, so no worries with that. However, there is another storm forming near the Cape Verde Islands, which has a high chance of forming into a Tropical Storm and then into the first hurricane of the season, named Ana. Luckily, it is still a long ways off, and would not be set to hit land of any type for almost a week, and even then it is way too early to project a path. We will keep you updated (and yes we do realize that we have hurricane paranoia).

A Pretty Cool Day

So I (Curtis) took a group to Port au Prince today to fly back to the states. While waiting for people to arrive I noticed a familiar face at the American Airlines desk. It was the kind of familiar face that you know you have never met the person but at the same time you know who they are. I was about ninety percent sure that this person was Paul Farmer (several of his books are linked on the “About Haiti” page and his organization, Partners In Health, is linked on the right). I started asking a couple people who work in the airport and, while I could not get a name for this person, I found out that he was a “gwo doctor” and that he is a friend of Aristide. This left no doubt that the man was in fact Paul Farmer.

I do not know at what point I became an adult and started getting excited about meeting a doctor/human rights activist/author but it was like I was going to meet Ken Griffey Jr. in the mid-nineties or Kenny Walker when I was a kid. Anyways, when he was not talking I made my move and introduced myself, told him how I admired his work and then told him that I would let him be on his way. To my surprise he said that he was not in a rush and we continued a conversation for about ten minutes. During this time he introduced me to several members of the PIH team, we talked about agricultural projects and solar ovens (which was the focus of his trip to Haiti) and even squeezed in a quick note about Liberation Theology and Aristide.

About twenty minutes after we parted ways I ran into him again and he not only remembered my name, but he introduced me to another person on staff. Those of you who know me may know that I was already a fan of Paul Farmer, and this experience reinforced that. I was blown away at how interested he seemed in the work at the mission, and even more surprised when he pulled out his Blackberry and emailed me a note to start a dialogue between the two of us. Needless to say I am pretty excited today. So not only because his books are great, but because he appears to be a pretty cool guy, everyone should buy a book by or about Paul Farmer, and check out his website pih.org (also linked on the right).

The Census

 

This is a satellite image of La Baie that we used for the census.

Some of you may remember the census that a group from Rockford, Ill put together and administered in La Baie in January. Thanks a lot to Anna Kittle and the rest of the people from Heartland Community Church (linked on the right). Similar censuses are being administered all over Northwest Haiti this Summer in order that we may meet the needs of people in a more efficient manner. We will also post this document on the “About Haiti” page for future reference. Click on the following link to get to the file:

Census Results

Another Set of Groups

We had more groups out at La Baie this past week and a ton of stuff got done. A group from Illinois helped us distribute seeds (given to us by Hope Seeds which is linked below) to people in the community. They also helped us put the finishing touches on the chicken coop, which now has chickens, and the garden as well.

A group from Nicholasville, KY came out to La Baie to show the Jesus film in Creole. There was a good crowd and I think that the town really enjoyed watching the movie, which we projected onto the side of the house.

The Jesus film projected onto the house.

A youth group from California also came out and did a VBS for the kids and also had a sports camp. The yard was pretty packed with children and the group had a great craft in which all the kids got to make their own shirts.

Another group from an organization called “No Boundaries” came out to La Baie as well. They also did a VBS and we were all very blessed by a worship service that they held on the roof to the background of a lightning storm and some beautiful stars.

A shot of The Milky Way from the roof.

Throughout all of this we had a small group from Heartland Community Church (linked on the right). These guys did several projects including building the structure for our tree nursery (really excited about that) testing out the new solar ovens that we would like to introduce to help scale back the use of charcoal and erosion (see the Sun Oven link on the right), they terraced the new land to allow more planting to be done, built a compost pile, designed a small footbridge to cross the creek, helped organize some depots, and even started building a boat with some local builders in order to help replace boats that were destroyed in the hurricanes. It was great to have these guys with us and also to have one of our close friends Jodi, get to visit Haiti again and see where we live. One of the guys in the groups, Dustin, is a photographer and all of the pictures you see in this post are his. To see more of them check out the Flickr link on the left.

We cooked rice, hot dogs, eggs and more on this solar oven, hopefully these will have a big impact on the communities with which we work.

The boat, which was financed by this group, will be finished in about a week, the idea is that this will be the first of many.

These terraces will allow us to plant more on our new land.

Organizing the tool depot was a lot easier with the extra hands.

Be sure to check out the other photos linked on the left, and also see the Travelers Blog, linked on the right to see more details about what the group have been doing.

June Groups

We had a lot of fun with the last group. There were about one hundred and five of them from all over the country and we got the chance to meet just about every group.

Curtis met the group in Port au Prince and rode with them on the bus to St. Louis du Nord. The bus ride was not too bad, and although there were some delays near Gros Mornes because of a truck stuck in the mud, the whole group made it to the main mission safely, and still relatively quickly.

The first group to visit us at La Baie was a team from Savannah with a group from Virginia and a few others mixed together. This team’s main goal was to have programs for teen girls and boys on three important topics; conflict resolution, sexual purity, and forgiveness. The team also had a group of nurses that gave a public health seminar and gave vitamins for the pregnant and new mothers in town, as well as their children. This group got to spend a lot of time in town getting to know the people and we were very excited about their teen sessions, especially for a couple young boys in town who came to every meeting.

The next group that came in was from Winton Road outside of Cincinnati. They stayed here at La Baie at night while traveling to La Fonte everyday for VBS, a revival, and other programs with the community. Rain spoiled their plans a few times and made the roads muddy, they even had to stay the night in the church one night because they could not return back to La Baie. Overall, it seemed that they enjoyed the experience and their programs seemed to have been effective as several people made decisions for the Lord. While part of the groups traveled to La Fonte everyday, a few men stayed back and helped out with some work on the new property. We cannot thank Jerold, Rick and Dave enough for their help. Jerold built a chicken coop and roost, and they also built a goat pen, and fenced in a new garden. These guys even made us dinner on our anniversary on the 22nd (two years already).

The New Chicken Coop and Roost

Another team from Capital Area Christian Church in Pennsylvania was in for a day and they managed to get a good portion of our kitchen painted, we finished it the days after and it looks great. It would have taken a lot longer to do had this group not given a day of their trip to help out. The guys in that group also owe me a Crunch Wrap Supreme.


Finally, we wrapped up the trip with groups from Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana (linked on the right) and a group from Beardstown, Illinois. We have become good friends with the group from Northside as we have several friends who work there and we have also become good friends with the leaders and students that have come on the trip. Northside put together a great VBS for the kids while the group from Beardstown spent some time planting the garden on the new property. They also fenced in the garden and donated a ton of seeds that will be really useful to us. Later in the day we all enjoyed some rest and relaxation at a beach close-by.

One of the areas the group planted.

When it came to the end of the trip, a problem with Tortug’air (the regional airline service that we use to get from Port de Paix to Port au Prince) meant that we had to ride the buses back to Port au Prince. We left in a hurry at around 7:00 in the evening and got to a town called Tintanyen (about 40 minutes outside of Port au Prince) at about 2:00 the following morning. The people at Global Outreach (a mission organization) were kind enough to let us get a few hours of sleep and a shower at their campus until it was time to leave for the airport at around 6:00 in the morning. All of the people who rode the bus got on their flights out of Port au Prince with no trouble at all. However, because of a few late planes (Tortug’air again) there were several people that missed their filghts, and the group from Northside had their flight delayed several times. To make a really long story short, the remaining members of the group got out of Port au Prince at around 1:00 in the morning, meaning that Grant, Jacques and myself spent about 19 hours in the Port au Prince airport.

Overall, it was a great group and a lot of cool stuff got done (there were many other projects in St. Louis, Chansolme, Beauchamp and more). We would like to again thank all of the groups. Be sure to check out the Traveler’s Blog to see what all of the groups are doing this summer. The next group comes on July 4th.

In other news, here are some recent pictures of the house, more can be found on the Flickr link on the left:

Michelet's House

Our House

The Traveler’s Blog

Nothwest Haiti Christian Mission has offered a new way to keep up with your friends and family while they are in Haiti. The Traveler’s Blog (linked at the bottom right under NWHCM Stuff) will have new posts every day that a group is in, describing what they have been doing and where they are working. No matter if a group is in St. Louis, Beauchamp, here at La Baie, or any other campus, they will have the opportunity to share their thoughts during the trip. So now in addition to photos (which cannot be updates as often because of internet and availability of photos) you can also check out the blog. We are trying to help people in the States understand as much as possible what is going on in Haiti during a mission trip and we encourage everyone to check out the many different ways we offer to do that, whether it be through the main mission website (new design coming soon) missionary blogs, or the new travel blog. Check it often. Another post about the last group to come soon.