Mission: Child Sponsorship

We're going to take a break from talking about manifestations, and talk about another subject today:  Child Sponsorship.  Please forgive the formatting and highlighting...the more I try to fix it, the worse it gets :(

I'm sure many have heard of Child Sponsorship, but maybe don't know much about it.  This post is to help inform for those who may be interested in becoming involved in sponsoring a child or school, and also give you an example of our personal journey to visit our sponsored child last month.

First, the information, which was given to me by some of the AC missionaries that are currently serving in Haiti working with Child Sponsorship.

HarvestCall operates two Child Sponsorship organizations in Haiti. The biggest is the MEBSH Child Care program based in Les Cayes in southern Haiti, 4.5 hours west of Port-au-Prince, with schools all across southwest Haiti. There is also HCH (Help a Child in Haiti) Child Care program, with schools located in southern Haiti by Cote-de-Fere, about 2 hours south and west of Port-au-Prince.

Currently with HarvestCall's support in these two organizations, 1,167 students are being sponsored and have the opportunity to attend school and receive an education. In addition to individuals being sponsored, there are also 114 MEBSH schools being sponsored. These schools total approximately over 10,000 students that have the opportunity to receive an education. The monthly support covers the cost of uniforms, books and entrance fees. 

We serve Christ when we serve "The Least of These." In Matthew 25:40, Jesus taught that whatever you do for the least of these my brothers or sisters, you do it for Me. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Approximately, 54% of Haitians live on less than $1 a day and 78% on less than $2 a day. Just over 47% of Haiti's population is illiterate.Without an education, children cannot learn to read and write, and if they cannot read, they cannot read the Bible. Child Sponsorship brings hope to children in their poverty through a Christ-like education so they can help themselves, their families, their communities, and their country. 

While providing a basic education to some of the poorest children on Earth, HarvestCall's mission through Child Sponsorship is "to provide a Christ-centered education to needy children." More than just learning to read and write, a sponsorship provides the introduction to God's Word and the gospel message, so sponsored children would learn about the hope of eternal salvation through a repentance and a faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. HarvestCall brings the humanitarian focus (education) with the mission proclaimed message of Christ and His Word to transform lives. 

When you sponsor a child, you will truly change a life forever. They will send you letters on a quarterly basis, and they love to receive letters/photos from you, as well as small financial gifts. One of the greatest blessings is when a sponsor can meet their Haitian child for the first time. We pray that many poor children can be sponsored because due to their poverty, many cannot go to school without financial help. You truly make a difference in the life of a child when you give them hope of a Christ-centered education that will transform their lives for eternity. That is our vision for Child Sponsorship. 

Please see website for Child Sponsorship:  www.harvestcall.org/child-sponsorship

Now, our Child Sponsorship visit story, and more:

The weekend was Haiti's Mother's Day, and we were invited to a restaurant down the road for a special breakfast.  The owners live in the States, but their family still lives in Haiti and helps keep the restaurant open.  It's a nice place to go eat, has good food, good prices, and we don't even have to leave the mountain!

This time, the owners were back to visit, and had invited us down.  They made a huge spread for us....oh so yummy!  Some of us headed down early, and Rick and David came later as they had to unload a piece of equipment that was being delivered to the Hospital that morning.

After breakfast, we headed down the mountain to go visit Gluwons, our sponsored child.  But we weren't even to the highway yet when we saw a group gathered on the side of the road around a man lying on the ground.  We stopped, fearing he had had an accident.  "Is he breathing?" we ask as we get out, in full medic mode :)  Oh, for an ambulance!  Yes, he was breathing, but his body was rigid and he had saliva coming from the side of his mouth.  He didn't respond, but his pulse was strong and normal rate.  I gave him a sternal rub (pushing your knuckles into someone's breastbone is a very uncomfortable sensation and wakes most people up to their fullest capacity at the time) and he moaned.  His eyes were rolled back in his head.  We asked if anyone around knew him.  No one did.  They had just seen him lying on the road and came to check out what was going on.  He finally aroused enough to ask him a few questions.  He tried to form words, but none came out.  I asked if we could take him to the hospital and he shook his head yes.  We asked the crowd if anyone could come along to help us out, and one young man offered.  We picked up our "patient" and put him in the back of the vehicle.  On the way up, we tried talking to him more, and through yes or no questions and hand signals, we got some info.  Apparently he hadn't eaten in three days, and he was walking to go visit someone.  He said he knew who he was, but he didn't have any ID on him because he lost it.  We couldn't understand his name.  David called Dr Lee whose vehicle was headed back up to the Hospital, and they turned around to meet us.  The man who was with us said a prayer for the sick man.  We had no blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, or IV's.  It was a transport only ambulance trip I guess :).  We met up with the other vehicle, moved him over, and they took him up to the Hospital.  We turned around and headed back on our journey.


We were periodically stopped at "roadblocks" where young men were clearing mud off the roads from the recent rains.  There was minimal work being done, as the longer it takes, the longer you can get money from the vehicles.  We handed out snacks, and I made a mental note to carry more food when we go on a trip.

It was a beautiful day to take a road trip.  We listened to a book on CD, enjoyed the scenery, and enjoyed the opportunity to "get out" and go travel.

The day was so beautiful it was almost magical.  Suddenly, butterflies started coming out of the trees and flew across the road.  They flew in the hundreds.  And they kept coming and coming and coming.  It was hard to get pics of them in a moving vehicle, but here was an idea of what we saw...

About two hours from home, we stopped alongside the road and met an employee of Child Sponsorship that lives in the Puit Sales area.  He got in the vehicle and was to guide us to the home of our sponsored child.  Of course, I had assumed that it wouldn't be very far away, and hadn't asked, so we were getting a little concerned when we kept driving and driving and driving and driving for about an hour and a half.  Were we EVER going to get there??  But we passed some beautiful countryside, and saw some towns like Fond de Blancs where there is a hospital.

There were other areas that we passed through (like the one pictured below) that were totally uninhabited.  It was crazy driving through there.  As small and as densely populated as Haiti is, even if you live in the country it is like living in town.  There are always people everywhere.  It's not like in rural Iowa where you can really just be virtually alone out in the country...seems like there is always a "community" even if it's rural here.  Driving through, it seemed like we were in a national park.  So many trees, a lot of beauty, but not a soul in sight.

We had some adventuresome driving experiences on the way, and about an hour into this venture, we got to some pretty muddy patches.  We hoped we wouldn't get stuck way out here in the middle of absolutely nowhere.  But we made it just fine!

We finally made it out to Gode, the town where our sponsored child lives.  There had been a funeral that day, and so there were a lot of people there.  The family had fed the funeral meal, and it was a busy place.  We got to spend a few hours with Gluwons and his family, talking and playing.  Gluwons just finished 4th grade.  His class has about 25 students.  He writes us letters a few times a year.  He writes them in Creole and they're translated into English, but it's kind of cool that we can now read what he actually writes!!  His father has been gone a long time, and his mother died about two years ago.  Since then he lives with his Uncle and Aunt and their family.  

Even though it was a long trip, it was neat to see Gluwons and his house and family.  We drove by the school, and they also showed us the church they attend.  We left after a few hours so we could get back home before dark.

The kids traveled well for the most part which was really nice since it was a really long day.  On the way home we were pretty hungry and the pb&j sandwiches didn't last too long in our stomachs.  There were no restaurants open along the road, so we kept an eye out for roadside chicken.  We thought we spotted some, so we pulled over.  We got some patays (fried sandwiches) and piping hot fried plantains with pikliz (a spicy coleslaw), and a hot dog for Orrin.  Yum, yum!  We got home before dark, and were glad for the really good day it had been!

Power Struggles

For the past few weeks, I haven't felt much like writing. Me, the once-teenage OCD journal-er with notebooks filled with thoughts and every life event dutifully recorded for future generations to hopefully never see, the one with great aspirations of seeing her name on a book in a library someday (on the front cover, not inside it :) ), the one who finds it therapeutic to put her frustrations on paper and then throw it away.  Yes, these recent events just took the creative thought from my mind.  I know there are a lot of people back home who are wondering what's going on, and so this is an effort to communicate about our situation.

For a while now, I've felt like sometime I'd be writing this post.  Like it was inevitable.  The hospital which had once given electricity to the community in years past had come to a point where there was not enough water to run the hydro and had to augment with lots and lots of diesel generated power.  The community was slowly "weaned" off, and finally about six months ago, the power was officially taken away.  With the installation of the solar system, I figured it was just a matter of time before someone got upset that they weren't getting some of it again.  The how and the details have been surprising though.

Almost three weeks ago, we woke up Monday morning to a phone call.  The hospital driver was trying to get down the mountain to Cavillion, a town right on the main highway, to pick up hospital employees and bring them up to work.  Each morning and evening he makes this run.  But today he couldn't get through.  Burning tires crossed the road, and threats of harm to the vehicle stopped him.

Through the day, we were able to gather bits and pieces of why this was happening.  Electricity, anger over employees getting laid off over a year ago, a desire for more local people to be hired by the hospital, and the (untrue) thought that statements had been made against the locally elected government official.  Most of this was wrongly directed at our Human Resources manager, who is Haitian, but not from the local area.  Some of these things were hard decisions that were made over long periods of time with much prayer and thought.  These decisions were made in the best interest of the hospital.  Other things are just simply false or completely misdirected.

Police from Cavillion came up to try to break up the demonstration, but when rocks were thrown at them and they were highly outnumbered, they headed back down the mountain and the road remained closed.  It was late afternoon before most of the employees were able to get rides on motorcycles up to the hospital, and the next day, the road was blocked again.  The clinic which is usually full on Tuesdays had a minimal amount of people.  Could this go on?  How would it affect the hospital?  A few weeks before, we had full capacity inside the hospital, and were trying hard to find beds for the people that were coming.  It was so exciting!  Now we were wondering how this recent problem would affect that.  Would people hear Bonne Fin was having trouble and would it take weeks - months perhaps - to gain confidence to come back again?

Satan knew how to attack.  Bringing so much on at once.  Along with this, there were major water problems David had to deal with, and Rick, Kurt and Linonce (David's garage/woodshop/yard boss) were all gone in the States, leaving less people to handle the problems.  We were awakened several nights to no electricity, and when David would try to call the hydro, the guys were having difficulties with the telephone and so he had to turn on the generator a few times.  Then Cassia started teething those great big one year molars, had a fever and was super clingy for several days.  The kids started taking turns waking each other up at 5:30 or earlier in the mornings.  This was not working out well.

We stayed close to home those first few days.  We sent out prayer requests and felt that God was just giving us a calm.  We prayed that even though we were angry and frustrated with the seeming insensibility of this all, that we could be loving and kind and a Christ-like witness.

David had called and asked to speak with the Kasik (an elected official for Bonne Fin).  Tuesday afternoon he showed up...along with the First Mayor, Second, and Third Mayor of Cavillion, two judges from Cavillion, the Police Commissioner from Aquin, and one party from the manifesting group.  For the most part, they seemed to be very understanding and seemed to want to help seek for a solution to the problem.  They even spoke of how that even though people were local, it did not make them the best choice for an employee if they were not properly qualified.  We felt like things were going in the right direction.  They listened as the power situation was explained, and were pleased to hear that there was a generator available if the community could form a group to run and manage it.  A meeting was set for Saturday between the Mayor and the community.  We prayed for Saturday.

Over the past 2 1/2 years, we have spent a LOT of time trying to learn this foreign language.  Seeing the growth is exciting, and being able to hold conversations is really nice.  David was super glad that he was able to follow what was said in the meeting pretty well, as things can get confused in translation.  But that same level of being able to understand more comes with something I was not prepared for - entering volatile conversations.  And that is what got me into trouble.

Wednesday happened.  The road was open because it was market day, but there was still strain.  I went to surgery as usual, and missed (another) spinal.  After the case, some of us gathered around in the middle area.  There was some talk going on about not liking the newly installed security cameras, and I jumped into the conversation.  To me, it felt like the whole world was against us.  The people demonstrating obviously didn't trust us.  The employees seemed to be not trusting of the administration's decision of why the cameras were put in.  I tried to explain that they were installed (for one reason) in case anyone would come and steal from the OR.  My comment was taken as somewhat of an accusation, that maybe they were not trusted.  Anyway, it was not a very good situation, and although some people agreed and thought that the cameras should be there and they didn't have anything to worry about since they do their jobs and don't steal, other people walked out on the conversation.  The whole situation was extremely stressful, and took a few days to clear up.  But in the end I came away with some lessons learned, about when to not enter a conversation, and some cultural lessons.

Wednesday also confirmed why we need the cameras, although I didn't know it at the time.  Threatening notes were posted in and out of the hospital against another one of our employees.  It seemed like if it wasn't one thing, it was another.

Friday morning, one of our guards was attacked while off duty, by some of the same people that are causing these issues.  The police came to the hospital trying to catch the men who did it, and it sounded like an action packed adventure :)  They caught one person who had been more of a bystander to the attack, but neither of the men actually involved were anywhere to be found.  Then the group headed down the mountain to talk to the judge and get warrants served.  There were threats to block the road again so the group couldn't come back up, but it didn't happen, probably mostly due to the fact that one of the involved parties was being given a ride back up in the hospital vehicle.  How's that for "if your enemy hungers, feed him"?

Saturday evening was the meeting, and we sat around, praying and wondering.  We got a few phone calls from a hospital employee who wasn't there but had heard from someone else.  It sounded like it was going well, but then a comment was made and the whole meeting broke up.  At least it ended peacefully, but it was disappointing that there were no resolutions made.

Even with all of this going on, we have seen positives.  That first week, the clinic numbers were still really good.  There was a work team that had to spend a few days in Cayes before they could come up, but since then we have had a few teams to come provide help with inventory, odd jobs that need done, orthopedic surgeries, and dental clinics.  People from other communities have stepped up and told the demonstrators that they are hurting the hospital and hurting their businesses, and that they won't stand for the road being blocked anymore.

The next Friday, the HR manager came back up to the hospital, which was met with a lot of anger and resistance.  When he tried to leave, the air was let out of his tires.  When David tried to air them up again, he was surrounded by a mob of people who wouldn't let him.  How's that for feeling like the whole world is against you?  The group finally allowed the HR manager to leave in a hospital vehicle along with other employees, and I could hear them cheering his descent all the way at our house.

I am so glad that David and my roles are not reversed.  While he can stand there in a mob of people and just think and pray, I would be spouting off my very finest Creole telling them how immature they're acting and stomping my foot once or twice for emphasis.  After all the lies, stress, accusations, impeding of progress, and straight up laughing-in-your-face, D has just "taken it."  It's been a huge lesson to me, about how to not fight the way they fight, but to fight through prayer.

Thanks everyone so much for your prayers on behalf of us and the hospital.  We have felt them in a very real way.  Please continue to pray for a peaceful resolution, for us that we will be a Christlike witness and communicate effectively (with no foot-stomping :) ).  Pray for those who have been verbally and physically attacked.  Pray that the community will rise up in defense of the hospital and all the good it does, and will stand against the small group that threatens to undo it.  Pray for those who are against us, that their hearts can be changed.  Pray that they will not believe the lies that the Deceiver tells them.  Pray for God to bless them.  Jesus reminds us that the battle is not against these men, but against the Ruler of Darkness.  "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,  but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

We don't know when this will be over.  It has a potential to hang with us for a while.  There has been a lot of talking, meetings, and trying to explain things going on.  Some people listen reasonably, but others just don't want to listen.  There was a meeting yesterday that was very discouraging.  There are so many unreasonable demands being made.  If it weren't so serious, it would be almost funny the new things this group comes up with almost weekly....cheaper healthcare, more community people employed by the hospital, firing of certain staff.  The community generator solution is essentially off the table, they don't want to hear about that...they just want the hospital to give it to them.  David says it's like the liberal's attitude in the States...we want it, we want more of it, and we want it for free.  Sorry folks, it simply doesn't work that way.  Right now, we don't see a way out of this, at least not anything WE can do.  If this turns around, it will ONLY be of God.  "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

This is my Father's world,

O let me ne'er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father's world

The battle is not done

Jesus who died shall be satisfied

And earth and heav'n be one.

Thick Darkness

I'm sure a lot of people have at least heard some of the difficult situation going on here at Hospital Lumiere right now.  We want to ask for your prayers because we know where our strength comes from, and that is from God alone.  We have been assured by so many people that they are praying, and I can say that we really do feel them.  In an effort to communicate more, and share some specific prayer requests, here are a few blog posts that were written this week by the Aberle's (www.komaricka.blogspot.com) that they said we could share them with you.

Over the past months so many things have been going well at the hospital.   God's manifold blessings are evident in more patients coming to us for help and care and more people hearing the word.  The light of Jesus is shining forth at the hospital.  However, in the midst of these joys, the darkness of evil lurks.  For the past 3 days, satan has gathered his forces.  The mission at Hospital Lumiere is under his attack.   Several people in the community have risen up in manifestation and protest beginning Monday (June 6).   For two days, they blocked to road for parts of the day.  They are protesting about long past decisions/actions by the hospital administration related to electricity for the community, jobs at the hospital, and specifically are targeting non-local Haitian employees with their threats and demands.  

Presently, 2 of 5 missionary families are absent from the hospital, which increases the burden and load on the 3 missionaries and their families on-sight.  The situation is tense and stressful.   The past two days (June 7 and 8) we have found several threatening signs/messages around the hospital targeted at two of our Haitian staff members that are not local to Bonne Fin.

This is a very serious situation, one which we've not yet encountered before this time.   We have seen many evidences of prayer answered as God's power has been made evident.   Local and regional authorities have expressed their support for the hospital and told the protesters they must stop in an unexpected visit and meeting.   However, the group protesting is still "breathing out threatenings" if their demands are not met.   

As I reflect this evening, the scripture in John 3 comes to mind: [19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.[20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. [21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Please join us in prayer for this situation.

• Pray for the staff that are being singled out by this group.  Pray for them by name.  Mr. Pheguens (Figgins) and Mr. Blanc (Blan)
• Pray for the missionaries on site:  David and Janella, Lee and Desma and Sheila.
• Pray for the people who are instigating this situation.
• Pray for the entire missionary team as we seek God's grace and direction in dealing with this situation.

We do take comfort in God's protection and peace.  He is guiding and leading us and has the situation in His hands.

Thank you for praying with us.

We are feeling and seeing the impact of God's hand in the situation at Bonne Fin.   As noted in the title, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much.   

While the situation at the hospital remains very tense, we are thankful that the road has remained open for the past 3 days.   We did have a minor incident last night and today that was not directly related to the manifestations, however, the authorities responded quickly.   We see the authorities involvement having an impact.

As an updated prayer request in addition to the previous post, we would ask for prayer for a planned meeting tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.   This meeting has been organized by the local mayor with the community.   It is aimed at addressing one of the chief concerns, electricity.   The meeting will not involve any missionaries or official hospital representatives.  However, the outcome of the meeting will directly impact the situation as it will calm the waters and allow productive dialogue or spiral the situation back into unrest.   Please pray for the Holy Spirit's presence in this meeting and for all involved to have open hearts, minds and ears to listen to voices of reason and calm.

Thank you for battling in prayer.   We feel the truth of the scripture in Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 

In the midst of "thick darkness" it seems really hard to find the way to go or see that there will be a resolution to the problem. But we know we go to the Light of the world and He will make a way. That is our hope and confidence.

Keeping the Lights On With Solar

We’re long overdue in doing this particular post and since I (David) have yet to do a blog post a certain party thought that I should do it J.  For those of you who don’t know, we have completed installation of a large Solar system for the hospital and I would like to share some of the highlights from this process.

This project has been especial fulfilling to me, as it was one of the first projects I got involved with as an intern here.  Within the first month after we moved here in 2014 there was a small team here to evaluate our electrical system and recommend improvements.  We had been experiencing many problems related to “bad” power and we were damaging circuitry on various types of equipment.  This team, comprised of John Jackson (Electrical Engineer), Duane Steffen (Controls Engineer with significant experience repairing/upgrading HL’s existing electrical system), John Smucker (Owner of a solar installation business experienced in “off-grid” systems) and David Wright (Hydro Generation Mechanic), evaluated our existing equipment/structure and gave recommendations on how we could improve.  Many of their recommendations were put into place and we quickly saw significant improvements in our power quality.  We reduced our load by 25% by switching to LED lights and making improvements to the generators. 

The biggest recommendation the team had was to install a solar system.  This was viewed as the best way to reduce the amount of money spent on diesel fuel annually as well as improving the quality of the power produced.  There is no “utility” power available to our area.  The nearest power poles are several miles from us and for us to have the power company complete the remaining distance it would have cost several hundred thousand dollars.  After this we still would have had to pay about 50 cents a kWh (you can make power with a diesel generator cheaper than that) and the power is not on all of the time anyway. Due to this, “utility” power was not an option.  We have two hydro generators but they only work when you have enough water, and for the past two years we have been in a drought and only able to run them part time.  Considering all of these factors along with the expense of fuel for diesel generators, we started to raise money for the purchase of the system and began the initial stages of design.  We are humbled at how quickly the church responded and met our initial estimate for what they system would cost!  Due to many factors the systems design preceded slowly and, I’ll admit, at times I was more than a little frustrated at this.  Every month that went by was a month we were spending money on diesel and losing equipment due to “bad” power; however, God was using this as lesson in His timing. 

Smuckers Energy is John Smucker’s company.  They are based in Pennsylvania and were responsible for the design and installation of the system.  While the system was being designed they submitted a request to a company named Solar World for 50,000 watts worth of solar panels (around 250 panels).  Solar World has some USA based manufacturing but their headquarters are in Germany.  They produce a very high quality product and have a history of making small donations to organizations who are seeking to improve the lives of others.  After our request for a donation was submitted we began to hear more about their donation program and that many of their donations were more in the range of 2-4,000 watts with a max of 20,000 per project.  Getting the full amount we had asked for seemed highly unlikely.   Meanwhile God was working in hearts of the Solar World Executives.  They were really excited about our project, the USA execs submitted it to the Germany Execs.  Solar World has donated panels for several other hospitals in Haiti in the past, and were at the point where they were looking for another similar project to donate to, right at the time we made our request.  We eventually received a request form Solar World.  Would we be willing to split our project into two separate projects?  The design could stay the same but in name it would be two projects.  If we could do this they would like to stretch their previous max of 20,000 watts per project to 25,000 and give it to us twice!  Umm, OK!  A testament to God’s behind the scenes working.  A company, as far as I know secular, had more than doubled the largest donation they had ever given an organization.  The retail value of this donation is around $90,000!  By this point in the design process we were at a point of two options, the one we could afford on our budget, and the ideal one for what we needed.  This donation allowed us to build what was viewed as our ideally sized system with a total of 85,000 watts of production capacity!

Solar World continued to work quickly and the panels were on their way to us.  Meanwhile the design had been finalized and dates set for installation.  Waiting on the arrival of the solar panels and some battery items were the only outstanding items.  As the time for installations got closer we began to get nervous these items were not going to make it on time.  Long story short we did the installation in two segments with a period of around 3 weeks in between.  The panels arrived after the first segment but before the last and the battery components arrived just days before the last segment began.  In other words despite two years of design, this system could not have been installed any sooner. God’s timing.

Installation went very well with a great crew of people.  It started raining during the first week, starting the beginning of the first real rainy season we’ve seen in Haiti.  Work was still completed on the roof that week, but it was more critical that the second work week be able to work and get everything done.  It rained and rained up until the second work team arrived, but stopped just in time for them to start working.  We were very blessed and excited to have Jaylin, Arlen, Lucas, and Tim and Myra here from Forrest during the second segment!  Their help was critical in completing the project on time.  The Forrest team finished up with their part on Wednesday with time to spare, and we were able to just hang out for the afternoon together and have a blessed evening of worship before they headed out late that night/early Thursday morning.  We had great laughs and made memories that will last a life time!  It showed us just how much our Forrest family means to us.  The rest of the team had programming, final connections and troubleshooting to do, and they finished on time on Friday.  After debriefing that night, we headed back up to the Hospital to run through more troubleshooting information.  We took umbrellas because it had started to rain again. 

This power building is the first "new construction" building that has been built since we moved here.  It was started in September of 2015, and was completed in time for the installation.  In one part of the power building is my new office, so I can be close to keep an eye on everything.

The system has been running very well! It is one of 3 such system in Haiti, has a total of 324 solar panels, and the batteries alone weigh 12,500 lbs!  It provides nearly 100 percent of the power the hospital needs.  We are considering some changes in the future that would allow us to power our entire campus with the solar system during the day and power everything with our hydro through the night.  This would reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed annually even more.  For the time being, I believe we have the best quality power Hospital Lumiere has ever had, and we are realizing a savings on the diesel fuel we need to purchase as well.

Today, Solar World released a video and some information about the solar system and their donation towards it for their PR.  Here are a few links to view those:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n04QR8qg9TA&feature=youtu.be

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160608005060/en/SolarWorld-Donates-50-kW-Solar-Panels-Provide

http://www.solarworld-usa.com/blog/2016/june/hospital-of-light-part-1

Many thanks to all involved but especially to God!