October 11, 2007

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all our Sponsors, Family, and Friends:  Our last newsletter was September 2007.   We were in Haiti from the 4 to the 19th and had a wonderful time.  We met Bob there and got a chance to visit all the schools during the first week of school.

We have 6 schools in 5 villages with 1050 children registered in our schools for this year with about 560 still needing sponsors.  This is up from about 200 last September, WOW!!  God is so good!

About a week before we went, we got a call from a friend in Haiti telling us about a school that had been running for about 20 years, with one gentleman who owned the land and building, paying most of the expenses to run it.  He would ask the parents to pay so their children could go to school, but the people in this community are so poor, they could not afford to.  He is so passionate about education that he would let them attend anyway.  He made his money to pay for it by farming.  Now that he is getting older, he can’t work so hard and is not able to make as much money.  Due to this, he has been cutting back a bit the last few years and was not going to open this year at all. 

He told our friend, if someone was willing to come in and run the school, he would sign the land and building over to them.  We prayed about it and felt the Lord telling us to do it.  We have learned in the past that when God says to do something, we should do it and that He will provide for it.  All we have to do is be obedient and do the footwork.  We said “Yes”, and then got on the phone, calling people who have supported us in the past.

 We were able to raise some funds for start up costs, which included books, chalk, and black boards.  We had a doctor check the children over the second week of school, and found we needed to purchase some worm medication for the children. 

The area they are in, is a valley with a mountain on either side, due to this, it is damp there all the time. The school building is in very bad shape, rotting from the roof down and from the ground up.  It is also very small, 2 rooms about 10’ X 10’ and a couple verandas.  In the past, this tiny school has had 100 children enrolled with about 25 children in each class and/or veranda. 

Since the rainy season is almost over, we decided not to repair the building, but to “make do” with it as is.  By the time school is over next summer, we plan to have enough funds raised to knock that building down and replace it with a cement block building.  Cost for this should be about $30,000.   In the meantime we have an agreement with a church next door to use their building in exchange for fixing a few things there. 

When we went to that community, we were struck by a couple things, first the level of poverty.  We never get used to it, and pray that we never do.  Second is the willingness of the parents and children and the church elders to do whatever we ask, to help us, help them.

We have raised some more funds since we got back, which will purchase some desks and uniforms, (it is law in Haiti for each child to have a uniform).
We also need to build a toilet.  Can you imagine, there has been a Primary school operating there for 20 years, but there has never been a toilet on the property?  Cost for it is approximately is $1100.  There is also water adjacent to the property with a small river running along the back of the land.  We are having water carried each day to the school and hope to get a system set up to have water piped directly to the building.

We are working on ways to get a feeding program up and running.  We have had some rice and stoves donated and are still working out the cost of sauce and beans for the rice and charcoal to cook it.  We plan to have parents take turns in preparing the food each day, kind of like our “hot lunch program” here in Canada.

We have so many more plans for the future in Haiti and we realize we have not done it alone so far and will not do it alone in the future.  We volunteer our time and both work full-time to support ourselves. We are working all the time when we are not in Haiti to raise funds for these projects, and are so encouraged when someone else gets our vision and comes along side to help by having a fund raising event to support this work. 

Such an event is taking place next weekend.  It is a Fundraising COUNTRY & BLUEGRASS GOSPEL CONCERT, Saturday Oct. 13 at 7:00pm at CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER in Chipman.  Tickets are being sold in advance for $7 and $10 at the door.  Some of the artists like Gerry Flowers, Erdie & Julie Price, and The Weavers are friends of ours who have helped in the past and others, we haven’t even met yet.  We know the Lord will bless them all for helping Him bless the people of Haiti.  The proceeds from this event will go to Haiti children for food and water.

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again.  We do this because we want more than anything to be obedient to God, and He has told us we are changing the future of Haiti through this work.  All that is AWESOME, but sometimes it is the change that God makes in us, when we are obedient to Him, that is even more important.

Sorry to be so long in our letter there is just so much to tell. If you are interested in more info or sponsoring a child, you can do that on our website at www.blairhope.com  through pay pal.  Click on the sunburst where it says “SPONSOR A CHILD TODAY” OR the old fashioned way by sending us a check or checks totaling $365 made out to BLAIR HOPE INTL. INC., our mailing address is available here. 

Thanking you for your help in the past and praying for your help in the future.

Take care and God Bless

Miles & Rosemary