Haiti Update
January 12, 2007
Allen Rainey's January trip to Haiti turned out to be a study in contrasts. At House of Bread orphanage at Montrous, excellent facilities and comfortable weather made it difficult to leave for Cap Haitian where 4 million people live without power.
At House of Bread (HOB), the goal was to troubleshoot a non-producing system and install more solar. The troubleshooting part took only one hour as Allen soon discovered a bad panel and took it out of the system. Installing ten new solar panels took another day, but the work went well and HOB can now cut generator time in half and plan to survive in the event of an oil shortage. Future upgrades to higher efficiency freezer and refrigerators and a DC water pump will further reduce generator time (and save money). Allen also delivered DVDs of the Jesus film in Haitian Creole and French as well as English for the kids at HOB. The kids really liked it.
After four days in relative paradise (80 degrees, good food and even a beach), Allen took the 30-minute flight from Port-au-Prince to Cap Haitian to survey two projects for North Haiti Christian Mission then on to Limbe where Drop of Love School and Orphanage awaited more solar to further reduce generator time. Actually, since the generator there has been out for a few weeks, the additional solar will allow life at the orphanage to proceed with close to "normal" conditions (normal for Haiti).
In Cap Haitian, lack of power and clean water made living difficult, especially when complicated by the presence of 4 million other people trying hard to make a life. Papa Matthew is the indigenous missionary leading North Haiti Christian Mission. His home is part of a mission complex which houses mission teams from the US helping with construction. Matthew's place is powered only by a small generator a couple of hours each day. Since the Haiti grid is now active only 6–10 hours per week, lack of a good generator or the money to fuel it keeps NHCM from fulfilling its mission. One of the ways Matthew and the NHCM staff minister to the community is to provide clean water out of the well . . . another good reason for solar.
At Drop of Love School and Orphanage, while waiting to get the equipment out of customs, Allen tested a lot of things and visited the local seminary, which needs solar for the teacher's residences. The day before scheduled departure, the equipment came — and the team worked most of the night installing it.
As usual with each SLP excursion to Haiti, more missionaries learn of the SonLight Power mission. Allen expects regular trips there. Running a generator is always more expensive than solar. Usually investing $1 in solar equipment saves $1.50 in fuel costs within 24 months.
On Feb. 24, Allen left for Puerto Limperia Honduras to work with Mama Tara's Orphanage (www.mamatara.org) to install a solar power system there. Team members from Mama Tara USA are also traveling from Arkansas to do construction and assist wit the solar installation (prayer is needed for safe arrival of equipment).