September Newspaper Article - Depending on Technology

I used a bit of an earlier blog post for this month's newspaper article, but most of this is new:


On Labor Day Monday, while local schools enjoyed a day off, I was privileged to witness the start of a new year at Cowman School in Vaudreuil, Haiti.  In many ways the scene appeared like that of any school here in the U.S.

The students showed up lugging backpacks, lunchboxes and water bottles and bubbling with a sense of anticipation and anxiety. The teachers warmly greeted the students and showed them to their classrooms where posters adorned the walls and bulletin boards offered key learning points. At eight o’clock a bell rang and the students took their seats.

But the bell was not some electronic buzz – it was a handheld bell, powered only by a vigorous shaking by Mrs. Z, a 70-something missionary who teaches 1^stand 2^nd graders.

I was on site to begin my new job as a high school teacher for Cowman, this small mission school serving a mix of missionary kids and local Haitian children.  I came for two weeks to bring classroom supplies, get to know my students and create a foundation on which I could continue to build from here in Indiana the rest of the semester. 

My students will be learning French and Spanish on site, working on Language Arts with me via email, and taking all other core classes through an internet curriculum called Ignitia. 

I got to see firsthand what a challenge this may present.  American teachers are well aware that technology will let you down when the timing is most inconvenient.  In Haiti, it is not just high tech gadgets – it is anything powered by electricity.

Each morning I spent at Cowman, the electricity would cut out completely from 9:30 to noon, leaving the classrooms without overhead lighting and, more importantly, without fans.  During those hours, we utilized a portable diesel-powered generator and a mess of extension cords, one running to each classroom. 

So you can imagine how nervous it made me to be in charge of a class almost completely dependent on a strong, steady internet connection.  In fact, we were six days into the school year before Access Haiti installed a satellite dish … in a tall tree behind the school building.  One worker scrambled up the tree and wielded a machete to clear away any branches interfering with the signal.

So what did I do with my students during our six school days before the internet connection was established?  I wrote out assignments on an antique green chalkboard.  The class took notes and wrote essays with pencils on paper.  I taught reading and writing skills. 

That’s right: I taught without the use of technology.  Who would guess that was even still possible?

Sweet Ladies of Troy UMC and Grundy Center UMC Make a Year of School Possible for 4 Haitian Kids ...

... And the Ladies Don't Even Know It!  Yet.

UPDATED**

As if on a mission, these ladies came out of the Sunday worship service one by one the morning I had preached at the church of my good friend, Tim Price.  Each one asked me, "Which one is Caleb?" And I would point them to my oldest son.

You see, in my sermon I had included the story of Caleb's unsolicited generosity at age 9 when he willingly gave Melissa the two $20 bills he had been saving for Legos so she could take them to Haiti to give to two different needy families.

That Sunday morning in Troy, Illinois, Caleb (now 11) was caught off guard when these various ladies approached him, shook his hand and then handed him various twenties.  Each lady said something like, "You take this money and pass it along to somebody else in Haiti who needs help."  He was excited to end the weekend with around $100 to give away.

(** My wife reminded me that a very similar thing happened a few weeks later at the UMC of Grundy Center, Iowa!  It is another sweet, sweet congregation and I would be remiss not to give them a 'shout out' here as well!  Mea culpa.)

A day later, back home in Indiana, we were reading Stacey Ayars' blog account of Roselore, a Haitian woman who worked at Emmaus Biblical Seminary in Saccanville cleaning houses and who struggled to keep her four children fed.  (EBS is where I hope to do some teaching once we move to Haiti.) You should stop and take a few moments to read Stacey's account HERE.  She's a great writer and it's a heart-breaking story.  We agreed as a family that Roselore should be the recipient of the money that Caleb received.

We thought it best to send a bit at a time - to Stacey - and she could pass it along to Roselore as needed.  Our friend Beka Mech was heading down to Haiti and would be visiting EBS within a few days, so Caleb sent a few twenties with her (** Melissa says $80!).

Then, when I was preparing to leave two weeks ago, we remembered that there was still $80 left to send to Roselore.  I knew that I would be seeing the Ayars at EBS at some point, so I brought the money with me.

So after dinner at the Ayars' home last Tuesday night, I asked Stacey if Roselore was still working for the seminary.

"Yes, and it's so difficult because she wants more work but we don't have the budget to add any more days for her."  Stacey explained that September is an anxious month for many parents in Haiti.  School traditionally starts in October and the parents have to pay to enroll their students.  Many, many are simply not able.

Any guess as to how much primary education costs in the neighborhood around Saccanville, where the seminary is located?

Poor Roselore has been fretting because she has not been able to save up the $16 each that it will cost to enroll her four children in school for the full year! 

Which means ...that final $80 from the ladies at Troy and Grundy Center UMC will enable Roselore to enroll her kids for the year and provide a bit extra towards the clothing and books necessary to go along!  Praise God!  I wish you and I could both be there when Stacey tells Roselore and when Roselore tells her kids.

Can you imagine what life must be like for a parent who can't afford to educate her children for the lack of a hundred dollars? It's hard for us to even conceive of such an existence.  I would guess that most American Christians have close to enough money sitting in our change jars to put Roselore's kids in school for a year.


"Is this not the fast which I choose,

To loosen the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the bands of the yoke,

And to let the oppressed go free

And break every yoke?

"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry

And bring the homeless poor into the house;

When you see the naked,  to cover him;

And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

"Then your light will break out like the dawn,

And your recovery will speedily spring forth;

And your righteousness will go before you;

The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."

 

                                                  Isaiah 58:6-8

May God forgive us.  AND guide us in mending our ways.

And may God bless the ladies of the United Methodist Churches of Troy, Illinois and Grundy Center, Iowa!

Checking Possibilities at Emmaus Biblical Seminary

I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to visit Matt and Stacey Ayars at the Emmaus Biblical Seminary just down the road 30 minutes from Cowman.  Mine was a fact-finding mission:  I was interested in finding out how I might be able to contribute to the incredible ministry happening at EBS if I could split my time between Cowman and EBS once our family moves to Haiti. 

I was encouraged to find that a split seems very doable. 

At Cowman I will be teaching Language Arts to grades 7 through 12 and overseeing their work on other online classes.  Right now there are only 4 students in this category (the principal limited enrollment this year since this is experimental and I was not able to be on site full-time yet), but even when enrollment goes up, the Language Arts load at Cowman will be very manageable.  And the online curriculum oversight will be something that requires little extra effort.  Discovering what this part of my job here would look like was one of my main objectives for coming down for these two weeks.

Cowman School in the early morning.

Matt Ayars, who is President of EBS, picked me up at Cowman yesterday and drove me to campus.  He explained how each class at the seminary meets for a single two or three hour block once a week for 12 weeks.  There is demand for youth ministry courses and for extra English language classes that the school is currently unable to staff.  A Friday language tutoring time could also use extra instructors.  There's even a need for one-on-one English writing guidance for a couple of the Haitian instructors on staff who are currently working on extending their degrees through an English language program. 

All that is to say that when Matt drove me back to the mission grounds (after a fantastic Mexican meal with a frosted cake for dessert), I was feeling like I could legitimately split my time between Cowman and Emmaus in the future and be a help at both.  I see Christ very actively at work both places and it would be a privilege to serve Him in both contexts.

If you have a moment, you should check out the Emmaus website at ebshaiti.com.

The Ayars family.

Historic Day for Cowman

WE HAVE INTERNET!  Welcome to the 21st Century, Cowman!  ;-)

The dish is high in the tree...

The router is perched on a shelf in the air conditioned library...

The students have logged on successfully and have begun the placement tests online ...

And I am updating this blog from right here at the desk in my classroom...

If all goes according to plan, Matt Ayars will be picking me up at the close of school today to take me to Emmaus Biblical Seminary and I am really looking forward to that.

I knew it was going to be a good day when I walked out of the house this morning to find my guard lizard at his post ...

... and puddles of rainwater on the sidewalk.

I am praising God for the internet connection, this school, these students, the refreshing rain and my guard lizard!  God is good.

Pics of Odds and Ends - Kindergarten, Cheese, and Bella

We have a solid internet connection here tonight, so I am using it to post a few pics from the past few days.  The first couple are for Melissa - I promised a week ago to show her some better pics of the kindergarten room:

A pic of the classroom where Melissa will teach kindergarten, God willing.  It is actually a house.  Got new tile and fresh paint and murals this past summer and looks pretty good!

The only drawback is that there are only the few windows at one end of the main room and when/if the power goes out, it gets dark and warm real quick.

A close up of the rug.

The outside of the kindergarten house with the rest of Cowman in the background.

Making mozzarella cheese at the Bundys.  I got cheese duty while the family had to be out for a few hours.  I have never seen such a complex and specific recipe.  The solidifying was supposed to take 30 minutes, but it was closer to 2.5 hours. Not sure why.  And then I performed the next step: heat to 104 degrees over the course of 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off heat, stir for another 20 minutes, then let stand for 5.  In the end, it turned out pretty good.

Cheese draining through the cheesecloth.

This little guy is at his post on the front porch ledge every morning, keeping watch.  He's my guard lizard.

The building where we have worshipped the past two Sundays.  This is after the service - every bench was packed out during the service time.

Here's the sign in Cap Haitien declaring that Jesus will return on May 21, 2011.  Oops.  Have I mentioned lately there's a bit of spiritual confusion here?

This is brand new!  Cap Haitien - a city of 200,000 plus - now has 4 or 5 stoplights!

With Orinel and Joab at the English Bible Fellowship a week ago. This picture makes Orinel look so short!  I mentioned Joab a few posts back.  I was privileged to bring into Haiti with me a used laptop (from OMS headquarters) and a suit for Joab's upcoming wedding (from our family, the Combs and Todd Rohm).  Joab and I realized over Facebook a few weeks ago that we were pretty much the same size - which made shopping for the suit fairly easy!

No exaggeration - I have eaten more avocados these two weeks than the rest of my life combined.  They are in season here and they are big and beautiful.  I put the mug in the picture for size reference.  I picked these myself right here on the mission grounds.  Melissa will be so excited about this part of our diet here.

I snapped this picture of the Bundy dog, Bella, the other day and thought it would make an artsy black and white.  Bella is a good watchdog.  Apparently the other night Brett came out to find her barking at a tarantula crawling across their front steps.

Internet Update:
It's Monday evening and the internet guys are saying that the connection is installed and ready to go.  They weren't able to test it all, though, since the power was out when they finished.  So we will hope for the best, but not be overly surprised if it is not up and running by mid-morning tomorrow!  Here's what they were up to when I left school today:

The top guy is actually installing the satellite dish high up in the tree.  They had to hack away a few branches with a machete to get a good line of sight for the signal!

My Son, the Miracle Worker

This is an open letter to my oldest son:

Dear Caleb,

I don't know if you remember Orinel.  Here's a picture of him:

Remember: most Haitians don't smile for photos - he looks much friendlier in person!

He did some translating for us when we were here in Haiti last summer as a family - when we were helping out with the VBS program.  You probably have a better memory than I do - when I saw Orinel last Sunday afternoon, it took me a few moments to recall how we had met.

The radio station (4VEH) has an upstairs meeting room used by various groups, including the English Bible Fellowship on Sundays at 3:30 pm.  EBF is a worship gathering of English speaking missionaries and Haitians who want to know English better.  I went last week at the invitation of Mrs. Z and ran into Orinel there - he came right up to shake my hand and ask how my family was. 

I went again today and Orinel was there once more.  We sat together and talked a bit.  His English is pretty good, but it's difficult to communicate at times even so.  I learned that he is self-taught in English - he never had any formal classes.  We kept chatting after the service and ended up walking the distance back to the mission together.  Along the way I found out that he lived in Cap Haitien with his sister in a house with no electricity.  He works as a volunteer at his church - one of the larger ones in Cap - as a sound engineer, but he can't find work in that line that pays. 

It bugs me so much to see these bright young men like Orinel who have so much talent and skill - skills that could earn them a very comfortable living in the United States - and they struggle along unemployed here.  Apparently, Orinel sometimes gets opportunities to preach and his sister earns a bit of money with some kind of work (I didn't quite understand!) and that gets them by. 

When we got to the gates of the mission and Orinel said he was going to jump on a tap-tap to ride home, I felt like he was the guy who should receive the $33 dollars you sent with me.  I know that you are already aware of this, but I'll say it again:  I admire how generous you are with your money and I know the Lord is pleased with your willingness to give it away to people in need, even complete strangers. 

I had Orinel walk up to the house with me, since I had left my wallet behind when I walked to EBF.  (I've gotten a little paranoid about the possibility of getting robbed along that road, so I didn't take anything worth losing, beyond my camera.) 

I made sure Orinel knew that the money was coming from you, and when we arrived at the house, I showed him one of the pictures of you I had on the computer.  He said the money was a MIRACLE.  That was his word.

And you know what that makes you?  Son, you are a miracle worker!  God worked a miracle through you. 

Keep it up, Caleb.  I can't wait to see what your future holds as God continues to develop your faith in the coming years.  You and your siblings have so much potential built into you.  Undoubtedly God has great plans for you all, to His glory.

I am eager to see you and your brother and sisters again.  I will be home a week from tonight, God willing!

With Love and Admiration,

Dad


P.S.  Orinel stuck around and agreed to give me some Creole lessons.  I now know how to say "I am not French" in Creole!  You never know when THAT might come in handy.  He is coming again tomorrow for a follow up lesson.

A Few Sunday Afternoon Pics

It's Sunday afternoon. I have been away from my family for almost two full weeks now.  Which means that today Melissa is working to find a bit of alone time in Indiana while I would do anything to have some family time here in Vaudreuil!  I have had plenty of alone time.  Hopefully I have made good use of that time - I have tried to - but I am over it. 
 
I've had just about every meal with the Bundy family and the food has been great and the family chaos around the table has been entertaining, but it does make me homesick for my own family's mealtime chaos.
 
The internet connection has been real iffy the last few days and even now, there is no available connection up at the house where I am staying, so I am sitting in front of the mission office with my laptop in order to get a signal.  Which is OK except the glare of the Haitian sun makes it tough to see the screen - even in the shade - and my time will be limited by my battery power.
 
Here I am in my little chair:

The sporadic nature of the internet connection (and the fact that once the power goes out at 9 pm, there is NO connection possible at all) has meant that WHEN I have been able to get online, I have chosen to use that time to skype with my family rather than update this blog. No offense! 
 
So I have decided to post some pics this afternoon as a way of catching up on the last few days here.

The Bundy kids ready for the first day of school.

The littlest Bundy standing outside the classroom on her first day of kindergarten.

My students hard at work.  At the end of the first week, there was still no internet connection for the school.  Here they were just typing up a writing assignment for me on their laptops.  We have been able to use another connection temporarily, but we have not yet begun the online curriculum.

Just for an extra challenge, every day the power goes out around 9:30 and is off until noon.  Long story.  Hopefully the situation will get rectified soon, but for now someone runs out and cranks up the portable generator which is loaded with power cords to each of the rooms in an attempt to keep at least a fan or two running.

Mrs. Z.'s class tends to be rather dark without overhead lights, so the generator also powers this fancy lamp for the 1st and 2nd graders!

Had to throw in a picture of a Haitian air conditioner...

 My battery is getting low, so I will sign off for now and see if I can post a few more pics once the battery is recharged and the laptop has had a chance to cool off!

Thursday Cowman Update

We are four days into the new school year here at Cowman.

In many ways, the start of school here looked like any school in the States.  The students showed up Monday, lugging backpacks, lunchboxes and water bottles and bubbling with a sense of anticipation and anxiety.  The teachers warmly greeted each student and showed them to their classrooms, where posters adorn the walls and bulletin boards offer key learning points.  At eight o’clock a bell rang and the students took their seats.

But the bell is not electronic – it is a literal bell and it’s in the hand of Mrs. Z, a 70-something missionary from the States who teaches 1^st and 2^nd grade.  Electronics are not anything you want to put too much trust in here in Haiti.  At about 9:30 every morning the power has been going out, leaving the classrooms without overhead lighting, but, more importantly, without fans. 

My class is dependent on electronics and we are paying the price for that dependency.  I have just three students, Caleb, Jacob and Julia, and they are supposed to be doing the majority of their coursework online.  Today is the fourth day of school and still no internet connection.  The fine men of Access Haiti would make stateside house contractors proud:  “We will be there Friday before the start of the school year.”  “Saturday.”  “First thing Monday morning.”  “Sorry, our guy was sick.  Tuesday?”  “We didn’t bring enough cable.”  “We will finish the job tomorrow.”

My students and I haven’t been sitting around twiddling our thumbs.  It has actually worked out well for me.  I have had plenty of time to teach some writing skills and to get to know the students individually.  By the time I leave a week from today*, we will have a good foundation from which I can teach long distance the rest of the semester. 

I want desperately to come back with my family after Christmas, in time to start the second semester.   There is a good reason why I have only three students: the principal had to limit the number of upper grade enrollments as a result of not having a teacher – me! – on site this semester.  Other students were interested but were turned away and I am told that this is the only school in this area which offers the upper grade classes now.  I read recently that the average Haitian adult has the equivalent of a third grade education. 

And then there is the kindergarten where Melissa is to teach.  For now, the principal is teaching the class and so is only able to offer it three times a week.  Even so, with all the other responsibilities Angie must juggle, I am hoping our family can get here and Melissa take the reins of the kindergarten before Angie is burned out completely. 

If I were handed a magic wand next Thursday when it’s time for me to board a plane, and told I could use it to instantly be reunited with my family, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it to bring Melissa and the kids here with a couple of suitcases rather than to pop me back to Indiana.

 

*  Heard a rumor today that the Cap Haitien airport may be shut down for the next 5 weeks!  We shall see.  I would appreciate your prayers over this matter.  Of course, it DOESN'T mean that I won't be able to fly to Florida until October if the rumors are true.  But it DOES mean that I would have to alter my plans quite a bit.  First, I would have to get to Port-au-Prince somehow and book a new flight from there.  Also, my rental for the trip home is from Ft. Pierce and I would likely be flying elsewhere out of Port.  I already have lined up several friends I want to see on the way back and a speaking engagement in Flowery Branch, Georgia for the 16th of September.  So... I am praying.

 

P.S.  I will try to post some pictures this evening if the internet around the compound is working!