Valley House of Hope Mission Trip

The blog was written primarily to let friends and family know that we were safe and share a few details from our daily routine while in Haiti. There are a few photos from the trip on the blog.

Missionaries who went: Rhonda Wulf, DiAnne Hughes, Tom Thompson, (not sure how you spell Tom’s last name) Richard & Tenise Bogus, Sara Andreesen, Greg Moody and Sally Domeier.

Briefly the men went to try and install a solar panel and pump on the well at the orphanage in Williamson and build nesting boxes for a chicken coop so the orphans could have eggs, i.e. protein, in their diet. The ladies spent time playing with the orphans. Five members of our group (Richard, Tom, Greg, DiAnne and Sally) spent one night in a mountain village with the thought that we would teach them about agriculture. We discovered that agriculture as we know it really wasn’t what they needed, it was more conducive to backyard gardening. We distributed seeds specially formulated for Haiti and looked at what they were already growing, which was bananas, oranges, coffee beans, cabbage, bush type beans, and so on. We learned what type of seeds they would like to have and quickly realized that one of the primary needs is medical care. They were raising goats, pigs and cows on a limited basis. What a surprise to learn that you can tether a pig and lead it.

Forage for animals (at least during the dry season) was minimal and worming was non-existent.

I’m not sure how much we accomplished other than recognizing some of the needs for our next trip, leaving much needed medical supplies and putting Richard’s nesting boxes together. Sara, Rhonda and Tenise handed out scripture tracks in Williamson and our group gave new testament bibles to the children at the orphanage. We also left several proclaimers (i.e. solar powered players that can operate without electricity and have the New Testament recorded on them in Haitian-Creole) in Haiti. My personal accomplishment was to be told that I was “strong, like Haitian woman.”

It is important that groups go as any supplies one wishes to donate have to be hand delivered or they generally don’t make it to the intended recipient. The men spent a lot of time working on the well and the orphanage does have water that they can pump by hand, even though the solar panel and pump didn’t generate enough power to pump the water. We also took school supplies and the orphanage now has chickens and has gathered their first eggs. The orphanage houses 47 children under the age of 18 and in addition to caring for basic food, water and shelter, the children also get a good education. The children both from the village and the orphanage attend school through the 12th grade. Additional plans call for the teaching of vocational school beyond the basic high school education.

With the current political climate in Haiti, it may be quite some time before any missionaries are able to return to Haiti.

Sally Domeier