"A Hand Up not a Hand Out" to our local farmers.

Thank you to all of you who contributed to our campaign for a second oxen team and plow for the farmers in Boucantiste. Our team is now preparing to attend the oxen market when the roads are passable and taking the team up the mountain.

We would also like to tell you that a donor has given us the funds for a water pump/generator that will also help more farmers with irrigation and crop management.

With these gifts we hope a aid an additional 50 farmers farther up the road. 

We still have a long wish list of items we need to continue and grow our work. We are looking for a sugar cane motor to process the cane, after a earlier donation came in for it.

We have over 30 grates to ship to the schools we support, but cost will be around $2.500, and that is just to get them into Haiti, not to their final destinations.

We have funded the tuition for three students this year, but would like to get back to funding 10 each year, at a cost of $8,000.

A few weeks ago, we got a lot of rain, but none this week. It looks like a few days of rain next week. NOAA has predicted below-normal storms all year. That is not good news to our local farmers, who are dry farming, just like us. Without the season storms they land become hard to work and a single water pump is not up to the task of water fields for over 100 neighbors, over a four-mile section of river. It is a difficult task to move the pump and all the hosing from location to location. It would be nice to put on about every mile along the bank. That would mean 2 additional pumps and hosing with a price tag of $1,200 each. It is on our wish list of items that we need your help in securing. With the farmers eager to plow and plant their crops, irrigation is vital to their survival. Over the past few months, the national food crisis has reached the Central Plateau.

Haiti is facing one of the world's most severe hunger crises, with approximately 5.8 million people—more than half the population—experiencing acute food insecurity. Of this total, over 1.8 million Haitians are dealing with emergency levels of hunger, and a staggering 277,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition. Our neighbors are part of that number. Many have fled from the capital in search of an escape from the violence. We are now seeking funds and collaborations with other NGOs to find food for the communities and El Shadai Ecole. Your help would go a long way to giving proper nutrition to those in need.

Our last update this week is a picture of our farm from Google Maps. The discolored area is the fields that have been planted in Boucantiste. The small river where we get our water 100+ feet below the road, so in the dry season water needs to be transported up the slope by bucket, pails, pans, bottles, etc., anything that can hold water will work. But if requires many trips to prepare a meal, or water the fields. As always, we pray that you are doing well and that you will be able to help us with one of these needs. Your continued support and prayers make all our work possible.

Thank you.