Monday, August 22, 2011

Hurricane!

Well here we are in our little apartment looking out the window while I type this blog, the rain is coming down harder now after raining most of the day.  Some areas on the North Coast have reported localized flooding already.  Waves have been reported at over 12 feet in some coastal ports to our east.  The storm is intensifying but it has begun to move more to the north west now and projections are that it will skirt the coastal area of the D.R. and Haiti.  They are projecting major rainfall in the area of up to 10 inches of rain over the next 24 to 36 hours.  This storm will likely gain strength as it moves north and west on track to make landfall in Florida or somewhere up the Eastern seaboard.  Pray with us as we endure our first major storm in this Mission Field.  Laura and I are fine and will likely be very safe as we are on high ground and well protected in this new building.  Many of the people we help daily with suffer great hardship during this storm.  Please pray for their protection and quick end to this ordeal.  We have continued to pray for God's protective hand over us and all tha we reach with our Ministry. 

We still continued the work today as we went up to the Village Ascension today to help in the feeding program.  We assisted Bill and Donna Reimer as they served soup today which was donated from Campbells Canada.  Campbells has provided thousands of cans of ready to eat soup designed specifically for Humanitarian needs.  What a blessing!  Just two months ago this Ministry was in dire straits as they needed funding and product in order to continue feeding children in this Village.  God has answered many prayers for Dominican Ministry, Feed The Kids Program.  He has brought funding and free soup to the island!
I had a chance to sit down with a man from the Village this morning and through an interpreter I got most of his story.  Daniel "Pappo" Armontes was born in the D.R. in 1979, half a mile from where he still lives.  He is 34 now and suffered a stroke 10 years ago so now he drags his left foot and has a wing for a left arm.  Because of the stroke he speaks now with a stutter.  I am writing about Pappo so I can bring to light more of the inhumanity of humanity which is so prevalent here.  Pappo is a Haitian but he was born in the D.R. and therefore has no rights in either country.  He is not recognized by any authority here even though he was born here because it is assumed that his parents are also illegal in the country.  Before he had his stroke at 24 years of age he also worked in the cane fields and also did construction when he found work, but now he is considered "useless" by the construction companies even though I believe he could bench press me!  I visited his home last week and I was not shocked by the conditions I saw, tattered mattress on bricks, dirty blankets, a simple table and two chairs, a broken cookstove standing by the door.  They use the cookstove to make rice and soup on, a simply built tool which holds the cooking carbon and can be moved outside to allow for the smoke.  I asked Pappo how much a new one cost, 150 pesos he says, $4.00 Can.  I gave him the money.  The stench inside the house was unbearable as I stood there and I had to step outside for a few seconds to catch my breath before I continued back into the house to check out the backyard.  We exited the rear of the house and I stood in the garden, a 5 foot by 10 foot area of mostly rock and puddles.  Several pails filled the area, in them were plants I did not recognize...what are these I asked Him?  Yucca and peppers he said, but he had no peppers yet.  My heart leaped into my throat when he told me he lived there with his sister and young 2 year old son.  My interview continued with Pappa and I discovered he had gone to school up until grade 8, he could read and write a little but owned no books as he could not remember how to read Spanish.  He spoke Creole to the translator as his Spanish was okay but not as good as his Creole.  Last week Laura and I also bought him a new pair of shoes, Converse High Tops! $5.00...made in China, lol.  Today Pappa told me that things would be much better if the Government began to harvest the sugar cane again, that then he would have enough money each month to buy more food and clothes for his son.  Then he would have enough money to fix up his house, maybe even enough money so his daughter could come and live with him again.  His little girl Daniela, 6 years old, lives with his mother and father in another house.  They have more food and a bed for her because Pappo's father makes a little more money.
Pappo is only one man in this village out of 2000...there are dozens of villages like this one in the area.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Sugar Cane Harvest will not begin again for along time.  Pray for him, pray for his children, hope abounds.
Bless you all
Mike

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