Update from Denise

September 17, 2015
Living with very little water
This has been an interesting study of living with little water. There are
times we have some running water and some water in buckets. Then there are
times that we pay people to go down to the road and get a bucket of water
for us.
How we are so spoiled to take water for granted. This is not even water
you can drink; it is for washing, flushing the toilet, watering the
gardens. Before using the bathroom you need to be sure that there is a
bucket of water available, after using the bathroom you need to seek water
to wash your hands.  Several days go by that the whole village has very
little water so washing clothes is out of the question. Although this
morning we had some water and I did wash a few things. I also need to
mention it is very hot here and you sweat a lot, so the need to bath and
change clothes seems endless.  I am wearing cotton dresses and trying to
get two days at least out of them, sponge bath one day and a shower from
our can using about a gallon and a half of water the next day. I will
certainly enjoy standing under my wonderful shower when I get home!
The people in our community are very proud of our truck, usually when we
return from anywhere there are two young boys that wash it for us.
Yesterday they wanted to wash it because we had some water; we said no we
need to conserve water. The problem is the spring capture. In the past all
the water from the spring went into the capture or reservoir, now the
water has diverted it’s self and only a small part is going into the
reservoir.  We are going to talk to Fr. Gracia this weekend to see if he
can help with the project of redirecting the water back to the reservoir.
Jon Lwi has presented us with a list of materials needed for the project
and in talking to him last night I am somewhat skeptical of him being in
charge of the project. I am glad it will be up to Fr. Gracia to decide.
It seems we are making progress toward getting our solar electricity
working. Elwood and Anita came over a couple of days ago and Elwood was
able to help Bob get the batteries charged enough for the inverter to come
on. The batteries are charging, and seem to be holding the charge. We
still need to start the generator at night, but progress is being made.
Now if we could figure out why the internet is so slow you time out before
you can down load your e-mail life would be grand. So as for now I have to
go somewhere else for internet.
I will stop whining, no one said this was going to be easy. The ladies who
make the rugs have all come and gotten paid for the rugs we sold and are
very happy. They are going to start on new rugs for me to take home this
November .We are selling fruits from the center, and the vanilla is
growing well. My language skills have improved and I can communicate with
most people. I am still studying each day and don’t consider myself
fluent, but the Haitian people will say that I speak Creole so that makes
me feel good.
Thank you for your interest and prayers,
Denise