Hurricane Matthew

crops

Destroyed crops in Grand Goave, Haiti.

bridge

A key bridge swept away by the mudslides and floods.

You’ve probably seen the devastation that hurricane Matthew has wreaked in Haiti. I’ve been in communication with Lex and Renee and have been updated as to the condition of Grande Goave specifically.

The greatest need at the moment is for food. Most crops in the community were destroyed by the 100 mph winds and many animals were killed by floods and mudslides. Many people have been displaced because their homes have been destroyed or damaged by winds, water, and mud. Some of the poorest areas of Grand Goave have suffered the most.

I have not made a plea for funds in some time but things are desperate right now. Again, food is the greatest need so I’m asking you to consider making a donation to that end. You can help by donating $40 (or whatever you can) to support a local family. Providing a typical meal of rice and beans for a family of five for one week requires a small sack rice, a big bag of beans, and a gallon of oil… about $40 USD. These will be procured in quantity and distributed to the families of Grand Goave.

As always, ALL of your money goes to our missionaries on the ground in Haiti… every penny.

Please do what you can.

May blessings, Kevin.

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For my tech minded friends….

So, I’ve spent most of this week setting up 16 computers for the Computer Lab that will become part of the MOHI school in Grand Goave. The computers were donated by a university and shipped to Haiti on a grant from a rotary club in California. It was a long time coming, but they finally arrived a couple months ago. DSC_0107.JPG

The majority of the computers were Dell GX280 and some 270 and 150s as well. They had been wiped of Windows XP Pro and had Ubuntu 13.04 installed. Why you ask? Ubuntu is open source, Windows is bukoo bucks for that many machines. So, while my Linux skills are all but robust, I set upon the task of setting these computers up so that Haitian kids can learn basic word processing, spreadsheet, drawing and general computing skills.

This is the process I went through to set up each computer. Mind you, this will bore most readers, but I am going to detail it for posterities sake, and for my recollection later on.

First, I learned that the install on each machine was set up with an admin password. No one, knew this password, of course… even the donor, so:

boot to recovery mode
choose netroot
cmd line:
mount -rw -o remount /
passwd haiti
*newpass*

Password is now reset and users are set up on each machine. Lab-1, Lab-2, and so on.

I had to update from the now obsolete Ubuntu 13.04 (Saucy Salamander) to the current 14.0 (Utopic Unicorn). Of course this requires an internet connection which is expensive and slow in Haiti, but after upgrading from 13.04 to 13.10 to 14.1o, the 2nd step is complete. Fortunately, LibreOffice comes installed with this version so now the kids can use Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation), Draw (drawing), Base (database), Math (math functions), and more. They’re not MS Office but close enough… and FREE.

Then, the kids need to share files, so it’s time to install Samba. Once this is done I create a shared folder on each machine, chmod -R ugo+rw each of them so everyone can see each other, and then set up smb://192.168.0.xxx/ bookmarks for each computer. I also installed DropBox so network wide distribution of files when internet access is available. On that not, MOHI is bringing in full time internet service via fiber-optic service from Natcom. Yes, I said fiber-optic… Haiti is moving forward with technology. Of course the max throughput it 4Mbps, but that is a major jump forward.

Lastly, installing a couple netgear switches, wiring each computer and setting up staic IPs for each, ties them all together.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell. It was a lot of work but it was a very productive week for me. thanks to Makenson, the son of Pastor Edon for his help. He’s a quick learner and made things move along at a good pace. Once the electrical is finished being installed, and the ISP runs their line in, we’ll be good to go with a state-of-the-art computer lab… sorta for Haiti anyway!

Students at the school now have the opportunity to expand their education and experience into areas previously unreachable. This is the hope for change and the opportunity to make a real difference. Thank you for making this possible.

Computer Lab MOHI

Linux rocks!

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A new ISOM School in the moutains

Yesterday we launched our 3rd ISOM school in the mountains of St. Etienné, led by Pastor Hakim. We had about 20 students in attendance, with more to come. There was a lot of excitement as we watched the first video of the curriculum and each student was very enthusiastic about making this program work. I expect great things from Pastor Hakim and his team.

We set them up with a portable projector donated by ISOM, which works well in low light, but we are praying for funds to provide a speaker system and TV so that they can have daytime classes as well as evening.

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Water for St. Etienne

I’m really excited about the well water project at the mountain church/school of St. Etienné. It all began with a group from Grace Fellowship Church in Nashua New Hampshire which visited us at Mission of Hope in Grand Goâve, Haiti, last April. God moved on Pastor Paul’s heart to donate the money to drill a well there at the school. The well was drilled and an abundance of water was accessed, which in itself was a work of God because water is not often found in the high altitudes of the rocky mountains.

Today, as a result of the fundraising efforts of Bonhoeffer’ Best Javafest, a ministry that sells coffee at the annual Christian festival, the Soulfest in Gilford, New Hampshire, I was able to provide substantial funds for the construction of a water tower so that the distribution of water can begin in the very near future. Soon, the children of St. Etienné, and the surrounding community, will enjoy clean, easily accessible water.

Here’s a short video of the kids showing their gratitude. Of course, I staged the video, but they definitely are excited about having access to clean water. Currently, many of them have to carry large buckets of water up the mountain. What a relief it will be to have water right at their school!

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Back to it.

I arrived in Grand Goâve, Haiti, today at about 5:30 PM. I’m really happy to be back in Haiti, there’s something about this country that just sticks to your heart and I’ve been missing being here. It’s been a long day of travel beginning at 3 AM, but it was a smooth process which I’m very grateful for. I’m ready for my cold shower (there is no hot water here) and bed.

I arrived at the mission compound to find that our old room had been prepared for me. This is where we lived for about a year.

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 Tomorrow morning I’ll begin my primary project for the week which is to install 20 computers in the new computer lab. This is located in the new school/church building in Thozin, about 2 miles from where the missionaries stay. The “pods” are ready to receive the computers and I’ve brought wireless adapters for each of them which will allow me to network them together so the kids can work on corporate projects.

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 I also hope to catch up with our ISOM Schools. We currently have three schools running, well… actually two, I’ll be launching one next week at St. Ettiénne where Pastor Hakim’s church is located in the mountains. A pastor from the island of Lagonavé, where Pastor Lex grew up as a child, is also considering starting a school, so that may bring the total to four. This is a photo of Pastor Édon and Pastor Jethro who are both running schools currently.

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 I’m looking forward to a productive week. Please be praying that I am able to accomplish all that God has laid before me, for his protection, for his wisdom and for His joy in my efforts.

As always, your prayerful and financial support is imperative to making our work here successful. Thank you for empowering us to fight against poverty and champion the cause of the gospel here in Haiti.

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Computer Lab Progress

Computer lab work is under construction now that the carpet has been laid. We should have “pods” for 20 donated Dell Optiplex GX280 computers in the next next couple of weeks or so.

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ISOM on the Move