Dear Everybody:

It is really, really, really hot. I don't think I ever really understood what heat could be like before now. The humidity makes it such that you never actually stop sweating, even at night. The place I live in now is set up with ceiling fans, which are a huge help. It makes it possible for me to sleep at night. I have learned to sleep without a top cover now, just a mosquito net, but I have not yet learned to sleep in a puddle of my own sweat. Frequently in Haiti however, there is no electricity. When that happens, the fans don't work and we have to think of other solutions. My old roommate, who has now returned to Norway after a two and a half year stay on staff here, left me a 12 volt charger and deep-cycle battery setup in the covered area behind the apartment, so I ran wires into my room and installed a 12 volt fan above my bed. I have a great appreciation for it right now. 

On Sunday I went to the worlds hottest church. I thought that I might actually die right there in the sanctuary so I went outside the church where it was slightly less hot and watched the service through a hole in the wall. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were men at the service who were wearing ties and suit jackets! Just thinking about that made me feel even more ill so I stumbled home in a sweaty stupor to take a cold shower. I think the Haitians are far better equipped to handle the heat than I am. I miss the cool Bellingham summer. 

I have received numerous questions about malaria, so I will give a description of the disease to everybody at once. Malaria is a single celled parasite that invades your body through the saliva of a mosquito. It then multiplies as it feeds on your red blood cells. After a while, your body starts to react by having cold sweats, fever, headaches, and a complete lack of energy. Red blood cells carry nutrients and oxygen around your body so a shortage of them can really wipe you out. Malaria does have a cure, and you can completely get over it, but it takes a while. The cure is Novo-Chloroquin, and it kills all the parasites but the body takes a long time to repair itself. Chloroquin is also pretty nasty, and when I took the huge dose necessary to be cured I thought I was going crazy for a while. Chloroquin can also be taken as a preventative measure for Malaria, but it has some long term side effects so most people who are here long term don't take it on a regular basis. There is actually a strain of malaria that has developed a resistance to Chloroquin but it does not exist in Haiti, thank goodness. Your body can obtain immunity to malaria but the parasite goes through many forms in its life cycle so it is very hard for the immune system to know what to attack. I could get malaria again but it should be a little less bad next time if I do. Apparently, people of West African descent (99% or more of Haitians) frequently have an inherited blood mutation that makes it impossible for malaria to take hold, but many Haitians get Malaria anyway. I read a bit about malaria while I was recovering. Yes, I have finally made a full recovery. Mostly full anyway.

People get sick here a lot. Its really a shame. There are just so many diseases and so many carriers. The water is a huge source of diseases. Yesterday in Port au Prince I watched a group of people taking water from the gutter on the side of the road, but even most wells are contaminated, including the ones that YWAM provides to the public at the front of the property. There are also pigs, dogs, goats and cows wandering around everywhere, eating anything and pooping everywhere. We often have to chase them off the base. Its a mess, so I'm not surprised that people are sick so often. Most people have brothers or sisters or other relatives who have died of disease. In Haiti, getting sick means more than just missing work, it can often mean death. The life expectancy in Haiti is around 45-50 years, as opposed to 78 years in the U.S. 

Tal and Adele's water filter project is rapidly gaining momentum. Check out www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org if you have a few minutes. They have hired a welder to build filter molds and he seems to be learning fast. I am going to try to get a picture of his welder to include as an attachment. Many of the welders here are home made. Haitians will take an iron core, and then wrap wires around it to create several primary windings and one secondary winding (sorry if I just lost all those of you who aren't electrical engineers). For low amperage, just hook up 110 volts to the first two primary winding leads, and weld away with your arc welding secondary leads. If you need more amperage, just hook up 110 volts to the second, third, fourth or fifth primary coils. I have a great admiration of the way Haitians make things work when that's all they have. At some point, a Haitian needed a welder and he didn't have one so he made one from wires and a piece of iron. I cant believe that they use those things but what really kills me is that they do it without a face shield, just sunglasses or even bare eyes. Unfortunately, out at Tal and Adele's new house, they only have electricity about 3 or 4 days a month so they have been using an oxy-acetylene welder to do the small work and I will continue welding the thicker material here with an arc welder (and a face shield Mom, don't worry about that). Anyway, soon Clean Water for Haiti will be producing filter molds at a good rate and training entrepreneurs from around the country to build and sell filters. You can pray for Adele though, she is one of many sick people here right now and she might have malaria. 

In spite of the heat which is trying to kill me and the diseases trying to attack me and the myriad other hazards of Haitian living, I have had a few good things going on. The best thing from my point of view is that I now have a motorcycle! It has made me more productive than before since I can go where I need to when I need to. Those who know me though know that I love to ride motorcycles: it calms my mind and makes me feel like a free bird. I imprudently spent all of my savings on the motorcycle, deciding that it was important for me to invest in my future in Haiti, and then a few days later it came to my attention that a couple large donations made up the whole amount. My savings survives intact, thank God. If I break a bone or two riding my motorcycle it will be nice to have that money available to have them fixed. I still don't have my full amount raised for monthly support however.

Thus far, I have had 5 flat tires in the time it has taken to burn two tanks of gas. I have previously mentioned the state of Haitian roads. The main highway from Port au Prince is paved, but has a huge number of potholes and a number of washed out sections. The road north of St Marc is not paved at all. It is mostly dirt with large rocks sticking up everywhere. In places there are mud holes. When it rains, everything is mud. After making a trip one time, a lady saw me and said Blan nan boo!which means white in mud!  Im glad I can provide entertainment for folks so easily. Anyway, the muddy, rocky, holey bumpy roads around here make for a lot of flat tires. In many places along the roadside, there are guys that will fix a flat tire while you watch. They charge the equivalent of $.80 to repair the front tire and $2 or so to do the rear because its more work to pull it off. I always end up having to help with that part. It is amazing to watch them work. They use bits of steel to pry tires off the rim with the aid of other bits of steel to use as hammers. An upside down piston filled with flaming liquid is used to provide heat to secure the patch to the inner tube. Haiti is the wrong place to be if you want to use tubeless tires or have your tires balanced. Getting a flat is actually kind of fun for me right now, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off. 

Starting in September I am going to be a teacher! I will teach Physics and Chemistry three half days a week, which will still leave time for me to do some of the other things that I do now. I have come to believe that education might be the most effective way to improve Haiti's situation. Typical school in Haiti consists of a lot of memorization and not much thinking. The school here on base (Liberty Academy) gives the best education in St. Marc. Most of the students come from families who would otherwise send their children to a fancy school in Port au Prince. Teaching is something I have been interested in doing for some time. The school is an English school, which makes it much easier for the teachers, but harder for the students. I would personally like to see the school grow to educate a larger number of students. There are currently many applicants, but they cant accept students who don't speak English, which is kind of frustrating because most Haitians speak only Creole. The school desperately needs an esl teacher who can teach students English and add 25 or so students per year to the school. This is a prayer concern but perhaps if you know someone& 

YWAM- Haiti now has a website thanks to my friend Barb who is in Haiti right now for six weeks working in the office. The address is www.ywam-haiti.org and the site is really loaded with cool pictures. 

I would like it if you would pray for me to adapt to the heat. I have so many things I want to do, but the heat makes it nearly unbearable. I have an awful lot of welding work I need to do, which is a particularly hot job. Please pray for me to keep learning Creole. I know what blan nan boomeans but I cant have meaningful discussions or even ask for directions properly. Also pray that I develop some kind of insight into Haitian people and Haitian thinking.

Wishing you all a summer cooler than mine, 

Chris