Dear Everybody:

I have been back in Haiti a full month now. Last time I wrote my friend had just been shot and I am glad to say that he's alive and kicking and delivering water filters again. He may never speak properly again though. The police never came, and apparently nobody knows who the shooter is. Tonie wont be coming back to the house again, so the shooter wont either. Things are back to normal. At the bottom of the message I have pasted Tal and Adele's description of events.

I have been enjoying myself, seemingly more each day. The property is on the beach, and I fall asleep to the sound of gentle waves each night and enjoy my morning cereal while watching the fishermen cast their nets. Yesterday I swam out to the reef for the first time and enjoyed the multicolored coral and fish. The property also has a garden and some space to plant trees. So far I have only planted plantains and breadfruit trees but I plan to do more. 

Three weeks ago I went to a town in the south of Haiti called Jacmel. I went there with several friends on motorcycles for a weekend getaway. The ride alone was half the fun because the road over the southern mountain range was extremely beautiful and had very few holes in it. Jacmel is such a nice town that there are actually tourists who visit there. Typically they are wealthy Haitians from Port au Prince but some come from Europe. Jacmel has 24 hour electricity, good roads and almost no garbage. People were friendly, and at the beach you can buy lobster for the equivalent of $2/plate. The entire weekend cost about $45 per person including hotel and gas for the motorcycles, so I will definitely go again sometime. We went on a very rough road into the mountains which led to a trail which led to a beautiful limestone pool and waterfall called Bassins Bleu. The pools were up to 70 feet deep, and there were diving cliffs up to 70 feet high. It was really nice to see the good side of Haiti. 

Back on the bad side though, I laughed when I read this article:

World - Reuters
Haiti's Anti-Drug Chief Charged with Trafficking
Fri Feb 14, 8:52 PM ET

By Michael Deibert PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - The director of a Haitian police anti-drug task force was arrested after he had his men block off a stretch of highway in the capital to allow a Colombian plan carrying about a ton of cocaine to land, a police spokesman said on Friday. 

Evans Brillant, director of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Brigade of the Haitian National Police, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in narco-trafficking on Thursday with five other policemen, police Inspector General Harvel told reporters. 

Jean Baptiste said the six were accused of overseeing the landing last week of a Colombian airplane laden with 1,760 to 2,200 pounds of cocaine on Port-au-Prince's crime-ridden Route 9. 

Police under Brillant's supervision allegedly set up roadblocks to stop cars and provided security to ensure the cocaine's delivery, Jean Baptiste said. The cocaine has since disappeared.

Actually, knowing Haiti the funny thing is that the man actually got arrested. 

Haiti has had no military since 1994 and the police force is pretty much useless. However, there is a force called CIMO (Corps of Intervention to Maintain Order) that doesnt have to worry about details like asking questions before shooting or picking up bodies when they are done. Typically they wear 3 different guns, flak jackets and masks, and if you see them its a good idea to go somewhere else. However, when there is civil unrest and the country needs to get moving again, they do the job. 

I have included three pictures. The last one is of Boss Nerner, one of Clean Water for Haitis employees. Before starting work here making filter molds, he was a self-employed welder using the odd-looking contraption in the lower right that you turn on by twisting wires together. Before I flew back here last month, a nice man donated the orange welder which I brought in my luggage (90 pounds!). I think it might be 30 or 40 years old but not only does it have an on/off switch, but you can adjust the output current. I will include pictures of my home in the next letter. 

I am doing reasonably well for money but Im not exactly swimming in it. If you would like to contribute to my financial support this month you can. Checks can be made out to Bellingham Vineyard and sent to:

Bellingham Vineyard
906 North State Street
Bellingham, WA 

with a note saying the money is for Chris in Haiti. I would also encourage folks to donate to Clean Water for Haiti, because a lot of poor people can be helped here for relatively little money. The information is at the bottom. 

Blessings, Chris Rolling

The following is from Tal and Adele:

We have had another setback here in Haiti. Monday morning before dawn (4:30 am) our technician Tony was shot in the neck and back and left for dead. Tony had come to our place to pick up some supplies for deliveries he was making. Tal handed him the key to the depot and a flashlight, minutes later we heard 3 shot gun blasts and knew that something was terribly wrong. We saw the taptap driver who had brought him leave (he got scared and left) and shortly after we heard Tony and saw him collapse at our gate. He had been shot through the neck and there was blood everywhere and a huge hole through his neck. We wrapped a towel around his neck, put him into the back of our truck and rushed him to the little hospital up the road but they were unable to help other than to insert an IV and send us on to St Marc, 20 minutes away. They were also unable to deal with the severity of the wound and after patching him up as best they could, he was put in an ambulance and sent on to the General Hospital in Port au Prince, 2 hours away. We thought we had done all we could do but the nightmare was only beginning. The hospital there had no doctor, just a first year resident (who didn't tell us that he wasn't a doctor) and no blood for transfusions, we had to pay for everything before they would proceed. Every time the doctor needed anything, supplies, IV solution, bandages, we would be sent to the nearest pharmacy to get it. At one point we had to put Tony naked and bleeding with tubes hanging out into a wheelchair and take him across the street through garbage, water puddles, a construction area, animals and a small street side market area to get him to a private x-ray clinic. We were told that in order for him to be operated on we would first have to come up with 4 people to donate blood, then we had to go to the Red Cross to give it. So we jumped on a taptap to the Red Cross to do that, (if anyone had told me I would donate blood in Haiti I'd have said they were nuts). Then we were told that the blood wouldn't be ready until 5 o'clock! And it had already been 

over 5 hours since the shooting. When we got back to the hospital we were told that there wasn't any functioning operating rooms, there was no running water and the power went out. The up-side was that he 

had stabilized and the bleeding had stopped. 

The next day after finding him with fever and that 4 people had died during the night, we moved him out of that hell hole and found a decent hospital. We were so relieved to find they had staff, supplies, a real 

emergency room, nurses and doctors. The doctor who examined him agreed to operate and we went back to the Red Cross to retrieve the blood (this little venture alone took 2 hours). 

So I am happy to relate that the operation was a success. They were able to repair the damage enough to keep him alive. The doctor said he doesn't know why Tony is alive. He has at least 35 shot gun pellets 

in the neck and back. The neck wound took out a salivary gland, the hyoid bone in the neck, the muscles attached to the hyoid bone, the jugular??? (I don't understand that one, I didn't think you could survive 

that) and there is now a gap in his vocal chords so his voice is very raspy. He may or may not ever speak normally again. But he is alive!! I kept asking God why? Why here? The answer I got was that it happened here so we could help save his life. I have no doubt that he would not be alive today if it hadn't happened exactly the way it did. I don't 

know what a Haitian family would do without the resources that we had. Thank goodness we had some cash on hand and that the 4th hospital allowed us to put a deposit down on the costs. We are out about 

$30,000 Haitian dollars ( approx $3000 US) so far. For the ordinary Haitian they would simply have allowed him to die because he couldn't pay. I praise the Lord that we were there. Like us I'm sure many of you are asking Why? and Is it Safe to stay? We asked ourselves the same question. We got the answer this morning from our good neighbor, Pastor Herve. The word in the community is 

that this was aimed specifically at Tony and had nothing to do with us. There was no motive like robbery, this was personal and deadly. Likely this is still in connection with the accident last November. Many 

locals blamed Tony for doing bad voodoo to cause the accident. I think that it is human nature to want to blame someone or something for any tragedy. Tony was an outsider here and not well liked so he was a 

likely candidate for blame. We had been told it wasn't safe for him to come here and we had asked him not to. Tony thought it would all blow over but obviously it hadn't. We have been told not to worry, that no 

harm is intended for us. I do believe this although my natural tendency is to step into fear I also know it isn't necessary. We have hired a security guard for the nights for the time being as an added precaution. We ask for your prayers for Tony and his family, for this community (where nothing like this has ever happened before), and for us and this mission base. I thank God that Tony is alive and I thank God that we 

were there to help him.

This incident has stretched our financial resources to the limit. In fact we had to put the hospital costs on our credit cards. We need to ask for your help!!! It has been suggested to us to add information on how to donate to our mission in our update letters. I have added that information to the bottom of the letter. 


In His Loving Care

Tal and Adele

It pleases me greatly to be able to write a good news update to the last setbacks here in Haiti. First and foremost I am happy to announce that Tony, our technician who was shot in the neck last Monday, is now home and on the mend. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers. He looks a little fearsome with an incision that runs almost from ear to ear but I highly commend the surgeon for patching him up as well as he did. His biggest obstacle now is to regain his voice. We do not know if he will ever speak normally again. At the time of the shooting he was still able to speak but somewhere along 
the way his voice became increasingly raspy and difficult to hear. Today it is barely audible. The doctor said time would tell. There is a gap in the cartilage in an area that could affect his voice. So please pray for that. We are just relieved that he is alive and on the mend. 

Before this incident occurred I had been about to do a good news update and so I will do that now. First I'd like to thank our wonderful Vernon Alliance Church for the special offering taken at the Christmas Eve Services. Half of the offering went to a local charity in Vernon and the other half was forwarded to us ($3981.44CDN). And with that generous offering we were able to put that money towards buying a new generator ($4000US)!!!! It is so awesome. No more pull starting and 

babying along a cantankerous generator. This beauty has a key start, is diesel powered, 6500 Watts and is able to run our welder and household power needs (not at the same time but that is OK). It is wonderful. 

Thank You.

Next we'd like to send a huge thanks to Cup of Cold Water for their 
generous contribution to our new Truck. Yes that is right, a new truck! It will be used to transport the new drilling rig that Cup of Cold Water has purchased for our joint well drilling venture. The truck is a Daihatsu. Similar in design to the Hyundai but sturdier with a better suspension and more clearance12 ply tires. It runs a little rougher but it is almost like a 4 wheel drive in its ability to get into rough places. Cup Of Cold Water contributed half the necessary funds ($9,000 US) and we put the other half on our credit cards. Donna and Evan Morgan spent 2 weeks with us this month to survey the 3 completed water wells we had drilled for them and to meet with water committees and to generally get a feel for this place. They are a big blessing to us both as partners and as mentors. We loved having their company with us. 

We are finished with the dorm. Its lovely. We are currently equipping it with bunk beds and small closets. It will be able to easily house groups of 18 or more. It sits under the shade of a mango tree and has a view of the water. Very nice. A peaceful place to retire to after a hard, hot, dusty day of working in the mission field. We have a young man, Chris Rolling, living here for the next 6 months or so helping us with all manner of tasks. Making bunk beds, building molds, designing a trailer for the drilling rig. We are very glad to have his help. 

Welcome Chris.

Our filter enterprise is also moving along at a brisk pace. We were approached by World Vision about providing a training session to 18 of their people located all over Haiti. This project would be aimed at training technicians to provide filters to churches and schools in the poorest of the poor areas in Haiti. World Vision is a Christian based organization that has been in Haiti since 1978. If you are interested in learning more about them the website is: www.wvi.org. Our first class of technicians have a few months under their belts and the next step for us is to support them in their endeavors by promoting the filters in their home areas. Speaking at churches and in other venues.  Well that is it for now. I am glad to be able to write an update that has positive news. Thanks again for all your emails and prayers. 

We still need your help to pay off the shortfall on the truck, the generator and the medical bill for Tony. We trust God will provide through your generosity.  It has been suggested to us to add information on how to donate to our mission in our update letters. I have added that information to the bottom of the letter. 

In His Loving Care

Tal and Adele