Dear Everybody: 

It is an exciting time in the life and growth of the mission. We have started a number of programs, and now we only need to concentrate on doing everything more and better. 

For example, we have so far trained 20 technicians to build and sell filters. Over the recent months, we have improved our filter mold production from about one every two weeks to two per week! That means we can train technicians at four times the rate! 

We have finished drilling our first two wells using our new well drilling rig. It is a remarkable achievement, but we would like to drill a well every week! In Haiti, it is hard to find many things, and hand pumps for wells are no exception. The pumps that can be found are manufactured in India and cost quite a lot of money. In an exceptional display of ingenuity (if I may brag for a little) we have built our first bush pump based on a design which originated in Zimbabwe. They say necessity breeds invention, and that is the case here. We are able to build pumps like this for less than 1/5 the cost of an India pump. In spite of our efforts, it still costs about $2000 to drill and put a pump on each well. 

The last couple of months have been an exercise in how to keep programs running with no donations coming in. I write about our aspirations because our current budget is only a fraction of what we need to do all we are capable of. On my upcoming visit back home, I would like to speak to different groups about the mission, Haiti, and the struggles Haiti faces. While I am primarily concerned about fundraising, it would also make me happy to talk to any group that wants to know more. Raising awareness is key. If you are part of such a group, of happen to know people with large amounts of money they would like to use to help the third world, contact me. 

On a more personal note, Haiti is treating me well. After our class of World Vision students completed the filter technician training school, I took two trips to different parts of Haiti to check up on active technicians. My first trip was to Cap Haitien in the north of Haiti. I was a little disappointed at the troubles the technicians have been having up there, and the small number of filters they have sold, but I still learned a lot about how things work in Haiti and how not to go about doing things. The Canadian or biosand filters are a new technology, and it will take some time and aggressive promotion until the technology is accepted. I was pleased to hear that the day I left they sold three filters, so my efforts were not wasted.

I have mentioned in previous e-mails that the roads in Haiti are really terrible, and I was pleased indeed that I only got two flat tires on my trip to Cap Haitien. The first flat was relatively standard. You are never very far from a guy who can fix flats in Haiti, and it was fixed in the time it took me to drink a cold coke. My second flat, however, was in the middle of the desert on a patch of rocks and dirt seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough though, a guy appeared from behind a cactus and told me he would take me to the tire guy. We ended up in a tiny village and I was the only exciting thing that happened that day so about 25 people watched my tire being fixed and asked me about what I was doing. I have found that almost every Haitian spells my name with a ton the end: Christ. My response to that is always my name is Chris, not Jesus Christ. The crowd burst into great peals of laughter. Inevitably, one of the town beggars eventually said Whitey, give me some money, I'm hungry. To that I replied I'm not white, I'm red, me being by that point thoroughly sunburned. Again, great laughter ensued. Then we had a discussion about white, black, green and purple people all being the same. Entertainment options are limited out in the middle of nowhere, so I'm glad I was able to provide some amusement. 

My other trip was to Gran Goave and Ti Goave in the south of Haiti. The roads are much better down there and the only scary part of the trip was when I nearly rode into an open manhole as I passed through Port au Prince. Often, manhole covers are off because people remove them so they can take water from the sewers for bathing, cooking, and even drinking. I did manage to bend a motorcycle rim at one point when I hit a bump at 60+ miles and hour, but that was my own fault. I am so happy to have my motorcycle here, and even happier I have not crashed it thus far, grace of God. I have lent my bike to various people at various times, and two different people have crashed it. Fortunately, I was able to get the bike mostly straight again each time. 

As I left Port au Prince and entered the south of Haiti I found myself smiling and humming to myself. Many of the roads in the south even have divider lines down the middle. People are generally a little less poor, and some towns even have 24 hour electricity. My peaceful contemplation was interrupted when I passed a burnt human corpse on the side of the road. It kind of took me by surprise. It is fairly common practice here for crowds to gather and burn to death someone who is suspected of thievery or black voodoo, even in the south, but it is hard to get used to. 

The filter technician I visited in the south has been building his business nicely. He has built and sold about 50 filters. In addition, he has been spending considerable energy on marketing. For example, he gave a filter to a local radio station and now they do radio ads for him for free! He has even produced a TV commercial which has not yet been aired. Pictured is an ad painted on the side of a building. 

While in the south I slept on the roof of a place called The Happy House which is run by a missionary and kids stay there temporarily that have troubled home lives. The kids brushed my hair, braided my hair, unbraided my hair, brushed it some more, and repeated the process about 50 times. I really enjoyed spending time with the kids and they treated me like a celebrity. When I mango fell from a tree, for example, one of them would go get it and bring it to me. What nice kids. 

On the roof of the house we had a long discussion about voodooists that turn themselves into cows, turn children into fish, or turn themselves into pigs and then ride a bicycle into town in the middle of the night while wearing sunglasses. It seems to me that these voodoo witch doctors aren't very smart because it is much easier to ride a bicycle as a human than as a pig. Also, its hard to see at night while wearing sunglasses. I have yet to see any talking animals personally so I remain skeptical. I did learn something new about Voodoo though. I had been previously told that the voodooists around Pierre Payen eat people. Well, apparently that expression in Creole is figurative and not literal, as I had supposed (thank goodness). Someone who goes to a witch doctor in order to curse someone and possibly kill them is eating the person they are cursing. 

My personal triumph of the week was on Friday when I delivered the Chris Rolling Briquette Press to World Vision. I mentioned this project previously. It works really well, and they should cost less than $35 each to produce. World Vision plans to start out by building 50-100 and then continue on from there. I feel really good to have finally used my Industrial Technology degree for a noble purpose. Even if things don't go according to plan and only 50 machines are produced instead of the 1000s that are planned, the amount of trees that can be saved over time is quite large. 

For the next two weeks there will be a team of High School students here from Vernon, B.C. and I am looking forward to their visit. I will have more than just two people to speak English with. 

Anyway, Ill be flying into Seattle on July 28 and leaving again on September 4 for Chicago before flying back to Haiti on September 9. I would like to see everybody. 

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, Chris