Monday in Haiti

Update # 2  -  Jon Rose on the front lines in Haiti.

Greetings!  Yesterday was an incredible success. Scott Bonnell and I ventured to some of the outer regions (that are getting less attention) to link up with his network of churches and schools. I was really looking at this network to be a potential plan for the distribution of our filters etc… We needed to find people that were trustworthy… with a far reach… and in addition to themselves, have the drive to help their fellow people.

We went to St. Marc and met with Scott’s pastors and teachers. I gave a full fledged seminar inside one of the schools, demonstrating the assembly of two complete systems – one with a power drill and the other with my knife, just to show how easy it is to build one. I had about 500 filters but, because of limited acces to the marketplaces, and part of our original shipment not making it, we did NOT have any buckets. So we had all the people at the demonstration run home and grab buckets from their houses. The 5 gal buckets needed for our systems are widely used here. They all assembled their own systems, with my guidance, and ultimately became our first group of instructors that will assist in teaching others throughout various communities. It was truly a collaborative process and  exactly what I hope for in a place like this.

At the end of our workshop the new teachers gave us a formal thank you in which each said some words. Organically, and from the heart, they covered everything I could ever hope to acheive with this work. Their vocabulary was such that I knew we had sparked change that would influence a positive change in their community for a long time to come. They said, “Thank you for this unexpected gift. Thank you for your program. The water in Haiti is poison. Thank you for teaching us this program so that we can help our people. This will save thousands if lives … Thank you”.

They absolutely get it and are now clean water teachers that will show others how to set up and use this amazing filtration system – using the loads of inventory we’ve just hand delivered. I am humbled … and witnessing miracles daily.

I am also getting more and more confident in the potential for our friends in Haiti to fully recover from this. It will be many years but they are a strong people that are very experienced with surviving.

Much love … Talk soon, Jon
Sent from my iPhone