Schools

Well, I spent my first week in my new home. On Wednesday, with the help of some batey residents, I cleaned the apartment. Mauris, a Haitian pastor as well as all around huge help to Makarios, and 3 students from the village helped. I spent time riding around to all the Bateys and establishing contacts. The schools are beginning this Monday. I feel we have been able to help so far by giving pencils and notebooks. Also I was talking to some teachers and they said they will let students attended class without uniforms if they at least have supplies. Hopefully this promise is followed through.
It is sugar cane cutting season here and the smell in the air is so sweet. The men are working all day. The women and the children in the bateys prepare food or look for some small jobs to do. One job that kids do is to get water for the day. This often requires long walks with a few gallons of dirty water. The water comes from a river and it is very unsantiary. The men after working all day cutting sugar cane, come away with 60 peso a ton. An entire days work usually yeilds less than 2 ton. A great day at work could land 120 peso about 3 us dollars.
Continue to pray for the situation here and for the ministry. It is such a blessing to be able to be doing this work.