...And now- for the REST of the story...

I said we were surprised when we arrived. Actually we were shocked and horrified. As Sujet later commented, "Nou ginyen kochon ak kay pi bon pase kay sa!"

This is the progress of the new house. Needs walls, floor, doors...

With characteristic Haitian courtesy they brought chairs for their
visitors- in this case borrowing the chairs from the neighbor. They
didn't have any chairs of their own.

It is so humbling to look at the conditions in which this poor widow
survives... Then turn around and eat from her small store of food.
But it would be unforgivably rude not to, so we ate...

Alex and his sweat rag...

Going in to the half-existent, crazy structure this lady- Mde. Beria-
calls home currently...



Bed.
Yeah, you read right.
The widow's bed.
The spot of dirt between the chicken, and her bare feet.
Damp, cold- unfathomable smell.
Walls tumbling around her.
Her home.
Bed.



The roof above her bed. Yes, water runs in every time it rains- even a light
rain. Can you imagine what it was like in this hut last week??? When
the after-effects of Hurricane Irene dumped 7-8 inches of rain on us?
Soaked day and night for two days straight???
No.
You CAN'T imagine, face it.

Talk about a hopeful view for this poor lady! Looking out through the old
doorway, towards the new house-in-progress!!! Wow!!!! Think she
can hardly wait?? She cried as we left. "God has heard me!!"

Her.
She doesn't know how old she is. Lost track of the years. Over 70 though...

Some idea/perspective on the distances and mountains here.
Here is the opposite mountainside, at about a 48x zoom...
Notice the steep zig-zag path... That leads up to scores
of houses called home by local residents...

...And at about 12x...
Still see the path? Barely?
Goes a l-ooooooong way up doesn't it?
Picture yourself heading up it- with a 5 gallon pail of water on your head.
Dozens of ladies do- several times a day...

...And without zoom...

What Sujet said was, in effect, "We have pigs that have better houses than this!!!"

He was right of course. And the new house we're erecting for this widow, will cost less than $700 US.

Are there more like her? You bet. Right here in our zone? Oh yeah. Will we be able to build them a house too?? Nope.
Do you know of anyone who would like to help with something like this? Please forward this to them. Anyone can visit the GTH mission blog for more info on what we're doing here. And the clinic blog as well- notice both address's above in the welcome message of this blog.

And don't forget to pray for the poor and suffering- here and around the world.