We love our box truck, shown here being unloaded by Dow volunteers during the Mayor's Give A Day campaign. But with the high cost of fuel a van would be more cost efficient on days we're picking up smaller loads.

If you know anyone who could donate a new or reliable van for this purpose, have them give the Shoelady (Dee Dee Hurt) a call - 502-751-7104. THANK YOU!

ed. - This group has been called the  "Sailing on the EDGE Team". They're from River Valley Christian Church and have been in Costa Rica in areas without much internet access. We'll post photos the week of April 16.

4/13

A totally amazing day! First I have to say the new camp we are staying in is fantastic. The cooks are giving us a real treat for every meal and the garden where we live is lush and full of wildlife and color. It is probably the first time I've felt like I'm actually in Costa Rica.

The third and final water system is almost up and would have been completed except for Kurt's little disagreement with the hardware store. Kurt refused to pay their inflated prices thus they decided not to deliver the tanks and block. After several phone calls 1/2 the stuff was delivered and tomorrow we wait for the rest. Hummmm, was it worth the $100 we saved? Absolutely say's Kurtis.

The second vision clinic went off without a hitch and truly by the grace of God. I was certain we closed up shop 2 days ago on the last clinic that there was no way we would have enough glasses. I should have known that God would pull His loaves and fishes trick in the closed up suitcase, because today we had ample glasses. We were able to serve between 250-270 people with glasses. Alot of tears today as one little boy didn't want to take the focometer away from his eyes, because he could finally see. You can't believe the grin on his face as he walked away with his new glasses and his new lease on life.

A funny but disturbing thing happened tonight. The camp's water tested bad, bad, bad. The cooks were so upset because they have been told by the water company that their water is good. One of the cooks called the water dept. and told them our test results and 20 minutes later 5 guys from the water department showed up to see the results. Their excuse was "well, the water looked clear so we didn't put in chlorine in it today, and oh yeah there must be a break in the line somewhere around the cow pasture." With that they turned to leave and our flea ridden dog chased them off the property. Yikes. They say they will have it fixed in a month or two. But not to worry, EDGE has installed a unit at the camp and the team is drinking clean water!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. We miss ya'll. Hold down the fort.

Pura Vida,
Claudia, Kurtis and team

4/11

It's day 3 of the "Sailing on the EDGE team" in Costa Rica and we are whooped. It's a good kind of whooped though. Today the team split into two different groups, the water team and the vision team. The water team headed up one mountain while the vision ascended another, and when I say mountain I mean straight uphill on a curvy road that by no means should accommodate a bus our size. But typical of the Costa Rica drivers, Carlos maneuvered the bus through coffee plant covered hills and volcanic induced fog. The countryside's beauty always takes my breath away.

The water team did their 2nd install of the 3 we will do this week. The church sits on top of a hill in a small community called Alumbre. With no driveway or stairs the team carried the cement blocks up the steep hill, than came the tanks, than the the M-100 and other supplies. By that time it was lunch, and as always the main meal of the day is all about relationships and getting to know the people. In no time the system was up and ready and the team will train and teach H&H all day tomorrow.

Meanwhile the vision team was busy in San Cristobal, when we arrived there was a line of people waiting for glasses. They all had numbers and some had been there for hours  so they could be first in line. The memory of the day here was a 98 year old grandmother who has 97 (yes I said 97) grandchildren. Her focometer reading showed that she needed a -700 pair of glasses. After trying on everything from a -500 to - 1000 we decided to try a +. All be darned if she was not tickled pink when we put on a +100 reader. :) Dang I hope I can see that good when I'm her age! After seeing over 200 people (not including the 5 classrooms that came in) we got our tired selves onto the bus and went to pick up the water team, who by the way had been waiting for us for over 2 hours.

Tonight after debrief we were walking back to our cabins only to be greeted by a golfball size beetle. We had fun screaming and taking pictures of him. Poor guy was probably blinded by the flash, he wont be right for days.

Life is good here, the food is fantastic, and the team is having a great time. We are headed off for some much needed rest...after all the roosters are up at 4:00am, the sun is up and 5:30 and so are we.

Pura Vida,
Claudia, Kurtis and team

Day 5 Safe Water Projects in Haiti

Day 5 was awesome. Not like the others were not.  However, when you see local Haitians who spend the majority (if not all) of their life's drinking unclean water that makes them sick, take their first drink of clean water for many the first time. Your day is awesome. Their day is awesome. 

We started our day as normal, spaghetti for breakfast and prayer before work. Made our way to the school and local watering hole for the community to train Hybert who is the regulator for the water distributed. Training was led by Barry Hart, who is CEO of Water Ambassadors of Canada and a well loved, appreciated partner of EDGE Outreach. Hybert was already there and ready to get started. He was still wearing the same smile we left the day before. He was eager to get stared, ready to learn and about 2 steps ahead of Barry at times or so it seemed. It was easy to see he was very excited to have this new task to be in charge of. Now instead of just turning the water off and on each day and watching over the water as folks come to and fro to gather, HE is going to be creating clean water to serve his community and school kids knowing that what he will do makes a difference and he will be helping those around him no longer suffer from water borne diseases. We also trained a teacher and the caretaker of our guesthouse, who is largely responsible for the installation as he is friends with the principal and concerned about cholera and ways  to prevent it.  

We finished up around noon. Ate some lunch, which was fantastic. Rice, black bean soup and a yummy chicken dish with carrots & potatoes. Headed back to the site to teach Hybert to break down the site. Then loaded the truck and headed to check a site that was installed last week at a local, medical clinic. The drive gave spectacular views of the rolling, lush, green mountains of Haiti. After the site, Bob treated us we with about a 45 minute stroll on a local beach. Needless to say it was beautiful and we were very grateful.

Peace, Chana Gwynetter, EDGE Outreach

The Team
(click for larger view)
 

Day 4 Safe Water Projects in Haiti

Day 4 was hot, hot, hot and beautiful.

We started our 2nd water project today at the school located across the street from our guest house (Pretty convenient I might add). Two weeks ago they sent 100 or so kids home due to illness. There is a total of 350 kids that attend ranging in various ages. They receive their water from a well but, like most places in Haiti and other countries the sanitation/sewer system is so unpredictable that you can't always guarantee the water they receive is good. 

And this site isn't just a school site, it's the local watering hole for the community. One of my favorite things to do is sit on the roof in the evening and observe everyone coming with their 5 gallon buckets, gerry cans, etc to retrieve water at the schedule times allowed. Some kids carry more weight than they weigh themselves. These folks are prime examples of how a water ball could change their day to day lives. As well as clean water.

Work started around 8. We knew we needed tanks so, Bob, Jenny (local CBF missionary) and CoraLyn drove to Petit Groave to purchase tanks. Barry, David and myself stayed behind to do as much prep work as we could and make hardware runs. Bob made it back with tanks and we started the real work after lunch. After some discussion the decision was made as to where they would be located on site and thus began the build. We had some fantastic new assistants today from 2 local teachers of the school and the maintenance fella. All three eager to learn and get dirty. Once again, I have to say that using words for communication are over-rated. You can get by well with using simple hand gestures (thank you for teaching me that Marianne Kartchner). The teachers helped build the base/glue the pieces together, etc. The entire backside manifold was assembled by one of the females and it was nice to see the local people getting involved and curious about what was taking place. 

All went well after a few hardware runs and we were finished before 5pm. Tomorrow we will go back to train the appropriate folks who will train appropriate folks. Tiga is already a fantastic teacher. The maintenance guy seems very excited about his new role, he takes everything very serious yet, with a light heart and sweet smile. The teachers told us today they want an EDGE office in Grand Goave. If I've not said this before I'll say it again. I love the Haitian people.

The evening was nice and simple...great dinner and desert of fresh mangos and bananas. Tomorrow is training day as is Friday. No one is ready to come home yet, it seems to be getting closer. Maybe time will slow down as we sleep. 

Peace, Chana Gywnette - EDGE Outreach

Day 3 Safe Water Project in Haiti

Day 3 is done in about 8 mins. No complaints on the home front. We had a great nite of sleep with the rain beating down on the tin roof. Woke this morning to a sunny, beautiful day in Haiti. Did the breakfast thing and then headed to the worksite after a lovely prayer from Barry. The main thing we needed to do today was identify (for certain) who was to be trained from the community, purchase batteries and salt, fill our tanks to check for leaks in the manifold, assemble the purifier and give her a test run. After working with the local community church leader we identified who would be taught however, the training will not be complete until later in the week as we can't get them all together until then. Batteries were purchased from a local store as well as the salt. Filled our tanks with water and only had a couple small leaks that were oversights on our part and repaired quickly and easy. 

'I'm actually disappointed, it's so simple to assemble I don't feel like I've done everything or that something has to be missing'.
Coralyn after assembling the M100

Took a lunch break where we had delicious black beans soup served over corn but, it seemed more like yellow grits and this amazing, flavorful chicken dish. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day. Came back in the afternoon to assemble and gave the M-100 (I call it Steve, Barry calls it Big Bob) a test run. This was Coralyn's first meeting of the new system as well as David and Barry. Cora took the lead on assembly and in about 5 mins (maybe less) had it completely together and made the best comment, 'I'm actually disappointed, it's so simple to assemble I don't feel like I've done everything or that something has to be missing'. 

Once together we had our translator, Tiga (short of tiger) learn to mix the salt and run the system. Not sure if he's going to be part of the trained team or not. Regardless, 'its' good he learned and he enjoyed it. Cora walked him through the process. We also had a chance to show the system to the folks who helped build the school. We've decided that Barry's sniffer is broken as he could not seem to smell the chlorine that all of us did. Regardless, it did work but, we did not wait around to finish the process as we needed to check out our next site, get to the hardware store and finalize the day. 

Finished the evening with some form of chocolate pudding served with bread. Not complaining, just curious what it is as it reminded me of something that my mom used to make that was poured over cake. Spent most of the evening chatting but, CoraLyn did lead a very nice devotion. As our evening progressed we could hear a few little kiddos next door singing beautiful Haitian songs to the tops of their lungs and it sounded so beautiful and peaceful I took a voyage to the top of the house we are staying at to sit in the dark, watch the stars and relax. Most everyone went to bed early tonite. Although we have not worked too physically hard today the sun seems to drain us all a bit. 

Take a stroll and enjoy the photos of the day.

reported by Chana Gwynette, EDGE Outreach

Day 2 Safe Water Project in Haiti

Day 2 is done. Woke early to spaghetti breakfast (yum, I think...jury is still out), afterwards we made our way to the work site where we were joined by Tiga (one of the translators for Conscience International) we took measurements, made our list of parts and then went to the hardware store. Bob sent me, CoraLyn and David to the store while he and Barry did some ground work to prepare for the tank bases. However, we're pretty sure they only loafed in the shade. (insert smile or laughter here.)

On the way to the hardware store which is in Leogane a good 1/2 day journey for just one tank and we need two, Tiga informed us of a closer hardware store here in Grand Goave, less than 4 blocks from our work site. This was a dream come true as they had tanks and more plumbing fittings than the Home Depot. Good prices and good people to deal with. AND we shopped local which made me and the other team members giddy. Gathered all our parts including cement blocks (from another local), good prices also and if you need cement blocks and a casket he'll hook you up. Both on display. 

Returned with all parts and began the dirty work per se and in less than a couple hours had a huge majority of the work done. We placed both tanks (200/300 gallons) side by side on 3 foot high blocks as the base. One is red, one is black...anyone notice anything? Go Cards. (ed.- University of Louisville Cardinals is playing in the Final Four of NCAA basketball championship.)

Took lunch/rested a bit and headed back out to get our piping up and in. All went well. Had to do some maneuvering to make all the parts and pieces work together and succeeded. I spent some time inside of a tank..they were concerned if I would fit, I could have lived inside it there was so much room. Probably the highlight of my day. We then had to build our manifold which seemed difficult at first but, after some explaining from Bob and Barry it began to make sense. We taught Tiga how to glue/fit/teflon tape parts which was fun. He's a good guy to work with and really helped us out at the hardware store (and on site). 

We finished up early and headed home. Captured some great photos of 2 little girls drinking from a hand pump (attached) and journeyed around the corner to home. Dinner was nice...everyone is a bit tired but, feeling good about our work and the possibility of doing more while here. According to Bob, we are 1/2 day or so ahead of ourselves. nice. This team is a ton of relaxed fun but, focused & not afraid to work. It was a grand day of accomplishments. Dinner was noodles casserole of some sort but, good especially if you add tabasco but, we did have some fresh tomatoes from the local market that Jenny (the CBF missionary who lives here) said are safe to eat. And they were. Finished the evening chatting and watching the sunset from the roof of our guest house. Wow. 

We're all ready for tomorrow, we'll fill our tanks..test all joints...attach system..teach etc. This wk is going by too fast.

reported by Chana Gwynette, EDGE Outreach