The Forgotten People

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Integritas

Hi Everyone!

It's interesting how words are so misused in today's world, especially in advertising. Every time I hear or see an advertisement, I remind myself that someone is trying to "sell" me something. That isn't always a bad thing; but I've found that it's best for me to pay close attention to exactly what it is I'm being "sold." For example, when I hear a smooth, manly voice telling me I
should purchase a particular 4 x 4 SUV or 1-ton truck because it has "character," I know I'm being sold down the river! Cars, trucks and SUVs don't have character. They're a piece of fiberglass and metal that will last X number of years, if I properly care for them.

Unfortunately, the same is true with too many people these days. It's getting more and more difficult to find people of real character and integrity. That's what makes my friend Joseph Israel such a special man. Webster defines integrity as "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness." The Latin word integritas is where we get the words integral, integer, intact, entirety, and integrate. In today's world that blurs every moral line with relativism (do your own thing, as long as it doesn't hurt me or get in my way), we need true men of character who will swim against the tide. In The Abolition of Man my favorite author, C.S. Lewis, says "We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst." 

I first met Joseph on a blistering July day in 1996 in what was then a backwater village called Ouanaminthe. Over the past 16 years, that "village" has grown to a huge city and become the key customs and border crossing between the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the North of both countries. And Joseph and I have grown as well. First, we have become best of friends. Second, Joseph has become a major key to Aslan's success in Haiti. And 100 percent of it is because he has shown himself to be a man of character and integrity. 

This past week Pam Hess and Tara Cosentino were in Haiti for a week-long Aslan Vacation Bibleschool Day Camp. Pam called me on her way back from JFK on Friday night to tell me how wonderful her week had been. Of special note, she said that Aslan has raised up such a leader and man of integrity in Joseph. And she said, "What a joy it is to see Joseph himself now raising up men and women leaders who will impact the entire nation of Haiti for countless years to come!"

We incorporated Aslan Youth Ministries on January 13, 1975 in El Paso, Texas, just before Lynn Ann and myself, Dusty (my sister), Bill (my brother-
in-law), Shane & Christian (their two little boys), Traci (their foster daughter), and Pooh (Bill & Dusty's annoying poodle) left for New Jersey with a few hundred dollars and a big dream. There has been a lot of heartache over these many years, but one thing has remained the same. God has changed more lives than you can imagine through Aslan Youth Ministries. He's done it one life at a time, and we're thankful that it was no accident we came upon a young man named Joseph Israel . . . a world away in Haiti . . . so many years ago.

God's love to you all,

Craig

P.S. The picture above is of Joseph giving a bag of rice to one of our Aslan moms and her little one in L'Acajou. The expression on his face shows the gentleness he has for children.

P.P.S. Please continue to pray for our medical units in Haiti. We are working every day behind the scenes to procure their release, and we feel we are very close to getting them out of customs. Below is one of our units being loaded for shipment from Wichita where they were built at Hospitals of Hope back in early June.

Clinic Units Still Not Released

Hi Everyone,

I just returned from several frustrating weeks in Haiti trying to get our clinic units released from customs in Cap-Haitien. After repeated promises that our shipments would be correctly classified as humanitarian aid and exempt from any taxes or duties, the head of customs in Port-Cap told us we are required to pay $22,828.00 to have the units released. This is a king’s ransom and totally unreasonable.

Now I’ve returned to the United States to work through legal channels (our State Department, our Embassy in Port-au-Prince, and various other outlets including the media) to put pressure on the Haitian officials in question to release our
property. We also continue to work through a wonderful Haitian Congressman, Luckner Noel (pictured left between Aslan Board Member Gil Messina and myself), who is tirelessly working on our behalf. This is Depute Noel’s first term in congress, and he believes that President Michel Martelly and other newly elected officials who want true reform will help us get the units released.

The Scriptures speak of wickedness in high places, and the Apostle Paul explicitly states that we are not struggling against flesh and blood. The despotic rulers who line their pockets with gold while watching their own people die are only puppets of a much greater evil than themselves.  It is a power that cannot be seen with human eyes, but it is just as real and as that which is seen and much, much more dangerous. This is a battle that will be won or lost in prayer. And, it will not be our last battle of this kind, even when we eventually have our nonprofit status in Haiti.

Please ask everyone you know to pray diligently for President Martelly, for our friend Congressman Noel, and for all those who desire reform and change for Haiti. Their lives are in danger every moment of every day from the party leaders who have held positions of power for so long.  

Our most fervent prayer must be that individuals like President Martelly, Deputy Noel and other honest politicians can root out and destroy the corruption and thievery that is so entrenched in the few but very powerful elite who rule Haiti. And, it is also important that we keep in mind that we in America have our own corruption ~ think Bernie Madoff and $65 billion dollars! Our laws, however, eventually catch up with most, although not all, of our
crooks. And some of the people who lost their money in Madoff's ponzi scheme might actually receive some back in the end. In Haiti, this will never happen. It is always the 9.5 million innocent Haitian people who suffer, while a tiny minority of officials in power make off with their millions. Pictured above right is one of countless "tent cities" still set up throughout Port-au-Prince. This one is near the international airport. As we drove past it in the blinding and oppressive heat, I wondered how anyone could survive day-after-day living in one of these makeshift structures. So little real progress has been made in rebuilding since the earthquake that claimed one-quarter million lives. I remember years ago when we took a group of Aslan kids to a camp in Virginia where it was over 100 degrees every day.  We could barely survive 3 days in tents exactly like these! The heat index inside these tents in Port-au-Prince is easily 110 degrees or more from June to September.

Those of you who have been with us to Haiti over the past 16 years and have encountered our friends there ~ Joseph, Carline, Panel, Roseland, Rose-Emmanuel, Boze, Mackenzie, Judesen, Evanson, Willy, Elzira, Shilove, Daniel, Yvedali, Gentilia, Daniest, Annise, Bob, Ganel, Junior and so many hundreds more ~ know with your hearts why we continue to lay down our lives for these lovely, delightful and wonderful people every day. 

The mountain cares not whether I live or die, but I refuse to stop climbing.

 Craig  

P.S. Below is a photo of Joseph (Aslan’s senior staff administrator in Haiti) with the child of one of our Aslan families in L’Acajou. The coloration of the photo is by personal design. Although Joseph is smiling (as he almost always is), his heart is also breaking for the little ones like the child he holds who are born into such a world of sorrow in his country.

 

 

Esperar

I love the nuances of language, the meaning of words and the ways they work together. In Spanish, the word esperar has two very distinct and intertwined meanings ~ to hope, and to wait. Sometimes you must wait a lifetime for the things you hope for; and there are some things you hope for that you may never see in this lifetime.

Today as I walked across the bridge from the Dominican Republic into Haiti (and was trudging across the vast expanse of mud and waste left from Monday's Free Trade Day), I looked up and saw a friend. I don't know my friend's name, although I promise you that I will find it out the next time I see him. My last encounter with him was up by the bridge a few months ago on another Free Trade Day. He was standing there with his crutches, missing one leg above the knee, and he looked into my eyes and pleaded for me to give him some pesos so he could eat. It was his eyes that won my heart in an instant. There was a twinkle of life in them, in spite of his rail thin condition, but there was also an honesty that cut into me like a knife.

I turned away for one moment to as discreetly as possible grab 100 pesos (about $2.63 US) from my wallet. Then I reached back around and grabbed his hand, as though I was just shaking it to say hello. When he realized what I'd given him, he didn't know whether he should cry or laugh. He grabbed me and began to literally get down on the ground in front of me. Although he was Haitian, he understood Spanish, so I quickly told him, "No, please get up!"; and I quickly pulled him back up to face me. Then I told him that I was nothing but a man, just like him. I told him it is only Jesus who matters, and that he (my friend) was just as important in Jesus' eyes as I was. In reality, I'm sure he is much more important in Jesus' eyes than I am, but my Spanish isn't quite good enough to get that deep so I left it at that. 

Today as I started up the steep hill to the main paved road through Ouanaminthe, I saw my friend had been picking through the garbage from yesterday ~ in hopes he might find something of value to eat or to keep. I knew he saw me, and I knew he would find a way to come over and talk for a moment. What's amazing is he walked straight up to me and the first thing he did is look at me with his beautiful, smiling and piercing eyes, just like before.  Then he reached out and hugged me. He didn't ask me for anything, not one thing, although I gave him another small gift. It is no wonder to me why Jesus said that the last shall be first. Some day soon, my friend's wait will be over; and he will no longer be the last in line.

Till next time,

Craig

P.S. The little child you see above lives directly across from our mission house in Ouanaminthe. I was amazed as the little girl was left by herself for almost an hour to cry and wallow in the horribly filthy street.  Her bloated belly is a sign of severe malnutrition.

Two Celebrations

Dear friends,

Easter Sunday morning, Lynn Ann's beautiful mother was admitted to the hospital. She had been taken there many times over the past 7 months, but this was to be her last trip. On May 4th she was released to go back home; and in the quiet early morning hours of May

5th, the gates of heaven were opened wide for this wonderful child of God to dance into the arms of Jesus. What a celebration I know there was in heaven! Of all the people I have known in this world, I have not encountered anyone who brought more joy to the lives she touched than Marilyn Di Nello. Lynn Ann's and my parents have been best friends for many years. They are pictured above, left to right, Marilyn, Mario, Arlene and Ira.

Most people do not realize that this multi-talented and extremely intelligent woman gave up a successful modeling career in order to give her full attention to raising her two children and to devote herself to her family and to the Lord. I was very privileged to preside at her funeral and burial, and my reflections about her all pointed to the fact that her life was a life well lived.

As I left Texas to immediately return to Haiti, my thoughts were drawn to the realization that it cannot be said of very many people at the close of their lives that theirs was a life well lived. One of the most profound things that Jesus ever said was,

"If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it." [Matthew 10:39]

There are so many lessons to be learned in Haiti, but one of the most profound is that death is a way of life. Each and every day, the specter of death surrounds every person who lives there. No one never asks for whom the bell tolls. I have a small wooden bell that I bought in Haiti many years ago. Inscribed on it is "No one hears the sounds of our suffering, because no one can hear the ringing of a wooden bell." I arrived to learn that my dear friend, Daniél, had just lost his 45-year-old sister. She was perfectly healthy but died from an easily preventable or treatable infection that overtook her body within a less than 2-week period. 

And yet amidst the great suffering there is still reason for great celebration. And it was for this that Gil Messina (Aslan board member,


legal counsel, all around great guy and one of my best friends) and I had come. Joseph Israel had assured us that we would not believe the
celebration he had planned for us on May 17th, and he was correct. Three years ago, we started our Right Choices Bible classes in L'Acajou. What began with a handful of children out in the bush quickly grew, within three months, to almost 200 children! Because Joseph started our classes on Flag day, May 17th in Haiti always holds a very special place in our hearts. This was the third anniversary of Aslan's youth program in L'Acajou! Pictured above is Judesen Jean, whom we've sponsored in school for many years and another young woman performing a traditional African dance before the Lord. Behind Judesen, you can see that a large number of the 500 people who attended were children!

Flag Day in Haiti is much like our Fourth of July celebration. There are special ceremonies throughout the country, but this was the first time there had been anything in L'Acajou. And what a celebration it was! We began with a beautiful church service, which was followed by a bountiful meal. We served 438 people before we ran out of food, so we know attendance grew to at least 500 people! After lunch the real fun
began, with contests, marching groups, more contests, a boy's race to Ouanaminthe and back, a girl's race and then more contests! Whew! Gil and I finally returned to our mission house ~ thoroughly and utterly exhausted ~ before the grand finale.

I'll write more about our time there, but I want you all to know that our clinic units are now in Miami and will be shipped to Cap-Haitien on June 3rd with the intended arrival date in Cap-Haitien of June 9th! Six men will be accompanying me down to Haiti to place the units together on the foundation, unpack them and ready them for our first medical group to come.

When all is said and done, the accolades and awards of men will mean nothing. All the university degrees you can amass, all the power you can wield over people, all the monuments you can build to yourself or others will amount to nothing more than a pile of ash on the ground. And you and I will be dust in the wind. But if we have given our lives up for His sake, we will have found something that no one can take from us. In the end, only what's done for Christ will be left standing.

Craig 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clinic Finished - Ready To Ship!

Dear Friends,

On April 26^th I was privileged to visit Hospitals of Hope in Wichita, Kansas. HOH is a wonderful ministry, directed by Dr. Michael Wawrzewski, that has been working around the world in medical missions for many years. We are truly privileged to be partnering together with them. Over the past several months, they have transformed three 40’ long by 8’ wide by 9.5’ high steel containers into a state-of-the-art medical clinic for Aslan.  The pictures you see here do not even do justice to how beautiful the workmanship is on these units. Special thanks to Michael and his talented staff members – Kyle (primary builder of the units), Leta (office manager), Daniel (International missions coordinator) and the others who give of their time and many talents.

The units are set to ship from Miami on June 3^rd and arrive in Cap-Haitien on June 6^th to June 8^th. From Cap-Haitien, each unit will be taken by truck to our Aslan property in L’Acajou where they will be off-loaded by crane onto the foundation we’ve built for them. We have a team of 5 guys coming down from New Jersey who will then help us connect the units together
into one building and unpack all the equipment. Once that’s completed, the clinic will be ready for our first medical team to come down! Words cannot



express how much this will mean to so many people. Literally thousands of lives will be saved – from chronic but preventable conditions to life-threatening illnesses that are routinely cured here in the US with simple antibiotics or other common treatments. Pictured above is our hospital X-ray department, with the developing room to the right.

But this is just the beginning and not the end! We’re just getting started here, because we still have many, many things to do to prepare the clinic for full-time service.  Conservatively, we need another $20,000.00 right now for these important extras.  The costs below are approximations based on the amounts we've spent so far and include the following:

 

• $ 1,000.00 porch, sidewalks and sitting area for clinic reception area;
• $  500.00 tent for triage;
• $ 5,500.00 steel roof for clinic;
• $  500.00 landscaping around clinic (to prevent soil erosion);
• $ 1,000.00 permanent plumbing – clean water supply from well to clinic;
• $ 1,500.00 permanent septic system for clinic;
• $10,000.00 security fencing (complete stucco & ironwork)

We are so grateful to each and every one of you who have given to help this dream become a reality. Almost everyone talking about Haiti today complains about how little of the money raised to aid Haiti after the terrible earthquake has actually helped the people of Haiti. In reality, most of the promised aid still hasn’t reached Haiti! This is very frustrating for people and discourages them from wanting to continuing giving to disaster relief. Aslan, however, is different. After the earthquake, we received almost $120,000.00 in relief funding, and with the completion of these units 100 percent of it is spent. We are proud to say WE ARE OUT OF MONEY! So, if you give more to us to help in Haiti that is exactly where it will be spent! Please pray about it right now – this moment – today. The need is still there. The need is as great as ever. Why most of the aid promised to Haiti hasn't reached Haiti no one knows.  But the money you give to Aslan is being spent to change lives!

May God bless you all!

Craig

Pictured below is our dental department, with it's own X-ray equipment and a compressor to run all the equipment you would find in most dentist offices here in America. I know, I know, the chair looks like Darth Vader. It's just a trick of the camera.  You guys know it never hurts to go to the dentist :O

 

 

Higher Up and Farther In

Hi Everyone,

Today is a special day to celebrate ~ Resurrection Sunday.  And it is the perfect day for me to reflect on why we at Aslan do what we do. I've been called a lot of things in my lifetime, but one of the most offensive has been a "do gooder."  What people mean by this is that I am doing good for goodness sake.  

With the darkness and tragedy I've experienced in this life, the last thing I'm doing is good only for goodness sake.  If there's no higher purpose at the end of this present darkness than ashes and dust, it is hard to comprehend why anyone bothers to do good, much less live another day.  It is only living through tears, hope and the fumes of faith, that I press on to a higher calling.

So many Christians love to "skip to the end" of Easter, which is the Resurrection.  And in the process, they gloss over the pain, sorrow and indescribable suffering that Jesus endured to arrive at the Resurrection.  We were "bought with a price," the Apostle Peter says. And that price was more than the agony Jesus suffered nailed to the Cross.  I once heard it said that the Cross is at the very center of eternity ~ that it spans eternity from end to end.  Although some people seem to think so, the Eternal God was not taken by surprise when man sinned and thereby forced Him to suddenly come up with a "Plan B."  Before the foundations of the earth, God's plan for the Cross were already in motion. 

People in Haiti have a faith that is tested in fire, which is the only way to test the true worth of any metal. They understand the Cross. They live each day knowing that death lurks around each and every corner. The water they drink exposes them to death through typhoid, hepatitis or cholera. Every mosquito that lands on their skin may transfer deadly malaria or dengue fever to them.  A simple cold can become bronchitis and then pneumonia.  A case of pink-eye, left untreated, may blind their child. A minor cut on their child's skin can cover over a fungal infection that will eventually grow into a cancerous tumor.  My little friend, Cela (pictured on the left on March 16th), is sick with some new infection almost every time I return to Haiti.  We can only hope and pray that the antibiotics that Dr. Dave and our nurses gave him in March will help his body truly heal this time.  My friends in Haiti like Joseph Israel are truly people of faith. Show me someone who has suffered greatly, and I will show you someone who has great faith.    

I am grateful to all of you who read this blog and who contribute to the cause of Aslan.  Everything that I do . . . everything that all of us at Aslan do in Haiti and in America is done to honor the One who suffered and died for us and for every one of our sins and inadequacies.  I will leave you with what I believe are some of the most profound words ever written.  They were penned by a young 28-year-old missionary who gave his life along the Curaray River in Equador in 1956:  

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Each and every act of kindness ~ a child taken to a doctor, rice given to a hungry family, rent paid for 4 orphaned boys, tuition, uniforms and books to sponsor a child in school, a pair of used glasses so that an elderly man can read his Bible ~ we do because He lives.

Craig

P.S. "Higher Up and Farther In" is taken from The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis.  After a tragic train accident that takes their lives, Peter, Edmond and Lucy find themselves in the real Narnia (Heaven), where they will forever grow higher up and farther in to God's love. 

  

Roosters, School Supplies & A Clinic's On It's Way!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I'm so far behind in updating you on all of the wonderful things happening with Aslan's work in Haiti. I've spent so much of my time there since the beginning of the year that it's hard for me to remember where I am some mornings when I wake up.  One thing that always keeps me straight is I'm definitely somewhere other than Haiti if I haven't been listening to a thousand crazy Haitian roosters crowing all night.  And if the roosters haven't convinced me, I can always depend on the ten thousand Haitian dogs that I haven't heard barking all night! Seriously, I love being in Haiti ~ roosters, dogs and all.

First I want to update you on the progress of the clinic.  Due to some normal construction delays, our finish date for shipping has been pushed back to the end of this month.  I'm actually thankful for this, because it is giving me a chance to catch my breath between trips and also make preparations for all the things we have to do once the units arrive in Puerto Plata, D.R. on an ocean freighter.  Once their in the Dominican Republic, it should take us about 2 days to get them to Haiti and a day to set them on our foundation.  I have a great team of guys who will be helping me hook the units together into one large (and beautiful) clinic and unpack everything.  More about that in an upcoming blog.

In both February and March, we had several gifted groups of people join us. During February, Rev. Terrence Porter (Pilgrim Baptist Church, Red Bank) and three sweet ladies from his congregation came down for a whirlwind 4-day trip.  From left to right in the picture below are Burnadett, Darlene, Joseph Israel (back), a school principal from one of the schools we helped (front), Marcia, and Terrence.  Believe me, we accomplished more during those 4 days than you would think was humanly possible!  In addition to delivering tons of school supplies that Pilgrim & friends had collected for us to bring down, we also spent a lot
of time with our Aslan children in L'Acajou.  While we were in L'Acajou, I introduced Rev. Porter and the group to Gentilia, a very special young woman I mentioned a couple of blogs back.

Gentilia is a survivor of the horrible earthquake in Haiti, and she had just started nursing when the quake hit.  Thankfully, she survived, but she was forced with the decision to return to her very poor and crowded home in L'Acajou or live in a "tent city" in Port-au-Prince.  She decided to stay at home, and she's been helping Joseph with the 150 Aslan kids at our Sunday day camp program. Rev. Porter could quickly see the potential in this gifted young woman, but he also was able to sense the despair that is so evident behind the smiles of so many Haitian men and women who have no hope.  Until she met Aslan, Gentilia had no
hope at all of ever seeing her dream of becoming a nurse come true. One afternoon, we walked through the bush to the tiny hut where she and her large family live, and we sat together as she eloquently but poignantly told us "All my dreams died with the earthquake."

But God can repair some dreams. Rev. Porter called me this week to tell me that Pilgrim wants to sponsor Gentilia through nursing school.  It is quite a commitment, and it is a wonderful commitment on the part of this wonderful church and wonderful pastor! 

There is so much more to come! Next blog, I'll tell you about a fantastic group from Grace Bible Church in Montana that truly "graced" our work in Haiti several weeks back ~ along with one of the most special people in Lynn Ann's and my life, Colleen Ward-Mujica, and her wonderful group of nurses and volunteers from New York City who also came during March.  Above you see Gentilia making a special presentation to Colleen for her 15 years of love and service to the people of Haiti and for her special care for our friends in L'Acajou.

Please keep our clinic in prayer.  We're so close to finished, and this is going to make the difference between life and death to thousands and thousands of children, women and men in Haiti in the future.

Much love to all,

Craig

Closer & Closer

Hi Everyone,

I'm writing from Haiti, and for all of you who are cold I can assure you that I'm not!  Coming from 10 degree weather to 90 degree is pretty amazing.  Today was blazing hot!

We're getting ready to pour two of three footings for our medical clinic tomorrow.  It's great to have Steve Treson down here with me on this trip.  He's worked in construction in NYC, so he's well acquainted with the stresses that the steel buildings we're bringing down will put on these footings.  They have to be really strong and built with precision.  With his Indiana Jones hat on, Steve looks like he's down here on an archaeological dig.  Pictured left is him next to one of two cement mixers we've rented to speed up our project.  You can see from the flat tire that it's a little hard to get reliable equipment down here.  Joseph had to rent a truck and drive about 30 miles round-trip to pick up this mixer and it's twin.  You can pray with us that they hold up until we finish pouring our clinic footings!

Every time I'm here in Haiti, I can see why God wants a medical clinic built first ~ before we see our other dreams for Aslan's land in L'Acajou come true.  Three days ago on our way home from our land, Joseph took a circuitous route that he normally doesn't take.  "Coincidentally" along the way, we passed by Diana, one of our Aslan kids from L'Acajou who Christy (a great lady from New Jersey) is sponsoring in school.  Diana's eyes were almost swollen shut with conjunctivitis.  Her mom had taken her to a doctor, but the medicine he'd recommended hadn't helped.  I asked Joseph to explain to her mother that we'd take her to Dajabon (Dominican Republic) the next day.

With Joseph tied up helping ramrod our building project, I got elected to accompany Diana and her mom to the doctor.  After a short-lived squabble at the border over whether or not we would be allowed to cross the bridge, the three of us took a motorcycle to an optometrist's office.  Well, actually we took a motorcycle to where he was supposed to be.  Then we went across town to his new office where we waited for an hour for him to show up.  Once he got there he quickly explained to me (in Spanish, of course) that she had conjunctivitis and we needed to go to Centro Medico (about 7 blocks away). After a long walk in the hot sun, we made our way to Centro Medico and waited for about 30 minutes for a doctor to arrive.  She prescribed the correct medication, and we then walked the 10 blocks back to the border ~ stopping at a pharmacy along the way.  I also picked up some water and cinnamon crisp crackers for Diana and her mom to give them a little boost of energy.

I am relatively sure that viral or bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye) left untreated will eventually lead to blindness.  Can you imagine living in a place where medical care is so abysmally bad that an easily treatable condition like this could permanently disable your child.  Or even if the care was adequate, can you imagine not having the money to help your child?  All in all, I spent a little less than $2,000.00 pesos to help Diana.  That's about $56.00 US dollars.  As you look at these pictures and gaze into her eyes, I'm pretty sure you'll agree it was worth it.  

You cannot imagine how much our clinic will mean to the Haitian children and families we'll be able to serve.  If all goes on schedule, we'll have the units on the ground by the end of February and open by early March.  Please pray for each step to go smoothly.  Every day so many children in Haiti die or are handicapped for life because of a lack of simple medical care or treatment.  We cannot save them all, but we can save some.  Without your continued giving, however, all these dreams cannot come true.  Right now we think we have just barely enough to ship our clinic units to Haiti.  At that point, all the emergency funding we received last year after the earthquake will be gone.  Believe me, that's a good thing!  Unlike the behemoth organizations that still haven't spent the millions given to them to help Haiti, Aslan is actually doing something. 

What I'm trying to say is we can't keep doing something unless you continue to partner with us in our efforts to make a difference in this country of such great need.  You can easily designate a gift for Haiti through this blog or on our website.  And remember when you give through Aslan, your gift won't end up in some endless bureaucratic loop or telethon maze.  It will go where you want it to go.  It will be spent where you want it to be spent.  And it will do the most good.

God's blessings to you all,

Craig

One Day In The Life

I just returned from Haiti, where I was reminded once again how difficult life is for the people who live there.  No matter how many times I go and how long I spend there, the need always overwhelms me.  Just as the Haitian people feel they’re able to take a breath, another tragedy strikes.  This time it is an epidemic of cholera that has taken the lives of over 1,500 souls in barely 6 weeks.  There are now over 66,000 confirmed cases of cholera in Haiti, and it is expected there will be 200,000 cases by Christmas.  The U.N. has reported that Haiti could have almost 500,000 people sick with cholera within the first six months of the epidemic's beginning!  

There is no end in sight for stemming the tide, and preventing the spread of the disease is almost impossible.  The picture on the right (taken in May at one of our medical clinics in a remote village) is worth a thousand words.   

Cholera is easily treated, provided you can get to a doctor and rehydrate your body.  The danger is you can become dehydrated in only a few hours, without even knowing that you have become deathly ill.  There are very few hospitals in Haiti to begin with, and nearly all of them are already filled to capacity with cholera victims and turning people away.  There have been multiple reports of people dying alongside the road, as they tried to walk to a hospital or clinic.  Tap-Tap drivers are afraid to transport sick people to a doctor, and some doctors have refused to treat patients they suspect have cholera.  As Joseph and I talked about the inevitability of cholera reaching Ouanaminthe, he pointed out the futility of all the warnings being issued by the Haitian government.  “It does not help,” Joseph said, “ to be told to wash your hands, when you have no soap!”  And he also said that it does not help to be told to drink only bottled water, when almost no Haitians can possibly afford to buy it.  The living conditions in Haiti are deplorable, which makes the spreading of a disease like cholera a given.  To be able to afford a flush toilet, with a concrete holding tank for waste, is a luxury that only a few of the millions of people in Haiti can afford.  Every time it rains heavily there is flooding, and the hand-dug septics outside every Haitian’s home overflow onto the ground and into the streets.

 I arrived the day Hurricane Tomas hit the island, and during my first night in Haiti there was torrential rainfall.  Around 2 am that first night, hundreds of people filled the streets outside our mission house shouting to one another.  When I got up to see what was going on, one of my Haitian friends said homes throughout Ouanaminthe were flooding, and people were in the streets trying to stay as dry as possible.  I was speechless, because hundreds of people in our neighborhood and hundreds more throughout the city were standing in the streets in a solid downpour that lasted all night!  One section of Ouanaminthe where man people live close to the Masacre River had to be completely evacuated during the night.  Perhaps the most amazing thing about all the flooding was how little complaining I heard the next morning.  “After a mountain . . . another mountain," the Haitian proverb wisely admonishes.  

 While Joseph and I were in L’Acajou measuring the section where Aslan’s medical clinic will go, he introduced me to Gentilia, a sweet young woman from L'Acajou who had been living in Port-au-Prince and studying to be a nurse.  She must  still complete her senior year of nursing school, but she doesn’t want to return to Port-au-Prince to live in a tent city.  The day before I returned to the States, Joseph and I visited Gentilia in her tiny hut across the street from our land where she and 7 other family members live.  She was sick in bed with a high fever, so Joseph and I took the motorcycle back to Ouanaminthe where I got her some Tylenol and Pepto-Bismol.  I also had Joseph stop for a 5-gallon bottle of clean drinking water and a plate of cooked chicken.  She was so appreciative of this small gesture of kindness on our parts. 

 Please pray for Haiti and for our many friends there.  The building of our clinic has begun in Kansas City!  Within 90 days from November 1, three steel buildings will be completed and ready to ship to Haiti.  Our goal is to have the units on the ground in
L’Acajou in February, with the doors to our clinic open by March 1.  This first phase of our medical center will include two examination rooms (like the one pictured on the left); one dental/optical room; a laboratory; a radiology room; a pharmacy; a reception area; and, an area for medical staff that includes bathrooms and a kitchen.  Because we’re building with steel, our clinic is earthquake and hurricane proof.  All the medical equipment (exam tables, X-ray equipment, etc.) comes with the structure, so after connecting the 3 buildings the facility will be 100 percent operational.

 All of this is possible, because of God’s grace and because of your generosity.  And it will be completed almost one year from the date of the earthquake that took so many lives.  There is such discouragement among the Haitian people because of how little promised earthquake relief aid has reached this devastated nation . . . and now the cholera epidemic.  Aslan is a bright spot of hope amidst all the discouragement, and our clinic will save countless lives in the months and years to come.

Till next time!

Craig

P.S. Pictured below is one our units currently being built in Wichita, Kansas!

 

 

 

Daniél's Clinic

I've been so busy of late that it has hampered my time for blogging.  I always promise to do better and I really hope I'll be able to!  The great news is I've been spending quite a lot of time in planning for Aslan's medical clinic.  With our current timetable, we expect to have almost 1,000 square feet finished and operational by the first part of January!

I have thought time and again of how my son, Daniél, helped dig and lay the foundation with Teen Missions in 1991 for a medical clinic in Uganda. It is a constant and poignant reminder of exactly why Aslan is in Haiti. In one of his first letters home he wrote, "Uganda is breathtakingly beautiful.  I love it here so much.  You guys have to come to Africa.  Seriously!"  Every moment of Daniél's six weeks in Africa was alive with joy.  The greater the challenge, the more exhilarating it became for him.

"Today, the 10th of July, I had an interesting experience.  I was bending steel to put in the hospital's foundation and I just couldn't bend it. Then Wally, one of my leaders, said, 'Remember yesterday's memory verse?  I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength [Philippians 4:13].'  I just laughed when he said that and said 'Yeah right,' because I had been prying so hard and I just couldn't do it.  Then Wally said 'Try once more.'  I bent the steel with the greatest of ease.  It was great!"  

Nineteen years ago, God planted the seed for our work in Haiti in the heart of a 15-year-old boy.  Were it not for Daniél, none of this would ever have happened.  And God knows that we tried to get to Africa.  Over the next  three years we contacted missionaries in Kenya and in Tanzania to make arrangements to return to Africa with Daniel, Dustin and a group of our Aslan teenagers. It eventually became apparent, however, that raising the money for the project was just not going to be possible.  But we could not give up, because our starry-eyed son would not let us!  

In 1994 we heard the whisper of Haiti in our ears.  Knowing nothing about this tiny Caribbean nation, we were unaware that Haiti was the second free republic in the Western Hemisphere.  We were also unaware that this tiny, impoverished nation had entirely retained their African culture.  Walking into Haiti is walking into Africa.  As Lynn Ann and I wavered about taking the big step of this mission adventure, it was again Daniél who inspired us to go. Late one evening, he called home and asked Lynn Ann (with strength and finality in his voice), "Are we going to Haiti or not?"  She knew in her heart this was the sign we needed. Without hesitation she said,"Yes!" Although Daniél was never able to realize his dream of returning to Africa, Africa was forever in his heart.  Haiti, however, quickly became enmeshed in all of us. 

Thank you, my wonderful son, for letting God plant the seed in your heart nineteen years ago.  I know that your reward in heaven is great.  And thank all of you who have given after the earthquake to make this clinic a reality.  We still have $50,000.00 to raise to complete the first phase, so please get the word to all you friends, family and churches. Through your continued giving, so many lives in Haiti will be touched for eternity.

The top picture is of the Ugandan people blessing the site for the clinic. The middle picture is Daniél. And, yes, that is a real lizard attached to his ear! The picture above right is of Daniél's group digging the footings and laying out the forms for the foundation.

Till next time,

Craig