Day Two

Kathryn Fuller
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

“Eben Ezer”

Cue Eben Ezer Mission; this vast plot of land splayed out in between two beautiful mountain ranges, just outside of Gonaives. The mission was founded some 40 years ago and houses an orphanage, a primary school, a university, a church, a hospital, a tree nursery, an airplane runway and the sweetest people you will ever meet. There is a man named Jean Noelle who has befriended us, shown us around, translated for us and everything in between. He feels like the embodiment of Eben Ezer Mission’s spirit; a goofy Haitian man with the biggest heart, with a flamelike enthusiasm for life but a realist’s attitude about Haiti’s current state and the hardships that they’ve all faced.

Today we did a few productive things! We discussed the actual implementation of a solar system with a local (Port au Prince) vendor, this huge guy with an easy laugh named “Little Joe”. Sounds like he can do everything we want and more, but his prices are rather expensive and we’d have little hands-on work to do if we chose to contract his company for the project. There are obvious pros and cons to going down this route and we have some big decisions ahead of us about the scope of this project, and the path we are planning to take.

We also met with the pastor who runs the orphanage, an infinitely grateful man who doesn’t speak a lick of English but led us through the maze of the orphanage pointing out lights and sockets in order for us to measure their electricity usage. He speaks happily about his dreams for a basketball court for the kids and a special playground outside. He even took the time to skillfully hack open fresh coconuts one by one, so we could drink the sweet milk inside. He speaks sadly of the lack of capacity to take any more children, but that the government continues to place them there. In the two days that we’ve spent here, the electricity has gone out more than five times; the government run utility, we’re told, is unreliable, corrupt and charges unfairly. The mission’s got a diesel back up generator, but, as you can imagine, that cost is ungodly as well. There is undeniably a need for a reliable source of electricity. We’re going to strive to help them provide that; the challenge right now will be to choose the right path that will get them there.

One of Eben Ezer’s trusty school buses (there are hundreds of these yellow behemoths on the roads in Haiti)
Looking out at some of Eben Ezer’s hundreds of acres. This area, before it was Eben Ezer Mission, was called the “Desolate Savannah” by the people in the area for its inability to sustain any sort of life. Now, the fenced in area in the picture has plans to become a source of vegetables and fruits with the help of a solar powered water pump on the mission. Lots of decrepit structures like this are found everywhere in this country-signs of what once was flourishing.
The University at the mission and some of the dorms / apartments the students stay in. They call it “The Hilton”.
Jean Noel, eagerly leading us to the mission’s pilot airplane landing strip — they recently received a license from the government to use this and are ecstatic about it.
The tree nursery on Pastor Joshua’s property — mango, papaya, banana, palm, avocado trees and more wait to be doled out to the community where needed.
Playing catch from the roof with some of the boys at the orphanage
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Kathryn Fuller

Written by

Zanmi Limye

Student led group with a vision to enhance the quality of life in rural Haiti through solar power

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