How Does Your Garden Grow?

 We don’t know a lot about agriculture. 

We can admit this unashamedly. If I think back to my childhood, I can however, visualize the raised beds my parents  insisted we implement in the area of our yard I felt would have been better utilized had it been turned into a swimming pool. Still, the only thing I can really remember about gardening are feelings of remorse over a broken sunflower and a warm fuzzy feeling I recall when I think about the delicious persimmon cookies my mom used to make. I suppose both of these memories have more to do with childhood shenanigans and eating than they do with growing food. 

But beside the fact that neither Jenn nor I have an ounce of gardening experience our humble project, just 21 months young, has a glorious garden. And we feel likes queens feasting on the abundance of God’s glory. Seriously. All glory goes to the one who created us in His image and started humanity in a garden of paradise. 

It all started with this. 

Jenn and the neighbors helping to clear the land, April 2012

Then we put buildings on it. 

Then when the buildings were complete we began acting on what was an essential part of the vision: sustainability. 

We wanted to last. We hate asking for money. We want to last without having to depend on a multitude of donors. We want to be organic, and wise, and incredibly faithful with the land God provided. We quickly developed the motto “why look at piece brown dirt when you could be looking at food..."

Our primary goal was to figure out how to feed all the mothers and children who spent time on at our facility. We wanted them to get to participate in the planting and harvesting. We wanted to invoke that "yes we can!" mentality through the act of digging in the dirt or cooking with foods you helped grow. We also believed we could have an impact on the local community through the introduction of vital nutrients and by selling produce at fair prices and close to home. We wanted to offer employment to some of the local people! But here's the real kicker, we wanted to always be able to ensure those salaries through the sale of goods produced.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Back in the early months, when these ideas were stills ideas, we didn't actually have a plan. And as I confessed earlier we had zero experience. But God did something He has continued to do through this entire process. He let us in on just one little morsel of his grand plan at a time. The first, came in the form of seed packets, tons and tons of seed packets thanks to a little farm in Wisconsin calling Threshing Tables. I’m not even sure we needed to ask for them. People simply got wind of our intentions and the donations arrived.

I’m sure the next step went something like this: Jenn and Dadou sit down at one of their many impromptu meetings and she says, “we need to start the gardens.” To which Dadou replies, “we need to till the land.” 

April 2013

I was included in the next impromptu meeting where they gave me list-making privileges. Yes, that's a real thing. I was invited to come up with a list of all the fruits and vegetables I desired to see on the land. I wasn’t shy with my requests. I wanted to see everything from papayas to pigeon peas. The list wasn’t short. Even so, just 3 months later we've planted all that and more.

In early April, Dadou invited people from the community to help us plant beans and corn.
Many people got to have a hand in the planting of our first crops and earn a day's wages while they were at it. They planted the corn and beans together, randomly. Only several weeks later did I learn that is a genius soil preservation strategy. The beans give beneficial Nitrogen to the soil and the corn sucks it right up! Just another reminder that the success of these gardens had very, very, very little to do with me. 

At this point we hadn’t yet selected the people who would become Second Mile Haiti’s official garden employees. 

But over the next several weeks the team sort of assembled itself, starting with Ama. Ama, our neighbor, is a respected community member who wears many hats. He’s a former school teacher, a current official on the community committee, a father, a grand-father, and an all-around great dude. We couldn’t have prayed for a better neighbor. Although, I know for a fact that we did pray for good neighbors. 

He brings with him years of food growing experience, as evidence by seven healthy adult children, a soccer team of grandchildren, and acres of flourishing crops and trees. We were pretty much sold when Director Dadou suggested he be hired as a garden worker.

Then came Joseph, a young dad and a very hard-worker. We were most impressed by the way he carried himself, seemingly able to pull off the star-employee thing with his eye’s closed. He’s a learner, with a genuine interest in and knack for agriculture. In order to produce the best yields for Second Mile Haiti, Joseph does research on his own time, contacting the local agriculture guru’s in the area and asking questions. We love to see this kind of initiative. 

And finally Wesly, a late edition. We were impressed by Wesly’s work ethic and patience. He worked on various construction projects during the building phase. We knew he desperately wanted employment but he wasn’t overt about it. He worked hard, often without pay, until he won himself a well-deserved spot on the gardening team. 

Joseph and Ama

What happens next is better described with pictures. Quite simply, these guys got to WORK. It's a struggle to choose pictures to adequately show off what they've accomplished on the back property. 

We were lucky to have a trained agronomist get the guys started. He began stopping by the property to lend his expertise and taught the guys, free of charge, how to create raised beds and a shaded nursery to start seedlings. Did I mention that this advice came free of charge!? It was a huge blessing. 

By the second week in April we had planted carrots, beets, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. In addition to beans and corn. 

The last week in April we got our hiney’s kicked into second gear by a visit from my cousin, Sarah. She LOVES or should I say lives gardening and spent hours with the aforementioned guys teaching them a few tricks, like composting and mulching, and planting with them yet more vegetable varieties. They even spread out our gardening efforts to include a few rooftop plots. 

All of May was spent watering an acre of corn and beans (bucket by bucket, when the rains were slim), creating more raised beds, planting sweet potatoes, okra, more bean varieties, cabbage, eggplant, garlic, squash, and more... They composted, and weeded, and watered. We planted Moringa, Chaya, Malabar spinach, and some fun things like the Winged Bean and some edible Hibiscus. 

whose excited about composting?! we are!! 

Once we had our compost bins in place we were anxious to get them filled up with compostable goodness! So, we enlisted the help of our friends and the neighbors that live in our apartment complex. We also followed the goats around collecting their droppings. But that wasn't the most efficient of plans... What did work was a system with our friends where we provide the buckets and they provide the scraps! It's a great system. There are few things that make me happier than walking out on the front porch early in the morning to find there's been a compost delivery. Those heavy buckets of rotting material reek of potential. It's a good stink, and I love them. Friends that compost together, stay together! Or is that not how that goes? 

At the end of May we enjoyed the very first harvest, a little bean we like to call, pwa neg. 
The moms, babies, and employees have been eating from the land ever since. Our meals aren’t yet 100% home-grow but we’ve made a very respectable start. Every morning the moms and babies eat a nutritious soup. The greens in the soup come from the gardens. The beans in each lunch meal were grown at our land. Also, the plantains we sometimes serve come from our neighbor next door. All the milk comes from our cow. And everyone snacks all day long on Mangoes from the big tree. 

There is nothing quite like eating from the land and nothing quite like the realization of a dream, all-be-it the component of a dream.

Our dream is still a dream. We’ve not yet arrived at the part of the story where we suggest to a mom that her child may be suffering from Vitamin A deficiency, the part where she remembers what we've told her about carrots being an excellent source of Vitamin A and then she runs back to the property to gather carrots. She might even pluck a few limes from a lime tree on her way back up to recovery homes before she sets herself down to make carrot juice for her baby. 

Maybe that part comes in August. The point is, it’s a very probable scenario. It’s happening.

The corn and bean fields with sweet potatoes and okra against the back property margin

planting another round of vegetables, July 2013

Tomatoes, Peppers, Beets, Onions, Carrots, Garlic, Eggplant, Cabbage, and space to grow a second harvest

The AMAZING workers- Joseph, Ama, and Wesly- take a break from making new raised beds to pose for this picture

composting in action

and a few more plants :)
eggplant, chaya, spinach and Moringa

A day in the life of Jenn

It’s come to my attention that we aren’t the best “updaters.” Without me processing through the last two weeks and trying to remember exactly what happened...I will just tell you about the last two days. This will help you guys out. I promise.

Monday morning. I wake up around 5 am. I am usually up around 5 am-6 am. I had a meeting at 10 with the UN, Haiti Hospital Appeal, Lakou Breda, and Carbon Roots International. Long story short...The UN supported a project for HHA, Lakou Breda, Second Mile with Carbon Roots International. We have been partnering with Carbon Roots International to receive training on bio-char and charcoal. This in shorthand is green charcoal. We are trying to make our own charcoal by going green. Everyone on board? By making our own green charcoal we hope to give the moms an opportunity to be able to sell this charcoal in the local markets as a means of commerce. Also, we can used the bio-char as compost for our gardens, and lastly we cook with this charcoal on our facility. Why is this green charcoal better then normal charcoal? We aren’t cutting down trees to make it. We are using a renewable resource, sugar cane. Luckily our village is filled with sugar cane. It’s better health wise. Did you know when an Haitian cooks an meal here using normal charcoal it’s the same thing as smoking three packs of cigrattes. Mind blown huh? 

Before this 10am meeting I drove out to the land on my moto. I had to make sure everything was in order... Did I mention I had a moto accident 3 weeks ago. 3 stitches in   the knee, black eye, and a nasty leg bruise that took 3 weeks to heal. Luckily, I live and work with a nurse that took excellent care of me. Oh, this particular nurse, Amy was  riding with me during this crash. Luckily she didn’t get hurt. I guess that’s what happens when you fall on the driver. Ok, I’m fine...back to my day. Dadou and I had an hour meeting at the land. For everyone that hasn’t been following us the last year and a half...Dadou is our Haitian Director. He is my right hand man. We talk daily...we probably talk close to 3 hours a day. We have become the same person. I haven’t decided if that’s a positive or negative thing, because we sure do have our mood swings. I pray that our mood swings don’t happen on the same day. Well, yesterday was payday. Yesterday’s payday had me in a little bit of a frenzy. I wanted to increase our employee’s salaries. I wanted to show them that I respected all their hard work, but the numbers from our gardens didn’t add up. Which means I wasn’t able to give them raises. I vented my frustration with Dadou. I said, “I’m selling milk and eggs everywhere I go. Why aren’t you helping me. We need to make more money from our garden sells and you know it.” He responded, “I am doing the best I can. I went after work on Saturday to find vendors. I ask everyone I know. I am doing the best I can too.” My temper calmed because he’s right. My “right hand man” works hard. He works just as hard as I do. We both apologized to each other. It usually goes like this... “ I’m sorry Dadou. Are you sorry?” and he usually responds with a reluctant “I’m sorry too.” I am taking the time to write this conversation between Dadou and I because this is exactly how we act together. After this little argument we put our heads together to make a plan. We decide we need to encourage the employees to help our project out more and that there would be a staff meeting today after lunch. Okay, my work is done at the land. Back on my moto. 

I head back to Breda (this is our apartment complex) to meet with the partners and Carbon Roots International. The meeting went well. There were even cokes and Prestiges (beer) that were passed around after the meeting ended. This is always a good sign of a very productive meeting.

Okay the best part. After the meeting I had another meeting with the Mayor of Cap Haitien. In case you don’t know...Cap Haitien is the second largest city in Haiti and it’s a city of over 2 million people. It’s a big deal to get the Mayor to come our to your project. He’s a very busy man. I originally met him the week before at a local restaurant. We hit it off. I think the conversation ended that I would personally be training him into better health and I would contract his next house. Not bad huh? Well the Mayor agreed to visit our site. I wanted him to visit our site so we could get a recommendation to become a registered NGO here in Haiti. When we become a registered NGO in Haiti we will receive on the ground funding and recognition that we are just plain legit in Haiti. 

So...the Mayor came to our site. He loved it, and purchased a carton of eggs on his way out. Success.

The second part of my day was revolved around payday. We are currently paying 13 employees...awesome huh? This means the project is growing.

Okay, staff meeting. It went well. All the employees agreed about helping out more. They are decided among themselves that they should be given a certain amount of beans to sell each month and if they didn’t sell the beans then the money would be taken out of their check. I never decided this or did I mention this. They did. I might be biased but I would say we have by far the 13 hardest workers in Haiti. Hands down.

Tuesday.

My goal was to meet with the MPCE. The MPCE is going to help us with our paperwork for our registration. My meeting got pushed back to 1, so I headed out to the land instead. While heading to land I have a couple thoughts in mind.

Irrigation system, Solar panels, Cows, and lastly chickens.

We received funding for an irrigation system in the back! Big News. We started drilling the well today. Dadou and I talked about logistics of the pipes and all the electrical components of this irrigation system. Praise the Lord the guys don’t have to water two acres of land by hand anymore. It’s a win win situation.

Next, Solar Panels. We received funding for solar panels, and as of last week all the money has arrived! I sent out an email to my contact in the States to get the ball rolling. By the end of the week we will have the panels ordered and they will be on there way to Florida. This process will take a week and then from Florida they will be shipped to Cap Haitien. This process will take closer to a month. The timing is perfect because I leave for a fundraising trip in 2 weeks and will arrive back in Haiti in a month. The panels should be here when I arrive! This is exciting news people. Are jumping up and down with me? 

Cows. We need another cow. I have people threatening me if they don’t have milk tomorrow. Milk sales are that good. One more cow will allow us to make another $315/month. In the future I would love to have 4-5 more cows, but one cow at the moment will do. Plus, we only have funding for one more cow so it will just have to be one more cow. Did you know this....when you fund a certain project...Second Mile delivers. 

Chickens. Holy Cow, we have eggs. Sorta of funny sentence if you think about it. ;) All of our chickens our laying. Eggs are in demand. Haitian eggs are particular in demand since there was a recent case of the bird flu in the Dominican from the Dominican eggs. So people don’t want Dominican Eggs anymore. Did you know 85% of eggs in Haiti are from the DR. Second Mile is hoping to lower that statistic. One can dream? So I envisioned/dreamed with Dadou of building two more chicken coops and purchasing 60 more chickens before we leave. So...if you are interested each chicken will cost $15 and this includes part of the construction of chicken coops, vitamins, and chicken feed for two months. This girl loves to calculate. That was also my one and only fundraising pitch for this blog post. ;) Gotta always throw them in there. Just so we are clear that’s $900 before I leave to go back to the States. Ok I’m done.

Finally, the meeting with MPCE. It was a good and well informative meeting. There is hope that Amy and I will be able to pull off this registration.

Whew. This is about all I can write. My attention span can’t handle anymore blogging. Just insert airport mail runs, working out at the local hospital, Grey’s Anatomy, making gluten-free brownies, 2 other meetings, planning for our 4th of July party (Brits and Canadians are attending so it has to be good), washing vegetables, and we can call it a successful two days of work!

Jenn’s Number Post

I have been crunching numbers the last couple hours...well let’s be honest I’m always crunching numbers. I think the problem for me is trying to crunch the numbers in a way where people can understand my mind. It’s not easy...I think even Amy has a hard time.

So summary:

Buildings are finished for now. 

My favorite bank tellers only see my twice a month these days.

What do these statements mean? That monthly expenses are a whole lot lower then they used to be. :) 

In March 2013, we spent roughly $35,318.00. Yeah I know, roughly..

This month on the 18th day, our expenses have reached a whopping $2,911.83 (that's nothing!).

We are predicted to end the month with close to $6,000 in expenses in Haiti. 

And $3,600 of the $6,000 will be going into our employees hands in the form of their monthly salaries.

Want to know some cool facts:

Right now we have 703 people who like us on facebook. If each person donated $8.52 that would add up to $6,000.
In other words, our predicted monthly expenses could be covered if every person who likes our Facebook page gave just  $8.50. 

Last night I asked for donations. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I did it. 

We had $1,180 come in. That’s almost 20% of our monthly budget for June.

Right now, we have 23 people who have committed to partner with us with a monthly donation.The number varies but that’s around $2,420-$2,620 coming in each month. 

I say all of these numbers not to intimidate you, but instead to encourage you. You make a difference in our organization when you become a financial partner. 

So maybe this encourages you to be a monthly donor. Great! Maybe soon our number will increase to 50 people committed to partnering with us each and every month.

Maybe, just maybe it encourages you to give a one-time donation...

Donate a sum and then figure out the percentage of the monthly budget you covered for us this month. You might be surprised.

Maybe, maybe, maybe... you decide to cover our $6,000 this month. If this happens, know that you paid for 13 salaries, paid for the stay for 3 moms and babies, covered all food expenses for mom/babies, and allowed us to keep our truck and generator running. Kind of neat when you put it that way, eh?

Well since this is a post directed towards money I figure its my chance to put it all out on the table. Want to know to some future items you can purchase that aren’t included in our monthly budgeted? These are things we can only do/buy when we find people who want to specifically donate to these projects.

Of course you do!

Second Mile is always looking to purchase goats. We want as many as possible. See this post for more about why goats matter. 

Goat: $60/goat

(now doesn't this little guy make you want to purchase one)

In a month and a half we are going to have so much corn we aren’t going to know what to do with it. That’s a lie. We know exactly what to do. We will buy a corn grinder, grind the corn into corn meal, cook with it and sell it.

Corn grinder: $2,528

(this was last month's corn stalks...add another 4 feet to them now)

Luckily, we are right in the middle of rainy season. But, we need to be prepared for when we aren’t in rainy season anymore. We need to start planning to put a well in our back property and set up an irrigation system.

Well+Irrigation system: $2,100

Cows, cows, and more cows. Second Mile uses the milk from the cows to make formula and then turns around and sells the unused milk to milk buyers. ;) 

A cow that produces 4-5 gallons a day: $800-$1000

We would like to purchase up to 4 more.

Second Mile is looking to rent two different properties in the near future. One of the properties will solely be for our goats and cows to graze.

Rental cost: $300/year. Crazy huh?

(they obviously need more grazing land)

The other property is right behind our land. This property is going to be used to focus on cultivating more beans, corn, and other vegetables. This will really help get us closer to the end result of being self-sustainable.

Rental cost: $2,500 for 5 years

(the employees shelling beans from the gardens)

And lastly..maybe you are obsessed about moms and babies, and all you can think about is supporting moms and babies. That's fine too!

Donate $150/month and you will cover a mom’s stay. This includes food, housing, goat, and plants she will take with when she leaves the program.

Okay, I promise I will not write another post like this for at least a month and a half. I hope when you see a post written by Jenn you won’t look away because you assume I’m asking for money. I am only here to keep you informed and to continue to crunch the numbers. I mean someone has to have that job right?

For all your donating needs, visit our online donation site or email me with any questions!

Checking in. Witchana's story:Part 1

Well we haven't written much here lately. The facebook page is straight poppin'... but this space has been pretty quiet. In an effort to make up for lost time we will start (right now!) with a very important story: Witchana's. 

In mid-May we opened our doors to our first two cases. One, a referral from Children of the Promise, a nearby creche and our former stopping grounds, the other a referral from a local hospital. Both girls fit the World Health Organization criteria to be dubbed with the diagnosis “severe acute malnutrition.” Both over a year old, both under 11 lbs, both with extremely devoted mothers that didn’t make enough money to feed them. What we had on our hands mid-May was two mothers who just needed a little extra... To begin, they needed the nourishment that would help their babies survive and then get over the hump. What they got in addition was time and space, encouragement and friendship, and the opportunity to receive training that would optimize their ability to care for and provide for their children. That friends, is a glimpse of “the miracle” that’s found when you go the extra distance...but anyway those busy first days turned to weeks and they, like the entire month of May, came and went without a post. 

Ready

Then we sent home one of those moms and one of those little girls. She did it! She gained enough weight. Mom was ecstatic. She showed tremendous developmental progress with just ten days of solid nutrition and tons of one on one momma play time. Her floppy legs filled out. She started to bear weight. She started babbling, making rasberries, and hold up... this is big... CRAWLING. This little 15 month old who had the energy to smile but couldn’t do much else when she first arrived attempted to crawl. Things are looking up for the future of this little one and her momma knows it! Mom was ready to go home at day 10. We had begun preparing her for her send off from Day 1. She participated in some gardening classes taught by our very own expert employees and learned how to prepare the land. On send-off day we surprised her with some seeds; beans, corn, pepper, carrot, and tomato seeds she could plant outside of the small mud hut she shares with her mother, two sisters, and 5 children. Her husband has been away for many years only coming back occasionally. He hasn’t returned at all this year and by the sound of it, that’s probably in everyone’s best interest. She washed her daughters clothes and blankets the night before she left. When we arrived on the day of her impending “send-off” we found the baby’s nicest dress laid out on the bed and the baby’s vitamins and medications packed away in her suitcase.

 Witchana and mom, Rosena, getting comfortable in their room

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

 day 9

Rosena getting some lessons in agriculture

Witchana's "send-off." 

We congratulated her... Gushed over Witchana and all her progress. And prayed. 

Dadou is totally excited that we're sending home our first mom!

A thermometer, a goat, and a plan

We give each mom a thermometer when they leave. It’s a simple one, the kind that you could stick in a baby’s behind but most people just go the armpit route. Teaching the mother how to use the thermometer and interpret the reading is one of the first things we do. The lesson is especially well received when the child does in fact have a fever or when the body temp is too low. Too low? Quick bundle that baby up. Too high? Bathe her, STAT + cool compress. Check again. Give Tylenol if the hot-bod persists. Watching moms get so comfortable with what might seem to you like a common-knowledge/common-practice type situation is dance-party inducing. Marie-Ange’s mom is now so familiar with and so good at this mom-duty that we don’t even hear about the fever until she’s fully handled it. With a huge smile she comes to us and says, “she had a fever, I bathed her, I checked it again, it’s 97.7.”  Watch out fever, momma Claire's in the house. 

Witchana gets bundled for being too cold. Marie Ange's mom gives her a fever-reducing bath.

For moms like Witchana’s the thermometer is a tool of empowerment and practicality. It means she can know with a measure of certainty when a trip to the hospital is absolutely necessary and when it’s not. Just as we want to convey the importance of seeking medical attention when a child exhibits certain symptoms of illness we also want to help the moms differentiate between emergency and non-emergency situations. For Witchana’s Mom the amount of money she needs for a day trip to the nearest health center is enough to feed her family for days. She can't be doing that trip at the drop of the hat, although she would if it was necessary. The gift of a thermometer is like saying "here Mom, do your thing, do it with confidence.” 

Also from the start, we spoke with her about the logistics of her life on the mountainside in the rural outskirts of Cap Haitien. How much money did she really see in a month’s time? How were they really surviving? We learned about her banana selling endeavors. She buys them before they are ripe and sells them when they have ripened. This turn-around affords her just $12 in a months time. Again, our staff sat down with her and worked out a plan for increasing those profits. It may or may not have involved Jenn’s vow to become her most loyal customer. Not only does Jenn consume bananas like a boss, but we also try to have a steady supply so that the babies can get their recommended dose of potassium each day. As we wait for our own trees to grow we’ve found someone we couldn’t be happier to bless with our business. 

The goat program had also been discussed with her prior to departure. She would receive this pregnant goat as long as she agreed to return one of it’s babies to Second Mile. Our staff, or more specifically Dadou, worked out the details, ensuring she had a place where she could tie up the goat and let it graze. And he explained in detail how to reap the economic benefits of raising, breeding, and selling goats. These moms don’t have savings accounts or health insurance. They don’t have employees benefits. Heck, they don’t even have employment. This pregnant female goat, given as a live animal loan, is meant to be her ticket to a herd of little goats she can sell one by one (only as needed) to get her family through the hard times. Think: drought, the month of September when school fees are due, family funeral expenses, and health emergencies.

what to help? make a donation here and we'll purchase more goats for moms like Witchana's.

 it'll be $60 well-spent. 

A program graduate

Then we got the best news ever. Witchana, who had been scheduled for a follow-up at the hospital on Monday June 10th (yes I know we are a few days late in the sharing), weighed 15.3 lbs at that visit. Remarkable! On her first day at Second Mile Haiti she weighed in at 11.4 lbs. That’s not too good for a 15 month old...not too good at all. After 10 days with us she was up to 14.1 lbs. We were satisfied with this progress but the extra pound gained during the following 2 weeks at home was more than we could have hoped for! She arrived at her appointment with a completely clean bill of health. The hospital staff was over-joyed. We were stunned! 

It’s one thing to gain weight in a setting where weight gain is the day’s one and only objective. It’s another thing to gain weight at home with one's four hungry siblings at hand. 

Something must be working out for Rosena. 
She's doing her mom thing, and she's doing a great job. 

 so proud of the things Witchana learned from mom while at Second Mile. She's cute when she claps!

Since that follow-up visit at the hospital we’ve had not one but two phone calls from the hospital staff. They’re referring patients right and left, hoping for more success stories like Witchana’s. 

Stayed tuned for part 2 of Witchana’s story. We have a feeling that our favorite part of this story will be the part 2, the unveiling of what an empowered mother can do at home.   We have the pics, we have the news. We just don’t want to overwhelm you with too much goodness at one go. 

Thanks for visiting. 

Overdue Goodness

It would take us hours to sit down and re-cap the events of the last few weeks and well frankly spare hours are not something we have in surplus right now. There are a few mom/baby cases that may or may not come through our gates tomorrow or Monday. So we’re focusing all our energy and every spare second into some last minute projects. 

Fridge and Stove: Organizing Supplies: Doors: Chalkboards

Jenn and I are kind of overwhelmed right now to say the least. Each day is filled with so much goodness. Twice I’ve had to climb the stares to the empty staff apartment to just sit down and soak it in. Our dream, the vision for Second Mile, is happening.. And we get to be a part of a million little God stories everyday. How can you not get kind of overwhelmed? 

Last week we had four experts from the States and a ton of guys here on the ground each to do what they do best to get our compound wired. For the first time, we have power! It’s incredible. Yesterday we got a modem and today I am able blog from the upstairs apartment! 

Michael, Don, Dale, Bryan, and Dani:
Thank you for helping Jenn become an electrical novice. Come back and she'll be an expert! 

As I type this we have Katie, a NICU nurse from Albany, New York, hard at work in the clinic. She’s sorting medical supplies that she and her friends have been gathering at home for months. She brought six 50 lb suitcases to us on her last trip to see us last June. Now she gets to physically lift bins of these supplies on to the pharmacy shelves. So many people have played a role in this little processes. My nurse friend Rebecca and her nurse friend Alexis began sorting these and some supplies they’d collected in Texas when they came to Haiti in October. My dad and his friend Ken built the shelves when they came to visit in March. Their trip was funded by a ton of you Tucson people.... The bins were donated by those of you who bought from our WishList online.... You get the idea. You all matter and you're making a difference. 

Katie read our story online. We didn't even know her prior to starting Second Mile. But she stepped out and sent us an email, sharing her heart for Haiti. Now she and her husband are board members and I have been to visit them in their hometown several times. I've been to speak in their church and their friends have supported a number of projects. 

Everyday we see how God constantly uses so many awesome people to make this thing fly...

Anna and the animals: 

Right now in the Education Center, a young lady named Anna is working with two of our newest employees Wesley and Joslin.  

These two guys are trying desperately to learn English as Anna who doesn’t yet speak Creole communicates either in Spanish with the Haitian Agronomist that likes to hang around the property or in gestures (or with writing in the sand). We stole Anna from the DR... I mean we borrowed her from a ministry in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic where she was interning for 3 months. There, she was hosting groups of volunteers at a school called Doulos Discovery School. She picked up a ton of building skills and she’s great with volunteers. Because the school now has a 3 week window with no teams Anna was able to come over the border and help us. Anna’s parents and some of her older siblings used to live in Haiti before Anna was born. She was the only one in her family that hadn’t yet experienced life in Haiti. How did God know that we would need  an energetic intern with building and hosting experience? How did God know that Anna always had a longing to connect with her family when they talked about life in Haiti? How did God time it so that Anna would be free to come to Haiti exactly when we needed the extra help? Probably because he’s God... He knows us so well. :) 

In the last few days, Anna and these guys built both a chicken house and rabbit hutch. Today they are building a second house to hold still more chickens! The chickens are SO exciting for us as we try to make sustainable choices. We will feed the chickens mostly scraps, corn from our fields, and let them feed on the grass. They should lay plenty of eggs which we will use for food. Then, as they get worn out from laying we will use them for their meat. If they lay an excess of eggs we will be able to give women from the village a chance to make a profit by selling their eggs. And with the chickens right here on the land, moms will have an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of raising chickens for commerce. 

Praise the Lord we didn’t have to spend hardly a dime on the first chicken house. We were able to use wire that we had on hand and bamboo that had been used in the process of putting cement roof on several of the buildings. Now that construction is complete we are able to be creative with the left overs. 

In this vein, we took what had been used as brace for cutting wood and turned it into the base for our rabbit hutch. We didn’t have the right size wire... so we did have to buy some special wire...but... we had a wonderful, wonderful soul, Sarah Sailer with us this past week and she was able to reach out to her friends who responded with donations for projects like this one. So thank you, friends of Sarah Sailer, for donating right when we really needed the funds! 

The gardens and Sarah:

I could probably write a whole blog post about what brought my cousin Sarah Sailer to Haiti. But, in the essence of everything that is happening all around me as I type this, I’ll try to make this quick! 

Sarah is my sweet cousin. Although we both grew up in California about 45 minutes from each other, as youngins we only saw each other about 3 times a year, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving..and at the occasional birthday party for our sweet Grandma Kathryn. Fun fact. Sarah and I both share the same middle name, Kathryn, in honor of this wonderful lady. (...Hi Grammy!...) Then Sarah got married and moved to Colorado. This furthered decreased the chances of our meeting, even once yearly. It’s been 8 years since we’ve seen each other. But, we both blog. Me about Haiti and she about her thrifty, good life. She’s passionate about food, about cooking it, growing it, and using it for its health benefits. Jenn and I had been reading her blog. We were intrigued, inspired, and mostly impressed. She and her family (hubby Jeremiah, and four young girls), grow almost all of their food! All this they have achieved through trial and error and a willingness to learn through the trials. They have beautiful gardens on their urban lot and have chickens and rabbits for meat. So, after months of salivating over her homemade salad dressings and coveting her gardening skills, it finally dawned on us... we need to get Sarah to Haiti! 

I asked and within minutes she said yes. 

There’s so much more to this story that I could share, so many reasons why we can see that this was God’s plan all along, but since I think she will be blogging about her time... I’ll shush up and let her share. 

We’ll let the photos do the talking.

We re-used wood from construction to build three stalls for composting. These guys and some of their kids and grandkids are now trusted keepers of the compost bins. 

Planting super nutritious foods that will help improve the nutritious status of everyone at Second Mile.. moms, babies, employees, neighbors...especially the Moringa and Chaya plants.

Covering the raised beds with mulch! (a new idea around here) It keeps the soil moist and adds nutrients! We used free, local products- dried banana leaves and a bi-product of sugar cane. 

Sarah even had time for rooftop gardening. We want to show moms that they can grow food in small spaces. We used some broken blocks to make a planting bed and also to protect some growing plants. The employees and neighbors had a blast working with Sarah. She trained them well! 

New Employees: 

We have three new full-fledged employees that will receive a monthly salary. These guys were still in training when Sarah was here but now they’ve officially made the cut. We couldn’t ask for better workers. So many men and women in Haiti are desperately seeking even part-time work, anything that resembles steady income for their families (our guys each have between 5 and 9 children). We are thankful that things are going well enough with Second Mile that we can offer them these positions.

I don't think it will ever stop being overwhelming... all this goodness. Everything that's happening out at the land, all these buildings and projects.. they were all a part of the vision from the start. It's so crazy to us to see that God really did provide for things to happen exactly as we had envisioned. The only difference was in the how. This didn't all happen exactly how we had envisioned. Sometimes God allowed his plan to trump ours and let me tell you.. His plan was always better. 

He loves us all passionately. He sets these passions and desires in our hearts and then blesses us as we use what He already gave us to serve him. When you break it down like that, it seems kind of simple. Soon, tomorrow maybe, we'll be diving deeper into some my passions: nursing, moms, and babies. Can't wait.