Post on 10-Apr-2018
8/8/2019 Haiti Grace Village Aug 2009 Oct 2010 Construction
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With help from you and only by the grace ofGod, in 2008 we help funded 16 acres of landin Titanyen to build Grace Village, to be a city ofpeace and a place where God's loving gracecan touch the people of Titanyen.
Titanyen, in Haiti means "Less than nothing"Please pray for those of Titanyen, Haiti.
In Titanyen, we are establishing a Christiangroup that places God in the center of the
ministry to the elderly, the children andhandicapped, by providing the basic necessitiesof life in a spirit of Christian love. Yourcontributions no matter the size will help make allministries in Grace Village possible.
Grace Village ground was broke in August 2009with a celebration of community leaders givingthanks and glory to God.
We were pleased with the progress of Grace Village throughout 2009 but as you know,things move much slower in Haiti then they do in the USA.
Many organizations will start a project likeours by bringing in work crews from outsidethe community. While this can sometimes bemore efficient, we believe it is not always theright thing to do. In a country where theunemployment rate is greater than 70%, andTitanyen, the community where we arebuilding Grace Village being one of thepoorer communities, we felt it was importantto hire as many qualified people from withinthe community as possible.
We made the commitment, as we did whenwe built Reiser Heights, to bring 20% or fewerworkers from outside the community to guideand manage the project and hire 80% orgreater of the skilled and unskilled workersfrom Titanyen. When it came to unskilledlabor, we chose to bring them on in shifts,hiring crews for a few weeks at a time andthen hiring different crews for the next fewweeks, thus sharing the work with a greater
amount of people. By supporting localworkers, we are providing the foundation forgood community relations while earning therespect from the surrounding community.
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The footings and foundation for our the twodormitories and feeding center tooksubstantially longer than planned because ofthe amount of rock that we ran into. Instead oftaking three weeks to dig by hand, it actually took 8 weeks.
By December 2009, all the foundations hadbeen built and the walls were starting to go upon the two dormitories.
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70% of the walls for Grace Village were completedwhen the earthquake hit January 12, 2010. It wasdevastating. We spent 3 long days and nights trying tocommunicate with our orphanages and schools to noavail.
By January 16th, Jeff Gacek director of Haiti Projectswas back in Haiti, relieved to find the children OK, buta gasp at the damage we found. Jeff spent the next 3weeks helping other missions recover injured peopleand ferry them to make shift hospitals and clinics. The
scars etched in our minds dim in comparison to thescars and injuries he witnessed but are grateful thatGod would use him during this time.
When the dust settled, we inspected our buildings atGrace Village, here too the quake affected the newly built walls for the dormitories.
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Immediately after the earthquake, numerous
obstacles became evident that would prevent orslow our efforts to cleanup the damage and start
to rebuild. Fuel was in short supply and was
actually unavailable for the first two weeks after
the earthquake. Roads were often broken or
impassible. Most of the stores and businesses
were closed because of lack of electricity and
telephone communication was almost non-existent. Restarting construction came to a
grinding halt. By March, things started again to
move. Fuel was available, roads had been at
least partially cleared and temporary cell towers
had been put in place. The downside was
construction materials were in
short supply or out of stock.
International contractors
had been brought in to clear sites
and to start building temporary schools
and government buildings. Much of the
available construction materials were being
used just to shore up damaged buildings. The
materials we needed, concrete and steel were
hard to find. To add to the problem, the port
was damaged preventing new materials from
being imported. By late April we were able to
get concrete and by June were able to get some
of the steel needed to build the trusses for the
roof. Work continue though the summer and
early fall to try to make up for lost time while
not compromising quality and to bring the
project closer to completion. The concrete
walls are complete, the trusses are built and up
on all three buildings and the roof sheathing is
installed on the two dormitories. The sheathing
for the feeding center will be completed within
the next week. All plumbing including cistern
and septic tanks are roughed in and capped.
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We are also excited for the street
children and elderly and the
impact that the new Feeding
Center will have on their lives.
Bring ing food to those that often go
hungry will provide us with the opportunity to
share God's loving touch to those in need.
As we look to building completion, we are now
pressed to provide site cleanup, playground
areas and a security wall around the property.
We have been blessed with support of many whohelped the children and responded to our capital
building fund. Many wanted to provide the funds
to build the building that will become home to
these children. The dormitories and the feeding
center are fully funded. THANK YOU SO
MUCH!!!
The challenge now however is security and site
development. All of these are desperately
needed and are unfunded at the present time.
With the completion of the building being
only a few months away, we are seeking
urgently needed donations to help make
Grace Village a reality for these children.
Having a clean, safe and secure site is
critically important to providing a quality
environment for these children. The
security wall must be build to protect those
who come for food as well as those who
live there. The costs needed for completion
are as follows: Site Cleanup, Grading and
Leveling $18,300 Playground and Soccer
Field Development $22,400 Security Wall
and Steel Gates $87,900
We are grateful for your support and
thankful that God put you in our path. We
know that he has blessed all of us and that
it is our job to let some of those blessings
flow through to others in need.
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