As a result of the June visit the Holy Bible Church, a team of three ladies and ten men came to the school with plans to 1) finish the church construction at Souvenance, 2) install the Living Waters for the World Ozone Water Purification System and to 3) perform a survey of the village surrounding the school to develop an understanding of their sanitation and hygiene habits and needs.
After the shock of purchasing the lumber (3 times the cost and the weight as in the US) for the trusses and purlins, we then had to carry all the lumber and the tin the last mile due to the rains having flooded the road to the church with about a foot of water. We thank God that the Haitian people along the road had pity on us and came out to help carry the lumber and tin.
As soon as the rain stopped, we began constructing the trusses for the 32’ 6” wide X 65’ long church building. It did not take long to find out that the church foundation was 1’ wider on one end than the other. Over the next 3 days we assembled the trusses using what seemed like railroad spikes as nails and wood that seemed as hard as steel. Without power, compressor or nail guns, we had to hand drive the nails the old fashion way. There were a lot of bent nails!
After we had completed all we could do Pastor Mark Harrison delivered a dedication sermon.
While we were building trusses the water team was assembling the many parts of the Ozone Water System. This system was purchased in 2005. It was a complex system and the person that brought it down in 2005 realized that he did not know how to install the system (I will not mention any names Hal!). Living Waters for the World (LLW) has a 4 day school in which they teach how to install their system. Two weeks before we left to come to Haiti I ran into a surveyor from Gardendale. As we were talking about mission trips he mentioned that he had gone through a school with LLW but had never had a project to put one in. The wheels started turning… God’s timing and divine appointments are perfect! I told him that we, in fact, had a LLW system in Haiti that had not been installed, and would he be interested in going. His name was Raymond Shackleford and he was 75 years old and had an accident and a stroke the year before. He told me that if his neurosurgeon would release him to go, he was in. The next day Raymond committed. Raymond and Sam Sanders installed the system you see in the pictures. To our sadness, Raymond passed on in April 2011, seven months after this trip. I found out later that he had been on over a 100 mission trips. Needless to say, Raymond Shackleford is one of our heroes and a loved Christian brother that we will always miss.
We placed a nameplate on the system just so future team members will remember him.
This water system can produce 3000 gallons in a 10 hour day if needed. However, with the main pump and the LLW system running at the same time, the old generator would trip out. We now had the Ozone system installed, but no way to run it. Later in January of 2011, the funds would be provided for a much larger diesel generator that would handle all the loads for the school, church and the mission house.
The ladies were able to complete a survey of the area and we found out that some help in teaching sanitation and hygiene too the school children and the families is desperately needed.