A "Brighter" Future for Bayonnais

The following is a posting from the website of http://www.dissigno.com/
under the heading of Latest News:

On September 15th 2007 dissigno and Eco Systems will travel to Haiti for The Pedal Power Project, which will bring distributed electricity to Bayonnais, Haiti. Currently in Bayonnais, nearly 80,000 Haitians live without access to any form of electricity. The Pedal Power Project will launch a pilot using Eco System’s pedal technology for 50 families. Electricity is created through pedaling and stored in a 12-volt deep cycle battery. This in turn charges smaller 6-volt batteries called home units. The home units are then rented to members of the community with low wattage LED lights. In addition, the electricity will power electric drills and saws, charge cell phone, and power cold storage for food and medicine. The system has several advantages. The technology is less expensive, requires no fuel supply chain, and is safer and healthier. There is no fire, smoke inhalation, or burning risk. In addition, it reduces the need for wood fires, further limiting deforestation. This innovative service can scale and replicate easily with the addition of battery/LED units and generators.
dissigno and the local school OFCB will partner to operate as a “for profit” enterprise to maintain sustainability. It will provide distributed electrical power & lighting for community members, create employment opportunities, and stimulate ancillary enterprises. dissigno will install the technology, provide operation training, and enterprise support. It will also assist other community members in creating ancillary enterprises surrounding the initial product. Enterprise opportunity is the key towards poverty eradication.

I will now take an excerpt from the blog page of Peter Daniel who is here in Haiti and living at OFCB. He writes as follows:

Given that there is little to no electricity in Bayonnais outside of the small 2 acre compound where I live, this microenterprise project offers not only evening light to those dependent upon the sun, but it also creates jobs and encourages growth. An environmentally friendly substitute for kerosene lamps, they do not involve an increase in price to make the switch. (A friend of mine relayed an encounter with a Haitian student on a previous mission trip: the student was falling behind in school because his family needed him to help farm from the end of school until dusk; he asked my friend for a flashlight, saying that he would be okay if he could only study at night…or consider the increase in productivity of a seamstress who could work a while during the evening after returning from the marketplace.)

Peter Daniel is here to teach English and Art, among other subjects, and will be my American neighbor for the next eight months. He has a blogpage and will share his own insights as to what life is like here. He also has a larger vocabulary than I do. If you would like to keep up with his perspectives, check out his blog at:

http://peterbdaniel.wordpress.com/

As an added bonus to his page there is an Art link called Flickr Photos that is wonderful to look at. I spent quite a while viewing the amazing photography.

As for the Ecolights, Kent Shell brought one to our Community meeting and gave a demonstration. There was an immediate excited response and many lined up to add their name to a list for a future distribution. It will be a blessing to many to be able to have a means for doing tasks after dark and to have a way to power other equipment at a reasonable cost.

I have one for my own use and have already enjoyed the benefits of using it. One major blessing is being able to read after the generator has been turned off. The only drawback is contending with the bugs that are attracted to the light. It's annoying, but still a blessing. :)

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

We had a very long but productive week with our visitors, Kent Shell and Kay Dano. We also had a very special guest, Nadine Carcon, who volunteered her services to be our Creole interpreter. She is a native of Haiti, but has lived in Florida for the past 20 years. We were so blessed to have her with us. We spent each afternoon working on the different entities of our ministry (Church, School and Orphanage) to define all the positions, the job descriptions, and a workable budget. It was very helpful to have a clear idea of what we need and where we are heading. I am so thankful to Kent and Kay for being here and for their heartfelt support.

I am very happy to say that our Community meeting went well. We had a good turn out of parents, teachers and others who traveled a long distance to come and learn about our ministry. It was our hope to put an end to all the harsh rumors that were circulating because of the former cook but to our delight, the community was more concerned about what the ministry was doing and offering their support. It was great to know that they are just as excited about the future of Bayonnais as we are. I could actually feel a difference in the air after the meeting. We can now get back to our purpose and focus on what we need to do to help this community and building a strong ministry.

The Job Positions for Modene Murphy Ministries are outlined below:
Valentin Silvestre: Pastor of Church

Saint-Victor Sejour: Principal of Middle and High School

Enoch Saint-Louis: Principal of Primary School

Lucner Saint-Louis: Administrator of School

Vicki Jean Pierce: Director/Administrator/House Mother of Orphanage

They will one day have to find one to three people to fill my position when I leave the ministry in 2009.

We are all excited about the days to come and what we hope to accomplish in the next year. Our first priority is to finish the construction of the addition to the school building and to build more benches for the children. Everyday since the last week of August, we have had students enrolling to be a part of our school. Our classrooms are more than full and we need to expand our building. We currently have 300+ students for our Primary School and 200+ students for our Middle and High School. There are only 50 benches (one bench will seat about 6 to 8 kids, depending on size) and the older kids have to stand or sit on the ground.We are exploring different ways to raise the funds to get the materials for the benches, construct the walls for the new classroom, as well as build other classrooms and have a school office. Our longterm vision is to one day have a library, a computer lab, a shaded playground area with playground equipment and a place for the kids to play soccer.

Here are just a few pictures of the construction of the new classroom and the progress we have made so far.

Construction began by shoveling and hoeing into the side of the hill to remove the brush, rocks and dirt to make a place for our new addition. The neighbors along with our staff spent two days for preparation. The posts were set and here they are attaching the beams for the roof.

With the tin roof in place, the addition is near ready to serve as a classroom. Just a few last minute details such as clean up and mounting a chalkboard. The walls will have to wait.

One of our teachers, Gethro Isaac, with students in the new addition. They were on a break for morning recess. He teaches 5th grade in the mornings and Spanish for the Middle School in the afternoons.

It was necessary to attach two sheets to the west side of the building to keep out the hot sun and cool down the classroom. The afternoons are the worst.

Above and Below: The children gather wherever they can find shade. Others prefer to play soccer. It is their only active sport.

A happy group of elementary girls. The girl in the front center is one I had introduced in an earlier blog as my friend, Semamoon. It turns out her name is Mamode Chery but is called Ti Mamose, which means Little Mamose. Before leaving for Texas, I decided to be her sponsor and she is now enrolled in our school. She is very happy to be here. What a beautiful girl and a great smile!

There is so much to do with all three ministries and I am so glad that I can participate in helping it grow. It is a great challenge as well as an exciting adventure for us all.

Just an Update....

As you know, we were expecting visitors from the States so it has already been a busy week. Our guests were supposed to arrive late Saturday afternoon but did not actually get here until 11:00 p.m. due to delays at the airport in Miami and in Port Au Prince. They were exhausted to say the least.
We had meetings nearly everyday with the exception of today because Kent fell ill with something and was running a high fever. He is back on track and we will resume our meetings again tomorrow.
There has been a lot of drama going on around here due to the firing of the cook but we hope to put an end to that tomorrow evening when we will hold a special open meeting with the community. I will fill you in on that later.
As for now, all is well. Still very happy with my Internet access. Would love to hear some news from anyone who is out there and has some time on their hands. My email is puny these days.
I was going to try out a new feature that Blogger has added to their site and attach a video clip but after three tries, I cannot seem to get it going. I am open to suggestions from anyone who knows how to do this. My video is on QuickTime Player. Maybe the file is too large? It's about five minutes long. I'll keep working on it. Until then, enjoy the day and check back when you can. Love and Blessings to all.
P.S.
I have just celebrated five months here in Haiti. Wow!

Bridge Under Troubled Waters

It has been going on for a few months now. Rain every single day and in the past couple of weeks we have endured some serious flooding. The community around the bridge was hit the hardest. Many lost their crops, their livestock, their businesses at the market, and for some, their homes. The roads were a muddy mucky mess and the landscape in and around the river has been altered.

When I was finally able to travel to OFCB after my return from Texas, I was very sad to see all the hard work that was destroyed by the floods. I took some photos and will post some before and after shots so you can see the differences. I could not believe how much was lost. I know that efforts are being made to try and raise the funds to build again but this community could use much more help. The Engineers Without Borders are planning another visit soon but Bayonnais will still need to have more resources in order to complete the work and restore what was lost.

In the photo above, there are a number of neatly stacked rocks that lined up all the way to the bridge. They were intended to complete the ramps on both sides of the bridge and extend out a little further. Down below you can see that all the stacks have been swept out into the river and most of the rocks were pushed over to the other side.

Above: The beginning stages of the ramp on the OFCB side of the bridge.

Below: The newly planted rice field to the left and the entire ramp was completely under water. Not quite finished and already covered in mud.

Above: Some of you may remember this shot from an earlier posting. A favored spot for washing and bathing.
Below: This is how it looks today. The land just disappeared!
If you or anyone you know would like to get involved, this would be a great reason for a great cause. The river and the road are the main lifelines for this small community. Please feel free to email me at VJPierce@gmail.com and I will put you in touch with the right people. Together we can restore some lives. God Bless you for caring. My love to all!

The Harsh Realities of Haiti

Because I am living here and dealing with people on a close personal level, I sometimes feel that I have to protect them by not revealing all that goes on here. On the other hand, I feel that it is important to tell the truth and to expose the realities of a different culture. One of the harsh realities that I contend with on a daily basis is the fact that in Haiti, common sense is not so common.
Upon my return, one of the first things I had to contend with was the firing of our cook who had been here since opening day in March. We had confronted her with many issues since the beginning, concerning the timeliness of her meal preparations, with missing kitchen supplies, food supplies, and her lack of participation in taking care of the children. On the day of the last straw, she took it upon herself to prepare a meal that contained sugar, which was saturated with gasoline. Somehow, while being transported from the market, gasoline had spilled onto the large bag of sugar. She was aware of this problem but chose to prepare a soy porridge type of cereal for dinner anyway. My first clue that something was amiss was the fact that she was serving dinner at 5:00 p.m. instead of the usual 6:00 p.m.. I questioned that fact and she pretended she was unaware of the time. Nevermind the clock on the kitchen wall and the watch on her wrist.
The kids had eaten about half their meal before I was informed of the situation. They were all talking at once, refusing to eat their food, saying it was bad. I sampled a few of their dishes trying to understand the problem. The food had a sharp bitter taste at first but then the sweetness and the cinnamon spice made it seem edible. Finally, the oldest child explained to me (with a mix of Creole and English) what the problem was. I looked at the cook and she smiled a wicked smile. She then led me to the supply room to have me smell the sugar. It was covered in gas. Even the bag was stained. I asked her why she cooked with it and she shrugged her shoulders. I was so furious with her! I immediately stopped the children from eating and had them throw their food away. I had the men burn the 50-pound bag of sugar in the back yard. It looked like a forest fire! The flames shot up about 20 feet in the air. We all had headaches and stomachaches for a couple of days. Her explanation was that she thought the gas would burn off during cooking. Since it was a soy porridge type of meal, there was nothing to “burn off”. There was no question that she needed to be fired. She has not been missed.
We had another woman step in the next day to take over the cooking duties. She worked for a week and then discovered she was pregnant. With another toddler on her hands, she thought it was best to stay home. Our Watchman, Julius, stepped up and prepared breakfast for everyone that first morning, which was great, by the way. After that, he and his wife have been sharing the responsibilities of meal preparations three times a day. This has been going on for over a week now. They are both exhausted, having three girls of their own, but have not complained or given up. We are still looking for another cook.
The next tragedy occurred a few days later when my firm rule of “No children will be transported by motorcycle taxi” was ignored for the third time at the expense of our dear Angeline. She had been very ill for several days and they finally decided to take her to the doctor. Julius was given the responsibility of taking her but my rule had not been shared with him. It is common (again, no sense) practice to transport children by motorcycle because it is more readily available than waiting for a “Tap-Tap”, a vehicle that serves as a taxi. My position was that the safety of the children is more important than convenience.
As an adult, I found it difficult to ride safely and hold on during the rough road conditions. On more than one occasion, my foot slipped and hit the spokes of the tire after hitting a hard bump in the road. That is what happened to Angeline on September 4th, the first day of school. It was fortunate that she was wearing tennis shoes because her fate would have been worse. Her little foot became wedged between the tire spokes and the bar coming down from the seat. It split her tennis shoe in half on both sides of her foot, shaved off the rubber of her sole near the ball of her foot, and crushed her heel. It looked like shredded wheat. Had she been wearing sandals, she would have lost her heel as well as a few toes. My heart broke for her. Julius was grief-stricken. Angeline was in shock for several days. The doctor was uncertain as to whether her foot was broken. (They did not take any x-rays). I am happy to say that she is back to her usual bouncy self and her heel is starting to look a little better. I have been cleaning and dressing it everyday. There is still some concern about tissue damage but we have to wait a few more days. As for her sickness, she was diagnosed with Malaria. After completing her medications, she is doing fine and is back in school. The No Motorcycle Rule is now clearly understood.
There are plenty of petty instances that occur on a daily basis, but the more serious issues leave me shaking my head. I hope I have not upset anyone by sharing these harsh realities but it is the way it is. I thank God that these senseless incidents turned out as well as they did.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is: We just got our satellite internet system hooked up this morning. The bad news is: It is only set up for one user and the system is in my room. The good news is: We will later have a wireless internet which will allow a number of users. The bad news is: We don't know how long it will take for this to happen. The good news is: The system operates with the gasoline-powered generator. The bad news is: It only holds three gallons and one gallon will only last two hours. The good news is: I can stay at home and do my work on the computer instead of having to go to the other facility three times a week. The bad news is: I won't get my weekly aerobics with the long walks and bicycle rides three times a week. The good news is: We have some American visitors coming in this Saturday. The bad news is: All but one is leaving a few days later. The good news is: Peter Daniel from North Carolina will be staying here in Haiti (at OFCB) for eight months (with a break during the holidays). The bad news is: He is leaving in eight months. The good news is: We are very blessed today! The bad news is: I cannot think of a bad thing to say.:-)

Here are some pictures for you to view and enjoy. Hopefully I will be posting more often; depending on the gasoline supply. Stay tuned and keep us in your prayers.

Before leaving for Texas, we celebrated Fenelson's 12th and Alicia's 11th Birthdays. The cake turned out great and it was truly a party for our taste buds as well. Chocolate cake with Chocolate Fudge Icing. Yuuuummm!
The twins, Cardina and Cadjina, were seriously digging in.
(The spelling of their names have once again been changed by their mother. We are sticking with what is on the Birth Certificates)The kids insisted on playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey again. Lucner makes his attempt.
This is where the tails ended up. Ismalene was our "closest" winner.

One of the good things I managed to accomplish while in Houston was to meet up with my friend, Art Chandler, in order to pick up a very special package. His sister, Pat Chandler, had purchased a totebag full of wonderful surprises for all the kids. They thought it was Christmas! I appreciate all the time and trouble she went through to bring such joy to the kids. Thank you again, Pat. The kids are still enjoying their gifts everyday.

The timing was perfect for their first set of real pajamas. The temperature had dropped that night and the kids were so cozy in their new P.J.s.
Ismalene and Alicia show off their new Barbie-type dolls while Aquel beams over his new set of marbles.
The boys raced all over the porch and the house with their new little race cars. There were three to a set: red, blue and yellow. The older boys preferred the blue ones.
The girls could not wait to start braiding the long hair on their new dolls.
The results of their artistic hairstyling skills. (Note to Pat: the boys constructed a Tap-tap out of the ZomeTool kit that you sent)

In addition to all that is shown, the boys received bright colored T-Shirts, the older girls also got some pajamas (which they loved so much they wanted to wear them to church!), the kids loved their Tootsie Rolls and M&M's, and we still have lots of DVD's to view. Now that school is in session, it is reserved for the weekends. Many thanks to Pat from the kids.

The first day of school. They are all smiling proudly in their new uniforms. (Except for Angeline. This is the day of her doctor visit).

They were so happy and eager to go to their first class.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Will have more again soon. Love to all!

Back in Haiti...barely!

Okay, I have finished my posting. If you read it yesterday, you need to read it again. It has been edited and there's more to this story, of course. Enjoy and thank you for your interest. I will have more pictures very soon. My love to all!

Hello my dear family and friends! This is my first day out to the Internet since I arrived home on the 29Th of August. We have had heavy rains and serious flooding for the past week which made the roads impassable on some days. In addition to that, I had a relapse with whatever bug I was fighting while on my two week vacation.
The Internet has been on and off again all day and I had over 50 emails to read and some to respond to immediately. I will do my best to post as much as I can today and then just add to it the next time I get a chance to do so.
My two week visit was not what I had hoped for but it ended on a good note. Just getting out of Haiti was a challenge in itself. The roads are really, really bad. I just cannot stress this enough. Actionnel had his bus driver, Moyiz, and his cousin, Dimilsaint, drive me to Port Au Prince. We left at 8:30 on Tuesday morning (the 14th) because they wanted to make a day trip out of it and be back in Bayonnais by nightfall. What that meant was I had to wait five hours at the airport for my plane. Make that six, because it was delayed for another hour. I was surrounded by a lot of very sick people. I tried to keep to myself as much as possible but finally started up a conversation with a young man, Jean Baptiste Victor, who gave me a Haiti Worship music CD while we were standing in line to check in. He was very good company and a real sweetheart. A native of Haiti that grew up in the states. He returned to Haiti for six years and was now on his way to Chicago to make another album. The CD is very good, by the way.
In the meantime, I had placed my camera battery in the charger and plugged it into the wall behind the water cooler. I kept checking on it constantly but it was still showing red instead of green. Eventually, I forgot about it and ended up leaving it in the wall when they called us to board the plane. I also managed to lose my UT Longhorns windbreaker and from what I can recall, it never made it through the scanner. I was really upset about the loss of both. No pictures and freezing on the plane with all the sick people.
I arrived in Miami and could not locate the hotel that I had booked. It was not on the list where the phones are. Had to call Houston and finally got the right place. "Just minutes away from the airport" meant a literal forty-five minutes away. No free shuttles for this one. Had to pay the Super Shuttle $26.00 to get there and a taxi $50.00 to get back a few hours later. Had I not been alone, I would have slept on a bench at the airport.
Made it to Houston Wednesday morning (the 15th) without much incident except that the car I had "reserved" and had a confirmation for was not available. (That's why it is so important to make your reservations! Ha!) I ended up with a P.T. Cruiser of which I could barely see over the dashboard while driving. I am only 5'3" and the seats were not adjustable. Before leaving I was asked to inspect the car to make sure I would not be charged for any damage that already existed. None that I could see. Next was to adjust the mirrors and find the important things like the ignition, gears, lights, wipers, radio and A/C. All was fine. I then drove to the check out booth to hand in my sheet and discovered right then that I could not locate any switch, lever or handle, on or near the door, to roll down the window! The lady was steadily tapping on my window and motioning for me to roll it down. It was driving me crazy! Finally, I just opened the door and took care of the paper work. It was a while later when I finally found the four switches in the middle of the dashboard; above the radio. Very funny, Chrysler! That was the least of my worries. It was the actual driving that made me nervous. I had no idea that four months of barely moving would cause such stress to get on the Beltway and drive 70 without slowing down. People were still whizzing past me driving much faster. By the time I made it around to where I needed to be, I finally felt comfortable enough behind the wheel. (With the exception of sitting on the edge of the seat).
I arrived at the home of my friends, Kent and Selia Shell, and met for the first time, Kay Dano, who was there waiting for me. Kay and her brother, Kent, are the ones who have invested their time, energy, and money into this ministry and are my sponsors for Haiti. Modene Murphy Ministries was named after Selia's mother who was also an orphan. Selia is one of my dearest friends and she and I have known each other since both of our sons were in diapers. I am very grateful to them for this wonderful blessing.
The next day, Thursday, I went to my doctor's appointment, with more sick people, got my two Hepatitis shots and had a check-up. The next day is when I became ill. It stayed that way for the rest of my time there. Fever, chills, sweating, sleeping, barely eating, coughing, and more chills. I missed out on seeing friends and family, I missed an Astros ballgame, I missed a few dinners and most disappointing of all was missing two Sunday services with my other mother and the second one would have included my son. I even went back to the doctor who thought I was over the worst of it. He said my blood work was fine and the chest and lungs sounded good. Not according to me.
I was not thrilled about having to go to the airport the Saturday before leaving to pick up my son but got over it pretty fast. He had grown so much and put on some bulk while working with the Oakland Raiders that I did not even recognize him. In fact, I passed him up and kept on looking until he called me on the cell. On the other hand, I had lost about 15 pounds myself and my hair was longer, so he did not recognize me either. We were both surprised. It was fantastic to see him again.
The next day was Sunday and I was still feeling pretty puny. Dylan and his father went to retrieve his truck and run some errands while I rested. I had two people suggest that my problem may be a sinus infection due to allergies. I thought, What could it hurt?, and took some Benadryl. I was amazed at how much better I felt. So much so, that I was able to travel to Austin the next day and help my son and his father move Dylan's things into his third floor apartment. I stayed in the kitchen and set up house while he and his father, Jimmie, his roommate, Doug, and their friend, Nick, unloaded both trucks. Then Dylan and his Dad had to go get all the things he had in storage. By the time they got back, the kitchen was complete and I somehow had the energy to go up and down three flights of stairs a number of times to get the rest of the stuff. Jimmie had the hardest time of all because his back was already hurting before we started. But, he was a real trooper up until the last box was carried in. The complex was still under construction so we had to deal with a lot of workmen as well. Nice place. I think he will do fine there. Our visit was much too short!!!
Made it back to Houston late evening and still had to pack everything. Left for Miami the next day after meeting with Kent, running errands and returning the car. Had a surprise visit from my friend, David, about an hour before I had to board. He works near the airport. We sat in the coffee shop, catching up on each other's news, and the time flew by. It was a great ending to my vacation.
Got to Miami and then to the hotel.(This one was only 1 mile away-Ha!) They cheerfully placed me in a double suite with a King-Sized bed and two bathrooms for the same price as what I had reserved. How nice of them. Yeah, right! It wasn't until I settled into bed around 11:00 that I heard, and also felt, the entire room vibrate with the booming sound of a bass coming from a jukebox. They had put me right above their nightclub! I was much too exhausted to deal with it so I pretended I liked the song and went to sleep. Somewhere around 1:45 a.m. the fire alarms sounded off in the entire building. I jumped up and checked the door. Did not see anything. Heard someone else open a door and waited. Nothing. Meanwhile, alarms are still blaring and lights are flashing. I finally opened the door and looked out. Nothing. The door to my right flew open and a half asleep young woman came running out and slammed into the wall just in front of her. She turned towards me, half-dazed, and said, "What's going on?" I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, trying to suppress a burst of laughter. Right then, the alarms stopped. The young woman returned to her room. I waited two more minutes and listened. Nothing. Went back in, cracked up laughing, and then crawled back into bed. Five-thirty came too soon.
Back to the Miami airport, hauling the luggage across the universe. That airport is huge and not really convenient. After breakfast I made my way over to the boarding gate where I saw a different time and flight number listed. I went to inquire. The young woman behind the counter gave me a very annoyed look and said in her lovely Latin accent, "I already say it on the speeker. Ju weren't lissenin'. The plane weel be late. Please, seet down over dare, and wait." All the while she was waving her arm back and forth across the desk as if she were showing a display on the Price is Right. I think people are so amusing.
Finally got to Haiti an hour later as promised and still had a long way to go. Hot, hot, hot, everywhere I went. The A/C was not functioning while we waited to get through immigration and it was pretty rough. Lots of sweaty people and no air. One little boy nearly passed out until I convinced his mother to take off his long sleeved jacket. Made it through all the rest just fine and got outside to find Moyiz, the driver and Vital, Actionnel's little brother. Made it to the truck, which is a challenge in itself, because the men who "try to help" just to make a buck, literally take your cart or luggage away from you and then want you to pay them for "helping" when you get it back. It's a joke, but not to them.
We had three other people riding with us back to Bayonnais. Four in the back, me on the passenger side, and Moyiz driving. Our trip was the usual rough four hour ride without any real concerns. As we got closer, we could see that a serious storm was brewing over the mountains. We were racing against time to get there before the skies opened up. It was very dark and eerie looking. We finally turned off the main road to head to Bayonnais. What I am about to tell you is the reason why I added the word "barely" to my title. This road is supposed to be a shortcut rather than driving into Gonaives and turning from there. I hope to never again be on this road.
A little less than halfway to our destination we came to the part of the road that always makes me nervous. It is a very steep uphill climb that makes a sharp turn to the right. There is a cliff to the left and rocky mountain on the curve to the right. At first sight we could see that the previous rains had done some extensive damage to the road. Moyiz came to a stop to get prepared and assess his situation. There was about three feet of earth on the left of the road near the edge. Just inside of that was a very deep crevice that ran the length of the curve where the water had washed away the soil. Next to that, was a patch of earth about two to three feet wide. Next to that, was another very deep crevice and near the curve, nothing but loose rock that was piled too high to drive on. The locals had made attempts to fix the road by adding lots of small boulders along the way but they were very slick with jagged edges. So, here we went, trying to get up this incline. There was a lot of banging and bumping and wheels spinning and truck shifting as we inched our way up the first few feet. Moyiz decided that it was best to take the outer edge and try to ride the middle patch. It was going fine until the truck started sliding downward into the left crevice but he continued to press on. We got a little further and starting tilting even more. He tried moving the wheels back and forth to get some traction, still moving forward, and then Wham! The center patch collapsed and we sunk down in a huge hole. The engine died and everything was silent. I said, "God, no, please don't let us be stuck here. Help us, please!" Moyiz took a deep breath and then started the engine again. He turned the wheels sharply to the right and tried to go forward. Didn't move. He tried reverse. Nope. He turned the wheels sharply to the left and tried reverse. It started moving. The back wheels caught and we were slowly coming out of the hole. It immediately occurred to me that our rear end was headed towards the cliff. Just as the truck leveled off enough, Moyiz hit the brakes. I took a quick look in the side view mirror and could not see the road behind us. Just open air. My heart started to pound. So much so that I think it caused the truck to start slipping backwards. I leaned forward as far as I could and said, "Oh, Jesus" over and over again. In one quick motion, before slipping any further, Moyiz shifted into first and floored it while turning the wheels to the right. Rocks started flying and the wheels were spinning out. We were now moving ahead only we were riding practically sideways, leaning to the left, on the rocky side of the road. We were being tossed around like rag dolls, hanging on to whatever we could. A lot of bumps, jerks and bounces and a tremendous volume of noise. We made it past the curve, which seemed like hours, and finally leveled off around the bend. Moyiz brought the truck to a stop and we all started breathing again. I praised God out loud and I thanked Moyiz for keeping us safe by patting him several times on the shoulder. I felt like crying tears of relief. Moyiz took out his handkerchief and wiped his face, (I think he had a tear or two), his brow, his arms, and his hands. He was soaking wet. I will always be grateful for him.
Finally made it home another hour later and saw my beautiful kids. They were so excited and looked so different. Most looked like they had lost weight and did not look very healthy but they were smiling and laughing just the same. We had just enough time to get the bags out of the car and into the house before the rains came pouring down. I was so happy to be home. Safe and at home. I thank God for hearing our prayers. Amen!