Roatan - June 2010 - update

David just returned from a quick solo trip to move the school project forward on St. Helene. In order to get the school finished before rainy season, we should begin construction in early August, and there is a lot to do between now and then!

David was able to meet with the barge company and line out details about the transport of materials. Critical to the transport is finding a way to the island through their reef system. We think we have found a route, but it needs to be re-confirmed with the shipping company. Based on where we think the barge will land, we will need to make a road to get the supplies to the school site. As it turns out, this will cross private property, so approval is needed from the owners, and they have been hard to find! We are also still in the process of getting legal title of the property donated for the school setup in a community foundation so that noone can come back years from now to claim it for their own.

While David was visiting St. Helene for all the logistical details, he noticed that there had still not been any work done on cleaning up the area. It was reiterated that the school will not happen without the community upholding their end of the bargain, and that we would hold off transporting the supplies for the school until we see significant evidence of their efforts. By the end of his visit, he was informed that the community held a meeting and had devised a plan to start the cleanup effort. We donated $80 for them to buy rakes to help them get started. We’re excited to see how beautiful the north-side of St. Helene will be and how it will match the beauty of the people we have come to know and love!

David made it by the children’s home to say hello to the kids and was able to hand-deliver a birthday package to sweet Helen from her mentors - a group of girls in a girl’s club. They all got together and raised money to buy her a set of pink, monogrammed towels with her name on it. She loved it!

Roatan - June 2010

Last-minute trip to Roatan with the specific purpose of transporting the heavy material supplies to St. Helene while we had the generous offer of the free use of a barge through the end of the month. Unfortunately… or fortunately… (depending on how you look at it!) the barge owner decided it would cost him more to take his barge out of service for 3-4 days to do our job than paying to have another company do it, which is what he has committed to doing. This is a very generous donation and we are very grateful!! Also, this has now freed us up to wait until we are ready to begin the actual construction of the school before we transport the materials. This helps us in two ways. First, the materials will not be sitting on St. Helene for the next month or 2 at risk of being stolen or broken. Secondly, it allows us the opportunity to gather all the supplies we need, both large and small, and transport them together in one trip.

Since we had promised the north-shore community of St. Helene that we would be arriving that week with supplies, they seemed skeptical about us when we showed up empty-handed. We held a community meeting and explained the situation and that the project was actually going very well and is moving ahead nicely. The heavy materials that were to be transported that week do exist and are being stored safely in Roatan until time to build. Meanwhile, everything continues to move forward nicely. Everyone was satisfied with the progress.
We also talked at the meeting about how to clean up the community of trash and put processes in place to keep it ongoing. Their ideas centered around possibly finding a location for a dump site and using the dozer on the island to dig out a pit to use, but there is concern about the wind continuing to blow the trash around. A solution is still pending!


Also discussed was the idea that the donated land for the school be setup in a community foundation so that it can never be taken away in the future. They agreed, and the title work on the property has begun. At the end of the meeting they asked if we would close it in prayer, which we were glad to do.

Plenty of things to do to get the project completed before rainy season, but we are well on our way!