Haiti Grace Village Aug 2009 Oct 2010 Construction

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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Documents

Haiti Grace Village Aug 2009 Oct 2010 Construction