I left my house on Thursday May 22, taking the small 19-seat plane in Cap-Haitian for Port de Paix. From there, a Haitian pastor was waiting for me with his pick-up truck. We drove for about two hours to get to Jean Rabel.

Jean Rabel is a small town located in a desert-like area. It is surrounded by mountains at almost every side. It is dry and does not receive much rain. I saw small gardens of corn, but one cannot expect much from almost dried corn stalks. The region does not have many rivers that could help the agriculture. When one finds a sign of water or a small river, you find nice- looking banana trees around it. Small trees that grow in this desert soil are quickly cut to make charcoal. I saw many bags along the way.

Jean Rabel has small shops where most of the people from mountains get their rice, beans, sugar, salt, etc. It has a small open market where those who have can sell and those in need can buy. To reach the mountain, one has to use his feet or rent a motorcycle that can take him/her to certain distances. Motorcycle transport is now a booming business in Haiti.  You can also take a small donkey.

Because of the respect and the dignity of the people, I did not ask questions if they were really eating dirt. My host stressed the fact that the majority of the people are really starving. And this is a fact we all know well. A look at the environment can easily tell that it is impossible to produce all year around food in this hard and dry soil.

With my host, we spent the rest of the afternoon studying how to go about sharing the food to those in need.

After considering other ideas that we thought would pose risks, we decided to call the leaders in those mountains to come join us in the Jean Rabel and talk things over with them. Each leader is to come with one person who will be the witness. This option was safe and more realistic in this context and very practical.

Using his cell phone, in almost 30 minutes, the pastor called the leaders without telling them why we were meeting. Since the pastor acts like their bishop, they all came the next day and we met and talked things over. Even with those leaders present, the option of buying food was not possible because of the logistic complications. We shared the money to those leaders, trusting them to share with the poor people in their different communities.

I was encouraged when I learned that in some churches and their sub-churches (stations), they already have programs to feed the poor and assist them with the small amount of money they collect each Sunday. In some other churches and sub-churches, they have feeding program for children. Another encouragement came when I learned that they share to the poor regardless of their faith or status. In a country where there is sharp division between voudou, catholic and protestant, to share to all was a major step to me.

The pastor of Jean Rabel will get the report of how exactly each community spent their share.

I plan to go back in July because the month of June is taken by visitors coming from Europe. Meanwhile I will be in touch with those people I have come to love and to appreciate their openness.

On behalf of the mountain people and of our own family, we say thank you for your support and your love to our ministry in our dear Haiti, Haiti, Cheri.

May God of love continue to bless all of you.

Yours truly,

Nzunga Mabudiga

Limbe May 25, 2008