Its been a good few months! Here are some snapshots of our time here.

We have SO enjoyed checking in on our Community Directors with Justice Water. All of them have hit the ground running with various trainings and projects around the island. It’s a lot to keep up with! We visited a few places this spring- the 5th section in Haiti being an inspiring one! Willes and his trained staff (all from this area) have been building a catchment tank and have been training the communities around them to do the same.

      

With the spring months, in came more of the SUN and HEAT! Glad to have time at the beach to cool off!

 

My birthday was awesome this year! Our team and my hubby are the best. Thanks if you were one of the wonderful people who wrote a message in this neat book I will cherish forever! We were able to explore a different part of the DR for a weekend and I think Samana might just be the place they take screen saver pictures! It was beautiful and so fun to take a little break to explore this island.

While exploring, we drove into a neat little village and were able to hear more about their drinking water situation and teach them how they can make some small improvements. The funniest/weirdest thing? Seeing this communities’ iguana sanctuary- not kidding. So weird!

Things with Konbit have been taking off, as well! We were able to have Taylor Peters, an awesome film maker, visit to make films for both Justice Water Hispaniola and Konbit Haiti. This winter/spring, we also planted some amazing grow beds and have started creating more of an office space for farming and children’s ministries that are happening there!

     

Easter was a fun time with our little Dominican team. Lots of our group was gone, but we were able to celebrate together and dye Easter eggs with natural ingredients! ;)

Ryan had the unique opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania where Rony, a Justice Water Haiti innovator and our Konbit Haiti Operations Director is finishing up a leadership training. It was Konbit’s first time really being presented at this level and we are thankful for the connections we made and the way this new venture has been received. Plus, Ryan got to see some old friends, too!

 

Now, we are in full swing preparing for the summer! With the money raised with our #cleanwaterblue campaign and from our staff based in the states, Lindsey, we were able to move forward in providing funding for some of our directors with Justice Water. There are projects going up over the next few months! We’ll share as they are completed. Thank YOU to those who donated! We raised over $4,000! 

This summer we will be doing a bit of traveling and transitioning. Because of our national leaders stepping up and into leadership, our western staff is shrinking in size! It is a bittersweet thing, but we are so proud of what these guys have sewn into over the year. This May we will be headed to visit family for a bit and prepare some of our paperwork stateside for Konbit. We are also prepping for our first ever Women’s Health Seminar, which will be held in June in Haiti! We will also be traveling later in the summer to continue to speak and engage people in the conversation about the water crisis on the island and the incredible stuff happening with Konbit Haiti.

As always, we are thankful for your thoughts and prayers as we continue to do life in the Caribbean! There are lots of things happening and changing and we are thankful for the consistent friendships we have in our lives! Bondye beni nou anpil!