LivingInDisneyworld

LIVING IN HAITI - Umm I mean Disney World

9/15/11

Our man on the ground in Haiti, Tchooby Delva, reports that 2 sisters, Masseline Beloni, age 10
and, Mickerlange, age 5 lost their parents this past March due to an unknown illness. They then
moved in with their grandma who can't care for them, so they have been handed off to Angeline,
Tchooby's half-brother's mom whom we have known for a couple of years now. She will care for
the girls if she gets help, which of course she will.

We do ask for anyone wanting to sponsor or help them to contact me at 520-272-1782 or e me at
northeast125@yahoo.com. Their pictures are to your right.

8/31/11

If you look down to the 7/24 entry, you notice we asked for money to repair 2 roofs in Cap. Two
Christian families are/were in need of help to fix leaky roofs so that when the rains like Hurricane
Irene came, they and their meager possessions would not get wet and moldy.

Because of th West End Church of Christ in Nashville and the Somerset Church of Christ in
Somerset, PA, we were able to help one family, the family of Manno Cimeus (Tabitha's nephew) to
buy the materials to fix their roof.

If you notice on the pics to your left, that's Manno and his dad doing the work. They used all the
money just to buy materials and they supplied the labor. That impresses me because we don't
always see that here in the US.

That leaves one home to go, that of Oze Laguerre. We have recieved $50 so far for the needed
$300 towards the roof repairs of their home. We again ask that you open your hearts and help
this family out. I know I keep saying this, but it's so true. We're not asking you to buy them a big
screen TV or a European vacation. We're asking for help in keeping them dry. They are your
brothers and sisters in Christ.

8/2/11

Grankid pics! Grankid pics! I have known Jackie and Evlande Pierrot for about 5 years now.
Jackie is a grad of the Bible school in Galmaan and remains there as the local church preacher.
Jackie is my son in Christ and it's with great pleasure that I can announce the birth of my spiritual
grandson last month. His name is Evendy. Also pictured to your left is Evlande. I was there in
2009 when she was born and saw her as an infant. She looks great doesn't she?

We also got pics of the family, one of which is to your left. Jackie is a great guy and is really
doing a fine job in Galmaan.

7/24/11

Woi! Another long time between blogs. My excuse is that I have been busy with the new job. At
least my excuse is lame, it coulda been worse!

We are now in Arizona's rainy season. It rains hard when it comes down - very hard! In fact, it
reminds me of some of the tropical rains in Haiti.

There is one difference though between when it rains here and when it rains in Haiti. Here those
of us that have homes go inside and stay dry. Our stuff stays dry. But not so in Haiti. So many of
our brothers and sisters in Christ in Haiti have roofs that we could better call sieves. You can see
day light through them in the day and when it rains, they get drenched as does the few
possessions they have. And those possessions get moldy and muddy. But they press on.

These are your brothers and sisters in Christ. How does Paul address this in Galatians 6? 9 Let
us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give
up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.

Right now, we have 2 families in Petite Anse that I know about whose homes have sieves for
roofs. They are Ose Laguerre's and Manno Cimeus'. These are 2 kids with families that I have
known for a few years now. A rough estimate to repair their roofs would be $300 US each, or
$600 total. Can you open your heart to help these beautiful people? Maybe we can skip the
restaurant or the movie or having $100/month cell phone bill to help out our brothers and sisters?
It's just a thought.

I took pictures of Ose's house before and they are on your left. Tchooby tried to take pics of
Manno's home but the didn't turn out well and while they are posted, it's hard to tell just how bad
it is, but trust me, it's just as bad. Thanks for anything anyone can do.

6/12/11

Well yes it is a dry heat. We are into the 100's now. It's really not that bad because we get a lot of
breezes. Also a side benefit, when you hang up your laundry, the first part is dry by the time you
hang up the last part. And no, I'm not joshing either!!!

Had a great afternoon today. After worship and some playful bantering (NOT!) on the St. Louis
Current Affairs Forum, I went down to one of our local parks to read and meditate. It was a very
peaceful and serene experience. I really enjoyed it.

While I was there, some people found me and hopefully the groundwork is being laid to start a
church. Stay tuned for more details.

6/11/11

Great news! We have a sponsor for Tchooby's brother Benson. Her name is Janice. She and
her nephew Ben will be sponsoring Benson for school and for rent. Benson's mom Angeline,
has been paid to do laundry for the house for about a year now. It's not a lot but it helps feed the
family. Now we will be able to get Benson to school and keep their rent paid!

Also on the news front, I am now gainfully re-employed as an engineer here in Tucson. I'm very
grateful to God for getting me this job and pray I can do it well and remain there for 3-5 years. I
will be able to help Anthony out more now and get him on his way to financial independence, but
never independent from God.

5/21/11

Got a letter from Tchooby a couple of days ago. He remembers cooking for me and what I like. I
scanned a copy of the letter with his illustrations. It's cute and to your left.

On a bit more serious vein, we are still getting requests from the kids for sponsors. These are
your little brothers and sisters in Christ and if you can find it in your heart to share the many
blessings God has given to you with them, it would be tremendously appreciated. Goto the
Outside Kids Page above and search for someone you might like to help.

5/7/11

I had a great conversation with Fonrose today on Facebook. Seems he coming to Nashville
again in July for treatment on his good eye and wants to come visit us in Tucson. He is going to
try to pay for the airfare himself. It would be really nice to see him.

He is in process of starting an orphanage in Lamolere. We are going to try and support that.

5/5/11

Over the last two days we have unloaded over 4000 cases of Tsing Tao beer. The green from the
boxes has rubbed off on my shirt and if I never see another Tsing Tao again, I will be VERY happy.

I work with 3 other guys on this, all Mexican and all much younger than I am. The next oldest guy
is 34. They put me to shame. I suck so much wind after unloading a truckload I almost
hyperventilate. But all 3 of the guys are so nice to me and while they never say it, you can see
that they try and help me out when they know I'm not carrying my share of the load due to fatigue.
I don't keep up with stereotypes so I'm not sure which ones Mexicans are supposed to have, but
so far my experience has been incredibly positive in the almost 4 months I've been here.

4/19/11 - Rocket Science with a slice of lime.

We had a couple of dropped pallets of Corona beer today. Accidents happen and when they
happen with beer, it provides us with a major mess to clean up.

As we were cleaning up the mess we threw some damaged but unopen bottles away. I saw one
guy do it and I followed suit. Wrong Bob!!! My bottle hit his bottle and we had a couple shards of
glass exit the trash can and go on the floor. No one got hurt but they could have. As I watched it
happen, I couldn't help but remember back to 1984 in our freshmen physics class as we had to
calculate trajectory on stuff somewhat like this.

I also erred on the 4/16 entry where I said I was the only white dude. There is this guy there
named Michael who is a white Mexican (like I'm a white Haitian). He's told me a lot about his life
and it's very interesting. He's also a real cool kid, about Anthony's age. He came in today with
his hair all spiked, ala Eddie Munster. However, he had no clue who Eddie Munster was so
another guy had to show him a pic from the net. I don't think Michael took it as too
complimentary.

One last thing. I've been sick for 2 days now, but as a temp, you go to work and you don't whine.
We had one guy who did whine and guess what - he ain't coming back. Also, I have an
engineering interview a week from Friday on April 29. Pray it goes well and I get the job.

4/17/11

Took Anthony to see the Tucson Padres baseball game last night. Very enjoyable, although I got
tired and couldn't stay up for the whole game. The stadium seats a little over 10,000 and we got
the 2nd row behind the visitor's dugout for $10 a ticket. One guy in the front row got hit with a
flying bat. He was OK. When they gave him another bat in exchange for the one that hit him, he
in turn gave it to a 7 year old kid. It was very nice.

4/16/11

OK, I guess I'm getting better. Now instead of 2 months between updates, this one is less than a
month.

I'm still looking for a job. That's my #1 priority. It's tough too! I thought I had one then lost it for
an unknown reason. That kinda pushed me over the edge. I'm still looking but not sure of a lot of
things right now.

One thing I am sure of is that Anthony is growing up. On his own, he went to this day labor place
he found and has worked their fairly steady for about 3 weeks now. It's minimum wage and it's
not glamorous work, but he is working and is very dedicated. I do want him to go back to school
once I get a good job, but the experience and real education he is getting now will last a lifetime.

Speaking of working, I do work as a temp in a warehouse now. It pays $8.50/hour which is not
enough to live on, but it really helps reduce the drain on my savings.

I'm working with people that I really like. For the most part, they are down to earth working class
people. I'm the oldest and once again the whitest. But one thing I have noticed about Tucson is
that all the Mexicans, blacks, and whites really seem to get along more than on the east coast. It's
really cool. My warehouse boss is Mexican as were the other bosses I've had as a temp. The
Mexicans teach me Spanish and about the culture here and I teach them Creole and the Haitian
culture. Pretty good exchange.

You may have noticed that I archived quite a bit, but left the pics up. To me, it's important to
remember why we do this...it's for them. And I love them so much. We are still planning on
opening an orphanage in Savanne Longe whenever I get a decent paying job.

3/21/11

Two months since the last update? Wow! That's too long. I will try and do better.

Notice that I changed the name of the website from Living in Haiti to Living in Disney World.
Thanks to Holly for the idea that the US is kinda sorta like Disney World. After living in Haiti for 5
years, I truly agree with that.

Still in the US in Tucson and still looking for a job. I would ask you keep me in prayer as I try to
find another one. So far I've had some nibbles, but nothing firm.

I do believe that I will be here for some time, at least a year but probably longer. Given that, what
should I be doing, besides working at a secular job.

For now a couple of things. I'm praying over starting a Church of Christ here locally. We have
some here, but they are far away and not neighborhood churches. The neighborhood church is
the Salvation Army, and while they are excellent in service they do some things I feel are
seriously unscriptural.

I honestly believe that we need a church where discipleship to Jesus is the first and foremost
activity. I'm not there yet of course but I would like to be on that journey and hopefully there are
some like-minded Christians who would like to go with me.

Something else I have been thinking about, although it's admittedly a very long range goal, is if
our Lord permits me to return to Haiti, I think it would be better for me to live in Asile in Gran
Riviere du Nord and be of service there. If Asile would not be available for whatever reason, then
possibly another facility like that. Here's a link to Asile for those that may have forgotten it. The
inspiration for this by the way is Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest who left an academic post with
an Ivy League school to become the pastor of a Canadian mental health facility. For more info on
Henri, click here.

In any case, it's a long term decision that will require much prayer and contemplation. I ask that
you help me in this.

I've blah blah'd long enough. Future blogs from now on will detail what's it's like for a white
Haitian to live in Disney World.

1/19/11

OK OK, it's been a while since the last update. There's a good reason for that. I've had to come
back to the US for family reasons and I'm now in Arizona with my son Anthony. I expect to be
here for a while, at least a year and possibly more.

So what does that mean for the Little Orphanage and Haven of Jesus (LOHJ)? Lord willing, not
all that much. We still plan on operating as usual. We have been training Tchooby to work there
for some time. He is an intelligent young man and has picked up the work and the intentions very
quickly. We know he will make mistakes, but he has a great heart and will grow in this work. We
communicate almost daily, mostly by email but also by phone. We ask for your prayers and
patience as we grow in this different direction. We also ask for your prayers that I can return in
accordance with God's will. By the way, Tchooby is pictured alongside the 12/24/10 entry below
helping Cherry Bean pose for a picture with his Christmas cake.

1/10/11

School is supposed to start back up today from our Christmas break. However...we have rumors
of riots (manifestations) so many schools are not opening, including the orphanage school
where Junior and Mikaëlla go. So they're home for the day. We will see about tomorrow. Kinda
like what Jesus says about not worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough
troubles of its own.

The Otisville Church of Christ sent us some money that was not expected. With it, we were able
to pay the kindergarten tuition for the rest of 2011 for Cherry Bean. He and Guerline left today to
see if his school is open. I won't know if it is until they gets back. Pic of him in his cherry red
uniform to your left.

Also with us is Richardson, Linda's 12 year old son from Camp Louise. He is a cute kid and all
but he wandered off Friday without telling his mom or anyone else. He caught it big time when he
got home. He will learn. He will go back to Camp Louise soon so I wanted to get a pic of them all
together before he left. It's to your left also.

1/6/11

Happy 60th anniversary to my Mom and Dad. January 6, 1951, Jim and Gert Valerius were
married in Granite City, Illinois. They were married for better and for worse. They have had many
good times together, especially in the first 58 years; and even more especially after I left home.
The last 2+ have been difficult, but God has given my Mom strength beyond what even she could
have imagined as she continues to care for my Dad who has very advanced Alzheimers and can't
care for himself any longer. Thank you Mom and Dad for all you did for Mary and I!

Just a quick note on our weather. This has been a very cold winter. Temperatures at night must
be getting below 60. I wear sweats to bed now. I keep them on in the morning until the sun hits
our front porch. Others in the house go to our neighbor's front porch across the street and sit
there for the sun. Temperatures don't get much above 78 or so in the daytime. I know those in
Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Maryland, and Wisconsin sympathize with us.

1/3/11

Yesterday...no fun. I had cholera-like symptoms, but since I recovered in about 24 hours, I doubt
that I had it. However I was a bit concerned and did use the pedialight that was sent down for us.
All better today as I was able to walk into town.

The first group of pics to your left were taken Jan 1. Our vwazenaj (neighborhood) put on a little
New Years Day party for the kids. It was cute. They had a radio and the kids danced for us.

This morning we also got to go visit Lilane Dorval in her new house. It really is an improvement.
It looks so clean and they are so pleased with it. Pics to your left.

1/1/11

Bon Annee and a blessed New Year to all in our Lord. May God bless all of your families this year
and may all of us grow in Christ and allow him to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine...Ephesians 3:20.

Just got back a bit ago from seeing Milonia Noel. She is the emaciated diabetic 14 year old that
we have been helping for over 2 years now. Her neighbor and guardian, Rosalin came to us last
Thursday in tears because her physical condition had deteriorated so much. She couldn't
swallow and her knees were swollen. Because she has a sponsor, we were able to give her
some money to take her to the hospital.

We came by today to check on her. Rosalind wasn't there but Milonia was, by herself. She
looked incredibly weak, but at least she could talk. Don't know what happened and may not
know for some time. We will try to get back later this week and talk to Rosalin. Pics of her and
her home to your left.

Good intentions. Over a month ago, someone donated a ton of dumpsters to Cap Haitien for
clean up. You can see from the first pic on your left that many remain unused. The second pic
shows what happens when you don't have the equipment to pick up the trash (yes there is a
dumpster there under the trash if you search). Money spent but nothing changed.

Click on any thumbnail
below to enlarge (pics
still below)

Bob's New & Hopefully
Improved Resume

June 2010 Living in Haiti Archives

July 2010 Living in Haiti Archives

August, 2010 Living in Haiti Archive

September, 20 10 Living in Haiti Archive

Dudne Julmiste and
Sergeline Moise getting
cholera treatment.

L to R: The boys with
the boxes of stuff,
Mikaella with her new
tiara, and the outside kids

UNICEF workers at
Tabitha's place.

October-December, 2010 Living in
Haiti Archive

Cholera pics: Wisnel,
the chlorine spray gate,
and the dorm tents.

The space between
Aland's home. That is a
submerged cinder block
he's standing on. The
water is a nice mixture of
goat, donkey, and
chicken poop. This was
not the worst example.