Important Project Fighting Headwind

The steel frame will hold roof trusses and foam panels which can be finished with mortar to give a masonry-like look without the heavy weight.  We are struggling to find a distributer which sells these foam panels (though they were stocked in December, 2015)!

In order to enlarge our office on the roof, we needed to pour a weight-bearing beam on the footprint of the addition.

Haitian construction workers mix the cement used for the concrete beam.

A year ago, our combined ministry team in Haiti (World Renew, Christian Reformed World Missions, and Back to God Ministries International) prayerfully made the decision to move Perspectives Reformees (BTGMI's French-language ministry in Haiti) to the small office that houses the rest of the CRCNA ministries.  The goal was to increase collaboration and make natural connections between the work of our agencies.  This decision was made by faith, since at that time we did not have resources to enlarge the office building to accommodate PR.  WM staff immediately started recruiting teams to help raise the funds to enlarge our building by adding an addition on the roof.  During their visits, the teams would provide some of the labor, though the majority would come from Haitians.  By November we had three teams in the pipeline, extra funds WR and BTGMI, and a snazzy home-made set of construction plans designed by Larry Luth, our colleague.  In December we (providentially) discovered a structural defect in our office by accident, sending us scrambling to redo our construction plans and budget.  In January the first team, Second CRC of Allendale, MI, helped us initiate the project.  Then widespread shortages in specialized construction materials threw another wrench in the process.  Finally, at the end of January, one of the teams that planned to come to Haiti was cancelled by our home-office because of instability in the Haitian Presidential elections (see post below).  Right now we are prayerfully considering how this project can move forward through these significant headwinds.  One need is to recruit another Service and Learning team for 12-20 March made up of anyone who is willing to work on and raise funds for the project (contact segaarking@yahoo.com if you are interested).  Second, we need to locate a special construction product in Haiti (foam panels for the walls).  Finally, Haiti needs increased stability for the sake of its elections, its economy, and ultimately, the well-being of its people.  Please remember these items in prayer.