 Aslan founded our work in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, in 1996. Some of the early history of our work there is included here on our website. So much has been happening over the past several years, however, that it has been impossible to keep our Haiti information current. Rather than work forwards, we have decided it is best to work from the present backwards by starting with 2007 and then filling in information for prior years.
 In 1994 Aslan completed the purchase of 6 acres of beautiful land. So far our only construction on this land is a small building that houses our well.
 Water from this well will be used to make cement blocks, as we begin to build our Missionary Training School, orphanage, school, clinic and visitor’s center. As with anything done in Haiti, the digging of this well was in itself an amazing process.
 One man dug a three-foot diameter hole 45 feet deep before hitting water! He accomplished this feat with a small flat bladed shovel, a 5-gallon paint bucket and a companion who would pull the dirt-filled bucket up to empty it out. This process took one month. Upon completion, the inside of the well was lined with cement and rebar put in as steps. This way we can actually dig deeper, if the water table goes down and it becomes necessary. Through purchasing and developing this land, Aslan now has the opportunity to begin several projects on our land.
Missionary Training School
 Our first work will be building a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) style missionary training school on the property. YWAM is a wonderful organization that trains thousands of people each year in mission work through their Discipleship Training Schools. They currently have over 15,000 people working in missions throughout the world. Aslan’s Missionary Training School will follow the same extremely successful YWAM model, with three months of classroom study followed by two months of hands-on mission work.
 The classroom phase will cover subjects such as: 1) experiencing God; 2) the nature of mission work and spiritual warfare; 3) finding your life’s calling; and 4) developing true Christian character and values. Following three months of intensive study, students will then experience the two-month mission phase. There are countless opportunities for work in Ouanaminthe and the surrounding villages. This includes work with Danita Estrella’s Hope For Haiti Children’s Center, a wonderful orphanage serving 72 children www.danitaschildren.org. Danita (a close personal friend of Aslan founders Craig & Lynn Ann Bogard) also has a school serving the needs of 500 children. In addition to this work, there are many other mission opportunities, including: after school programs; building homes; working in medical clinics; and teaching (English, computer skills, etc.). There are also many opportunities for work in the Dominican Republic, which is less than a mile from Aslan’s land.
Other Building Plans
After our Missionary Training School is completed, Aslan will pursue numerous other projects. These include building a Visitor’s Complex and administrative center to house staff and visitors from the United States (mission teams, medical personnel, etc.).
 Another important project will be building an orphanage. There are thousands of orphaned children in Haiti and an endless need for help for these kids. We will also need a school to educate the children. Almost half of the people in Haiti cannot read or write. Without a quality education, no child can even hope to rise above the overwhelming poverty of Haiti.
Another great need for all Haitian people is for basic health care. Latest studies indicate that there are only 1.2 doctors for every 10,000 people in Haiti - and there are more qualified Hatitian doctors in Brooklyn and in Montreal than in all of Haiti! Basic dental healthcare is even worse, with less dentists than doctors in Haiti. Even the small number of doctors that practice in this desperately poor country do not have adequate medical supplies. Most veterinary hospitals in the United States have much better and high-tech equipment than anywhere in Haiti! An important part of Aslan’s project will therefore be to build a medical clinic. We are currently supporting 2 students in medical school in Santo Domingo, D.R., who will return to help us with our clinic after graduation. On a regular basis throughout the year, Aslan will also host medical teams for basic medical care and to help meet more serious needs.
Ouanaminthe Mission House
 Aslan currently rents space in Ouanaminthe for our visiting mission teams. This space is comfortable and will house teams as big as 15 – 20 people. The accommodations are actually quite nice for a Third-World setting, with tile floors and mesh cots to sleep on. We have a real bathroom in an outer building, with a flush toilet and shower. 
Our house is surrounded by a 10-foot privacy wall; and other amenities include our own private well (for washing and cleaning), a kitchen, and a generator. Since there is not electricity in Ouanaminthe (as with most of Haiti), being able to generate 3 or 4 hours of electricity each evening for lighting and for fans is a wonderful blessing for all our mission teams. 
We have a wonderful cook, Willy (see photo to the left), who lives next door to us and provides delicious Haitian cuisine for all our visitors! The food is always absolutely fresh and organic!
Ouanaminthe is a sprawling city of an estimated 80,000 people. As with all of Haiti, the poverty one encounters is overwhelming. Disease and malnutrition are rampant throughout the population, but children ~ as always ~ suffer the most.
On the street outside our house in Ouanaminthe, we always have scores of children who gather around our house. Mission teams enjoy blowing bubbles and playing games with these children in the afternoons and evenings.
July 2007 Trip
Our most recent trip to Ouanaminthe was in July, at which time we provided a short day-camp for children at Danita’s orphanage and cleaned up debris from the partially constructed house of Joseph Israel, Aslan’s staff member in Haiti. After constructing most of the outer and inner walls of a house for his wife and five children, Joseph and we were heart broken when a freak tornado hit Ouanaminthe in May and destroyed six months of his hard work. This storm did over a million dollars of damage in and around Ouanaminthe, Haiti and in Dajabon, Ouanaminthe’s sister city in the Dominican Republic.
Aslan Board of Directors member, Gil Messina, accompanied us on this trip and brought his lovely wife and daughters, Maureen, Anna and Katy along with him. Aslan staff members, Doug & Kathryn Eagles, also came on this trip, along with veteran Haiti team member KiKi Williams. KiKi has grown up in Aslan, having started with our Long Branch program in 1991. This was KiKi’s eighth time in Haiti with Aslan. Her many trips with us to Haiti and her work with the nurses we have taken with us have inspired her to pursue a career in nursing.
From September 17 – 23, Aslan will take a team of 8 men to Ouanaminthe to assist Joseph in reconstructing the walls of his house.
With this trip, and possibly two more in the near future, we should have Joseph, Carlene and their children living in their new house.
Then we can begin construction of our Missionary Training School
September 2007 Trip
Our trip to Ouanaminthe in September was amazing. It was the first time we had ever taken a group specifically to help with a building project ~ in this case, Joseph Israel’s house. Joseph is the lone Aslan staff person in Haiti and is truly the key to Aslan’s success there. He was one of the first individuals we met on our initial trip to Haiti in August of 1996. Over the years we have built a relationship of trust and mutual respect, and Joseph has become so much more than just someone to help us see our vision happen in Haiti. He is truly one of our dearest and closest friends.
Since we first met Joseph and his wife, Carlene, they have lived in a tiny concrete house with a tin roof that Carlene’s mother owned. Until two years ago, she graciously provided them the house rent free. As she’s gotten older, however, she has turned the managing of the house over to another of her daughters. Since Joseph works for “rich” Americans, his sister-in-law has for the past 2 years been demanding large amounts of money from him for rent. Otherwise she’s told Joseph and Carlene that she’ll throw them and their children out on the street to fend for themselves. This is why it has become critically important for Aslan to help Joseph build his own house where his family can be secure.
As we shared in our last update, we started building Joseph’s new house last year. Unfortunately, in May of last year a tornado came through and demolished all of Joseph’s work. This September trip was dedicated to putting the walls back up. And that’s exactly what happened! The following pictures tell the story:
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As with all our trips, there is always time for some fun with the neighborhood children who camp at our doorstep every time we’re there. It’s wonderful to know how much joy we bring these little ones. Of course, they love to stand outside our front gate and yell “Blanc! Blanc!” all day long. Blanc is the French word for “white,” but it is more of a term of endearment with most Haitians and certainly so with these children. In Haiti, the word blanc (blan in Creole) refers to anyone who is not of Haitian descent. As documented in Why The Cocks Fight (the best book I’ve read on the history of the relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) by Michele Wucker, Haitians even refer to Haitian Americans and African Americans as blanc. At first, these little guys constantly shout “Blanc, give me one American dollar!” “Give me one American dollar” is a phase that every child in Haiti learns from the moment they speak their first words.
One of the things the children love best is when we blow bubbles for them. After some gentle coaxing, we were able to get them to say “Blanc, give me one American bubble!” Once they mastered that, we always took a bottle of bubbles over to blow some big bubbles and watch the children chase them down the dirt road. We also spent a lot of time playing Frisbee with them. Below are some pictures of some of our little friends.
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Another special thing about this trip was all the men pitched in and brought tons of shoes, boots, clothing and school supplies. The second day we were there we outfitted each of the Haitian workers with a new pair of shoes. From that point on we were friends for life! In particular these men were touched when they saw us give a new pair of boots to Junior, a young Haitian boy who worked very hard every day to help us. Junior’s father, Benoit, is an older man in charge of mixing the sand, stones and cement together for the block mortar and solid concrete columns. Benoit is crippled, with one pencil thin leg, which makes it very difficult for him to walk anywhere. So, each day he borrowed an old bicycle from a friend to ride to the work site ~ peddling with his one good leg. The morning we left to come home, our team presented Benoit with his very own bicycle. Although it’s still a struggle for him to get around, he no longer has to borrow a bike to peddle along the rough, dirt streets of Ouanaminthe. Pictured below is Benoit (on his new bicycle), his son and most of the guys who went.
Thanks to all those who made this particular trip so very special ~ Gil, John P., John L., Greg, Chris, Rob, and David.
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