The Transformation of Onaville

Two years ago, RiverGlen journeyed to Haiti as a group for the first time. A group consisting mostly of youth came to stay at New Life & spent our days at the first church in Onaville, a village on the rocky side of a mountain donated by the Haitian government to the citizens of the tent city in Cite Soleil. The terrain is hard pan with no vegetation or water & RiverGlen arrived to paint the outside and inside of this new church. Pastor Noel greeted us with a smile & the commitment of a fledgling congregation. The floor of the church was gravel & there were no walls around the cement block church with the Green tin roof. RiverGlen put two coats of paint outside & inside while conducting a Christian Bible School for the numerous unfettered children roaming the mountain side.

A second team returned 4 months later to find the floor poured. The team worked to build benches for a congregation that would carry chairs to sit on during the service from their homes up the mountain. A foundation for the wall surrounding the property was mixed from concrete, a well was started and another Christian Bible School conducted.

This team arrived to find a thriving church at what is now known as Green Church or Church one. The wall is up around the compound, a well & water station installed & Christian school is conducted daily for the youngsters of the community. Our team split to four sites: site 1 was Church 1 and Kevin and his committee of workers built additional benches to be exported to the other growing churches in Onaville, site two was church 2 where a small team would paint the interior & the exterior while devoting one day to a medical clinic, site 3 was church 4 where the interior of the church was painted and CBS was conducted drawing over 100 children every day, and site 4 was church 5. The site of church 5 was purchased with a donation from RiverGlen after the giving Sunday. Our team spent the week in the grueling heat, with no shade, mixing cement by hand, using pick axes and creating the foundation of church 5. A strong foundation created by a team with a strong faith. A foundation finished today with team members working side by side with the Haitian people of the community eager for the church to be finished.

John & I visited church 3. A remote church unaccessible by bus, but accessible by pickup by traveling through a dry river bed. This church serves a very poor area of Onaville far up the mountain. The water station serves 3000 gallons 3 times a week. There is a day school & the project is complete, much like church 1 & 2, but on a smaller scale. What a blessing to be part of the transformation of Onaville. The existing churches are at capacity and when Kevin & his group finished their final bench today, Kevin did a calculation & told Pastor Noel that 108 more butts would be in the seats. Pastor Noel looked up & said Praise God, 108 more souls saved.

Tonight, as Christ did on the night before His walk to Calgary, we took communion, reflected & prayed, and after meeting in small groups, one of our youth was baptized in a small pool behind the guest house. Many of us gathered around & praised God. The Transformation is not only in Onaville, but in the hearts of our team. God's team.