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26175: Raber: (comment)Haiti Benefit Auction (fwd)




From: PM Raber <raber88@zoominternet.net>

I just came back from the 19th annual Haiti Benefit Auction in Mount Hope, Ohio where the Amish population raises several hundred thousand dollars for basic needs in Haiti. I had a nice helping of rice and beans and legumes and pikliz. The food line had all sort of things and they just had a box with an opening for donations in exchange for food, desert and a drink. They brought in a Haitian couple from New York and a lady from Bombardopolis to make the Haitian food this year. The couples parents were from Jacmel and Jeremie. There were about 10 booths showing where the money goes. 99.5% of any money raised this weekend will go to elementary education, food, wells and medical clinics. One of the groups working in Fond Parisiens did build 45 homes in Mapou (Using local labor). A couple of weeks ago, I posted that Christian Aid Ministries in Berlin Ohio has the 101 Bible Stories for children in Creole. Their booth showed some other material in Creole. One is a free monthly Christian Family magazine in Creole (they also publish it inEnglish, Romanian and Russian) with a little bit of everything for all ages in it. They also had some very interesting booklets in Creole on topics such as preventing accidents, preventing water born diseases etc.... with culturally appropriate color pictures. On the cover is written the reading level like they do with many books in the United States for people who are still learning how to read. The people at the booth could not tell me the cost of each booklet but if someone is interested, here is the address:

Christian Aid Ministries
PO Box 360
Berlin, OH 44610
(330)893-2428  fax (330)893-2305

All the groups involved this weekend are Amish or very conservative Mennonite (Amish who drive cars instead of buggies but still dress like Amish and live simply like Amish). These people are very hard working practical people. Some have never left Haiti during all the trouble of the last two years. They are so far inland that they just stay. Others who have to travel a lot within the country have been very much impaired in their work. The Christian Aid Group distribute medicine all over the country and had an entire container stolen and one of their trucks (with one American driver accompanied by a haitian) was attacked by armed men. 2 or 3 other vehicles were stolen in the titanyen area where they are based.

If you want to see the Amish country, this auction is held every year in Mount Hope, Ohio on labor day weekend. You can purchase furniture, quilts and all sorts of things. Just seeing the cultural event of an Amish Kombit is in itself quite entertaining. They start on Friday night with food, entertainment (singing, speakers) and viewing of the items to be auctioned. In Saturday they start with breakfast at around 6 or 7 am and the auction starts at 8 to finish around 4. This year they even built a typical Haitian house just to show people what people are living in. Just about every Amish as a little garden shed 100 times sturdier and twice as big as than the stick and tin roof house. Even the stick they used for the wall were much bigger than the traditional house. The local comunity donates tons of items to the auction including this year a 24X32 Pole building, a tractor mower, a 10X20 Cabin, many pieces of urniture and gift certificates.