By Cathy Hoss, with Donna Fisher

Catherine Hoss, Associate Director of Haiti Solar Oven Partners (HSOP), has written lots of HSOP grants and promotional materials, studied surveys and met dozens of HSOP volunteers. She felt confident of her facts and her passion for this mission, of course.

But nothing could have prepared her for the sights, sounds, and feelings of being on the ground in Haiti, she says. “Unbelievable--was the first word out of my mouth as we wound our way through Port au Prince traffic from the airport on Friday, November 14th.  Between gasps I watched our driver maneuver through streets so clogged with traffic, I believed they were impassable.  But not only did he deliver the team and all their luggage safe and sound, he did so without a scratch to the 10-passenger van.  Unbelievable!”

Photo: “A woman called Alice warmed my heart,” Cathy says. “She worked so hard helping Raymonde (Haitian Training Director) and the rest of us prepare meals and clean up. The day she got her oven, she gave me the biggest hug of gratitude and carried her oven home on her head. These responses made every bit of what we do so important, so very worth it and so very, very necessary to continue.” Photo courtesy of HSOP.

A five-hour journey to the coastal city of Les Cayes, then eight miles north to the small community of Beraud left Cathy with powerful impressions of how beautiful the island is but also the enormous challenge daily living.

The 10-member team set up to build ovens and assist the HSOP Haitian staff with three two-day training seminars in Beraud. Missionary Director Rick Jost summarized the effort, “We distributed 104 ovens yesterday, a one-seminar record...the walls were more than bursting in the classroom! 79 went out on Tuesday, leaving 67 for Saturday's group—250 for the week.”

Photo: With assistance from several of the 37 children at the orphanage where the team stayed, Dennis Gatchell secures framing and reflector—materials fabricated by volunteers at the Volga SD and Moffit ND workshops. “The children pulled on our heartstrings as we played with them in the afternoons after our work was finished. They were an energetic blessing to those of us resting and struggling with the heat,” says Cathy Hoss. Photo courtesy of HSOP.

Cathy reflected on daily reality for most women in Haiti. “The entire country is a market because there is no refrigeration; much of your day is spent hauling water, finding something to cook with, going to market. I was stunned to realize how much work it took to prepare one meal for a family, to understand the reality of the situation, so dirty and difficult and rough. This is the way our pioneer ancestors cooked generations ago in the Midwest.”

Even the return trip to the airport on the two-lane highway (with at least five lanes of traffic) brought both gasps and laughter. “We learned cycles are the preferred transportation now with lots more women driving, instead of riding on cycles.”

Cathy rides a motorcycle herself, yet seeing thousands of small motorbikes, some carrying four adults delivering a couple of kids to school and weaving in and out of those five lanes, took her breath away.  “My goodness, if you hesitate a second—well, it’s unbelievable!”

Photo: Veteran volunteer Harris Bailey instructs Associate Director Cathy Hoss on oven framing. “We saw smiles, faces full of wonder and excitement, as oven after oven full of delicious hot meals was opened. They surrounded the ovens and saw for themselves what the sun (that shone every day!) and these wonderful ovens can really do. What fantastically organized process this is!” says Cathy after her first trip to Haiti to experience both the building of ovens and the cooking seminars that your HSOP dollars fund. Photo courtesy of HSOP.

Like so many teams before them, the November 2014 team made a productive trip to Haiti. Work continues at a strong pace because the sea container supplying the next teams must depart from Volga, SD, in early 2015. Why? Our Rural Training Consultant, Pierre Lelievre, sent this comment via Facebook: “Please continue to help Haiti Solar Oven Partners to build more ovens to share for the people!!!”

If your church would like to the personal stories of Haiti Solar Oven Partners, please contact Cathy Hoss at 605-692-3391.

This Christmas season consider honoring a loved one with a gift that can change a Haitian family’s life through HSOP’s Alternative Gift Campaign.  Click here to see a brochure for details. 

Thank you to all who volunteer, participate and support this life-saving mission in Haiti today.