The following is from Grace and Peace Missionary Fellowship Newsletter
They generally post them on their website as well as have them mailed to everyone on their mailing list but with recent changes in their website administration and whatnot, I have not been able to access the most recent newsletters. Regardless, this one is from the Jan/Feb 2007 newsletter
New Widow Vehicle - by Karen Rumple
"In May of 2006, my second widow vehicle's engine went. Although this was my second vehicle, it was actually my third engine. I'm sure so many of you wonder why so many engines? Well, we did too. The cold hard facts are that some of my widows live so remote, that my vehicles tended to continually overheat as well as the fact that, because vehicles are so expensive, we tended to buy "fixer-uppers" for $10,000-$13,000. Well, I knew it was time for a better vehicle, so Bill and I agreed that most of the monies raised this past January would be used towards my new vehicle. We raised almost $16,000. Along with that, we put $2,000 more we had stored away and purchased a 2001 Toyota Land Cruiser. It's perfect. Not too flashy to be stolen, but sturdy enough to get me to each widow and back home safely. Since I like to visit certain widows by myself, I wanted a reliable vehicle. If you've seen those cell phone commercials where the guys are holding their phones out in front of them trying to find a signal, that's a great depiction of what we do here when we are in these remote areas. And many times there is no signal at all. Reliability was important, but even more importantly was the fact that at times I have sick widows whose family will not take them to the appropriate doctors. Just this past year, I watched Armancia Manuel (this is the same lady we visited while I was in the Dominican volunteering)die from diabetes. Her family kept telling me they would take her to the doctor for the correct medicines and once I realized they just weren't going to do it, she had a stroke. She died shortly after that and that's when we began to consider helping widows like her get that special medical attention. Thanks to so many of you who helped make all this possible."
I really felt like this article in the newsletter portrayed some of the obstacles and difficulties overcoming them as Grace & Peace interacts with these widows. Karen feels strongly about helping to provide for their needs, but at the same time, does not want to become a crutch for their families to lean on ALL the time. One of the hardest things is knowing where to intervene, or leave it up to the families to take the responsibility on themselves.
Also, in regards to the truck issue, the roads are not really roads in these Haitian villages where the widows live. It is mostly dirt and rocky terrain, and when it hasn't rained, the "roads" kick up a lot of dirt and dust.
Several times while I was there, we would ride in the back of the truck, sitting on the edges of the truck bed, holding on to the sides. Let's just say, there were a few occasions when we feared one of us was going to be dislodged from the truck... ;)
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