For years our RMI Haiti office, our storage and depot facilities, and missionary homes have struggled with reliable electricity. All of these are a part of Cite Lumiere, the mission center that is the headquarters for MEBSH, our Haitian Partner Church Association. There are quite a few offices and other missionary homes on Cite Lumiere besides RMI’s. They all rely on city power, which is erratic and unstable, and Cite Lumiere’s single aging generator. Both are very costly. Sometimes getting fuel for the generator is an issue. Recently the cost of fuel has skyrocketed, increasing the cost even more. This affects the operations of the office and homes; it goes beyond having lights, fans, and computers - it affects our internet as well. Not having internet means that the field can’t communicate with our ministry partners all over the US as well they can’t communicate with the RMI International office.
The time has come for us to “bite the bullet” and make use of one resource that we have in abundance: sun power. Those who operate the mission center have asked all those living there and ministry offices to raise the funds to install solar systems for their particular homes and offices. This would relieve the generator of the strain on it as well as give everyone reliable and sustainable power. We’ve hesitated to do it because it is a huge initial outlay of funds. But we know that in the long run, the benefits greatly outweigh the costs. We want to be good stewards of the monies that God has entrusted to us.
RMI needs to raise the funds to put solar systems on our office, the storage and depot area, and 4 missionary homes. It is estimated that these systems will cost between $40,000 and $50,000. Yes, it’s a large amount but it is something we must do in the coming months and, in the long run, will ultimately save us much more than that in city power and generator costs.
Would you partner with us to see this happen??! This definitely affects the ministry as a whole and the ministry between you and your C3 partner church. We are praying that we can give the field staff the go-ahead to start this project in January. If you are able to help with this need, go to RMIbridge.org and click on the solar project button, or call 239-368-8290.
Some funds have begun to come in since we introduced this need last month. Thank you to all of you who have given to this project so far! We know that this year has been stressful in all kinds of ways, so we really appreciate your gifts.
