Where He leads...: Days 38

Days 38 - 50 in Haiti

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Time to play catch up on the last couple of weeks...

Last week we had another Georgia BCM team here. This team's main agenda was construction work. I made and posted a video from their first day at Children of Hope Orphanage. You can watch the video by clicking here. We spent most the week at this orphanage, helping to complete the chicken coop and getting the fish hatchery ready for fish. We also helped weed out the field of banana trees, one of the most labor-intensive tasks. The team enjoyed helping with these projects that will have lasting benefits for these children. I have written before about how much I appreciate and admire Pastor Jean Mark for the work he is doing to care for his kids. He is using all of the resources he has available to use the land in sustainable ways. It's always a blessing knowing that your efforts can impact these kids for years to come. After a couple days, the chicken coop was finished. The chickens will soon be bought. When we stopped by on Wednesday this week, water was going into the fish hatchery. The only thing left is to provide some sort of mesh tarp to help shade the direct sunlight. He's already made a call to purchase 500 fish. And of course we loved seeing the kids each day. The group led them in songs, crafts, and taught and acted out Bible stories. The children could often be found at our side at each of the various projects. They weren't afraid to grab a tool and get to work right beside us. Sometimes we would have to pry the tools out of their hands so they wouldn't overdo it, but as much as I could I let them work. You could see the pride and dignity they had in laboring for themselves and for each other. Obviously Pastor Jean Mark has instilled some great values in each of them already.

Me and Pastor Jean Mark (don't mind the Georgia shirt... it was given to me. I will always be a TN Vols fan!)

We ended the week with an incredible adventure. About two hours from Leogane is a town called Jacmel. If you google Jacmel you'll see beautiful photos from the Caribbean side of Haiti. Not far from there is a path that takes you to Bassin-Bleu (Blue Basin), a stunning waterfall at the end of a beautiful hike. After finding our way to the trail, which included driving our tap taps through a river, barreling up some rocky hills, and walking the rest of the way when we couldn't go further without 4wd, we hired some guides to take us to the falls. We even had to use a rope to climb down to the main waterfall. From there, you take a quick swim around a rock, and voila!--nature's finest ready for you to behold! You can climb up and jump off a rock beside the waterfall to the beautiful blue water below. They say it's about 80 feet deep. We all had a great time swimming and hanging out there together.

We said goodbye to the team on Saturday. Since we didn't have another team flying in that day, we took advantage of the extra time and Roland, myself, and three of our guys headed to Muncheez--one of the best restaurants in Haiti for "American food". We ordered a big meat lover's pizza, some french fries, and chicken wings for Williamson--who said he didn't like pizza, though I saw him snag a piece. It was a special treat for me and Roland. We love the Haitian food, but it's always good to have a taste from home!

Later that day I met up with my friend Patty who came to stay at the house for a couple days. She's in Haiti through Global Women and plans to come down once a month or as often as she's able. They have partnered with a Haitian group who needs birthing kits. (You can view a PDF file by clicking here that explains these birthing kits in more detail and how you can help.) She's basically a "mule" for them in bringing down the kits and making new connections throughout Haiti. I first met Patty on my first trip to Haiti last August as a volunteer with Samaritan's Purse. We have kept in touch and she even stayed with me last time she was passing through Tennessee. It was fun catching up with her here and telling her a bit about the ministries we have going on.

Sunday we went to Pastor Bazil's church. This was the first time I'd been back since the first Baptists 4 Haiti team I hosted in May. It was good to be at his church again. After the service we went to visit his wife who is still suffering from a broken collarbone. On Wednesday she was scheduled to get it re-broken and reset. We prayed with her before we left and we're still waiting to hear the result from the operation.

Monday evening I cooked chicken pasta casserole for the house staff and a couple others. We had a great time. I loved having us all together sharing a meal! They all said they liked it, but I'm sure they wouldn't have admitted otherwise.

On Tuesday Roland, Junior and I went with Pastor Jean Claude to see his church and school on the mountain. We met Pastor Jean Claude through my friend Kalebe who is the director of The Lamb Center Orphanage. Pastor Jean Claude has an orphanage with 110 kids. We've taken a group before to visit with the kids and next week we will have a team going there each afternoon to do Vacation Bible School. Pastor Jean Claude began his ministry "up on the mountain". He told us he's having some big activities for the children in July, one on the mountain and one at his orphanage here in Leogane. He asked if we could help him, but we won't have groups on those particular days. We told him we'd go with him to see his school on the mountain and determine if we can send teams there in the future. We were expecting it to take around 1.5hr but it took 2h15m, unfortunately making it difficult for us logistically to send teams there, as travel time would already take most of the day. But it was great to see where he started and the ministries he still has going there. Sadly, his church collapsed during the earthquake and the concrete school building is still incomplete. For now, the 250 kids meet in a tent area with wind-blown tarps for roofs. It's not windy all the time, but it was the day we were there and I can't imagine their papers standing a chance against the elements. So much we take for granted! Not to mention trying to teach 250 kids all sitting in the same small area, obviously all at very different educational levels. Even though we aren't sure exactly how we can help him because of the distance, we were glad to see the place and the kids and have a better idea what happens there. Maybe in the future we can have a "extreme teams" who would be willing to help rebuild the church and school and camp up there throughout the week. I'd do it! It's so beautiful and so peaceful up there!

One of the mountain roads leading to the school

The school

Standing on the roof of the collapsed church

There were many old graves scattered along the mountain. Some were 50 years old or more.

Wednesday we stopped by Children of Hope Orphanage to check on the kids (and the doggies!). It's not unusual for children to be sick around here and there's one baby in particular we've been keeping our eye on. We took him some baby formula. He's typically crying and I'd say a lot of that is because he's hungry. Pastor Jean Mark does his best to feed the kids, and we've been able to start supplementing that a bit, but even still... children need to eat a lot, and Haitian children tend to eat more than I've seen of American children. I LOVE those kids and I'm enjoying getting to know them more each time I go. The dogs there have also become my pet project (no pun intended). One little puppy especially was inching towards his deathbed without intervention. I'm happy to report that he looks a lot better than when I first saw him, and he comes bounding towards me whenever I come. Before I started nursing him back to help, he'd shy away from me and spend most his days sleeping. He's coming back to life and I'm so thankful. They have six other dogs, 5 of them adults, and one an older puppy. They are all skinny though some are more emaciated than others. I've started bringing them food every visit and they gobble it up. I also help make sure they drink water. I try to teach the kids to help with that as well. All of the dogs already had names except for the little puppy. I asked if I could name him and they said yes. I gave it a day of thought and came up with "Beni", which means to bless or blessed in Creole. I figured that was suitable since God brought us together and I could help provide the blessing of a second chance at life. All of you who know me know how much I love animals. I also spent last week feeding the chickens and the goats as well. When we were weeding, I took different "weeds" to the goats to see if they liked any of them. There was one in particular they loved, so I made sure to set those aside instead of letting them go to the trash pile. Some of the kids helped me take them around to the goats.

Me and Audrich

Before

After

Me and Beni

On Thursday I took Roland and the guys to the Samaritan's Purse compound for them to see and meet my friend Nina. We also were invited by Kalebe to a playground dedication at the Greta Academy (The Lamb Center) building site. Kids Around the World came down for a week through SP and built an incredible playground for the 70+ kids at Kalebe's orphanage. It was a privilege to be there for the joyous occasion. The kids were so thrilled and it was exciting to watch them as they ran and played all over that thing! We talked with one of the main guys from KATW about possibly building a playground at Children of Hope Orphanage next summer. What a blessing that would be! So we will keep in touch with him and I will keep you guys posted with details of how you could be involved in that special project. We also met a couple who have helped create Orbie for Orphans, a discipleship program developed for orphans and foster children. We are excited to check out what they offer and see if it's something we can start using at the orphanages we're involved in.

Yesterday I invited one of our drivers, Lesly, and his daughter, Julie, over to the house. Several of our staff have children and I'd love to meet them all! Julie and I colored for a while, I gave her a pillow case dress and a few other gifts. She is a precious and affectionate little girl. I hope in the weeks to come I can meet more of the staff's families!

So that's the past couple of weeks in a nutshell. I also had my first motorcycle lesson (scary!), taught Roland his first Creole lesson, and we've had all kinds of critters around trying to cause a scene... bats, mice, and tarantulas! But I'm still loving the ministry here. I love our staff and I'm so blessed to call them friends. I pray that more groups catch the vision of Baptists 4 Haiti so that we can have groups here every week of the year! Without teams, we will have to close the doors, so please pray that more teams will sign up for the fall and we can keep everything going strong. There is so much to be done! We have 26 churches that we're trying to help, 16 of them have been assisted in some way, 10 have yet to receive any assistance, and 23 of them still need their church building completed. Will you consider giving to or serving with Baptists 4 Haiti? I'd love to see you down here and introduce you to my Haitian friends--now family! :)