Where He leads...: 2015

From October to December I had the opportunity to return to a city I dearly love—New Orleans. It's been over 7 years since I lived and worked in New Orleans as the ministry site coordinator for MissionLab at NOBTS. I still have such fond memories of my time there and many friends who are still living in that unique city.

In May of 2014 I was at a dinner with friends in Haiti and met Roger, a researcher from England who was doing a project in Haiti about the earthquake. He mentioned that his next project would likely take him to New Orleans to research the effects of Hurricane Katrina and lessons that can be learned. I gave him my email address and told him to let me know if I could help him in any way. Fast forward to the fall of 2015 and I accepted the opportunity to be his research assistant for his three month trip to New Orleans.

For the bulk of his research, Roger needed to conduct interviews of those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina and others who played a role in helping communities recover. I helped him make some of those initial connections for the interviews to get the doors to open for his research. It was great to be able to reconnect with several homeowners I knew from my time with MissionLab. I'll always say that my job with MissionLab was one of the most fulfilling I've ever had. I loved the opportunity to drive around the city, learning about what was needed, and then sending in teams to be able to help meet those needs. So it was really special to be able to see some of these individuals and families again so many years later and hear how they have continued to recover and rebuild after the storm.

I certainly can't and won't spoil any of Roger's research findings by commenting much on the project itself. But I will say that it was a privilege to sit with these individuals and hear their stories. I'd heard so many stories before from living in New Orleans and I had certainly seen the destruction firsthand, but to hear dozens more stories at length—the raw emotion that still exists as they talk about what they lost—and even worse who they lost, and to be back in a city that is still very much recovering from such a devastating event, it was a very meaningful three months that I will never forget. I could easily fill my own book with all that I learned from those interviews, but I'll let Roger publish his own and then we can all read it. :)

Some of my 2006 and 2007 photos from the Lower 9th Ward

Photo taken by a resident in the Upper 9th Ward who did not evacuate

Photo taken by a resident of St. Bernard Parish after returning to assess the damage

A memorial on the outskirts of St. Bernard Parish in honor of those who died from the storm and flooding. We heard the heart-wrenching story about three of the names from their grieving family member.

Even now, over 10 years later, there are still homes that bear the mark of Katrina—and homes that haven't been touched since they were gutted out years ago.

Trees on the campus of University of New Orleans that were bent (and stayed that way) from the force of the winds from Hurricane Katrina. We heard several stories about New Orleans' residents who were rescued and dropped off on UNO's campus—which offered much appreciated dry ground (though little else).

Malik Rahim, one of dozens of individuals I had the honor of meeting during my time in New Orleans. Malik has spent his life fighting against racial injustice and co-founded Common Ground Collective, a grassroots organization headquartered in the Lower 9th Ward.

And I also want to tell you about Trachell. This precious little girl is the daughter of my new friend Regina. I was driving around the 9th Ward one day and saw Trachell being unloaded off the school bus. I then watched as her mother carefully dragged her wheelchair backwards up the steps to their house. Obviously this is something the mother does every day—multiple times a day. I felt led to meet this family and talk about the possibility of getting a wheelchair ramp built for them. I visited the family with a pastor from the area and we were able to pray with Regina and encourage her. She has been struggling in many ways. We are in the process of figuring out permits and costs, etc. But I hope this is a project that I can soon share with you so we can come together and provide a ramp for this family. Please join me in praying for Regina and Trachell and their sweet family. This little girl is an inspiration to all who know her!

I will forever admire the resiliency of those who have lost so much yet still find the strength to begin again.

“Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all... As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.” (G.K. Chesterton)

While at a thrift store recently I passed by a teacher's companion about October. It was a thick book filled with dozens of pages of creative ideas and activities for teaching about this colorful month. I can still remember learning about the seasons in elementary school. Our teachers would adorn the walls with decorations representing each month. I'd head home after school, ready to proudly display my collage of leaves we'd collected outside and glued to the paper. I couldn't imagine a day in class that didn't include some creative learning activities.

As I've spent the last decade traveling to and living in countries where the majority of children do not share the same privileges I had growing up, I've realized that one of the main things I've taken for granted throughout my life is my education. And growing up in a town with a good public school system, my education was essentially free. For 13 years I was able to attend great schools, with trained and devoted teachers, learning everything from geometry to physics, poetry to French, and even clay and ceramics. For free. While I mostly enjoyed school, I know I had my "But I don't want to go to school, Mommy" days. I had no idea what a privilege my education was.

Let's consider Haiti. You can google "Haiti education statistics" and find a list of sad figures:

50% of children are not enrolled in primary school
Less than 1/3 of those children will reach the fifth grade
1/3 of girls over the age of 6 never attend school
More than 50% of children enrolled in school are overage
Less than 5% of students graduate high school (I've seen statistics as low as 2%)

And one survey indicates that "Haitians who are 25 years and older received on average only 4.9 years of education and only 29 percent attended secondary school".

When I think of the incredible education so many of us have had, my heart breaks for the kids I've passed on the streets of Haiti who've had to trade their pencils for a broom. Instead of putting on a brightly colored uniform like other kids in their community, they stay home and help cook, clean, and fetch water. Granted, most Haitian kids whether in school or not help with household chores, but too many kids in Haiti are missing out on an education because their families can't afford to send them to school. School in Haiti is not free. The majority of schools in Haiti are privately managed and the fees per child per year range from $125-180. Parents are also expected to purchase a school uniform and dress shoes for each child. When you consider that 75% of Haitians live on less then $2 a day and 50% of Haitians live on less than $1 a day, education becomes a luxury that many families cannot afford. In my experience, this is a common reason many parents surrender their children to orphanages. I think of Maxolyn who I met in 2012 and how she approached me about giving her boys to my friend's orphanage because she wanted them to have an education that she could never afford. That conversation is what triggered the school sponsorship program that I've been heading up each summer since then.

1st row: Debora, Jeff, Samuel

2nd row: Snaïder, Dialine, Djoubens

3rd row: Esaie, Dave, Marisol

4th row: Verley, Joulie, Christele

For $200 you can give the gift of education to a child in Haiti. Your gift will pay for school enrollment and provide a uniform and pair of shoes for the school year. There are twelve kids I need to find sponsors for this year. You can see their photos and names above. If you would like to sponsor a child for the 2015-2016 school year you can send a check made out to Hannah Sterling to P.O. Box 4878, Maryville, TN 37802 or you can make a donation via Paypal by clicking the button below. I'll be taking the school sponsorship money with me on my trip to Haiti July 14th so I need to receive your donation by July 10th. Feel free to include the name of the child you would like to sponsor, otherwise I will choose one for you. Once all the children are sponsored I will send you more information about your sponsored child.

I want to thank many of you who have helped these kids over the years. Several of you have been repeat sponsors. Thank you! And thanks to my sweet friend Kylie's 6th grade class at Maryville Christian School, one child out of these 12 has already been sponsored. So only 11 to go! Thank you for considering giving the precious gift of education to a child in Haiti! What a difference a gift like this can make in the life of a child and for the entire family!

As most of you know, for the past 3 years I've been helping a special group of kids in Haiti. What started as a casual relationship with a children's home through an organization I was with in 2012 turned into a connection and dedication to 24 kids that I never could have imagined.

The kids at Hope For Life Children's Home in Gressier, Haiti have become more special to me than words can describe. From the beginning, their smiles and laughter brought such joy to my heart. I remember hugging them that first summer... many of them with tiny, unhealthy bodies, and praying that God would provide for their needs. Little did I know how His plans would unravel to use me and many of you to start transforming their lives.

In 2013, I focused mostly on food security for the children. Plain and simple, the kids did not have enough food. Proof of that was when we had to admit 4 of them into a nutrition program and supplement their diets with a nutrient-rich peanut butter to try and get their health back on track. Sadly, as is the case with many children in Haiti, malnutrition during those important early years in life often stunts growth permanently. Many of our children will always be small for their age, and a pair of brothers have an especially difficult time putting on weight. But 2013 brought many successes when it came to better health and nutrition for the kids. The children's home was accepted to partner with an organization called Love a Child and once a month they can drive 2-3 hours to pick up 30+ boxes of food packed by Feed My Starving Children, enough to provide a monthly supply of lunches for the children. They also received a 6-month grant for a breakfast program so for those 6 months they were able to have a balanced breakfast every day.

In 2014, another big achievement happened when they partnered with Allow The Children, a ministry that manages child sponsorship programs around the globe. That partnership came just in time as the breakfast program grant was closing out, and more funds were needed for meals. The sponsorship program allows for the children's nutritional, educational, and medical needs to be met. While more sponsors are still needed, there is a solid base of sponsors already that are helping to meet these important needs.

That brings us to 2015. Around Christmastime we were approached by two donors, a church and a family, who wanted to help the children's home through some large donations. After praying about what the biggest need was for our children, we decided that it's past due for the children to move into a new home. Since the earthquake in 2010, the children have been living in a plywood structure that turns into a sauna in the hot summer months and is a hot spot for disease-carrying mosquitoes. After getting a couple bids for the new build, a contract was signed to build a new dorm for $52,830. Over $32,000 was given in December by Ekklesia Hattiesburg and a family in Tennessee and so I launched an online fundraiser to raise the remaining $20,000.

With one week left of the online fundraiser, we still need $15,000 to complete the dorm. Construction began in April and has been going strong, but starting in June construction will stop if more funds aren't raised soon.

When I look back at the past three years, I'm absolutely amazed to see the progress at Hope For Life. Not only are the kids healthier, but many small projects have been accomplished and it simply doesn't look like the same place I first visited in 2012. Thanks to many of you the kids have a better and safer place to live, play, and go to school. Recently a perimeter fence and new gate were installed around the children's home by teams from Baptists 4 Haiti. That project alone was huge in improving safety for our children.

I know that God will continue to provide for these precious children. And I'm honored by the opportunity to have gotten to know each of them and to help in the ways that God has allowed me to. Now I'm asking for more of my friends to step up and help with the biggest project yet. We need people who can give $20, $50 or even $100 to help finish the dorm. Every dollar will add up to a big difference for these children.

You can donate online here: http://bit.ly/new dorm or you can mail a check made out to "Holy Spirit Haiti Mission" to ATTN: Hannah Sterling, P.O. Box 4878, Maryville, TN 37802. Both options are tax-deductible.

Thanks for helping me love these children in tangible ways! I can't wait to show you photos of the kids in their new home!!

So much has been done but we need your help to finish!

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

I’ve always thought of delighting myself in the Lord to mean finding happiness and pleasure in Him. Enjoying Him—His love, my relationship with Him, the beauty He created all around me. And while that is certainly part of it, there is more. The psalmists and others throughout the Scriptures speak of delighting in the Lord as it relates to His precepts and commands, His Word. As I reflect on this I realize that delighting in the Lord is not only about finding delight in who God is and what He does, but it’s about delighting in what He tells us to do. We are to delight in Him by loving and obeying Him. So taking this and applying it back to what we read in Psalm 37:4… what if the verse read:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and in obeying the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

I don’t want to turn this new personal revelation into a legalistic constraint—obey God, and then He will do such and such. However the Scriptures are clear that our actions have consequences. Thankfully, the truth always remains that God loves us unconditionally and there is tremendous peace and joy found in that. At the same time, the Scriptures remind us that if we love the Lord we will obey His commands (1 John 5:3, John 14:15, 2 John 1:6). So I truly believe that our love for Him and our obedience to Him are not mutually exclusive. Growing up, I obeyed my parents not only because I had to, but because I wanted to. I loved them and I respected them. I wanted to honor them and make them proud. Certainly there were times I would have preferred to do what I wanted instead, but wisdom now tells me that those selfish desires weren’t leading me down the best path. My way would have perhaps given me the desires of my flesh, but God says that if I delight myself in Him and in obeying Him—He will give me the desires of my heart. And to not confuse my heart with that part of me that can also be confused and deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9)—I’m thinking of it as the place where my soul is knitted together with my physical body and my life on this earth—that special connection that bonds God’s heavenly Kingdom with His earthly one. That place where I exist to serve Him and serve others. Where I realize that God’s blessings are better than anything I could achieve or construct on my own. God created me (all of us) for a purpose, to fulfill His Kingdom purpose that all may know Him. My ultimate desire should be the same as Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:39,42—to do His will. As I delight myself in doing His will, not only am I helping His Kingdom come to earth but God is filling my Spirit with His—resulting in incredible blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 6:22-23).

Delighting myself in the Lord “arms me for battle”. I’m filled with the fruit of the Spirit. I’m clothed with spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18). God is with me and equipping me to do His good works. His purposes will prevail and He is working them out through me. The enemy is ready to distract and derail me, but I must keep me eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and draw my strength from the Lord daily—hourly (Psalm 28:7).

We all have desires for our lives. But the most important desire we should have is to love God by obeying Him and following His will for our lives. There truly is such joy and peace found in delighting in the Lord, our Shepherd and King. As we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, everything else will come together just as He has planned (Matthew 6:33). And as I've learned over and over again... His plans are always best!

Last year I wrote about Kanaval and a bit of its history. This year the main celebrations will be in Port au Prince right at Mardi Gras time, but each year the coastal town of Jacmel boasts the most colorful and cultural experience according to many.

I was able to head down for the main day of the parades over the weekend. I've always seen the photos in the tourism books and had it on my bucket list to go snap some of my own.

Enjoy!

(This was a post I wrote for FHM's blog.) I finally got a chance over the weekend to visit Cap-Haïtien. Cap-Haïtien is in the north of Haiti and has a population of just under 200,000, making it the second largest city in Haiti. You can get there by public transportation, or make the drive yourself. It's about a 6 hour drive from Port au Prince. Or you can hop a plane and be there in 25 minutes! That's what we did! We chose Sunrise Airways ($186 round-trip) compared to Tortug' Air (only $100, but too many bad reviews for our liking.) I recommend Dramamine if the bumpiness of a small plane gets to you.

The city of Cap-Haïtien is neat to explore, though we didn't do much of that ourselves. It reminds me of a mix between Port au Prince, Jacmel, and Santo Domingo. There are dozens of narrow streets organized in a numbered and lettered grid layout, which makes it easy to find your way around. Our hotel sent a shuttle for us, so we mostly just saw the big cathedral in town and then we checked out the "boulevard" the day we flew out and had a pizza lunch overlooking the water.

I was most excited to visit Cap-Haïtien so I could go to the Citadel ("Citadelle Laferrière" or "Citadelle Henri Christophe"). It's less than 20 miles from Cap-Haïtien near the town of Milot. We have a friend who has an office in Milot and he let us crash there for two nights. Our first full day of the trip was our planned time to tour the mountaintop fortress. Unfortunately this was the worst day for it. :(

From the time we landed in Friday night, it rained almost 24 hours straight. Including our entire tour of the Citadel. We didn't have a car, so we had to use motorcycle taxis and horses to trek the 5 miles from the foot of the mountain in Milot to reach the Citadel at the top. It's rare that you find yourself cold in Haiti. But it's safe to say that I was pretty miserably cold and wet. Not exactly the adventure we had planned. I pulled my camera out a few times to snap some pictures. No panoramic views like I see from everyone else's visit. The clouds were all around us and you couldn't see out past the border of the fortress itself. More of what I'd expect from exploring a castle on a cool day in Scotland than what I'd had in mind for my Haitian vacation weekend. But we tried to make the best of it!

The Citadel was built by Henri Christophe after Haiti gained independence from France to protect against future invasions. From The Lonely Planet: "[The Citadel] was completed in 1820, employed 20,000 people over 15 years and held enough supplies to sustain the royal family and a garrison of 5000 troops for a year. With 4m-thick walls that reach heights of 40m, the fortress was impenetrable, although its cannons were never fired in anger."

Here's a photo from Zoom Sur Haïti to give you a better glimpse of the fortress, the curvy mountain road we rode up, and the incredible panoramic views we had hoped to see!

On the way up to the Citadel you pass San-Souci Palace. "Sans souci" means "carefree" in French. This was the residence of Henri Christophe completed in 1813. It was mostly destroyed in an earthquake in 1842 and never rebuilt. We didn't go inside because of the rain. We stopped back by the day we left Milot and took some photos from outside the gate.

Our last night we decided to splurge for a relaxing time at the beach. We stayed atCormier Plage, about a 20 minute drive from Cap-Haïtien up and over some dirt mountain roads. Cormier Plage has nice rooms, plenty of beach chairs, some great hammocks perfect for an afternoon nap, a delicious menu, and even a masseuse on the beach ready to offer you a relaxing massage!

Cormier Plage is not far from Labadee, a popular tourist destination and where there is a cruise port. We woke up to this giant ship cruising by.

I definitely recommend a trip to Cap-Haïtien. I suppose I'll keep it on my bucket list in case I ever have the chance to go back to the Citadel on a sunnier day! And I'd love to check out some of the quiet tropical beaches near Labadee. Next time!

Catching a glimpse of the Citadel one last time before we flew out.

It's on the right of the two peaks.

(This is a post I wrote for FHM's blog.) To say Soinie is an inspiration is an understatement! This determined lady is breaking the mold in order to build a better life for her family and the community of Fondwa.

Soinie (pronounced swah-nee) has joined up with our construction crew to build FHM's birthing center. That's right, she's helping with construction! :) She has worked with Michael Anello, the project manager for our birthing center, on a few of his projects... as a cook. Each day the guys take a break for lunch and are served a delicious hot meal. As Soinie watched the men put up building after building, she began dreaming about an opportunity for her to join the crew. The construction job pays more than what she was making as a cook and with five children to care for, she knew this could be a chance for her to help them even more. She approached Michael with her idea and he agreed!

Living about ten minutes down the road from the job site, Soinie knows the area well. While she looks out over the mountains and acknowledges the beautiful home she has, she also knows the struggles that Haitian families face living so far from a big town. There are no hospitals and only small remote clinics dotted throughout the trails. And even those are few and far between with limited hours and services. FHM's birthing center and women's health clinic will be an incredible opportunity for the women of Fondwa and neighboring villages to receive pre- and postnatal treatment, and of course help during delivery.

"I have five children," Soinie tells me. "I had all of them at my house. Only their father was there to help me. Thanks to God, all of them were healthy deliveries. Had there been a problem I would have had to try to go to the hospital in Leogane."

The hospital in Leogane is about 15 miles down the mountain from Fondwa. You would have to flag down at least two public transportation vehicles to get there. If you didn't live near the main road, you'd have to walk or ride a donkey 15 minutes or two hours (or more!) depending on where you lived to even get to that point. And for a woman who is in the middle of a complicated delivery, her chances of reaching the hospital in time are slim.

"This is a good project for this community," she continues. "There is no hospital here. The women need a place to go for medical care."

When asked how the men received her on the job site she said they have no problem with it. I asked Ozee, one of the guys, for his thoughts and he said they're all happy to have her on the crew. "Li janm!" he said, meaning she's fit and very capable of doing her job. The women who've seen her working on the project call her a "fanm vanyan" which literally translates as a valiant woman. It has the same meaning in English... a woman who is admirable, strong, courageous. A few of them have even said that they would love to join her on the crew!

We couldn't be more thrilled to see the birthing center project underway. And having Soinie on the crew is an added bonus! "Women helping women!" Ozee says as he watches Soinie pass by with her buckets. "It's good. Very good." We couldn't agree more! This community is rallying together for the sake of their community. Exciting things are happening in Fondwa! It's good. Very good!

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