Where He leads...: July 2013

So this is the blog entry I've been looking forward to writing for months! Earlier this year I met a group of artists who don't live too far from the children's home. This creative group of Haitians have formed a sort of artists guild and I was inspired by them before even having met them! After visiting their workshop and seeing them in action, I asked them if they would be interested in teaching the kids at Hope For Life how to make some of the crafts. I told them how I had been teaching them how to make jewelry and they'd been selling it to visitors to help provide income for the children's home. The group was interested--thankfully!--and we made a plan to get started once I could help gather all the necessary materials. Thanks to my trip to Miami in May and to many of you for donating supplies, I finally got it all together and was able to give the green light to start the project. Yesterday was day one of Paper Maché 101. Three of the ladies will be going two mornings a week for four weeks to teach them how to make paper maché birds--the craft I fell in love with the most and specifically requested that they teach the kids.

This morning (thanks to the holiday Carnaval des Fleurs which gave me a day off) I was able to go to the children's home to see the craft making in action! Did I mention how excited I am about this?! I'm ecstatic! I'm just hoping and praying that the kids learn well and are able to replicate this after the artists finish their "class". Judging on how well they picked up making earrings, I have high hopes!

An example of what the finished product will look like

There are of course many ways to make a base design for paper maché. We were hoping to use foam, but what I brought wasn't wide enough. This was option B and it seemed to work well!

We wrapped the stuffed cardboard ends together with masking tape to make a bird shape

The paper soaked overnight and is ready to be dried out

They use the bags to drain and twist out the excess water

Breaking up the dried paper into tiny bits

Mima is showing the kids how to make the paper maché "glue". This was really interesting! They made it on the stove and it turned into this sticky gel.

They mixed and mashed the "glue" in with the paper

And then began to coat their birds with the mixture

To be continued in the weeks ahead...!

It's crazy to think that I'm already more than halfway through my year long internship with CNP. The past six months have been filled to the brim with learning and activities! In the time I've been here I've seen one latrine project completed and another hit the ground running. We've gotten our first mobile nutrition clinic started in four communities in the mountains--and we will soon have three others following suit! I've been a part of beginning our first adolescent sexual health project and have observed dozens of Hearth sessions and Rally Posts. From what I can figure, I've hiked over 150 miles in total and have spent 12 nights sleeping in the homes of our Haitian friends in the mountains. When people ask me how my time has been so far with CNP I tell them two things, "I have learned so much! And I have had the opportunity to experience so much!" I consider both of those things key ingredients for a fulfilled life!

While coming to Haiti wasn't a brand new or shocking experience for me (after living and spending time in other developing countries), I still have so much to learn. Over the years I've come to understand even better that there is often more than one right way of doing things. But when it comes to working in the developing world (and for life in general), there is one right attitude that you need to maintain--an attitude of learning. One person who exemplifies this attitude for me is my boss Kerry. She has worked in and out of Haiti for over 20 years and she will be the first to say that she will never fully understand Haiti. Just when she thinks she has the "Haitian way" figured out, something comes along and blows that theory out of the water! I take comfort in that knowing that in the almost two years since my first trip to Haiti, I also do not have Haiti figured out. And I'm accepting that I don't need to. For me, the journey towards understanding is as exciting as the understanding itself.

The love I have for this little girl couldn't be described if I tried! And that goes for all the special kids at Hope For Life Children's Home! But this little girl, Karen (or Carine in Creole), has stolen my heart!

Carine was brought to Pastor Jean Marc two months after the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010. Her mother and all her family had died. She wasn't even a year old. To this day, they haven't found anyone connected to her. She's taken the pastor's last name in order to be registered for school. She is an orphan in the truest sense of the word. And she is one of 21 kids who live at the children's home and need YOUR help!

You can go to their website and see a list of current needs--www.hopeforlifehaiti.com. They need food (they are currently only eating twice a day), they need a security fence around their property, they need help paying the teachers so they can keep the school open on their own land and not have to pay to send the children elsewhere. They need to know they are loved and not forgotten.

You may not have a lot to give, but every bit helps! An example... I've got over 2,000 friends on Facebook. If everyone gave even just $5 that's over $10,000 to help these precious kids! You can give on the website via Paypal or contact me to send a check by mail. 100% will go to help these kids! I'm trying to make this easy because here's the thing... there are needs everywhere, all around us, and those of us with the means have the responsibility to help care for those who don't. Here's your chance. Pray, act, give. YOU are needed.

Abigail is a teenage girl who lives at El Shaddai Children's Home near Croix Des Bouquets, Haiti. I had the privilege of meeting her on Sunday during my third visit there since early last year. When the children found out I spoke Creole, several of them flocked to me. I soon found myself answering a number of questions that have become pretty common during moments like these...

"How did you learn Creole?"

"Do you like Haiti?"

"How long have you been here?"

"Do you have children?"

"Are you married?" (Yes, typically in that order.)

Several of them remember me as the lady who brought suckers and elastic bracelets to them last March. I was surprised and impressed by that memory from well over a year ago. One informed me that his bracelet has since broken and I apologized and pointed out the much better one he has on his wrist now, recently given to him by someone on a mission team.

One fun exchange with them started with one girl asking if I was from America and when I responded, "Yes, I'm from the United States" she was confused. I explained that America and the United States are often used interchangeably and another said, "Someone from the United States is an American." That turned into a game that went like this...

Child 1: "Someone from Canada is..."

Me: "Canadian"

Me: "Someone from Haiti is..."

Children: "Haitian!"

Me: "Someone from Africa is..."

Children: "African!"

Child 1: "Someone from Madagascar is..."

Me: "Mad-a-gas-car-ian?!" We all laughed. "Where did you hear of Madagascar?!"

Child 1: "A map."

Me: "And the movie?"

Children: "Yes!" which was followed by the seemingly universal song and dance, "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to--MOVE IT!!"

But back to Miss Abigail. She too was asking me tons of questions about my life and was very interested in the children at Hope For Life Children's Home when I told her that I was involved there. She was asking how far along the older kids were in school and what their plans were after graduating from school and/or "graduating" from the children's home.

When Abigail graduates she wants to become a doctor. I asked if she wanted to be in a doctor in Haiti to help her own country. With a big smile on her face she said, "Yes! I want to become a doctor and then build a hospital and have doctors and nurses and everything to help the people of Haiti!" And she's dead serious. She told me that she has three years left before she graduates from secondary school. After that she said she'll have seven years of school before becoming a doctor. "So that makes ten years and then I'll start my plans to build the hospital." She told me that I'll be old by then and I laughed and said that's fine because when I'm old that's when I'll need her to be my doctor.

Meeting Abigail and discussing her future plans was such a sweet time. I tried to do my best to encourage her to continue following her dreams. I can already tell she's a leader at the children's home and helps look after the little ones. She has a special light in her eyes and her smile is so contagious!

Often I find in Haiti that kids don't really know how to dream. That's in stark contrast to how I was raised. Since I was a little girl I dreamed of what I would be when I grew up. My siblings and I kept a journal each year from kindergarten to high school graduation and that was one of the questions to answer. Each year it was something different. I remember around 1st grade I wrote out all the days of the week and each day was for a different occupation. I need to go back and look at those, but they included everything from zookeeper to teacher to doctor. And I suppose on any given day in my life now, I'm fulfilling those roles! I was always told that I could be whatever I wanted to be, and I believed it.

I realize it's different here in Haiti. Children grow up understanding the reality of their situation and the often limited reach they have for anything different. I've asked dozens of children what they want to be when they grow up, and the majority of them--after taking a while to even process the question--respond with practical answers such as moto driver, food vendor, mechanic, and builder. And not that anything is wrong with those answers, certainly we need those professions, but I find hope in young people like Abigail.

Somewhere along her journey Abigail has learned how to dream big and dream confidently. After meeting Abigail and hearing her story, I'm encouraged to pray more. To pray for Abigail that her dream can be realized. To pray for Haiti that it can become a country for dreamers. To pray for these kids that they can see beyond the reality of today and hope and confidently dream for a better tomorrow. And I tell you this so that you can pray too. And that we can put our heads and hearts together for how to make Haiti, the U.S., and the world all places where dreams can come true--however big or little they are. I'm thankful for the ministry of El Shaddai and how they are trying to raise up a godly, determined, and hopeful generation of children. And I pray that Abigail can be one of many children who despite the odds, can prosper and bring hope and healing to her own country--and be an example for others to follow.

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