Day 4: Grace Village, Elder visits in Titanyen, Shalom Orphanage, & Mass Graves

What a busy and productive day. What did God want me to see today? He wanted me so see hope.  We went to Grace Village and saw so much hope for all the children who are getting educated. Grace Village started new homes where children live in a house within the village to learn what a family looks like, what are each persons roles in order to go out into adulthood knowing what to expect and to be successful outside the orphanage.

What did God want me to see during our elder visits. He wanted me to see humbling acts of serving people.  I watched young adults wash the dirty feet of elder people with such humility that it was if I were watching Jesus wash the disciple's feet. They were so appreciative of any gifts of food and water brought. They have toiled their whole lives but expect nothing. They show such faith that amazes me.

At Shalom orphanage, what did God want me to see?  He showed me that children react to love shown them. They are orphaned but trust you when they jump in your arms that they will receive love. They smile when you bring an art project that allows then to express themselves.  And they write I love you on these art projects.

At the Mass Graves, God wanted to show me that all people matter.  After the earthquake in 2010, so many Haitians lost there lives.  Approximately 300,000 or more. During the after effects of the earth quake, the need arose to have to bury many people quickly, so a mass grave was dug and now this site is being made into a memorial that is a sad reflection on the many people who lost their lives during this tragedy . It is very humbling to stand on the holy ground in this nation.

Then what did God what me to see when we started handing out water and Feed My Starving Children food "manna" packs to some very thirsty, hungry children who just ran out to see if there would be any food given out. How desperate they were. Some tried to hide what you had given them in order to try to get more. God wanted me to see this desperation in order to break my heart for what breaks His and to act.  Feed as many as you can with what you can and then to allow God to fill them with what they really need...Jesus Christ as their Savior.
~Carolyn

Day 3: Church, Home for the Sick & Dying Babies, Christian Light School, Gertrude's Orphanage & Apparent Project!

Today was a pretty packed day for our group as we started very early and attended our first church service at 6am. Although it was mostly in Creole, it was still a very powerful service, all the people there praising with so much passion, you could feel what they were saying and singing in your bones.

We were able to go help out at Home for the Sick and Dying Babies, which is a Catholic based charity here in Haiti, and were just beside ourselves that we got to hold all the little babies there. Being able to just love on them and have them love on us too, in just the simplest way, by just gently resting their hand or their head on you, relaxing into your arms. It was a very emotional time to interact with all the babies and just to know that for that hour or two, you made a huge difference to that baby. Being a representative of God's love and showing that God loves all his children.
We all knew it wouldn't be easy when it came time to depart, putting any of them down is difficult enough, let alone walking away. My personal experience was with this little girl, I'm always going to remember she was wearing a yellow dress and had the biggest eyes. She could tell it was time for me to go and tears just started to roll down her cheeks. I wiped her tears away, gave her a hug and a kiss on her head, then I had to go. Honestly, one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, I had to hold back my own tears. You can walk away from that knowing in your heart you made a difference to a child, but I'm not just walking away with that, all those children made a difference in my life, I am forever changed by those children, by their smiles, their eyes, this whole experience.

The visit to the Christian Light School and Orphanage was a special part of our trip.  The school serves pre-school aged children through twelfth grade.  Since the school is new they are currently graduating their first class with 4 very high achieving students who are expected to go on and do well. The hope is that some day they will give back to others within the Haitian community.   Their education process involves continuous testing to to assure the children are achieving up to the high expectations of the school. The children we saw seemed excited to be in class and eager to learn. The 350 students may represent a small portion of the Haitian children population, but with God's help can be the future leaders and bring hope for the future of Haiti.  Small changes make a big difference over time and in their future. (Wayne & Candi)


The next place we were serving in was a special needs orphanage where we were able to help with feeding the kids lunch and playing with them afterwards. What a rewarding experience to love on those kids that were excited by such simple joys as swinging on the swings, being held, and strolled around in their wheelchairs. We were all very moved and humbled by serving and loving on the kids here. For some of us this was a new experience, for others it was reconnecting with kids that we have loved on in the past. Wayne was a genuine expression of God's love as he reconnected with a little boy with a big zest to laugh, walk and love. Neither of these two encounters we could take pictures at due to the facilities request.

The last thing we did today was we got to go to the Apparent Project, which is a store where Haitians are employed to make all sorts of things like mugs, jewelry, and tin art. By being employed they are able to keep their children, send them to school, and purchase a house with a lock on their door. Everything they make is out of recycled material found here in Haiti from clay to steel drums to cereal boxes. Back in the U.S. we have all these fancy materials we use to make jewelry and crafts, well here in Haiti they make jewelry out of the clay and out of cereal boxes. They pound out steel drums to make beautiful wall hangings, candle holders, little figurines, all sorts of things. It's just so incredible how they can make all these beautiful things out of such simple materials, honestly it's an art form.
~Josey & Julie

Day 2: Water Truck Day

Today was our first water truck day and it was above and beyond what I had expected. We all rode in the tap tap to where they fill up the water trucks, and it was a very bumpy ride but that made it all the more fun and exciting.
We went with the water truck to City Soleil to distribute the water, and when we would start pulling up there were all these little children just running towards the truck with huge smiles on their faces. There was a long line of people lined up with their buckets that we would fill up with water and they would then carry them back to their homes. Also, on one of our water truck stops, we were able to take a walk down to the docks and see the boats, the kids playing in the ocean and there were even a few kids fishing. I was holding a little girl and she just loved to dance, she would dance in my arms and when I put her down she was having me give her a little twirl and then she would twirl me too.

All the kids would just run up to all of us and give us hugs and hold up their arms to get picked up, they loved being held, they loved playing games and using a bunch of us as human jungle gyms.
We also were able to go to a Haitian School to drop off some school supplies and get a little tour. Immediately when we got inside, kids would just hold your hand and lead you around and ask you your name. They were all so eager and beyond friendly towards all of us.
Another awesome thing we got to do was go to the Haiti Initiative, which is the soccer/school/feeding program in Cite Soleil. A few of us actually got to do some drills and play a soccer game with the boys, who are very, very good, there's a lot of talent and hard work out on that field.

Over all, it was a very packed day, very hot, and definitely easy to get burnt out, but our team is amazing, we're all troopers and it made it all the more easy to keep on going just seeing the giant smiles on all the kids faces, all the hope in their eyes, all the love they received and all the love they gave to us.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the whole world.

~Josey

Day 1: we've arrived!

After a early morning start, and a smooth commute to Miami we arrived in Port Au Prince to a warm 92! We loaded our 23 donation suitcases, plus 14 carry on's up and headed to the guest house. We had a great evening getting settled in, sorting our donations and getting to unwind as a team. A big day tomorrow as we get ready for going to 3 water trucks stops! Keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we are needing strength to be 100% for His kids in Cite Soleil.