Friends from Kids Against Hunger Global

Starting the painting day with prayer

Taking a break from painting

What a special time we had this week with our friends from Kids Against Hunger Global (Tulsa, OK).  Marshall & Sherry Horn, Dr. Gary & Melissa Lee, Jillian Lee and Brian Gosselin jumped right into the fun.

The team started out on Monday, working on painting the house that KAH had paid to have built for Mireille and her family.  There was quite a bit of shopping for furniture and household supplies.  Brian and Dr. Lee built bunk beds and a cool shelving unit for the house, too.

Building the bunk beds…

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We were blessed to have Dr. Lee working in the clinic with Leah for a few days.  He did a second operation on Alexis’ toe, brought some new medicine for Fritzon (our patient with the ulcers on his ankles) and helped out many others.  Leah’s Friday was the best ever, when they removed Fritzon’s dressings to find remarkable improvement.

Dr Gary Lee joined us for clinics

Tuesday the team had the opportunity to do some hot feedings.  One at Pastor Enoch’s orphanage, here in Grand-Goâve and a second one at our St Etienne campus.  They also had the opportunity to give some items away in St Etienne, which is always a blessing.

Wednesday all the Americans (except for A. Jay and me) took the boat to the big island, la Gonave.  Lex had brought medicines and food out the day before in preparation for this visit.  Over 50 people were helped by Dr. Lee, Leah, Alexis, Tammy, Jillian, Melissa and Jackie.  In the isolated, fishing village of Aux Pacque, simple ibuprofen can mean a world of difference.  Hundreds of packaged meals, donated by KAH, were distributed to the people, along with toys and candy for the kids.  The team presented the local soccer club with new soccer balls, pumps and needles.  Talk about being excited!  The soccer players were very grateful for the gifts.

Thursday we all (except Tammy) went to visit an orphanage in Archaie that our friends Bob and Sally Heier introduced us to.  We brought cases of KAH food with us to leave with them.  The twenty children there are being raised by an older man we all call Papa, his wife, their sons and their staff.  I love the atmosphere there.  The kids are all very respectful and just beautiful (and great singers!).  They are really doing a nice job with them and we are so glad to be able to bring assistance to them, as the Lord provides.

Friday was a day to reconnect with the kids in Thozin, to finish up the shelves and shopping for the house.  By Saturday morning at 9, the curtains were hung, the furniture in place, the beds made, new clothes laid out, toys placed in toy bins and special gifts were in their places in the house.  We presented the new home to Mireille and her children.  There were many tears of joy (both American and Haitian!) during Marshall’s prayer and the exhorations that followed.

A sweet home!

The team left for the airport at 10:30 Saturday morning, but not without a hitch.  That being, Kendy.  Kendy is the one the Lord used to help rescue close to one hundred children from a bad situation where they were living.  He’s the one that we all fell in love with and couldn’t turn our backs on.  Sherry was especially determined to make sure of that.  Kendy has been waiting about 5 years for Sherry to come back to Haiti.  He was soooo excited to see her again.  Even though he was only 4 when he met her, he never forgot her.  Even Alexis and A. Jay, who are virtually never fooled by our little actors in the school, were moved by the love Kendy obviously has for Sherry.  Now, as the goodbyes were being said, Kendy said goodbye to Sherry and walked away.  After a bit someone said, “Hey, Kendy, what’s the matter?”  He was sitting on a bench in the corner of the church, all alone, sobbing.  Kendy tried hard to “suck it up and be a man” but it was hard – especially as the rest of us started to tear up!

Parting is such sweet sorrow…

Kendy is fine.  Once the team left, he started planning his family’s move.  His mom had planned to move in on Sunday, but Kendy (in all of his 9 years of wisdom) would hear nothing of it.  Mireille finally gave in and they all carried their personal items up the mountain to their new home.  I wondered if they would make it to church this morning.  I was pleasantly surprised to see all of them nicely cleaned up, wearing nice clothes (and their new sunglasses) and their big smiles in church this morning.  They had a wonderful first night in their beautiful new home, thanks to Jesus and their friends from Tulsa.

Can you feel the love?

The Library

I’m so excited about developments for our school library.  On the electronic side of things, we have XO laptops from Child in Hand that our kids have been learning to use.  Books for Haiti has procured donations for 40 Kindles, which can be used in the library and classroom alike.  We have about one thousand books in French and English that are being cataloged for placement in the library.  Melissa Lee, from Tulsa, has decided to make this library project her own.  Now, if you know Melissa, you already have an idea of how exciting this is to me.  Melissa makes everything she touches beautiful.  She will be collecting books, as well as deciding on all the interior finishes for the library.  We are hoping that Brian Gosselin will be returning this winter with a team to execute the plan in Melissa’s mind.

Here’s what Melissa had to say about it on her Facebook wall…

“I absolutely love to see the progress that is being made in Haiti since our first visit in 2008, through Mission of Hope International! However, we have so much more to do! We will continue sending food, of course! For now, our next immediate project is to complete the LIBRARY in the MOHI School!! Details to follow! 🙂 Thank you to all our friends and family for your prayers, we appreciate you so much! Sherry Latham Horn and Marshall, Renee Rosen Edme and Lex Edme we cant imagine better people to link arms with!”

So few students have access to any books, beyond text books.  I love reading books and find it so sad that these kids don’t know the joy of curling up with a good book.  Well, Praise God!  That’s about to change!  Not only will they have access to books, but they will also have a comfortable room, conducive to going on an adventure (in their minds), as they read about far away places.

Now that Tammy Groder is here full time, she is ready to facilitate the creation of this library.  She will be working with Melissa on the US side and our staff here in Haiti.  She will have the opportunity to train our librarian(s), making this project happen.  I just love how the Lord brings the right people together to join hand in hand to see dreams turn into realities.

New Teams

This weekend we welcomed a team from One Laptop Per Child.  They are working on setting up electricity for the library/computer lab and bringing Internet in a Box to our students.  This will thrill our students, who will begin working with it this week.  They intend to work with the kids on film making, too.  Yay!  We also welcomed some new friends from Missouri, Patricia Penberth, her son Stephen and their friend Allie Perry.  Tricia is an RN and will be helping Leah in the clinic.  Allie and Stephen will be doing various things, mostly helping prepare for the opening of school.

Church

Today is a triple church service day.  We started out with our morning service in Thozin and then went up into the mountains of St Etienne to join them for their final day of conference.  It was a long service with LOTS of music.  There were many churches represented and we were so blessed to see the great turnout there.  This evening we will come together again at the church in Thozin for an English/Kreyol communion service.

Conference at the MOHI church in St Etienne

America Calling

Our family will be heading back to America in less than a week. While I am so looking forward to having a break from what is the “norm” here and seeing so many friends in the States, it is also a time of more stress than normal, as I attempt to complete more tasks than time is likely to permit. If you think of me at all this week, please pray. I know that I can do all things through Christ. I also know that what I need to do is impossible without Him. I’m so grateful for His presence in my life this week – and always. Hope to see you soon!