Light on the Hill
MOHI started in the village of Thozin, Grand-Goâve, but we have touched many other areas of the country, as well. Our second school is in a village called Palmis-a-Ver in the St. Etienne area of Leogane. We always refer to it as St. Etienne. There are about 200 children in the school and upwards of 300 in the church. The campus is situated on a lovely mountain top with breath taking views of valleys and mountains. The people rise before the sun each day to work the land, care for their animals and to travel to market areas to sell their crops and wares. They are a hardworking and content community and we have fallen in love with them over the past few years.
Even though the church and school are located on the main road, there are very few services available in the area. Whenever we have medical teams come, we always bring them to the St. Etienne Campus where so many turn out to take advantage of free medical care. We are praying for the Lord to open a door for this community to have more of a full-time medical clinic in the area.
As you drive by the St. Etienne campus, it’s easy to think that there’s no one in the area. Homes are hidden in the valleys and mountain sides under trees, so they’re hard to see. Also, the people are accustomed to walking up and down mountains in order to get anywhere, so people come from some distances to attend church and school.
Educating the children is only a starting point, but there needs to be jobs available for those children when they finish school. For this reason, we are always keeping our eyes open for business opportunities and ways to bring more jobs to the areas where we are working.
Over the past two years, we have been building a restaurant in St. Etienne, little by little. It’s a beautiful building (in my not so humble opinion) that has the potential to change the whole community, as we work together to spark the economy of the area. Janina Menze just spent three weeks with us, dreaming of how she can help finish up the building and start training people to make this a restaurant visitors can’t resist. Please let us know if you are interested in investing in this venture. Whether you have skills, stuff or cash, all can help to make this dream a reality for the people of St. Etienne.
A Light on the hill in St. Etienne
Church in Thozin
Here are a few pictures from the church in Thozin this morning. We are blessed with so many cuties and a bunch of awesome folks.
Eglise Evangelique Mission of Hope – Thozin, Grand-Goave
Pastor Lex’s sister, Christiane and brothers Raymond and Daniel joined us for church this morning.
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Private Book Signing
We always enjoy seeing Len and Cherylann Gengel when they come to Haiti. This week they brought us a copy of their new book, Heartache and Hope in Haiti. We had fun doing a photo shoot while Len personalized the book for us.
Len and Cherylann Gengel at Brit’s orphanage in Grand-Goave