Food Security…and the Lack Thereof

     Crazy Prices

Something happened to prices in the open market while we were in America.  Plastic cups, which sold for seven Haitian dollars per sleeve now sell for twelve.  Eggs, which sold for about $30 Ht now sell for $45.  So it is for most everything that we buy locally.  While most food prices have increased by 50%+ wages have not.  It is times like this that often lead to uprisings in such a poor economy.  Please pray for the people of Haiti who struggle day in and day out to put food on their tables.

I remember when A. Jay was a colicky baby.  At about 4pm each day he would start screaming and crying.  It’s just heart-wrenching for a mom to deal with an inconsolable baby.  It lasted only a couple of months, but I worked hard every one of those nights to try to comfort and calm him.  I found that if I stood in front of the dishwasher, with it running, and rocked him in my arms, that he would calm down.  I would put a blanket on the floor and put him down once I felt he was sleeping soundly.  Lord help me when the dish washer came to the end of the cycle.  I had the cleanest dishes in Gardner during that time.  I would make sure the dish washer ran until at least midnight every night.  I would do anything in my power to keep him from waking and screaming again.

I often think of that time when I consider the mothers in this country who are so challenged to feed their families.  A hungry baby cries and cries.  A hungry child whines and cries and pulls on mom’s skirt and it never stops…until food is given.  A. Jay was only colicky for a couple of months.  There are children whose lifestyle is to be hungry.  How do these moms cope?  Why do they have to?  It’s one of the injustices in this world, for sure.

     Feeding Programs

School feeding programs are one of the best ways to ensure that children are eating regularly.  When we first started the mission, we didn’t have food for the students.  What a difference when we started feeding the kids.  So often the kids would fall asleep during class.  After we started feeding them, they were lively and rambunctious.   Their grades improved.  Their faces changed.  Everything about them seemed to improve.  I was seeing with my own eyes what I had learned in school, that it matters what we eat.  For some of our students, if they didn’t eat at school, they would likely not eat every day.

It costs a lot of money to feed school children everyday.  We have over eight hundred children in school.  Over the years we have received some of the school food from the World Food Program.  We actually were distributing food (rice, beans, oil and salt) to 30 schools in partnership with them.  Now, for reasons beyond my comprehension, no food is being given by them for any of these schools.  We are grateful that when we really needed it, Food for the Poor and Kids Against Hunger came through with food for us.  Food for the Poor gives a portion of the food we need.  Kids Against Hunger has sent us two containers of rice and soy meals.  This food helps to feed our school kids, but we also distribute it to others in need, such as orphanages and families in crisis.

While we were in the States, we had the privilege of participating in a food packaging event at The Chapel.  As a result, there are cases of food that will be available to us in January to help continue feeding these and other children.

It can be a bit nerve wracking to not know where the food is coming from for the school.  But I always remember the verse from the Bible that says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.“ (Psalm 37:25 KJV) and I am confident that the Lord will always provide food for these youngsters  (aka “my babies”).

     Peanut Butter

Amazing!  Five Fire Departments from rural Massachusetts have donated over a ton of peanut butter to Mission of Hope International!  We are so grateful to Cheryl “Chel” Finn, who caught the vision and ran with it.  Now it’s no longer hers alone.

Last Fall, we asked friends and partners to collect peanut butter for us so that we could ship it to Haiti.  Everywhere we went people were bringing us peanut butter.  It was great.  Chel, who teaches and works with many firefighters in Massachusetts, spread the word among her friends and co-workers.  Well, that spark caused a fire and there developed a competition between several departments to see who would donate the most peanut butter.  Chel’s husband, Charles, crafted the Great Peanut Butter Challenge trophy, which went to the Douglas Fire Department, with over 200 jars of peanut butter donated.

This Fall, we didn’t ask for peanut butter donations, but the fire that started last year, rekindled.  Now we are no longer counting jars, but rather by pounds.  Here are the resulting donations:  1st place East Brookfield 732.05 lbs  …  2nd place Rutland 491.625 lbs  …  3rd Douglas 369.125 lbs  …  4th Mendon 287.359375 lbs  …  Honorable mention Uxbridge 186.6875 lbs …  All together these five fire stations donated just over 2,066 pounds of peanut butter.

It’s fun to see the competition and enjoyment caused by the Great Peanut Butter Challenge, but it’s rather sobering to realize that this peanut butter will impact the lives of hundreds of children living at risk.  According to figures from the CIA World Factbook, the infant mortality rate (deaths/1,000 live births) in Haiti is 50.92.  18.9% of children under the age of 5 (when they are most at risk of death) are underweight.  We are talking not only about quality of life, but life and death.  We are so grateful for the efforts of so many to send peanut butter to Haiti.  The peanut butter has been donated, now we need to ship it to Haiti.  Because of the overwhelming response, we are in need of about $2,000 more this year than last.  Please consider donating to get this peanut butter to where it will make a real difference in the lives of children.

Healthcare

     Leah

We have been so blessed to have Leah Fuller with us for three months, working in the Thozin medical clinic.  I have enjoyed the “deep” conversations we have had over patient issues, general injustices and cute babies.  Leah spent 6 months with our fellow missionary friend, Ed Locket, prior to coming to MOHI.  She adopted many of his skills for loving on kids, remembering names, interrupting adult conversation to pay attention to them, etc.  I have had so much fun walking between the office and the missionary compound with her.  All the little ones call out to her along the way.  It’s precious.

Leah will be returning to MOHI in January to serve full time – for a “to be determined by God” length of time.  Together with Angela, we will continue providing the much needed services and medicines to the people of our communities and the students at MOHI.

     Prevention

I remember hearing my mom/grandmother saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of medicine.”  It’s so exciting to me that MOHI is becoming more and more proactive in prevention.  All of our students receive medicine to help them not contract worms and they are being taught good sanitation practice.  The community and our staff are also learning the importance of good sanitation, as Pastor Kevin has been sharing educational videos (in Kreyol) in the clinic waiting area.  This week he also held a class for our workers at the missionary compound about food safety and hand washing.

     The Mobile Medical Clinic Arrives

We have been talking about the mobile medical clinic.  We have walked through it.  We have helped pack food to put in it.  We have been a part of the packing.  We have dreamed of its arrival in Haiti.  Now, we have seen it arrived here.  I can’t even describe to you the excitement I felt upon seeing the bus drive into our Thozin campus Thursday night.  I told our staff that was there for the arrival, “it’s 38 feet long!”  Pastor Hakine said, “Oh no, it’s much longer than that.”  I took the tape measure out and we measured it – 38 feet.  The point is, it’s sooooo long!  That means there’s plenty of room for holding everything we need to drive to a remote location and hold a medical clinic.

Leah shared a story with me recently, that just reaffirmed in me the need for this bus.  She told me of a woman who lives in a remote area where there is no healthcare available.  She had high blood pressure, but could not afford to get herself to the next city, be consulted by a doctor and purchase bp medicine.  The woman eventually had a stroke and is suffering from the damage now.  A mobile medical clinic visiting her village monthly would have made a world of difference for her.  High blood pressure and diabetes are both situations that need to be treated continuously.  I believe that the Lord will utilize this bus to save many, many lives in many remote areas of Haiti.  Please keep the medical ministry here in prayer, trusting the Lord to grow it and sustain it, according to His will.

     Vision

Paul Fallon’s time here also overlapped with the Bless Back Worldwide team.  (You remember Paul Fallon, architect extraordinaire!!!)  It was great that Melissa, who is our point person for BBW, was actually on this team and got to share some ideas with Paul.  We had a great meeting where we developed more of a plan for the medical clinic, the addition of dental and a new position for the school science lab.  The recent BBW teams have included dental professionals and they have barely been able to scratch the surface of the need we’re seeing here.  It’s wonderful that BBW is interested in long-term solutions for our students and communities.

Church

     Thozin

We were blessed this morning by a timely message (for me, at least) from Pastor Kevin.  I was encouraged to stretch my faith.  I shouldn’t depend on what I know I can or cannot do, but I should expect God to do amazing things, just as we see recorded in the book of Acts.

Pastor Kevin and Tammy will be leaving this week for a quick trip back to the States.  We pray they are able to accomplish everything they’re setting out to do and return to us encouraged and just RARIN’ to go.

     Sunday School

We’re implementing some changes in our Children’s Sunday School program.  Honestly, it’s pretty exciting!  Lex sat down our leaders and laid out some of his goals for the program.  Angela is now adding her experience to that of our other Sunday School leaders (Alexis, Carline and Luc Sony).  We’ve also added a budget, to enable a snack and drink for the kids.  This morning was a great start, but it seems that we will need to increase our staff pretty much…immediately, as we had 148 children in three classrooms.  Nevertheless, it was a very encouraging start.  There are lots of great things in store for these kids!

     Incredible Worship

There’s an incredible worship service happening right now as I am trying to finish up this post.  Wow!!!   Alexis is translating for Pastor Kevin and the music’s going and they’re singing in the spirit about Jesus coming back.  I just had to go join in for a bit.  Wish you all could have been here with us for this one.  So glad, too, that Ed Locket is back!

Electrical

We are grateful to Ted Bronson for his generosity.  Ted not only donated and shipped his van, filled with electrical supplies to Haiti, but he also came himself to get things started.  This week Ted worked hand in hand with our crew to get the cables run from the electric pole to the electric room, underground to the school.  They installed all the breaker panels and went over details with us.  Now we will be working on the inside wiring.

Library and Computer Lab

Having architect Paul Fallon back in Haiti for a bit was just awesome.  He got the roof and stairs built in the new electrical building and did some estimates (to complete the school, to make an awesome library and to improve our medical/dental facilities).  We also got to go over some changes coming up in the school and he advised us on how to adjust the use of the building to accommodate those changes.  One change is that the science lab will now become the computer lab, next to the library.  The science lab will join the medical/dental clinic area.

Carpeting has now been purchased for both the library and computer rooms (thanks to a generous donor!) and should be shipping down here in a few weeks.  Robert Ende and Cynthia Reid brought us forty new Kindle readers last week to add to our collection of books.  Each Kindle can hold well over a thousand books.  Many classics are available, free of charge.  Others will need to be purchased.  An Amazon gift card would be a great Christmas gift for our classes – just in case you were looking for a unique giving opportunity. (*smile*)

We had a couple of our high school graduates join Tammy this week, learning how to use the Kindles.  We are hoping to bring them on as part time librarians in December or January.  Even though the library room itself will not yet be ready, we are eager to begin using the Kindles and physical books that we have stored right now.  Perhaps when the rooms are ready, our staff will all be ready, too.

School

It’s wild to be in the school yard and feel like it’s still vacation time.  The students are in classrooms once again.  Yay!  There’s such a sense of pride all around.  We are so blessed to have a school building that is solid and provides space for each classroom to work independently.

Every morning when I arrive, however, I am VERY aware that school is going on.  All the preschool classes start out their day with singing and dancing in the yard.  It’s so much fun to watch them.  Of course they do tend to wander away and come over to grab onto the missionaries a little bit, too.

Missionaries

We are so blessed to have several full time missionaries working and/or living with us now.  Besides the four Edmés, Angela Parayson, Kevin & Tammy Groder and Leah Fuller now call MOHI home.  I am incredibly grateful that God has brought people that I can get along with.  (I know, you all thought that was an easy thing, but they all know better!)  I feel like we’re all family and I love it!