Sept 20-22, 2019
It was my first time to go to Haiti representing Haiti Joy Hope, which was so great! The last time I had been there in October of 2018, was the actual beginning of Haiti Joy Hope (in my eyes and in their eyes, not yet official in the US government’s eyes). Sharon Howerton, a familiar and loved face from the previous 7 years, joined me on this trip. Our first full day there on the Source de la Grace campus was Friday, September 20, 2019. We were the happy recipients of lots of smiles, hugs and kisses!
It was a very difficult time in Haiti and they were having school that day, but only a small percentage of children from the community were able to come, and not all the teachers were able to make it that day. Still it was sweet to hear the sounds of education taking place that morning!
In the afternoon, we had a sweet time with the Children’s Home kids, seeing their new uniforms for the first time (which they wore with such joy), telling them how long we would be there and what we hoped to do with them for the next 9 days. They were so sweet and hospitable, showing us new things that we hadn’t seen before, like their little garden plots and how big their chickens had gotten (that they looked forward to having for meals at the appropriate time :)).
On Saturday, we gathered in the morning and started the James Bible Study. They were intrigued by the fact that James was the brother of Jesus, that they both had the same Mom. Then, beginning with the last chapter, we talked about the patience of the farmer, and how James said that we too needed to be patient and stand firm (5:8). We planted nearly-sprouting green bean seeds in tiny starter pots. They watered them and placed them in a place where they would get sun, but not too much of the extreme heat. There was a fun, family feel as we laughed and planted and watered!
On Sunday, we enjoyed being in the church services. There was very low attendance, the lowest I’d seen in 7 years. The demonstrations and gang violence had gotten so bad that it took great courage to go to church or set up vendor booths on the sidewalks. Such a difficult time for Haiti. Made my heart very sad. But, oh, it was so good to worship again with our Haitian brothers and sisters.
After the services, we had a short time with the kids at the Children’s Home. We broke out the 24 piece jigsaw puzzles and Uno game. It was a fairly new concept to do a jigsaw puzzle, so I had the privilege of showing a number of kids how to first do the outside edge, then use the picture on the box to put together the inside of the puzzle. They loved it! Such a simple pleasure.
Over the last number of years, they’ve gotten used to us bringing Uno, so the teenagers had fun hanging out and playing Uno on the Children’s Home porch (one of my favorite places on earth).
