Well, today was a great and adventurous day!

Well, today was a great and adventurous day!

Our morning started early as I woke at 5 am to the sounds of someone throwing up.  Normally the roosters provide the early morning wake up call, but this morning I was blessed with very different sounds.  After going outside, I discovered it was actually two of our team members struggling with the same issue.  Within fifteen minutes, one of our leaders came down to share that she had been struggling with the same issue most of the night, and was continuing to struggle.  Of course, ten minutes later, one of our girls could barely open her eye, because of an insect bite.  Yes, it was an amazing start to the day as I sat with our struggling team members and watched the sun rise over the mountains.  The Haitian sunrise always brings such hope and promise, despite the circumstances.

As I sat and contemplated our circumstances and how they might impact our day, I knew part of their struggle was the reality that they might miss out on our plans for the day.  They knew they would get an experience none of our teams had ever experienced- extensive travel through Port au Prince, through Petionville (a very wealthy area despite Haiti’s profound poverty, and to Kenscoff (a much more successful farming area) and the drive would be flanked by the homes of many of Haiti’s wealthiest people.  They knew it was a Haiti most people never see and another ability to gain insight into this amazing country.  Most of all, they knew the end of the long drive would conclude with an opportunity to love on precious children, see a different side of Haiti’s orphan problem, and plant trees at the crèche which would bless them in the future.  That’s right, a two hour drive up winding mountain roads with team members who awoke to terribly upset stomachs, was awaiting our team.  After consulting with American nurses and a Haitian doctor, we got some help for our struggling team members. 

As we pondered the question of “do you want to stay behind”, there was a determination that defied the struggling stomachs.  We prepared to travel, in a canter fully loaded with trees, shovels, meals for orphanages, and our team and translators.  As we traveled, a number of team members battled weak stomachs, some just from motion sickness, and battled through some unfortunate moments on the canter, yet our team shown incredible love for one another and lifted one another up, reached out with compassion, and fought through this challenge together. Thankfully, by the time we reached the crèche, the stomachs had settled down considerably and our team tackled our tree planting project.  They worked together tremendously, got those trees planted, and had a moment to catch the vision of Chances for Children’s crèche. We were able to spend time with the beautiful children at the crèche, and Maddie will share some more thoughts on that experience below. 

Our kids are on mission to learn all they can and serve with everything they’ve got, despite some challenging circumstances.  They are embracing every opportunity they are given.  Everybody’s doing well tonight and eager for everything we will experience tomorrow.  Tomorrow, we travel an hour up into the mountains in a completely different area from where we were today.  We are excited to plan at least 80 trees in the village of Turpin and spend time learning more about that community.  Turpin is the area where MOH has been investing in the local farmers for the past two years, teaching them how to farm more efficiently and providing them with resources to increase their crop yields.  Tomorrow we will connect with the farmers and community of Turpin, and Wednesday morning we will pack 20,000 meals with food bought from the Turpin farmers.  Those trees and meals were paid for by donations from members of our community and friends and families of our team members. 

Maddie M

“I love Haiti. I felt so much shock being here last year but this year, it’s a lot different, I feel content in Haiti. I feel like Haiti is home. I’m so thankful for perspective; today we were able to drive through Port-au-Prince on our way up to Kenscoff, to visit Jaline and Marie Line’s old crèche. I loved seeing how different Port is from the rest of Haiti, the people don’t have that overwhelming joy about them that they do out in the villages. As much as I love Haiti and so many different parts of serving Haiti, the one thing I love the most are the orphans. Don’t get me wrong, I love all those children that we love on in the villages but at the end of the day, they go home to a family, there is just something that I love so much about those children without parents. If God’s calling me anywhere above all else, it’s definitely with those kids.

            I loved being at the crèche because those kids are in God’s healing. They’re in amazing care with proper paperwork and they’re on their way to being adopted. That brokenness that I saw among the children in the orphanage at Barbancourt was leaving the eyes of these kids. They were happy. There was one girl who had her head shaved and here hair was starting to grow back. She was beautiful. To me this represented recovery. I know that Jaline had her hair shaved off to regrow it healthy. I saw a girl who was at one point probably suffering from malnutrition badly enough to need her hair shaved off. I saw hope in God bringing this giggly little girl to a full recovery.

            Anyway, Haiti’s amazing and I have just as many bug bites as last year! Bonwi!”