Thursday and Friday

Thursday our group got to go to the Mass Graves, Grace Village, on Elder Visits, and Flueri Restaurant.  Over the years these places have really developed and every year that we come back we see significant advances.  One of my favorite aspects of Healing Haiti is how they are able to pivot as an organization.  They start or work to start a new program, see that it is not working perfectly and change that program to something even better.  There are several examples from the past few days.

We began our travels by stopping at the Mass Graves.  The Mass graves were a necessity after the 7.0 magnitude earth quake in 2010 that claimed over 200,000 lives.  After several days, the cemetery in the city was full and there were too many bodies that the government did not know what to do with them.  They brought those bodies out to Titanyen, an area about 1 hour outside of the city, to a hilly and somewhat deserted area.  Once people started to hear about the Mass Graves, they began to bring their own loved ones out there as a final resting place.  In the first few years it was simply enclosed by walls, but each year it seems that they develop and improve it.  It is truly a beautiful place of peace.  Our host, Valerie, was able to tell a little bit of the history and the importance of this day in the life of Haitians.

After a short time we traveled a little further to Grace Village.  Grave Village was the dream and vision of Jeff and Alyn Gacek and has simply improved each year.  It started out as an orphanage with rooms for boys and girls and a feeding center.  A school was added shortly.  Then a clinic for the people of Titanyen.  Now the orphanage has pivoted so that permanent orphans are in home pods with house moms (and dads when available) and brothers and sisters.  They have chores, and try to live as much as a family as possible.  The dorm rooms are still used for housing, but now when the government needs to find temporary placement for orphans they request that Grace Village take them in.  These children are called stop and go children, because they probably will not be permanent residents of Grace Village.  There are also transition children that live in these dorms.  These are young men and women that have grown too old to be orphans and are transitioning to life on their own.  Some of them are in college, some of them are in technical school or in some way getting ready to live life outside the orphanage.  The school has also grown beyond what it once was.  Now students that live outside of Grace Village also attend the school.  Each student pays tuition that covers their education, their uniform, a meal every day, and their books.  Students can be sponsored  through Healing Haiti.  Healing Haiti knows that without education there is no good future for their own children and for the children of Titanyen.  The school has one of the first technology labs that is building knowledge in the tech fields as well.

Finally, Healing Haiti has opened Flueri Restaurant and Bakery.  The goal is to teach people to become bakers, give them skills, sell bread to people who will sell in the market, and at the same time sell to businesses.  We were given a tour by Peterson, a Haitian that was educated in the U.S. in business. He is the second in command at the bakery and restaurant.  He told us that they used to go through 5-6 sacks of flour a week and they now go through about 10 a day.  Their business is booming.  They have also opened a restaurant in connection to the bakery.  They are teaching the transition students skills to help them succeed in the real world.  The goal of Healing Haiti is to eliminate orphanages in Haiti by becoming job creators and eliminating the need for orphanages.  The fact is that in Haiti, like in many developing countries, there is a significant percentage of orphans that actually have parents.  The reality is that these parents simply cannot afford to raise their children, so they bring them to orphanages where they believe they will have better lives.  Healing Haiti would like to eliminate the need for parents to feel like they need to give away their children for a better life.

Prior to visiting Fleuri Bakery and Restaurant we visited some of the elders in the community.  We went into the homes of elders that are sponsored by Healing Haiti.  As soon as we arrived, we got to work washing their feet, painting their nails, and giving hand and neck massages while Rocky and Izzy played the guitar and we all sang. We also brought them meals and gift bags filled with towels, soap, and snacks.  This was the first time many of us have ever washed someones feet even though Jesus instructs his disciples (and us) in John 13:14-15 to "wash each others feet".  It was an emotional and beautiful moment being able to serve them and see the joy in their eyes.  It was easy to love on the them because they reminded us of our grandparents and how they are some of the greatest blessings in our lives.  We ended our visit with a group prayer for each of their special prayer requests.  

Then it was back to the guesthouse for a traditional "Haitian food" meal consisting of chicken drumsticks, meatballs, plantains, okra, beans, cucumbers, and of course rice and beans with a traditional potato and gravy sauce.  

Another special time of our trips is our reflection time at the end of each day.  We start with a devotion and end up sitting around for hours visiting, crying, and discussing the highs and lows of each day.        

Friday morning we woke up at a quarter to six to head to Church on the Rock. It was a very eye-opening experience getting to observe a display of such great faith. It was apparent to see the Holy
Spirit living within the attendants including our team. The pastor prayed for Israel, for the U.S, and even for our whole group by name.

We then went back to City Soleil and played with the kids at Stop 17, which is where Hope Church is located. It was very exciting recognizing familiar faces that we saw the previous Wednesday on a water truck stop. We spent our time swinging children around, playing soccer (futbol), and getting fresh new updos from the little girls.  Playing with the kids is amazing, but also remembering the situation that they are in is difficult.  When we took out bubbles it started out very calm, but the moment other kids see the bubbles they try to take them away.  It is a simple reminder that if you have little even a little bottle of bubbles is something desirable.  

Lance, Nancy, Lauren, and Bailey were able to meet their sponsored child at Hope School and it was very heartwarming for them. Then we were given the opportunity to serve the children lunch at Hope School.  The summer program at Hope Church feeds each of the kids a meal a day- maybe their only meal for the day.

We then headed to Fleuri Restaurant near Grace Village for pizza and fun.

Water is life

Go to your kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room and turn on the faucet.  What happens?  Water flows out at a temperature that you choose, of course.  Go to the grocery store or gas station and look in the water section to see which kind of water you want to drink today.  Some of these products, which comes free out of the tap, can cost more than $3 for a bottle.  But it tastes better, right?

Today we went into City Soleil, the poorest slum in the Western Hemisphere, to give water to people who have no option of turning on a faucet, nor the means to afford water for their family.  Healing Haiti runs a free water truck 6 days a week to give families something they need, a necessity of life.  We went today to help distribute the water to these families.

There are several jobs that are needed at the water truck stops.  The first is running the hose.  You crouch at the front of a long line of buckets as water flows from the fire hose.  Your job is to make sure that you fill each bucket while at the same time not spilling any on the ground.  During the whole process you have people who are desperate for water- this could be the only water they get for a few days until the Healing Haiti water truck returns- speaking loudly in a language you don't understand as you do your very best to give as many people water. You usually have 2 assistants, one who holds the hose up and another who helps move buckets to the front.  They can also take over when your back gets sore from crouching.

The second job is to help carry buckets.  Usually women and kids from 8-14 are responsible for getting the water from the truck to their homes in buckets that weigh between 25-50 pounds, depending.  Some bucket have handles with the plastic to protect the hands, some of them no longer have the plastic, and some of the buckets don't even have handles anymore.  Without the help of the group, they would be left to do the grueling work by themselves.  Another aspect of this job is to help the women lift these buckets on top of their heads, which is an amazing feat itself.  While lifting the bucket you really need to make sure that you are following the lead of the woman because if you go too fast you will lift beyond what she is lifting and end up spilling the precious cargo, or if you lift it too slowly the same thing will occur.  You need to be able to follow her direction and pay attention to what she is doing.

The final job is loving up the kids.  When the water truck rolls down the street it is as if someone has sent a message to all the children in the neighborhood that Healing Haiti is there and ready to love up on them.  Many of the children in City Soleil do not get the same type of attention that we are accustomed to seeing, so they crave attention from the "Hey you's" that come to deliver the water.  Some of these children are restavek children, which are child slaves.  Most of them coming to the city with a promise for a better life, but getting much worse than they ever imagined.  The love that they are shown during the water truck stops may be the only love that they will receive until the next water truck.  We probably heard "hey you" over 1000 times today, but I bet no one in the group got sick of it.  Watching group members hold 1-3 kids in their arms at a time is one of the best sites to see.

We were given a special treat today as the transition kids from Grace Village (Haitian orphans who are too old to stay in the orphanage so are transitioning to college or careers) who intern at Fleuri Bakery and Restaurant joined us for their service day.  The young people that intern at Fleuri do a service project each week and today they joined us on the water truck.

We met them at Hope Church.  Hope Church is a church and a school that was literally built on the trash in City Soleil.  When they built the church they had to, twice, dig deeper and get longer footings because the trash was so deep.  Today Hope School has kindergarten- 2nd graders.  Each year they add a class.  Eventually, the plan is to have a kindergarten-8th grade school.

After one of our stops we got to visit Fleuri Farms.  Three years ago Healing Haiti bought farm land (approximately 20 acres) now called Flueri Farm.  When they bought the land it had some fruits and vegetables already planted and since have planted more.  It has plantains, sugar cane, mangoes (used at the Flueri restaurant in their Mango Creme Brulee), coconuts, limes, avocados, and pomegranates.  We even got to taste some of the produce.  It was very cool and I can see it growing into something bigger and better.

Tonight we were able to reflect on the importance of simply loving others the best we can!  Days like these can be exhausting but are so rewarding and eye opening.

Tomorrow is another full day full of great experiences.

So Many Blessings...

Tuesday, August 7th

Lauren and Lance woke up the earliest to help our Haitian hostesses make an awesome breakfast of scrambled eggs, oatmeal, pancakes, fresh mangoes, pineapple, bananas, and avocado.  They also have fresh juice every morning from the tree in the yard and it is amazing.  

After eating we prepared for our day.  Our first stop was Gertrude's orphanage.  Gertrude has about 30-40 kids some are disabled and some are able bodied children of all ages.  Entering her compound brings such joy as the children showed such excitement for our presence.  We felt blessed to be in their presence as well.  Nora planned an awesome dreamcatcher craft activity that all the kids (and adults) really enjoyed.  Some of the kids used the materials to make cute dreamcatchers and others just used the materials to make necklaces and bracelets.  They really loved the beads.  It was so much fun watching the group play with kids in wheelchairs, swinging in the swings, and just holding the babies.  It was quite the experience.  

We left Gertrude's and came back to the guest house for the afternoon.  A bunch of us went over to Elite Hotel to cool off and have some french fries.  

The afternoon's activity split the group where the Schmidt family, Livvy, Marcos, Lauren, John and Ella went to the home for Sick and Dying Babies.  That group split in half and went to the room with the infants and the other half went to the room with toddlers to help feed.  When we entered the place was pretty quiet, but that would all change.  After the feedings we began to hold the kids.  The moment that you went to put one down they would begin to cry.  Luckily after feeding there were two other groups that joined us to love up on some kids.  Each person in the group held one or two babies at a time.  It was difficult, beautiful, fulfilling, and heartbreaking all at the same time.  The work that the sisters of charity are doing is amazing as they take babies who are malnourished and bring them back to health.  

Nancy, Lance, Hannah, Nora, Joanna, Rocky, and Bailey went to For Your Glory orphanage. 

There were 55 kids and 2 dogs there today. All of the kids were excited to see us visitors pull up as they were all sticking their heads out of the windows. When they were let out of their rooms, they were everywhere. A lot of us sat at the arts and crafts table to make necklaces and color pictures. Some kids even drew portraits of every individual visitor. Others were kicking balls around and playing with marbles. Rocky was in the back playing guitar while kids sang along helped him strum with sticks and other make-shift guitar picks. The kids knew a lot of contemporary Christian songs and Rocky and the kids worked together to play them.

We got back around 5pm to an awesome dinner of rice and ramen, which seems like a weird pairing but is actually pretty amazing.  We definitely have not gone hungry!  We ended the night with reflection time.  Ella shared her families experience with trying to adopt which put the whole day into perspective.  

We had a great day filled with so many blessings!

A New Adventure Waits

Our team consisting of the Kratch family- Nancy, Lance, Lauren, Bailey plus Marco; the Schmidt Family- Rebekah, Steve, Emma, and Izzy; Nora, Livie, Hannah, Rocky, John, Ella, Joanna made it safe and sound to Haiti after a long day of travel.  We are leaving behind important people and important events, but are ready to embrace all that Haiti has to offer.  All of us were up very early, but travel went well and we arrived to the beauty that awaits us.  We shared a meal of awesome tacos- especially that Guacamole filled our bellies.  The fellowship that we shared is a good introduction to what we will be sharing throughout the week.  Tomorrow is going to be an awesome day.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we open our hearts to what Jesus has in store for us.  We will pray for all of you throughout the week as well.  More to come!

Mother/Daughter Davis.Larson

DAY 3 ON THE GROUND IN HAITI.  Moms & daughters team from Minnesota.

We’re 72 hours into our missions trip with Healing Haiti.  Fifteen females and thus far no drama among team members?  That’s an incredible streak.  Anyone who lives with teenage girls should know we’ve got a good thing going right now.

This morning, we saw one of the best-run orphanages in town.  (Mind you, this is my first trip to Haiti, so my reference point is limited to the last three days.)  Even so, the children were happy, well-fed, organized, obedient, and clean.  I’m not sure there’s an exact quote from Scripture that says “cleanliness is next to godliness”, but it sure rings true in this case.  God’s presence is felt in this school/orphanage/church/mission field. 

Most of the team members spent time with a dozen different kids, floating between playing soccer, making bead bracelets, skipping rope or coloring.  The girls were resourceful; the moms were troopers.  (We do have over-achievers in this group; I’m not one of them, but if you’re married to one – you already know that!)   I was saved by a 16-year old boy who wanted to improve his English-speaking skills, so we spent 30 minutes working on all kinds of common English phrases.  Like calling “when the land shook” an earthquake.  Like learning his dad was killed “when the land shook” and he still misses his father terribly.  Like learning his mom was sent to the Dominican Republic to get a job so she could send money back for her kids.  Which was why this 16-year old boy and his six siblings landed at the orphanage. I asked him if he knew Jesus.  “YES, I pray to Jesus every day and love him for giving my mom a job in the Dominican Republic.”  Well, now we had something cooking.

Our midday stop included an inside peek at a serious effort to create a sustainable business and employ a dozen women in the process.   Papillon is the name of the little shop & factory.  The jobs at Papillon give men and women dignity  -- and a salary:  the pottery &  jewelry made are of good quality and very marketable.  The messaging is faith-based and filled with hope.  Hats off to everyone behind this effort! 

We split up into two groups on the final stop of the day.  (Leave it to Minnesotans to try to “cover everything”, these over-achieving Midwesterners.)  Six team members went to a quiet orphanage, and although spread thin, found time to connect with each kid, whether special-needs, ornery, happy or shy.    

The other ten stopped at Home for Sick & Dying Babies.  The name of the place tells you everything you need to know.  A few of us (me) cried the first twenty minutes until we got our bearings, then we went to work loving on these kids.   “No phones, no pictures, period”:  the posted signs made it clear these little babies weren’t to be exploited. 

I have to hand it to Healing Haiti for their clear policy of not bringing cell phones or any electronics into these locations.  Yes, we don’t need selfies posted on Instagram.  More practically, though, I was struggling with the heat and desperately wanted to know how much time we had left at that location.  Temps were hovering at 98 and the heat-index was well-above 105 degrees.  I wanted my phone to see what time it was.  I was also irritated at myself for being so miserably hot and letting it affect my experience –  how effective I was (or wasn’t).   “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak;” even the great Apostle Paul experienced this.  Dear Lord, this afternoon was blazing hot!

5pm did finally come and we were free to go.  On our way out, we stumbled upon the reason we were absolutely supposed to stay there until closing time for visitors:  the priest was administering Last Rites to Maria, a little girl making her journey from death to life.  The ten of us surrounded the crib and prayed with the priest and the nuns, as Maria was sent to her heavenly home with dignity, love, and, finally, no more pain.  “Yea, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.  Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

Mother/Daughter Team2 Davis/Larson

Tuesday, July 31^st – Moms & Daughters Team:

Our sweet (and pretty) team from Minnesota is filled with fun, energetic, devoted -- and mostly very sweaty -- mothers & daughters.  Breakfast was terrific:  fresh mango, avocado, bananas, eggs, thick pancakes, and some kind of juice that tasted like blended papaya & oranges. Pretty much everything my teenagers eat at home each morning, right?

We departed mid-morning for our first stop with the water truck.  We navigated quickly on the tap-tap (the Haitian version of a taxi) and were on our way.  Our team felt a sense of peace – and purpose – as we hopped out of the tap-tap.  Delivering water in a slum neighborhood is not comparable to any other experience in Minnesota.  I was trying to make a reference point, but it’s difficult.  Think of going to the Minnesota State Fair on the busiest day at Midway (hot, crowded, dense) then imagine you are working the only food/water/drink station at the fair.  Everyone has to come and stand in line and wait for you to fill their bucket with water, the only clean and safe hydration source for a week.  Now takeaway all the other amenities at the fair, and you have a small picture of “water truck day” in Haiti. 

The words that the teenage girls came up with to describe delivering fresh water in Cite Soleil were all honest:  chaotic, intense, meaningful, life-changing, purposeful.  I can confidently admit that we don’t operate right on the edges of life or death, living in Minnesota.  God has blessed our state and our country, even though we all know its challenges (and disappointments).  But to see children, pregnant mothers, and a few teenagers jostling and shoving each other to get their bucket filled is a wake up call for all of us to thank our Lord Jesus for what He provides to us every day.

We made two more stops with the water truck, each to a different part in Cite Soleil.  The second stop felt uncomfortable, probably because this neighborhood hadn’t received fresh water in some time.  Is it any wonder?

First time to Haiti, and the smells, sounds and sights of the country are overwhelming, and not in a good way (at least to this first-time team member).  Look beyond the filth, the garbage piles, and what passes for a “house”, though, and you do see joy on the faces of the children in the midst of these conditions.  A good lesson for those of us so accustomed to a fast internet connection, a Caribou Coffee nearby, and a vehicle that not only works, but also has AC.

My most profound thought while viewing the snaking line of humanity waiting for water (I had a lot of un-profound thoughts, too) was that these people need water for life. We all do.  Jesus promises Living Water for our souls to ensure we are never thirsty again.   We just have to drink.  ~Brenda Alberts & daughter Emma

Hosanna! Student Ministries Haiti Team Blog - Day 7 (FINAL POST!)

Our seventh and final day was full of some fun and sun. We started off our day going back to Grace Church for service at 9 am. The service was made up of a lot of singing, prayer, and a message all in Creole. We had a translator after the singing ended which even though was all in Creole it was amazing and one of the songs we knew in english which was cool.

We then proceeded to listen the pastor talk until we left to go to a resort and swim at the beach and pool. The ride to the resort was beautiful. We really got to see a good shot of the mountain side and the ocean. When we got there we set our stuff by the ocean and swam in the beautiful blue clear rocky water. The beach was not sand but rocks which was difficult to walk but it was well worth it when you got in the water. We then had a really good Haitian lunch which really was worth the wait of the line we waited in to get it. We then finished off relaxing by the pool, playing games with our Haitian drivers and translators which are now our friends, and buying some cool things from the locals selling stuff on the beach. We stayed there till about 4 O’clock until we headed back to the guesthouse.

On our way back we got into a little fender bender with another team’s tap tap but thankfully God had us all wrapped up in his arms and we are all okay and so are our drivers so everything turned out okay. We had an another amazing meal made by our cooks called Shepard's pie which was an awesome dinner meal to end the trip off with. We all closed with pit time and a re-entry activity for coming home tomorrow. The last full day in Haiti couldn't of gone any better it was truly a blessed week and we are really sad to leave but exited to see everyone back at home.

comments from blogger;
Karenna: We miss everyone so much and exited to come tomorrow to see everyone love you all very much and will see you all tomorrow!!:)

Leader Reminder: Families, our flights tomorrow include...

• Delta Flight DL 684 from PAP to Atlanta
• Delta Flight DL 356 from Atlanta to MSP - the current landing time is listed as 10:53 pm. Please keep an eye on the airline tracking in the event that a flight gets delayed.

See you all soon!

Blessings,

Hosanna! Student Ministries Haiti Team 2018