EBC Day #2 - Water Truck!

1/7/20 – Day 1 (Water Truck)

I am exhausted from the previous travel day, but have a nice restful night of sleep. I wake with excitement and energy for the day. We enjoy a nice breakfast prepared for us by our Haitian team members. The best oatmeal I have ever have! During breakfast we learn that it’s a Water Truck day in Cite Soleil! Everyone is cheerful and excited! From what I have heard in the past – this day is the best! Our fearless leader gives us our jobs to get prepared for the day and we are all outside prepped and ready to go. We enjoy a quick time of instruction and prayer before we climb into the “Tap Tap” and depart the guesthouse.

As we approach Cite Soleil, I notice the conditions turn worse and worse, more trash appears in the roads, less concrete buildings and more tin made houses I see. As we arrive in Cite Soleil, and begin driving down the road – I see children naked and my heart is absolutely crushed. Again, unlike anything I have ever seen – the conditions in Port-Au-Prince were nothing compared to Cite Soleil. All of sudden as my heart has been touched and filled with mourn I hear “Hey You!” I again look outside and it’s a child yelling “Hey You”, waving with smile while on the side of the road. The “Hey You” turns from one child to many children running on both sides of our Tap Tap and while my heart is still hurting I can only smile! Smile with joy as these kids have nothing, but know what is coming and are so excited! 

We arrive at Hope School and it’s an amazing facility! Again, there is a quick introduction of who will be helping us during the day. We go over the what to expect while we deliver water and its time. The first stop is just outside the school. The children surround our Tap Tap yelling “Hey you” as I step out all I can see is the Tin Sheds staring me in the face, while children with arms stretched out wide looking for someone to pick them up. The first child I pick up I ask what his name is in Creole – which he responds with James. I give him a high-five as his face is shining with a smile! The water begins to come out of the truck and I dive into help carrying buckets to the Haitians houses. Children continue to surround us all – chanting, jumping, smiling ear to ear while enjoying our company and the water. I help carry buckets for a while until a child jumps on my back and another jumps into my arms. I am going to have to hold off on carrying water for a little bit. They are both hugging me and speaking in Creole – which I cannot understand at all, but I hug back and am overwhelmed with love. Time flies by as I take it all in – my surrounding, the children’s smiles, laughter and joy – it has been a great afternoon for this community. We head back into Hope School as we wait for the second water truck. We are given a tour of the school – which is unbelievable. We get to see the lunchroom, the classrooms, and the schoolyard. In addition, we see the “Sewing Room” – where ladies are being trained on how to sew. Last but not least, we walk into the “Innovation Room” – which is a room full of TV’s, Ipads, and a variety of technology. I believe for our whole team this was a monumental moment to understand how Healing Haiti is changing this community. Considering just 300 feet from these doors there are families living in tin sheds with no water.

Water truck 2 arrives and we are off. During the second stop – we all have experience now as a team and know what to expect and how to handle the situation. The children are all full of smiles and joyful we are there. We finish Water Truck 2 and as a team we have grown closer, made some new Haitian friends and are excited for our final stop of the day. Our final water truck of the day is next to the ocean on a pier – it is an unbelievable view of the mountains, however, as your eyes sink closer to ground level my eyes set on the people of Cite Soleil and the conditions they live in – my heart sinks again until….another joyful child jumps on my back and starts singing the ABC’s! Unfortunately, it’s time to go again. I give high-fives and hugs and climb into the Tap Tap filled with a heart full of joy as these children are the strongest and most joyful kids I have ever met. So full of joy and love for others while still living in the worst of worst conditions from my perspective. 

To wrap this up as I could continue to write forever about our first day I am going to conclude with a quick thought. I came down to Haiti to have my world shifted upside down and to have the country I see on my computer or TV back home in my face. I can tell you from this first day that I saw God out there and how he loves us. There was a brief moment when I was holding two kids in my arms - they looked at each other smiled and then both turned to me, smiled, and hugged me looking for that love they deserve. In that moment I felt the love of Jesus. No matter the circumstances we are facing – we can always find joy in the moment and love on others. That is what Jesus did and what he wants for us. To love one another. I am so excited for what is to come tomorrow. Our team has now had a whole day of serving together. We are strong and ready to bring love to the rest of the Haiti community we touch!

-      Jadde Rowe

EBC Day #1 - Travel!

1/6/20 – Travel Day

2:00am and I arise for the day. At 3:15am we arrive at the airport and are united with our team. For myself most of the team are strangers. We navigate through security and depart for our flights to Port-Au-Prince. As we fly over the city while arriving we get a quick glimpse into the place where we will be serving for the next week. It’s unlike anything I have ever seen! I see tin sheds, concrete buildings, and tarps for roofs. Next thing I know we have our luggage, meet are Healing Haiti Haitian team members who help us navigate to one of our trucks known as the “Tap Taps” We leave from the airport. As I look out all I can see is backups on the road and from my perspective no real traffic system. There is trash on the side of the road, people who are running barefoot, and others carrying water and food in buckets on their head. 

We arrive at our guesthouse for the week. We get a quick introduction from our hosts and our shown our bedrooms. There are house staff making dinner for us already and it smells AMAZING! I settle in, our team has some time outside together playing bean bags and exploring the rest of the guest house. We pray as a team before our first dinner together and I can feel we are already coming together, opening up, and starting to be more comfortable as a team. We have a quick meeting and are informed that tomorrow’s agenda is up in the air. There is no hesitation as we are here with open hearts, and ready for whatever God plans for us. We end the night in a prayer and although we were all strangers this morning – we are now friends united for what the Lord has in store for us tomorrow. Time for bed! Good Night!

-      Jadde Rowe

A Day of Rest

Today started with a wonderful worship service at a church I have never attended, Rendezvous Church. The songs were both in Kreyol and English. The sermon was in Kreyol and we were given headsets to listen to it being interpreted live in English. I hope to go there again. It was amazing!

Today is a day where we are done serving "in the field", it is a team day or a day of rest. Some of us went to the pool, some read a book and some soaked up the sun on the balcony of the guesthouse. Mid-afternoon there were naps happening and a great game of cards. Then..... we watched the VIKINGS game! It was pretty awesome.

Sunday night is a time where we talk about re-entry, coming home and what that might be like. We talk about continuing to support each other in the days, weeks and months to come. Going home is not easy. We long for our loved ones at home but our hearts are not ready to leave this beautiful place that has stolen a piece of our hearts. We are a family now and in 24 hours we will no longer be together. It is a very lonely place to be when no one understands what you just experience and why you don't have words for what you saw, only emotions and tears. If you are reading this, please be gentle with your loved ones who are returning home. Give them space and a place to "just be". Allow them time to get back to their "normal" and don't be surprised if they want a new normal. You see, we will never be the same. We can't unsee what we saw and we can't forget, nor do we want to. The experiences are here to stay and they make us better versions of ourselves. Maybe these experiences are guiding us to be the person God intended us to be. All of our "stuff" gets in the way and doesn't allow us to grow in our faith.

There was a lot of heaviness tonight as we talked about leaving, but more-so, there was a lot of thankfulness. Thankfulness for the time was got to spend here in Haiti, thankfulness for the team we love so dearly, thankfulness for how we got to serve and be served and thankfulness for a magnificent God to put all of this together.

Thank you for following our blog this week - Marni

Cite Soleil Elder Party

What a wonderful day!!!

We were able to travel to Cite Soliel to celebrate Christmas with the Elders who live in and attend church there. If you are hearing about Cite Soleil for the first time, it is important to know that it is the poorest slum area in the Western Hemisphere. There is very limited to no electricity, no access to clean water and most people live in tin shanties. This is an area where most are unable to leave, as they feel there is no way out. The poverty is real, the desperation is unimaginable. You simply can't believe or understand it unless you have been there. Typically, people who have been there have no words for what they have seen once they return home.

Why is it important to know this? Because this area has nothing. Absolutely nothing, EXCEPT the love of Christ in their hearts. Their faith is something that I rarely see at home. When greeted with "How are you?", the typical response is "Good with Jesus".  I am guilty of a selfish reply back home, "oh, I'm so busy....". My first thoughts go to the things on my to-do list. We live in a 1st world county with 1st world problems and mind sets, full of abundance. It's the things we have instead of what is in our hearts and who we are loving and serving.

Today, we served the Elders of Hope Church in Cite Soleil. When we arrived there were already about 50 people waiting for us. Our team quickly divided and knew exactly what we were going to do. We set up two stations for washing feet, one station for washing hands and one station for doing nail polish. Every single Elder was washed, lotioned, massaged, hugged, prayed over and loved on in some way while our team was there. We had worship music and most of the Elders and our team members got up and danced, it was so fun to see their smiling faces! A few Elders stood up in front of their peers and gave their testimony or sang a song that was important to them. Then, a wonderful Haitian meal was served. It was a fantastic day!

During our "word of the day", when we had group in the evening, many of us were overcome with emotions as we reminisced about our day. These beautiful Elders, so thankful.... we were so blessed by them today. Blessed by their beautiful smiles, blessed by their hugs, blessed by their "thank you's", blessed by their tears, blessed by their singing and dancing, blessed by their love.

I could go on and on about the Elders in Cite Soleil, I love them. But, I will leave with a quote from Mother Teresa..."If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." Serve the one in front of you, God put them there for a reason.

Peace - Marni

12-13-2019
We left HealingHaiti guesthouse early this morning and headed into the mountain city of Kenscoff. This was one of the newer outreach sites and although only one of our team members is new to Haiti, today was new to all of us. So the saying..."It's okay, she's new..." could be used on all of us today....except Jeff and Dave, of course. Unless....well...unless we're talking about painting nails. We are growing as a family and each year I come here, a few new members are added to experience Haiti's beauty.

Once we reached the site, many of the children were not there yet because they were finishing up their exams, but quickly filtered in and soon the church was filled with smiling faces, some shy and some eager. The language is not a barrier as we have some pretty amazing, enthusiastic interpreters.

The scenery was certainly something to look at twice. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful part of the country. The mountainside was lush. Farmers out in the field and tending their gardens. Bananas, coffee, avocados..all growing and full in the trees. Our Lord really did something amazing here as I think the land was painted with every shade of green possible....and maybe some new ones...who knows.

Whether we left to go visit elders or stayed back with the kids, we all were able to find our gift and minister to the individuals placed in our lives. It was a full day of joy and laughter. We all left intending to be those hands and feet, doing God's will as He orchestrated long ago, but somehow...in the midst of it all...we were also served and I have to think He planned that too. What a blessing it is to be in this land and to share life with the families and communities.

I'll leave with a few verses out of Revelation as seemed fitting and appeared to me as a sign of some sort as it definitely followed the day's events and really spoke some volume. You know sometimes you will hear it said that the Bible is "alive" ....I certainly believe that to be the case. Hope comes from knowing that we will someday be with our Father in heaven. We don't know when and we don't know how...but He is waiting for us all with His arms open wide. He sent His son to die for each and every one of us. I pray all our hearts be open to receive the gift that was so greatly given. It's free and cannot be earned. Jesus...the greatest servant we will ever know.

Revelation 7:9-10 KJV
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Love - Julie

An Elder Celebration

The walk to the courtyard was slow and laborious.  Many walked with a limp and some required assistance.   The elders in the Healing Haiti program have been looking forward to today: the annual Christmas party celebration.  They entered displaying a stoic demeanor as they often do.  They sat together around long tables and were welcomed with a meal and friendly conversation.  One can only image the challenges that they have faced and the hardships that they have had to endure.  They sat quietly in their fine clothes displaying little emotion.

That all changed when the worship praise music began.  As I looked at them, I saw their shoulders relax.  I saw their smiles as they started to sway with the music.  Some started clapping and some raised their hands as the music flowed through the room.  I looked at the other Haitians and at our fellow teammates.  All were lost in the music.  It's power and fervor enveloped us.  As I watched them,  I realized that the praise music had united us.  It didn't matter if we were Haitian or American, black or white, young or old and it didn't matter which language we spoke.  We all had come together as a family, if only for a little while.  In the faces of the elders, I saw love, acceptance and hope that they felt through the power and message of the music.  It was incredibly moving and I could have listened to it for hours.

With the recent days of relative peace, we were fortunate to be able to come to Titanyen and participate in this event.  It's an afternoon that I'll remember always.

" We learn something from everyone who passes through our lives.. Some lessons are painful, some are painless... but all are priceless."                Unknown

Dios, LaPherres and Home For the Sick and Dying

The day started with a great challenge from Matthew 6 to seek 1st His kingdom and not our own. We definitely got to put that challenge into practice as our "well-laid" plans were adjusted throughout the day. We went to Dios orphanage and were so lovingly welcomed by these special-needs children. We did some coloring, bubbles, jump rope and kicking the ball around. "Seek 1st His kingdom".  We couldn't go to the next orphanage yet so we just came back to the guest house and "hung out" for about 2 hrs. We then loaded the tap-tap and set off for La Phare's orphanage.  The "planned" activity was to share the wordless Gospel story using the 5 colors painted on their finger nails.....except we forgot the nail polish! Thanks to Valerie's great interaction/enthusiasm while interpreting, and the kids great attention and response to the questions asked, it went well anyway. "Seek 1st His kingdom". Katie and Valerie then led us in some songs (Creole and English) and then the children sang to us.  Beautiful worship!! We were so blessed!!  We wrapped up our time there coloring, shooting baskets, jump roping and hop-scotching--fun to see our team members reliving their childhoods!  Our last stop of the day was at the home for sick and dying babies.  It was much calmer this year than some of the previous years I've been there. We each ended up with basically 1 child the whole 1 1/2 hours we were there.  We were able to feed them and just hold them as we walked around in the outside courtyard.  They are so tiny and it''s hard to guess ages but many are 3 or 4 yrs old but the size of infants.  The love of the caregivers there was encouraging to see and we know that our many hands made their load lighter today. "Seek 1st His kingdom".

I am definitely blessed and humbled to be part of this team!!  The willingness to accept changes in the schedule, our vulnerability with each other and the fellowship of sharing our "Christ-stories" is something that only happens in the body of Christ.  Thank-you to you who are back home lifting us up in prayer and having an impact here in Haiti because you are part of that same body of Christ.
To God be the glory!!

P.S. Ashley has been able to be at both Hope and Grace clinics doing ultra-sounds. Pray for her amidst the challenge of having medical "lingo" correctly interpreted and her effectiveness in training the nurses here. It can be frustrating and hard but her attitude was "Seek 1st His kingdom" and trust.

Peace - Diane