EBC Day #4 - Haiti Teen Challenge, Papillon, & Orphanage

1/9/20 - Day #4

Bonswa from Nick and Christa! That means good afternoon in Creole. Neither of us were too keen on writing the blog so we decided to co-author one together! Day 4 started off to a sleepy, slow start. The activities, lack of sleep, and general craziness of the week had finally caught up to us. It’s also the midpoint of the trip and I think it’s knowing our mission as a team is quickly coming to an end.

Our first stop of the day brought us on the tap tap (bus/taxi) to Haiti Teen Challenge. We visited the young ladies and we listened to two brave young women share their stories while two of our volunteers shared theirs in return. There was a bridge that was gapped today when the Haitian girls realized that other people struggled and have dealt with some of the same things as them. After we prayed together as a group we were given a tour of the housing area which was simply furnished and clean. Once we were done we had a group picture taken, some hugs were given, and we were on our way to the next stop.

After we visited the women we made our way over to the men’s center. One young man was able to share his story since we were short on time, but it touched everyone and we were changed by his testimony and all the others’ who had shared before him.

We made our way to the next stop at Papillon, a café/gift shop. The food and smoothies we were delicious!! Every bite and sip were amazing and so were the workers. In the gift shop they sold homemade ceramic mugs, stuffed animals, art, and beads. Every piece is lovingly handmade by the workers. If you feel led to do so, I highly recommend going to their website at papillonmarketplace.com and making a purchase to help the Haitian economy. Every dollar, every smile, every hug helps serve God’s purpose through each of us.

After we finished our food and shopping we were given a tour by one of the workers. We were able to see how they made handmade beads out of clay. Each worker makes 2,000 a day! They use cereal boxes cut in long triangle strips to make very colorful and very unique earrings, bracelets and necklaces. We were shown the kilns where the pottery was heated in a three-step process. Each of the 7 skilled workers have the ability to craft 70 of these amazing pots a day. Then we went where the women were making stuffed animals, games and purses with Singer sewing machines.

It was a bumpy ride as we made our way to the next stop. No one has mentioned it yet but there are minimal rules for driving in Haiti compared to the U.S. There’s lots of honking horns, swerving, hopping up on curbs, and avoiding motorcyclists who swerve in and out of the smallest of spaces where you wouldn’t think one would be able to fit. But we have some very talented drivers who get us to our destinations safely!

Once we got to our final stop for the day we made our way into a small orphanage that partners with Healing Haiti. The men were able to communicate with the kids and started to play a basketball game called lightning, even with the language barrier. While half the kids played basketball the other Haitians turned on some music and danced away! One little girl wouldn’t stop dancing! The other kids were either playing soccer, some were playing instruments with the music, a handful were coloring, and a face painting station started in the cafeteria. We even had one team member really connect with a 12-year-old girl who was teaching her Creole. That same girl was encouraged to end our time together by praying for our whole group. Much too soon, as usual, we had to make our final goodbyes. We said our goodbyes to the kids and took some pictures. As usual it was another wonderful, memorable day in Haiti. 

In closing, as in every night on our trip, we end with a recap of the day. We start by going around the group and each person describes their day with one word. It may sound easy, however, it is so challenging only being able to choose oneword. Until you come and see what a mission trip is all about, one word doesn’t completely explain all the emotions you feel during the day. You experience things you couldn’t fully imagine before. Going from teens who’ve experienced things that nobody should ever have to go through, to seeing the Haitians incredible creativity with everything they make with limited tools and resources, to visiting children or young teens in an orphanage who don’t have a family. As a group we were able to come up with 17 words that still might not fully capture the moments. We continue the discussion by sharing words of wisdom, thoughts and moments only God brings out of each individual. As they say at the Haitian team challenge, we come as guests, we leave as friends. However, I think many of us came to Haiti as strangers and leave as family.

EBC Day #3 - New Hope, Rebuild Globally, & Home for Sick & Dying Babies

1/8/20 - Day 3

Hello all, from Liz and Joel - naturally we were too afraid to write this blog post alone.  Day 3 started with sunrise yoga on the upstairs patio, led by Christian, a trip goer who is apparently in much better shape than anyone else here. Yoga didn’t last very long because patio needed to be mopped (the real reason was because we were struggling hard).  Following yoga, breakfast was served and we left for one of the many markets.  I (Joel) really helped support Haiti’s economy this morning, by buying allllll the paintings and now all my spending money is gone.

I (Joel) had the best experience at our second stop of the day to New Hope Activity Center.  Our crew walked into an open area where we saw 3 classrooms, filled with kids about 45 in total.  Dane (the Pastor leader) brought a guitar and I brought a cajon (a percussion instrument that looks like a wooden box).  We were ready to jam for the kids!  Little did we know that what we were about to experience was much more than playing some music for the kids.  We started playing in a room with kids who were about 6-10 years old and the room immediately filled with energy.  The kids, without hesitation, started pounding on the tables in perfect rhythm.  Once they grabbed some instruments the sounds multiplied and soon the whole complex was filled with music.  It was amazing to me - these kids who had never taken a music lesson or class in their lives had talent I couldn’t believe.  

The next room was filled with 10-14 year-olds.  In this room, I started on the cajon, but was quickly and respectfully booted off so those real musicians could perform.  This was an absolute treat to watch, as these kids who had never seen this instrument played it better than me, who has had one for years.  I couldn’t stop smiling watching these kids take turns absolutely jamming on this thing, with the rest of the class accompanying.  The connection I made with all those kids was immediate.  Music is all about a feeling.  I could look at a kid, they would look back, and we both knew where the music was going. It is truly an international language and I can’t find the words to describe how real and strong that connection felt. Stevie Wonder said it best, “Music is a world within itself with a language we all understand.”

After the impromptu band was done jamming, we gave hugs too all of the kiddos and hopped back on to the tap tap. We came back to the guest house for a quick break before heading to the next stop, Rebuild Globally. This is a women-owned business that turns local leathers and repurposed tires into beautiful products. It was AMAZING to hear the origin story and learn about the impact that their business has had on their employees and the local Haiti economy. Throughout their 10 years of existence, they have grown from a hope and a dream to now employing 38 full time Haitians, becoming a solar powered manufacturer (meaning they don’t need to be reliant on the local energy sources and continue to work and provide paychecks even during an energy crisis), recycling around of 12,000 locally sourced tires and making countless beautiful products. After the tour and meeting some of the staff, we had an opportunity to purchase the hand made goods for about 20 minutes. In that small amount of time, the staff shared that the purchases we made, our team provided a full week’s worth of payroll for the company! We couldn’t believe that our purchases (which seemed so small) would have such a profound impact. It just goes to show that every little thing does make a difference and no action can be too small. 

Our last stop of the day was The Home for Sick & Dying Babies…and I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure how to properly describe the experience during our time there. We arrived in the tap tap to a seemingly random door on a road. We were greeted one of the nuns who quickly brought us to the lobby and let us know we would be spending time with these children, possible feeding or changing them, and just holding them to show them love. We were all a bit apprehensive, unsure of what to expect and how the afternoon would go. Within minutes of entering, all 17 of our team members had picked up a baby from their crib and were doing our best to show these children as much love as we could. It was an extremely humbling experience and many of us were overcome with emotion. For a group of pretty strong personalities, the room quickly fell quiet as we took each of ‘our kids’ into our arms and from their cribs. Many of the kids were just happy to be held and someone to snuggle up with. It’s crazy to think of all the things that we take for granted in life and all these kids are looking for is someone to hold them and make them feel loved. The hardest part of the day was definitely having to put the children down and walk away, not knowing what their future held. We do know for sure that they were loved today and those moments will always be with us.

If there are any lessons to take away from our day, I’d say:

1. Big or small, every action has an impact that can make a difference in someone’s life – don’t be afraid to do what you can!
2. Hug the ones you love, even if you don’t have a reason
3. A little jam sesh never hurt nobody J

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