I made a difference today...

1 day since arrival…

Today was a big day. It was our first time at VBS, at the orphanage, and honestly- our first real day in Haiti. It began with breakfast… sort of.  Ally said last night that we should get there right at 6:30 or there would be no food left… so I got up at 6:30 and was the ONLY one! So… I took some cool pictures around the hotel. It is really late and I can’t lie – I am exhausted… so when I have a bit of downtime I will post some of them. The Palm Inn Hotel really is a small paradise in the midst of a city in turmoil and we are very blessed to be able to stay here.

 (The sign for our hotel)

 (Our hotel!)

 (A beautiful flower on our staircase)

(The street sign for the school at Delmas 89)

After breakfast we had a quick meeting and loaded onto the bus for our first day (of course after sun block and bug spray!). We made our way to Delmas 89, the school that we started our first VBS session at. We opened the day with prayer and with song – the children sang Father Abraham in either French or Creole, and I didn’t understand a word but their motions, smiles, and LOUD-vibrant-happy-joyful-incredibly talented voices were AMAZING! I can still hear the song in my head.

We moved on and played games and did crafts. One little boy kept asking me a question, but I didn’t understand. Turns out he wanted to know if he was allowed to use the red crayon… out of ALL the crayons we bought to use and leave behind when we go, this child isn’t asking for a different color, but the one in his hand as he was afraid to use a new crayon. We also realized that some had never used scissors before – what a learning curve! Some of the kids decided that in the lesson about looking to one’s heart instead of their outward appearance, they wanted to write “I love you Jenny” or Matt or Stefanie! Then rather than taking their project with them, they gave them to us. These children that have nothing to themselves… so freely give away what we give them. It is incredible.

We played many games with the kids including tennis ball throwing, pencil grabber and chop stick chap sticks then sang more and dismissed the kids breaking for lunch. The children were all SO grateful and excited.  And their songs of praise amazed me with the fervor and love that they put into it.

Lunch was wonderful – not because we had time to just sit as a team, but we also had a chance to talk to Wesley (one of our contacts here) about his life here versus his life in the US.  We talked about issues in society here versus issues in the USA – it seems that the US has more first world problems.  But we also talked about worldly problems. So many people from Haiti or Cambodia or other countries that have less seem to believe that Americans walk on streets of gold and money grows on trees. Wesley said that people have a hard time believing that people from USA have to fundraise to be able to afford to come here.

Just after lunch we had the opportunity to meet with some teenagers, the goal was to ask questions about each other’s worlds and learn more about them, but we didn’t have a whole lot of time for that since we had yet to go to the orphanage… so I believe it is on the agenda for Wednesday after/during lunch. Instead we had a wonderful treat of hearing the Boys of Christ sing to their guitar. 

Boys of Christ was formed from Delmas 89 church members, they are all young and they all came together with a common love for God and the talent in their voices was truly sent from above. They first sang,  “He Knows My Name” by Tommy Walker (I took a video of this one) and I had no idea that I was able to get chills in 90 degree weather with major humidity! Then they sang a song in Creole that was based on 1 John 1 that meant Walk in the Light. It is on my to-do list to ask Wesley or Lutherson to write the name of the song in Creole for me…  Even if we were to pool the most talented back at home, I am not sure that it could rival this group. Their talent is purely God-given and they wish to set examples for other people. They right now are hoping to go to Brazil, but we hope they can be put on You-Tube so people can see what they do! Also, I would love to help make it a reality for them to come to Trinity for Mission Sunday – or even just for a week! Their faith and talent is nothing to be blinked at.

We got on the bus and headed back to the hotel, we had a quick meeting and  a quick break before leaving everything behind but our water. We donned our “orphanage clothes” and headed on our way. It was only a few minutes from the hotel, but when we turned down the street you could see people lined up for help. We took some of the diapers and when the attendant opened the gate, we showed what we had to bring. He let us in. Stefanie knew where to go and we followed. Later I found out that last year there were no buildings on the compound. This year there were! So it is such a blessing that they were able to grow in the ways that they have. We gave the diapers and the attendant was grateful. Then we started hearing the cries of babies just begging to be held…

There were about 4 nuns/ attendants, and 2 of them luckily spoke English! I held one boy who had just gotten off of oxygen and wanted so bad to eat, but could not because he would get sick… Then the next boy I held was Junior. The nun took me to his crib and told me. This is the kind of baby that needs love. His mother had him and would get up and put something in his mouth for food, then leave for the day to go sell (there are vendors set up on all of the streets selling all sorts of goods) then come home at night, feed him again, and go to bed. This baby was home (or in a tent-city) by himself EVERY day. He was so skinny I could feel all the bones in his body… he didn’t have the strength to hold up his own head, or crawl… but he was 2 years old! He opened his mouth to cry when I picked him up and I saw he had teeth! Yes… this baby needed love. And I held him for more than half the time we were there.  His upper arm was about the thickness of my thumb… and he just laid on me and played with my necklace… the cross…  Junior touched my heart… It is something that I can never forget. I don’t think his name will ever leave my prayer list.

When Stefanie told us it was time to leave I nearly cried – somehow I had held it together for the duration – though I have no clue how other than the Grace of God. We got on the bus and everyone was fairly quiet… we talked about our experiences… When we got back to the hotel we all had a bit of decompression time… Then I went swimming with most of the team before going to get ready for dinner… I finally took a shower, but the water pressure made it a bit difficult. Being here however, so many people do not have showers – so I feel grateful.

Dinner last night was good. I feel bad about turning down the salad portion, but we cannot risk getting sick because lettuce is washed in the water here. It feels so wrong to leave food on my plate where people 2 blocks away are hungry.  After dinner we had another team meeting and talked about our Journals for the day… Unfortunately I have not really been journaling, but that is because I have been blogging – believe it or not this takes some time!!

Today I feel as if I made a difference. I made a difference to Junior... I made a difference to the children that I played with... and I believe I made a difference to Haitians.

Journal re-cap:

-  Song for the day “Will You Be My Love” by MercyME

-  Scriptures, Romans 8:38-39 & 1 Corinthians 16:14

-  Quote, “Dear God, Thank you for giving me this beautiful life and forgive me if I don’t love it enough. 

As always, please keep my team, their families, and the whole nation of Haiti including the children I will be teaching and helping all in your prayers.

I love you - from Haiti

  - Jen