So I figured I'd not get any sort of celebration for Thanksgiving this year, being in Haiti and all. But I did. And it was great.
Dr Bernard invited us up to his house for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. But this is Haiti. Thursday morning he called us and said we'd have to postpone the meal for a day. Why you ask? His stove was broken, so he couldn't cook the turkey. Or more correctly, four turkeys. There was a group of about 40 Americans staying at his guest house that we were joining for a Thanksgiving meal. Anyway they got the stove fixed, and we came up yesterday (Friday) for dinner. And was it magnificent. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy. Even cranberry sauce! And there was desert. Which never happens at the orphanage. The closest we get is having cake for joint birthday parties every month or two. But we had carrot cake, pineapple upside down cake, spice cake, and pumpkin pie. It was wonderful.
There were a few really good things about having Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, besides the wonderful food. For one, we were at the school on Friday morning, which happened to be party day. They had music, dancing, games, and food for all the kids in the school. It was kinda like a field day, except replace the field with a concrete courtyard about 20x30ft. But it was a lot of fun. And the kids had a TON of fun.
Secondly, one of the kids was coming up to Dr. Bernard's this weekend, so she got to have a typical Thanksgiving dinner with us. Which was kinda fun. Maybe just for me, though. Mashed potatoes, stuffing. Not really your typical Haitian fare. And she wasn't impressed. After we finished eating, I asked her if she liked it, and she shook her head emphatically, looking fairly disgusted. Then, I asked her if she liked the dessert, and oh how her face changed in an instant. Her eyes lit up with a huge smile across her face. The head shaking remained emphatic, but with the opposite emotion propelling it.
The last nice side effect of postponing Thanksgiving dinner was that we get to stay up at Dr. Bernard's for the weekend, which is nice to have a bit of time away from the orphanage to rest and relax. To be off duty.
How much we all have to be thankful for! I'll leave you with the words of an song/prayer of simple thanks that I learned, well, I don't remember every not knowing it! Maybe some of you know it too. Savor these words.
"The Lord is good to me,
and so I thank the Lord
for giving me
the things I need
the sun and the rain
and the Appleseed.
The Lord is good to me.
Amen."
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Miracle
Miracles can be a touchy subject. The Bible is full of stories of men surviving impossible situations, stories of miraculous healing, the deaf and blind receiving their senses back. Some people say those stories just aren't true. Some people try to explain them using modern science. The impulses to explain them away or dismiss them come from the same place. Miracles seemed to have happened so much during Biblical times, but it seems like they don't happen anymore. Why not?
Many people much smarter than I have tried to answer this question. And they have some good things to say. I don't want to try to answer that question. I just want to share a story.
Last week, we found out that there was a hurricane/tropical storm in the southern Caribbean eventually headed for Haiti. We watched it, trying to see how bad it would be so we had some idea how to prepare for it. And it looked like it would be bad. For a city in which hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents (tents that have already taken a beating from the sun, wind, and rain of the past 10 months) and many more are living with fragile rusted roofs over their heads, any storm with high winds was going to do a lot of damage. And Tomas was predicted to be a Category 1 or 2 hurricane by the time it got to Port-au-Prince. We were a little worried.
Alright, a lot worried. Thursday night the boys and I were watching the weather channel on Haitian TV, and they were predicting the rain and wind would only get stronger as it headed towards us. There was nothing much to do other than pray. And I think a lot of people were praying, both here and back in the US. I was raining most of the day on Thursday, but Friday it was supposed to hit us hard. As I got out of bed on Friday, there was a bit of rain and wind, but you could hardly call it a storm. It was a light drizzle, and maybe a 5 MPH breeze. It was actually quite pleasant. We waited for things to get worse.
But they never did. We had a steady drizzle most of the day, but we couldn't have gotten much more than an inch all day long. At one point, Cecelia's mom called. She was watching the weather in the US. The radar said we should be getting buckets of rain and 75 MPH winds. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Still light drizzle and a light breeze every once in a while.
Friday morning as I lay half awake in my bed, I had a vision of a huge God-hand coming out from the tops of the mountains that surround Port-au-Prince and curving over the city, protecting it. It turns out the storm broke up as it approached Port-au-Prince. I know weather forecasters are often wrong about these things, but they were really wrong this time. And I don't think it was because they're not good at their job. I think God covered the city with his hand of protection.
And I don't hesitate to call it a miracle.
Psalm 46:1-3,10-11
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change.
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult
"Be still and know that I am God.
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth!"
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Many people much smarter than I have tried to answer this question. And they have some good things to say. I don't want to try to answer that question. I just want to share a story.
Last week, we found out that there was a hurricane/tropical storm in the southern Caribbean eventually headed for Haiti. We watched it, trying to see how bad it would be so we had some idea how to prepare for it. And it looked like it would be bad. For a city in which hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents (tents that have already taken a beating from the sun, wind, and rain of the past 10 months) and many more are living with fragile rusted roofs over their heads, any storm with high winds was going to do a lot of damage. And Tomas was predicted to be a Category 1 or 2 hurricane by the time it got to Port-au-Prince. We were a little worried.
Alright, a lot worried. Thursday night the boys and I were watching the weather channel on Haitian TV, and they were predicting the rain and wind would only get stronger as it headed towards us. There was nothing much to do other than pray. And I think a lot of people were praying, both here and back in the US. I was raining most of the day on Thursday, but Friday it was supposed to hit us hard. As I got out of bed on Friday, there was a bit of rain and wind, but you could hardly call it a storm. It was a light drizzle, and maybe a 5 MPH breeze. It was actually quite pleasant. We waited for things to get worse.
But they never did. We had a steady drizzle most of the day, but we couldn't have gotten much more than an inch all day long. At one point, Cecelia's mom called. She was watching the weather in the US. The radar said we should be getting buckets of rain and 75 MPH winds. Couldn't be farther from the truth. Still light drizzle and a light breeze every once in a while.
Friday morning as I lay half awake in my bed, I had a vision of a huge God-hand coming out from the tops of the mountains that surround Port-au-Prince and curving over the city, protecting it. It turns out the storm broke up as it approached Port-au-Prince. I know weather forecasters are often wrong about these things, but they were really wrong this time. And I don't think it was because they're not good at their job. I think God covered the city with his hand of protection.
And I don't hesitate to call it a miracle.
Psalm 46:1-3,10-11
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change.
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult
"Be still and know that I am God.
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth!"
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Little surprises
I've actually been back in Haiti for three weeks now, but we haven't had internet for most of that time. It was really good to have time at home with my family for a bit, and now it is good to be back here with the kids. I was really missing them while I was home. They can be really difficult and frustrating sometimes, and other times they are really wonderful. But I shouldn't be too surprised; they're teenagers.
I want to share one story along those lines. One of the boys spends a lot of time hanging out with me. He's a really great kid, and I think I've gotten to know him pretty well. He's a pretty smart kid, he likes making movies, and he's really outgoing. But his interests are a little different from the rest of the boys. To begin with, he doesn't like soccer. Which, for a Haitian, is really strange. Haitian boys will turn anything into a soccer ball, whether it resembles a soccer ball or not. I think my favorite might be a dead AA battery that one of our boys was kicking around one day. Really. Anything can become a soccer ball.
Anyway, this one boy spends a lot of time with me. He talks a lot and doesn't really mind interrupting whatever I'm doing. Sometimes its great; he's helped me a lot with learning Creole and explaining cultural things to me. But sometimes, he's just annoying. And it gets frustrating when he does something that he knows is annoying, and keeps doing it. Or when he asks every five minutes when the library is going to be open and we tell him every time that the library won't be open for another four hours. Well, one evening I was sitting on my bed writing in my journal. I just finished writing how frustrated I was with him (it was particularly bad that day) when guess who jumped through the door! Yep. But it wasn't with the typical "como estas are you." He was very serious. And in fact, he had something very serious to talk about. It really surprised me. He was genuinely concerned, observant, and quite mature about his complaint.
My first thought was, "Wow! That's a miracle." Which it was. And with that, I realized that people can change. I know that sounds like a very basic observation, and something I should have learned a long time ago. But people can change instantly. One moment they are annoying and frustrating, then the next, the considerate, concerned part of them is brought to the fore, coaxed out by some miracle. And that gives me hope. Hope that no matter how difficult or whatever a person is, there is hope that there is something inside is different. Hope that there is some goodness in there that just needs to come out. And I don't take credit for that, but its really a miracle.
I want to tell you about one other event from the past few weeks that was fun. Every month the kids have one big celebration for every kid that has a birthday in that month. We had the October celebration a few weeks ago. There's cake for everyone, and the birthday kids get an extra large piece. But there are two really cool things about this celebration. First, they don't give each other presents. They don't have much to money to give each other anyway, but they don't even try to make cards from stuff we have in the library. Instead, they perform for each other. Each birthday boy or girl will ask a specific person to sing for them. And there is often some complaining, but they do it. Of course, they made me sing. The other thing I like about it is that it isn't a strictly secular affair. Unlike most birthday celebrations I've been to, they began with prayer. Then most of the songs were religious songs. Then there was cake. It was just the right amount of God in it all. It was still about celebrating their birthdays, but God was still present in that celebration.
And one last quick thing. There is a hurricane/tropical storm headed this was, expected to make landfall late Friday night/early Saturday morning. I tell you this not to worry you, because all of the kids and I will be perfectly safe. Our buildings are in very little danger from a hurricane. They're solid concrete. They're not going to get blown away. I tell you this instead to ask for your prayers for safety for the rest of Haiti. There are so many people still living in tents and other flimsy buildings. And there are thousands of people who still have their homes who are also in danger of losing their metal roofs. There are dangers of mudslides with heavy rain. So I ask for your prayers for the people of this country who are still deathly afraid of natural disasters. Pray for safety, peace, and comfort.
I want to share one story along those lines. One of the boys spends a lot of time hanging out with me. He's a really great kid, and I think I've gotten to know him pretty well. He's a pretty smart kid, he likes making movies, and he's really outgoing. But his interests are a little different from the rest of the boys. To begin with, he doesn't like soccer. Which, for a Haitian, is really strange. Haitian boys will turn anything into a soccer ball, whether it resembles a soccer ball or not. I think my favorite might be a dead AA battery that one of our boys was kicking around one day. Really. Anything can become a soccer ball.
Anyway, this one boy spends a lot of time with me. He talks a lot and doesn't really mind interrupting whatever I'm doing. Sometimes its great; he's helped me a lot with learning Creole and explaining cultural things to me. But sometimes, he's just annoying. And it gets frustrating when he does something that he knows is annoying, and keeps doing it. Or when he asks every five minutes when the library is going to be open and we tell him every time that the library won't be open for another four hours. Well, one evening I was sitting on my bed writing in my journal. I just finished writing how frustrated I was with him (it was particularly bad that day) when guess who jumped through the door! Yep. But it wasn't with the typical "como estas are you." He was very serious. And in fact, he had something very serious to talk about. It really surprised me. He was genuinely concerned, observant, and quite mature about his complaint.
My first thought was, "Wow! That's a miracle." Which it was. And with that, I realized that people can change. I know that sounds like a very basic observation, and something I should have learned a long time ago. But people can change instantly. One moment they are annoying and frustrating, then the next, the considerate, concerned part of them is brought to the fore, coaxed out by some miracle. And that gives me hope. Hope that no matter how difficult or whatever a person is, there is hope that there is something inside is different. Hope that there is some goodness in there that just needs to come out. And I don't take credit for that, but its really a miracle.
I want to tell you about one other event from the past few weeks that was fun. Every month the kids have one big celebration for every kid that has a birthday in that month. We had the October celebration a few weeks ago. There's cake for everyone, and the birthday kids get an extra large piece. But there are two really cool things about this celebration. First, they don't give each other presents. They don't have much to money to give each other anyway, but they don't even try to make cards from stuff we have in the library. Instead, they perform for each other. Each birthday boy or girl will ask a specific person to sing for them. And there is often some complaining, but they do it. Of course, they made me sing. The other thing I like about it is that it isn't a strictly secular affair. Unlike most birthday celebrations I've been to, they began with prayer. Then most of the songs were religious songs. Then there was cake. It was just the right amount of God in it all. It was still about celebrating their birthdays, but God was still present in that celebration.
And one last quick thing. There is a hurricane/tropical storm headed this was, expected to make landfall late Friday night/early Saturday morning. I tell you this not to worry you, because all of the kids and I will be perfectly safe. Our buildings are in very little danger from a hurricane. They're solid concrete. They're not going to get blown away. I tell you this instead to ask for your prayers for safety for the rest of Haiti. There are so many people still living in tents and other flimsy buildings. And there are thousands of people who still have their homes who are also in danger of losing their metal roofs. There are dangers of mudslides with heavy rain. So I ask for your prayers for the people of this country who are still deathly afraid of natural disasters. Pray for safety, peace, and comfort.
Monday, September 13, 2010
A time for grieving
Some of you know part of this story already, but I though everyone might like to know
A few weeks ago, my maternal grandmother passed away. She was sick and we knew it was coming, but it has still been very difficult for me being so far away. Then, this weekend, my paternal grandmother passed away as well. She had also been fighting cancer. All three of her children were with her this weekend, and I know they were glad they were there.
As I'm sure you can understand, this has been a very difficult few weeks for me, especially the past 24 hours. I will be going back to the US on the 23rd for the memorial service for my mom's mother, and will probably stay in the US until after my dad's mother's service, although we don't know for sure when that will be.
I ask now for your prayers for myself and my family, that we would be given strength and comfort in this time of sorrow and grief. I ask your prayers specifically for me, as it has been extremely difficult for me as I have struggled to deal with their deaths far away from my family, and for the last two weeks, without anyone I can really talk to about it.
I think I have shed tears in quantities to rival a Caribbean thunderstorm in the past four weeks.
A few weeks ago, my maternal grandmother passed away. She was sick and we knew it was coming, but it has still been very difficult for me being so far away. Then, this weekend, my paternal grandmother passed away as well. She had also been fighting cancer. All three of her children were with her this weekend, and I know they were glad they were there.
As I'm sure you can understand, this has been a very difficult few weeks for me, especially the past 24 hours. I will be going back to the US on the 23rd for the memorial service for my mom's mother, and will probably stay in the US until after my dad's mother's service, although we don't know for sure when that will be.
I ask now for your prayers for myself and my family, that we would be given strength and comfort in this time of sorrow and grief. I ask your prayers specifically for me, as it has been extremely difficult for me as I have struggled to deal with their deaths far away from my family, and for the last two weeks, without anyone I can really talk to about it.
I think I have shed tears in quantities to rival a Caribbean thunderstorm in the past four weeks.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Up and Down (or the other way around)
Yesterday was sort of an up and down day. Mark and Marsha left for a couple weeks of vacation yesterday, leaving me here as the only American, which isn't really the end of the world. The hard part is that all the things that we were sharing responsibility for, now I have to do. Which, again, isn't really that much. The biggest part of that is supervising the library with the computers and the internet. Whenever someone is on the internet, one of the three of us needs to be in the library supervising. And to make sure all of the kids get time online, we set up a schedule where each kid gets one hour a week online. Which means the library has to be supervised for six hours a day, six days a week. Which is kinda a lot of time for me to be in the library.
In the last hour yesterday, I was getting tired and bored. I was ready to get out of the library. Its a handful to try to maintain some order in the library with teenagers coming and going for six hours. I decided to write in my journal a bit. As I wrote, I got just got more frustrated. Thoughts that had come up earlier in my time here began to creep back. "What am I doing here?" "There's no point in me being here." "I'm not doing any good, I'm just taking up space and consuming resources." (Yes, not eating food or drinking water, consuming resources. Thanks Swarthmore.) My writing began to morph from journal entry into prayer, asking God for direction and a renewed sense of purpose here. (Its something that I've struggled with in the past month or so, and keeps rearing its ugly head.) So I closed the library half an hour later, then, after a quick supper of Heart to Heart cereal, I went to check my email.
Before I go into all the details, I need to describe one of the boys for you. He's not really the easiest one to deal with. Since I've gotten here, he got into a fight with one of the other boys and hurt the other kid's eye. He's come close to getting in fights on other occasions, and generally doesn't understand his own strength. I wouldn't hesitate to say he's got some aggression issues. Since I've been here, he hasn't really been friendly with me, more quick to poke fun than show anything close to compassion. He's kinda a tough kid.
So I was quite surprised to find an email from him sitting in my inbox last night. It didn't say much, and it was in Creole, so I'm still not sure what it all says. But, for starters, HE reached out to me. It expressed admiration for me, and he said "I'm happy to write you and have you as a friend." A much softer side to this kid, and a wonderful place to begin a relationship from.
And maybe the coolest thing of all, I think he wrote this email about five minutes after I wrote my journal entry/prayer. Pretty quick response to a prayer, if you ask me.
In the last hour yesterday, I was getting tired and bored. I was ready to get out of the library. Its a handful to try to maintain some order in the library with teenagers coming and going for six hours. I decided to write in my journal a bit. As I wrote, I got just got more frustrated. Thoughts that had come up earlier in my time here began to creep back. "What am I doing here?" "There's no point in me being here." "I'm not doing any good, I'm just taking up space and consuming resources." (Yes, not eating food or drinking water, consuming resources. Thanks Swarthmore.) My writing began to morph from journal entry into prayer, asking God for direction and a renewed sense of purpose here. (Its something that I've struggled with in the past month or so, and keeps rearing its ugly head.) So I closed the library half an hour later, then, after a quick supper of Heart to Heart cereal, I went to check my email.
Before I go into all the details, I need to describe one of the boys for you. He's not really the easiest one to deal with. Since I've gotten here, he got into a fight with one of the other boys and hurt the other kid's eye. He's come close to getting in fights on other occasions, and generally doesn't understand his own strength. I wouldn't hesitate to say he's got some aggression issues. Since I've been here, he hasn't really been friendly with me, more quick to poke fun than show anything close to compassion. He's kinda a tough kid.
So I was quite surprised to find an email from him sitting in my inbox last night. It didn't say much, and it was in Creole, so I'm still not sure what it all says. But, for starters, HE reached out to me. It expressed admiration for me, and he said "I'm happy to write you and have you as a friend." A much softer side to this kid, and a wonderful place to begin a relationship from.
And maybe the coolest thing of all, I think he wrote this email about five minutes after I wrote my journal entry/prayer. Pretty quick response to a prayer, if you ask me.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
And what a day it was!
Yesterday (8/17) was such an eventful day that I just have to dedicate an entire post to it.
The morning was fairly uneventful. I spent most of the morning supervising the library. Things got a little heated at one point, but I thought nothing of it at the time (turns out I was wrong, but I'll get to that later). Then, at 12:30, we had our first Bible study of the summer. The whole school schedule got messed up by the earthquake, so this is the first week of the summer for the kids. A few of them still have exams, so it was a voluntary Bible study. The nannies wanted to make Bible study mandatory for all the kids, which I wasn't so excited about, but they didn't want mandatory Bible study to start before everyone had finished exams, so that gave us two weeks to do some voluntary Bible studies. And it worked! We had ten kids there (of 34 total). I taught on humility from Luke 14:7-14. I'd say it was overall pretty successful, although there is room for improvement. The kids were interested and listened attentively while I talked. They weren't exactly jumping out of their seats to answer my questions, but that's OK. Talking with Mark afterward, we figured there were probably a few reasons for this; primarily, most of my questions probably sounded like calls to public confession, which, though we may think of that as a common part of Bible study in the US, doesn't seem to be part of the church culture here in Haiti, and certainly not at the orphanage. But they did, first of all, come, and they seemed pretty engaged. All in all, it was an encouraging first Bible study.
The second thing we had planned for the day was painting crews. American short-term teams have been coming in during our summer in the US, and many of them have been painting classrooms in the orphanage, some of which probably haven't been painted since it was built. But we've got the hallways left to paint, and now that school is starting in the US, there are fewer short-term mission teams coming our way. But part of what HFC wants to do, is to get the kids involved in service, so a good place to start is helping out in their own building. They do have regular chores around the place, but summer can be a little boring without a whole lot to do. So we asked for volunteers to help paint. And 14 kids volunteered. And they loved it! There were a few sour grapes, but mostly, they had a good time, and we rewarded them with cokes at the end of it. It was really good to see them getting involved and learning something.
Then, the most dramatic event of the day. Sometime in the late afternoon, a big storm blew in. I don't think it was a hurricane, but there was a lot of rain and a lot of wind. I was sitting in my room, taking a little break and listening to my iPod when it started to get dark. I took out my headphones and the wind was howling and the rain was beating in the windows. Everyone was on their feet looking out at what the storm was doing. The rain flooded the streets, turning them into rivers. No joke, I saw a concrete block being pushed downhill by the water. That's how much water was in the street. The wind blew a few roofs off of some surrounding houses. And the tarps and tents, which many people have been living in since the earthquake, didn't fare too well. Some survived, but some of the tarp houses were blown apart, just like in "The Three Little Pigs." We had a few tarps covering an outdoor courtyard that has served as the kindergarten area since the earthquake (the kindergarten parents are too afraid of another earthquake to let their kids have class inside the 3-story concrete building). The wind ripped them up and tore them down. Most of them are now pretty useless.
There was one moment of this storm that really struck me. I was looking out of the window of the boys' house across the street, and I saw a woman with a big pile of charcoal. She had found a tarp and was struggling to cover her pile of charcoal with it. In Haiti, the wealthier folks cook with gas stoves. The poorer cook with charcoal. And selling charcoal is one of the lowest and most humiliating jobs in the country. You sit by the side of the road, covered in charcoal dust all day long. These bags of charcoal were this woman's livelihood, and if they got wet, they'd probably be useless, at least for a while until they dried (does anyone know? if charcoal gets wet, can it dry out and be useful again?). But the wind was not helping, blowing her tarp all over the place. And you could see the anguish on her face, the worry that all she had would be destroyed. It was hard to watch, and at the same time I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
And that's not all! The argument that I heard earlier in the day in the library, turns out it was actually a bigger deal than I thought. One of the boys called one of the girls a bad name that I'd rather not repeat. I'll just say that if you turned on the radio, this word would be bleeped out. I didn't have any idea that he had used this word earlier, because he said it in Creole. But the girl went and told one of the other girls who then told one of the Haitian nannies who then called Dr. Bernard, who basically runs the orphanage. He used to live right up the street, and he and his wife were the house parents of the orphanage; he's been a part of these kids lives for about 14 years now. Anyway, he punished the boy for what he said. My problem is, I think the story probably got exaggerated before it got to him. I don't always trust this particular girl, and she is often very disrespectful to me and Mark and Marsha. Its just a little frustrating. I was here, but I have no idea what actually happened. I don't think he deserved the punishment he got, but maybe he did. It doesn't help that I don't particularly trust all of the individuals that the story passed through to get to Dr. Bernard either, and some of the other kids seem to think the punishment was too harsh as well. Its challenging to say the least.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share the whole day with you. Its funny: some days are packed full, and some days are downright mundane. You never know.
I just want to add one prayer request:
Life here can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Dealing with the kids, seeing poverty on such a massive scale, thinking and praying about my life and where God is moving me, and all the while trying to keep focused on God and where I am. Its challenging, and sometimes it brings me to the point of tears. Emotions here can go from laughing and smiling to anger or tears in a moment, and sometimes I don't know why. Please pray for strength and strength through God.
The morning was fairly uneventful. I spent most of the morning supervising the library. Things got a little heated at one point, but I thought nothing of it at the time (turns out I was wrong, but I'll get to that later). Then, at 12:30, we had our first Bible study of the summer. The whole school schedule got messed up by the earthquake, so this is the first week of the summer for the kids. A few of them still have exams, so it was a voluntary Bible study. The nannies wanted to make Bible study mandatory for all the kids, which I wasn't so excited about, but they didn't want mandatory Bible study to start before everyone had finished exams, so that gave us two weeks to do some voluntary Bible studies. And it worked! We had ten kids there (of 34 total). I taught on humility from Luke 14:7-14. I'd say it was overall pretty successful, although there is room for improvement. The kids were interested and listened attentively while I talked. They weren't exactly jumping out of their seats to answer my questions, but that's OK. Talking with Mark afterward, we figured there were probably a few reasons for this; primarily, most of my questions probably sounded like calls to public confession, which, though we may think of that as a common part of Bible study in the US, doesn't seem to be part of the church culture here in Haiti, and certainly not at the orphanage. But they did, first of all, come, and they seemed pretty engaged. All in all, it was an encouraging first Bible study.
The second thing we had planned for the day was painting crews. American short-term teams have been coming in during our summer in the US, and many of them have been painting classrooms in the orphanage, some of which probably haven't been painted since it was built. But we've got the hallways left to paint, and now that school is starting in the US, there are fewer short-term mission teams coming our way. But part of what HFC wants to do, is to get the kids involved in service, so a good place to start is helping out in their own building. They do have regular chores around the place, but summer can be a little boring without a whole lot to do. So we asked for volunteers to help paint. And 14 kids volunteered. And they loved it! There were a few sour grapes, but mostly, they had a good time, and we rewarded them with cokes at the end of it. It was really good to see them getting involved and learning something.
Then, the most dramatic event of the day. Sometime in the late afternoon, a big storm blew in. I don't think it was a hurricane, but there was a lot of rain and a lot of wind. I was sitting in my room, taking a little break and listening to my iPod when it started to get dark. I took out my headphones and the wind was howling and the rain was beating in the windows. Everyone was on their feet looking out at what the storm was doing. The rain flooded the streets, turning them into rivers. No joke, I saw a concrete block being pushed downhill by the water. That's how much water was in the street. The wind blew a few roofs off of some surrounding houses. And the tarps and tents, which many people have been living in since the earthquake, didn't fare too well. Some survived, but some of the tarp houses were blown apart, just like in "The Three Little Pigs." We had a few tarps covering an outdoor courtyard that has served as the kindergarten area since the earthquake (the kindergarten parents are too afraid of another earthquake to let their kids have class inside the 3-story concrete building). The wind ripped them up and tore them down. Most of them are now pretty useless.
There was one moment of this storm that really struck me. I was looking out of the window of the boys' house across the street, and I saw a woman with a big pile of charcoal. She had found a tarp and was struggling to cover her pile of charcoal with it. In Haiti, the wealthier folks cook with gas stoves. The poorer cook with charcoal. And selling charcoal is one of the lowest and most humiliating jobs in the country. You sit by the side of the road, covered in charcoal dust all day long. These bags of charcoal were this woman's livelihood, and if they got wet, they'd probably be useless, at least for a while until they dried (does anyone know? if charcoal gets wet, can it dry out and be useful again?). But the wind was not helping, blowing her tarp all over the place. And you could see the anguish on her face, the worry that all she had would be destroyed. It was hard to watch, and at the same time I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
And that's not all! The argument that I heard earlier in the day in the library, turns out it was actually a bigger deal than I thought. One of the boys called one of the girls a bad name that I'd rather not repeat. I'll just say that if you turned on the radio, this word would be bleeped out. I didn't have any idea that he had used this word earlier, because he said it in Creole. But the girl went and told one of the other girls who then told one of the Haitian nannies who then called Dr. Bernard, who basically runs the orphanage. He used to live right up the street, and he and his wife were the house parents of the orphanage; he's been a part of these kids lives for about 14 years now. Anyway, he punished the boy for what he said. My problem is, I think the story probably got exaggerated before it got to him. I don't always trust this particular girl, and she is often very disrespectful to me and Mark and Marsha. Its just a little frustrating. I was here, but I have no idea what actually happened. I don't think he deserved the punishment he got, but maybe he did. It doesn't help that I don't particularly trust all of the individuals that the story passed through to get to Dr. Bernard either, and some of the other kids seem to think the punishment was too harsh as well. Its challenging to say the least.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to share the whole day with you. Its funny: some days are packed full, and some days are downright mundane. You never know.
I just want to add one prayer request:
Life here can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Dealing with the kids, seeing poverty on such a massive scale, thinking and praying about my life and where God is moving me, and all the while trying to keep focused on God and where I am. Its challenging, and sometimes it brings me to the point of tears. Emotions here can go from laughing and smiling to anger or tears in a moment, and sometimes I don't know why. Please pray for strength and strength through God.
Monday, August 16, 2010
The simple things
As I passed the four week mark (yesterday) I realized a few things:
1.
2.
There are so many things that I haven't been able to post about yet!
And I bet that there are some things that many of you are wondering, like, "what is the food like?" Well, sometimes, like yesterday, the food is really good! Yesterday after church we had white rice, a kidney bean sauce, chicken, and some veggies. It was VERY tasty. My favorite breakfast is peanut butter and jelly with bread and coffee or hot chocolate (and sometimes a banana). But its not always quite so good. One common breakfast (which we had today) is spaghetti with a minuscule amount of tomato paste. And oil. LOTS of oil. Marsha likes to say that she never has to wear chap stick because the spaghetti has so much oil. And then there's one meal, which I'm not quite sure what it is. I think it might be some sort of corn meal that they cook with beans and who knows what. If you turned it upside-down, the whole thing would fall out of the bowl in one clump, like jello, but not as tasty. That's a hard meal to eat much of.
I sleep in the boys' house, which is right across from the girls house and the school. I've got my own room, which is wonderful. The kids just finished the school year last week (they were delayed because schools were closed after the earthquake), so now much of our time is consumed with just hanging out with the kids. They watch movies, play computer games, send emails, play card games. We're going to have some of the kids help paint the hallways of the school while they're out. We'll take the boys (and girls if they want) up to play soccer. Mark, Marsha, and I are going to try having some Bible studies over the summer, and we'll see how that goes. They don't really have Bible study like we do in the US. Church is just culturally different than it is in the US. Some of that is fine, but some of it really grates on me, but that's for another post.
We don't get out much, cause its hard to get around without a vehicle and we don't always have one. We don't really need to go anywhere often, but it would be nice to be out and about a bit. Maybe in the coming weeks we'll be out and about more. We did go over to the church the other day and talked with a pastor there, and it was good to hear about what they're doing. And we've been making a few connections with other NGO's and hopefully we'll make some more soon.
I'd like to ask for your continued prayers as it can be very challenging sometimes to deal with the overwhelming poverty and all the frustrations that come with living in Haiti.
I'm trying to upload pictures, but the internet is being very slow, so bear with me.
1.
2.
There are so many things that I haven't been able to post about yet!
And I bet that there are some things that many of you are wondering, like, "what is the food like?" Well, sometimes, like yesterday, the food is really good! Yesterday after church we had white rice, a kidney bean sauce, chicken, and some veggies. It was VERY tasty. My favorite breakfast is peanut butter and jelly with bread and coffee or hot chocolate (and sometimes a banana). But its not always quite so good. One common breakfast (which we had today) is spaghetti with a minuscule amount of tomato paste. And oil. LOTS of oil. Marsha likes to say that she never has to wear chap stick because the spaghetti has so much oil. And then there's one meal, which I'm not quite sure what it is. I think it might be some sort of corn meal that they cook with beans and who knows what. If you turned it upside-down, the whole thing would fall out of the bowl in one clump, like jello, but not as tasty. That's a hard meal to eat much of.
I sleep in the boys' house, which is right across from the girls house and the school. I've got my own room, which is wonderful. The kids just finished the school year last week (they were delayed because schools were closed after the earthquake), so now much of our time is consumed with just hanging out with the kids. They watch movies, play computer games, send emails, play card games. We're going to have some of the kids help paint the hallways of the school while they're out. We'll take the boys (and girls if they want) up to play soccer. Mark, Marsha, and I are going to try having some Bible studies over the summer, and we'll see how that goes. They don't really have Bible study like we do in the US. Church is just culturally different than it is in the US. Some of that is fine, but some of it really grates on me, but that's for another post.
We don't get out much, cause its hard to get around without a vehicle and we don't always have one. We don't really need to go anywhere often, but it would be nice to be out and about a bit. Maybe in the coming weeks we'll be out and about more. We did go over to the church the other day and talked with a pastor there, and it was good to hear about what they're doing. And we've been making a few connections with other NGO's and hopefully we'll make some more soon.
I'd like to ask for your continued prayers as it can be very challenging sometimes to deal with the overwhelming poverty and all the frustrations that come with living in Haiti.
I'm trying to upload pictures, but the internet is being very slow, so bear with me.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Every Day is a New Adventure
It’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here for four full days; each day has been packed full of action. Monday and Tuesday we were working in the orphanage with a team from Grace Chapel in Boston doing repairs, fixing ceiling fans, and repainting some of the classrooms. Its been hot and hard work, but we’ve got a great group helping us out. Tuesday night we came up with the Grace Chapel team to Dr. Bernard’s guest house up in the hills above Port-au-Prince. (Dr. Bernard is also the director of the HFC school and orphanage, as are Mark and Marsha Romens; it’s a little complicated.)
Wednesday I had my first day of vacation! Mark, Marsha, and I traveled with the team to the Baptist Mission headquarters and hospital. The Baptist Mission isn’t actually Baptist, but they keep the name for the recognition. They run schools and churches all over the country, many in places that other people aren’t going to. Sometimes they have to walk for two hours on foot after driving as far as they can to reach their sites. It was great to see their facilities and hear about the work that they are doing. When we got back to the guest house on Wednesday night, we discovered there were protests planned in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, and it wouldn’t be safe for us to go back down to the orphanage on Thursday. So we occupied ourselves with various tasks, and we’ll head back to the orphanage tomorrow to get back to work.
If I had any fears about working with kids in an orphanage, those fears quickly vanished. The kids are really wonderful. In some ways they’re very similar to kids in the US, but in some ways they’re very different. They care for each other and share with each other better than any other kids I’ve seen. They don’t have much, but they realize what they do have which is mostly each other. And they’ve been great about taking care of me too. They have welcomed me into their community with open arms and smiling faces. The first night I was there, a few of the boys started teaching me Creole, and I’ve been picking it up pretty well. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to have some decent conversations in Creole. But I really can’t say how great these kids are. I am so blessed to be with them.
I’ve not been here long, but I already feel at home. Mark and I started brainstorming ideas of how to get more involved in the community around the orphanage, and we’ve had a few ideas, but we’re still trying to make sure we’re not, in Mark’s words, “putting a band-aid on a mortal wound”. So please pray for guidance in that direction. And as great as it is, there are still difficult times, so, as always please pray for continued perseverance (which seems a little funny to say, seeing that I haven’t been here for even a week yet, but nonetheless).
*The internet is fairly reliable, albeit slow, so that’s nice that its working. Means I should be able to post updates fairly regularly. I’ve also figured out (actually my mother did) a relatively cheap way to use my US cell phone, although it is a little unreliable.
Wednesday I had my first day of vacation! Mark, Marsha, and I traveled with the team to the Baptist Mission headquarters and hospital. The Baptist Mission isn’t actually Baptist, but they keep the name for the recognition. They run schools and churches all over the country, many in places that other people aren’t going to. Sometimes they have to walk for two hours on foot after driving as far as they can to reach their sites. It was great to see their facilities and hear about the work that they are doing. When we got back to the guest house on Wednesday night, we discovered there were protests planned in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, and it wouldn’t be safe for us to go back down to the orphanage on Thursday. So we occupied ourselves with various tasks, and we’ll head back to the orphanage tomorrow to get back to work.
If I had any fears about working with kids in an orphanage, those fears quickly vanished. The kids are really wonderful. In some ways they’re very similar to kids in the US, but in some ways they’re very different. They care for each other and share with each other better than any other kids I’ve seen. They don’t have much, but they realize what they do have which is mostly each other. And they’ve been great about taking care of me too. They have welcomed me into their community with open arms and smiling faces. The first night I was there, a few of the boys started teaching me Creole, and I’ve been picking it up pretty well. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to have some decent conversations in Creole. But I really can’t say how great these kids are. I am so blessed to be with them.
I’ve not been here long, but I already feel at home. Mark and I started brainstorming ideas of how to get more involved in the community around the orphanage, and we’ve had a few ideas, but we’re still trying to make sure we’re not, in Mark’s words, “putting a band-aid on a mortal wound”. So please pray for guidance in that direction. And as great as it is, there are still difficult times, so, as always please pray for continued perseverance (which seems a little funny to say, seeing that I haven’t been here for even a week yet, but nonetheless).
*The internet is fairly reliable, albeit slow, so that’s nice that its working. Means I should be able to post updates fairly regularly. I’ve also figured out (actually my mother did) a relatively cheap way to use my US cell phone, although it is a little unreliable.
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Journey Ahead
So in about three weeks, on July 18th, I'll be flying to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to spend 5 months interning with Hope for the Children of Haiti (http://hfchaiti.org/), a Christian orphanage in Port-au-Prince. I'll be living and working in the orphanage, and although I'm not sure of exactly what all I will be doing, I'll likely be doing some rebuilding and teach a little English or Bible study. But more generally, I'm there to teach the kids about the world, and be a mentor for them. There's a lot that isn't certain right now, but I'm excited to see what's in store for me while I'm down there.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, with 80% unemployment before the earthquake. The earthquake has just made a horrible situation worse. There was a huge outpouring of help in the days right after the earthquake, but since then, the general public has largely forgotten about the country. But the problems in Haiti, as in many other places in the world, won't be solved overnight simply by throwing money at it. They need long term investment. And that's part of the reason I'm so excited to be working with HFC. They've been in Haiti since 1996 and are committed to working with the Haitians to make life better. In addition to the orphanage, which houses about 60 kids, they also run a school of about 150-200 kids, and are working towards starting other programs in the community, including potentially some micro-economic programs.
If you believe that prayer has some real power, Please, pray for me as I prepare to go and while I'm down there, that God would use me to help these kids, and set a worthy example for them to follow. If prayer isn't your thing, please just remember me in your thoughts while I'm away, trying to do what I can to make the world a little bit better.
And one quick note on the title of the blog. "Work is love made visible" is a quote by Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. I think it captures both what I'll be doing in Haiti (Work) but also why I'm going (the love part). And it reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses (from one of my favorite books of the Bible):
"So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless... But I say, 'How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.' "
James 2:17, 18b (NLT)
James 2:17, 18b (NLT)
*I'll try to keep updating as regularly as I can, hopefully with some pictures, but internet in Haiti isn't the most reliable, so we'll just have to see.
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