Day 3-Grace Village and Titanyen

Today was our 3rd full day in Haiti and a wonderful one it was! We traveled approximately 16 miles north along the coast from Port-au-Prince to a small village called Titanyen. Why? Because this is the new home of 1 of Healing Haiti’s greatest accomplishments to date—Grace Village. Visit the Healinghaiti.org website to see the entire plan for this wonderful achievement. (http://www.healinghaiti.org/pages/GraceVillage) is the direct link.

Grace Village officially housed its first children on December 22, 2011—just a few short
weeks ago. Today we got to spend most of the day playing with the 41 wonderful children who now occupy the 2 children’s dorms (girls and boys). I believe Grace Village has turned out to be far better than anyone could expect. The buildings are beautifully constructed with colorful and playful tile on the floors, bright Caribbean colors on the walls and beautiful wood paneling on the ceilings. Each dorm has a modern bathroom with 4 shower stalls and 4 compartmented full service toilets. Alyn Shannon, co-founder of Healing Haiti and a gifted artist, made all the of finish selections for Grace Village before her death from breast cancer in November 2010. Her eye for color and fun is truly evident everywhere you look at Grace Village.

What we were able to experience was Phase 1 of a multi-phased construction project at Grace Village. In Phase 1 they have completed the 2 dorms, a large “feeding center” and an awesome playground. The site sits high on the mountainside overlooking the village of Titanyen and the beautiful waters of the ocean in the distance. It’s really a breathtaking view. Phase II will include church, a large school and a medical and dental clinic all housed within the grounds of the village. In addition construction has begun on a soccer field and a tilapia/hydroponic vegetable farm. All in all an amazing feat to do in a country such as Haiti. It all came from a vision that Jeff Gacek and his wife Alyn Shannon had just a few short years ago and serves as a testament, at least in my mind, of the power and influence each of us truly has inside of us and once focused can create miracles. Grace Village is truly a miracle being completed in Haiti.

Healing Haiti has multiple focuses on their mission in this country. One is the support of orphanages and although this is huge, it’s not the only mission we have. In addition we have 28 elderly Haitians we support with fresh water, food and medical treatment. The average life expectancy in Haiti is 52. There are many elderly who have lived to be in their 80’s, 90’s
and even one lady we support who is 103. In many cases these people have outlived all of their children and sometimes even grandchildren. What this means is they are the forgotten generation in Haiti. Many live in incredibly poor conditions and struggle to survive with enough food and fresh water. In future phases at Grace Village a dorm for these people will be built. In being able to move them into Grace Village they will get daily fresh food, water and medical and dental care. Until then, they are brought up from the village riding in the back of an all-terrain vehicle that made its way to Haiti last August.

A medical team was working at Grace Village today and so many of our elderly were brought up the hill standing in the back of the vehicle. In spite of their age many of them are incredibly spry and jumped out of the back of the vehicle without any help from the staff. With huge smiles and greetings of “Bonjou!” many hugged and greeted each of us. Did you know that for as little as $40/month you could fully support one of these incredibly wonderful people and make certain they always have fresh water and enough food to sustain them? That’s only $480 per year to make certain the remainder of these wonderful souls have lives that are at least void of hunger and thirst. If you’d like to add your support, visit this page on the website and with a simple paypal payment you can make a difference in their lives. http://healinghaiti.org/pages/ElderCare1/

After leaving Grace Village we traveled down the mountain into Titanyen. There we made 2 stops—the first to the home of a young man named Jude Jean Paul. He was injured as a child and is disabled. When the Healing Haiti team discovered him a few years ago he was 17 years old, lying on blue tarp on the dirt floor of a shack. The focus then became to get him in a better home. 2 of our current team members, folks on this mission trip donated the $2500 it took to do just that. He and his mother now live in a small 2 room house with metal rough and concrete floors and a front porch. On our last trip to Haiti in July we brought him a wheelchair so he wasn’t restricted to lying in a bed 24 hours a day. When we stopped by today he was in his wheelchair.

Our next stop was at another of the orphanages Healing Haiti supports. This orphanage is very indicative of the thousands of orphanages throughout Haiti. What I mean by that is this orphanages is housed in a broken down building. As we walked through the maze of buildings from the street to the orphanage it’s was hard not to feel overwhelmed at the conditions. That all dissipated the moment we got into the kids play/work space. The 30 children greeted us with smiles and hugs. They then began to sing. The warmth and energy of their voices is electrifying. A special treat this time was a handful of the children sang solos and duets for us to enjoy. We spent 2 hours doing crafts and playing with the children before heading out to our final stop of the day.

Our final stop is always a somber one for me. It’s the site of 1 of the 3 mass graves that
were created out of necessity after the earthquake of January 2010. Due to the large number of deaths and the need, from a health and sanitation standpoint to remove the bodies quickly from Port-au-Prince, these graves were created. The really sad piece of this is about the families who lost loved ones in the earthquake. Many of them have no idea which mass grave their family members were taken to. This site sits on the side of a mountain. It’s a beautiful hillside covered in white and black stones. Dotting the area are small black crosses. Many of the team members wandered the site on their own. I’m sensing in thought and prayer. Mixed in with the small crosses are some large crosses and memorials. Also mixed throughout are the remnants of wreaths that have been placed by family members of those who died.

We ended our day with the drive back into Port-au-Prince and back to the mission house. We arrived just before 6 p.m. and our great staff already had dinner made. As a crew we must have been really hungry. We sat down immediately before taking the regular cold showers and cleaned our plates. We ended our day, as a team, from 8-9 with our daily “word of the day”. A great way to wrap up our thoughts and hear everyone’s perspective of their experiences from the day.

Healing Haiti Day 2-Orphanages

Today is one of my favorite days (didn’t I say that about yesterday)…. We spent our day with orphans at 2 orphanages.

The first orphanage is a home for the sick and dying. I know it’s really tough to think about and can be VERY overwhelming when you first step into the building. I can truly say this being the 2nd time there, it was much different. First and foremost, on my last trip to the orphanage I “chickened out” of holding the infants and spent my day upstairs with the older kids. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the time with them. Holding them, playing with them, hugging and praying over them. This
time, however, my goal was to spend time with both my “upstairs” kids and the newborns and infants. What’s sad about that group is most of these children are
here due to malnutrition.

My first infant that I held for part of the morning was 2 years old. Her name was Delores. She was the sweetest little girl. 2 years old and weighed all of about 19 pounds. She and I truly bonded and I
spent most of my morning with her. The morning ended at noon when I had a chance to feed her. Lunch today for that age group was rice, black beans and some ground beef. She ate and ate and ate and ate…..in fact I thought she might explode! Not Delores.

I had one of the staff look to see if she had eaten enough. I loved how she check…she pulled up Delores shirt and felt her belly! Apparently Haitian 2 years old have a fill line somewhere on their stomachs. Little Delores ate a large bowl FULL of rice and beans. It was amazing.

In sharing stories from the morning with the other team members, Jenny Swain shared the story of the malnourished 3 year old who ate and ate and ate and then projectile vomited! I guess not all little Haitian babies can hold bowl after bowl of rice and beans.

After lunch we left that orphanage and headed to another favorite stop—Gertrude’s Orphanage. This has an interesting story. Most of it can be read at this blog written about the wonderful woman at this blog: http://thehaitianchronicles.posterous.com/gertrude Anyway, Gertrude’s is a home for special needs kids. In Haitian culture most of these children are abandoned by their parents and left to die. Gertrude takes them in and helped by a great staff, helps these children live a normal or as close to normal for Haiti, life. She currently has 46 of these
wonderful children in their care. Their degree of disability runs the gamut from mild to severe. The severe children, some in wheelchairs, some are bedridden and cared for by Gertrude and her staff. We spent 1 ½ hours with these kids playing,
holding, hugging and generally having a great time with them.
Was today all about the kids? Not on your life. My sense is today is as much about us and the growth we gain as individuals as much as the kids. At the end of each day, we meet as a mission team and share a “word of the day” from each team member. This is a time for reflection on the
individual experience of the day.

Today was a great word of the day. The words range widely. Each of every one of us is
growing in our own way. Sometimes that growth is uncomfortable. Some of the team experienced that. For others it was joy. Definitely a wide range. I’m excited about tomorrow (do you see a theme here) as we travel to Grace Village. This is the new orphanage that Healing Haiti just opened. The kids were moved in on December 21 and I had a chance to visit the
construction site in July when we were here in Haiti. To see it come to completion will be
exciting!

Water Truck Day

Today was our first full day in Port-au-Prince and in our tradition we used the day to staff the water truck as we delivered 3 loads of fresh water to the people of Cite Soleil It was very satisfying to go back into a neighborhood we visited last summer when I was here. I recognized some of the kids and they remembered me. One little buddy named Ruben was the first to find me. He’s the sweetest kid and it breaks my heart every time I see him. Ruben has a deformity of his left foot. I can’t really tell what had happened. I know that it’s very small, cramped up and he walks on the side of his foot.

Does it slow him down—not on your life. It’s amazing how adaptable many humans really are. Ruben is one of them.

He’s probably 7 years old. I’d love to find a way for him to be seen by a surgeon to discover what might be done to help correct his foot.

One a good note, it seems there’s been a lot of changes since I was here last July. There’s definitely more signs of reconstruction. Roads are less cluttered with debris. Buildings are showing signs of being rebuilt. On the water truck we only ran out of water at 1 stop of the 3 from the day. Not sure why though my theory is things are improving. The people of Cite Soleil are getting water more often and thus the demand isn’t as high as it was in the summer. It was so much more fulfilling to not have to tell a number of people in line that we are out of water.

It was also interesting to watch the team members who were new to Haiti this trip. It seems so long ago that was me and yet it was only 6 months ago. The overwhelm of emotion, the overwhelm of the people, the wonderfulness of the beautiful Haitian kids who love to be held, hugged and played with.

Our God Really is an Awesome God.

I can't believe I am back in Haiti. Six months ago, I didn't even think I was going to be able to come down for at least a year. Stepping off the plane into the Haitian airport, I felt like I was stepping back home. It feels so amazing to be back again.. it's hard to think that I am only here 9 days!

Jeff (my uncle and the founder of the mission), Jeffrey (my cousin), Jessica, Kerry-Ann, and Jean (our Haitian mission director) picked us up at the Haitian airports full of hugs and smiles. It was so great to see familiar faces and to meet up with the group that has been down here for the past 2 weeks.

It's a full house at the mission home in Haiti, but it's great to be here with so many people that love Haiti and that are just getting their first dose of what will be the most profound week of their life.

On my way down to Haiti, I spent some time reading a book about Mother Teresa, and her life reflected through the Beatitudes. Mother Teresa spent much of her life facing human suffering, poverty, and death. She cared for sick, dying, disheveled, and outcasts of our world. She was a woman that gave up her life of comfort to come face to face with suffering. While many people fear suffering and try to avoid it at all costs (often times using drugs, alcohol, or other worldly pleasures to numb their emotions/ feelings), Mother Teresa dove right into the deep-end, into places most people would not dare to go. Her work eventually received recognition and praise from others who had heard of what she had done and what she was doing for the poorest of the poor and those on the margins of society, but Mother Teresa continually gave her glory to the one that was working through her, Jesus Christ. There is so much to be learned from this great woman; there is so much I aspire in her.

The idea of suffering brought up throughout the book really strung a chord in my life and what is being done in Haiti. Over the past few experiences I have been down here, I have realized that God uses Haiti for so much more than we (the missionaries) realize. Many people that come to Haiti to do mission work, realize this contradictory about Haiti; it is literally a beautiful mess. How can a place full of so much poverty be such a beautiful place? While many question this about Haiti, they also began to realize their own brokenness.. their own mess... Many times people are faced with turmoil, uncomfortableness and doubts in their own lives. They face a period of trial, which often leads to frustrations, sorrow, and drastic life changes. People on the mission teams began to open up about their suffering, and allowing other team mates to partake in their suffering experience... helping them to understand or discern what exactly is happening in their life. It is through this human connection and relationship that the Body of Christ is exemplified. ... and so often we realize how God turns our broken selves into a beautiful mess, as well. God calls us all to look into our own lives to see how we are broken, and how we are poor of spirit. God calls us to find beauty in our suffering... just like that of the suffering and persecution of Jesus Christ. When we allow others to partake in our suffering, we allow the work of Jesus Christ to be reviled and God's love to heal us and make us more beautiful than we have ever been before...

Kristina

Healing Haiti Team Member

Home Away From Home

I am so excited to be returning to my "home away from home" in Haiti with an awesome team of like-minded individuals from Maple Grove, Minnesota and Madison, Wisconsin. We are blessed to have this opportunity to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus as we serve the least of his children. It will be so amazing to see the loving children of Grace Village Orphanage, visit the elderly, pray over the sick and dying babies, teens and adults, and bring water to the poorest of the poor in Cite Soleil. I pray that God places Healing Haiti on your heart and you have the opportunity to partake in this life-changing experience and see life through a different lens! All the glory goes to God!!!

Blessings and Happy New Year to All!

Unexpected Plans

Sitting here in Miami, anxiously awaiting our next flight that will take us 90 minutes from the comfort of our own backyard. I still find it a blessing that I have the opportunity to travel to Haiti.. a lot sooner than I had expected. I always find it amazing how God works and how when you follow His calling and His perfect plans... things just fall into place. And fall into perfect place at the perfect time. I am excited to work with the orphans and help improve their quality of life with good nutrition. God has called me to Haiti to share my nutrition knowledge to improving the lives of those living in absolute poverty.

May God protect us and guide us to do the most good during our 9 days in Haiti.

It Brings Tears to My Eyes

It has been a week and a half since our TEAM has return from Haiti. Life has just not been the same for me. Everything I do, everything I see, everything I feel makes me think about Haiti. My heart has broken, and my eyes are seeing through different lenses. I feel transformed and renewed. As I packed up all my "stuff" at home and moved back to my apartment at school, I became stressed and frustrated by how much "stuff" I had. When did I accumulate so much stuff and why did I always think I needed More? It was at this moment that I realized that all this stuff is what is separating me from God and separating me from giving to others.

As I slip back into my school routine, I am finding it especially difficult to transition. It's not the school work that I am finding hard to do, but I am finding it hard to be selfless with so much expectations to meet. It's easy to become blinded by the stress and things of everyday life, but I know that part in my heart that has been filled with God's renewing love keeps breaking open to keep Him in the center of my life. Many times this week I have seen God Knocking at my door, and instead of ignoring his calling I am finally starting to answer it! I am beginning to see God's signs of His love for me everywhere! All I need to do is open my eyes, open my heart, and answer the call! One of the biggest life changes for me since going to Haiti is my desire to grow closer to God.

Many times throughout my days, I catch myself thinking about all those little ones God put in my path while in Haiti. I can still see their faces and can replay our interactions in my mind. I can't help but wonder if they are still alive, still safe, and if they will ever have enough to meet their basic needs. All I can do is pray for them and that God's Will will be done for them.

I also find myself thinking about my mission team; before our trip, everyone was a complete strangers to me and by the end I felt like everyone became my family. It is amazing how God can bring together people of all different backgrounds for ten days to do His Will, and how He can transform them and shape them through their interactions with each other. It was not only through the Haitian people that I found God's Love, but it was through my own mission team that I was able to see God at work and to feel His presence.I miss our bonding, our prayers, and our laughter.

I pray that God will place it on all our Hearts to keep doing His will and to keep Him alive in our lives.
-Kristina