Valley View Team from Louisville, KY
What an awesome day this has been. Everyone should have the opportunity to be welcomed and greeted by many, many, loving children, as we have been today. We left Miami at 10:05 this morning, and arrived in Port au Prince around noon. The next leg of our journey was an experience, to say the least. I am so glad Mike has become proficient in the art of Haitian driving. The 20 miles to Bercy, took us about 90 mins., but we did have to stop for bread and propane.
On the way to the orphanage Nick, pointed out a mass grave which he told us has thousands of bodies of people killed during the earthquake in January 2010. We also passed by thousands of makeshift homes, tent cities, if you will, where so many people have been forced to live. The government made land available to many of these people, in areas far outside the city, making it hard for them to have access to basic necessities of life, including water.
When we finally arrived at Cabaret, we unloaded and had a bite to eat. Mike and Bonnie introduced us to life in the orphanage. Then, it was time to unload all the items graciously donated by family and friends … food on the shelves, in the proper order, supplies where they belonged. As an afterthought it probably wasn’t a good idea to take all those diapers out of their packs, to use as cushioning for the other supplies. We had to sort them all back into sizes. We sure had a lot of diapers. Thanks to everyone who met that need.
The newest member of the orphanage is Leonel, a 9 month old boy, still wearing only 3 month size clothing. He is very happy, and loves being held almost as much as other children in the orphanage like to try holding him. I think each of the members of the team had their opportunity to spend one-on-one time with him. He even enjoyed our supper of mashed potatoes and carrots with us. We had beef stew and corn, too, but he didn’t. He is not the only one wanting to be held. Some of the bigger children sought adults willing to pick them up, also. Too precious. I love it!
The language difference doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem as I had anticipated. Thanks, Betty, for those prayers. Mandy connected with a young girl right off. They were trying to find a tune to hum that they both knew when all of a sudden she hummed Jesus Loves Me, the child started singing it in English. They sang this song together and continued with “He’s got the whole world in His hands” (well, she sang, “he’s got me and my “sista” in His hands). Awesome! We watched some of the boys playing basketball. They were very excited that we brought a couple of balls with us. I must say, I moved on, once I realized they were playing strip basketball. Yes, I mean that literally, at least down to the underwear. Must be a local custom, similar to our game of HORSE.
After the evening meal was cleaned up, we had a time where we shared our first day’s experience. Hard to put it all in words. Some things you just have to experience yourselves. Mike threw out a couple of project opportunities we could decide to work on. We all were willing to do whatever, so we asked Mike what was the one he wanted to see completed most. He told us he wanted to see the church, in Terra Noir completed. So, tomorrow we will make a trip partially up the mountain by van, then walk the rest of the way. The supplies will be brought up on donkeys. I am so excited. He says we should have that completed in two days. The people there are so excited, too, because then they can have school there. Most of those people have never attended school.
Other projects we hope to get to this week, include making an office space, to be used by the sewing school and the church here at the compound. We will also be updating sponsors of children with their current statistics. For example, how tall they are, how much they weigh, and where they are in their studies. There is always painting to be done. Bonnie even mentioned needing some organizing in some areas. The work here is never ending. Pray about coming and being part of what God is doing here in Bercy, at the Cabaret Baptist Children’s Home.
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Brianna, I need to hear from you. Call me. MOM