Haiti - Day 4

I’m not sure if you knew this, but we don’t have power here 24 hours a day. There’s a generator that they run from 6pm-6am. During the week they turn it on for a few hours during school, but then it’s off again until dinner. And wi-fi isn’t free, nor is it speedy. You have to pay for it, and it’s fairly slow. Inside, it’s too hot to stay in for long. Outsode, the sun is too bright to see your electronics anyway.

Limited internet, limited power, too hot to stay indoors…

In other words, today’s typical suburban child would be very disoriented at this place.

So you should TOTALLY bring your kid here sometime. I’ve been watching the families that are here serving together (Kensington isn’t the only group here), and it makes me eager to bring my own clan here one day.

You don’t really need an alarm clock in the morning. The generator is so loud that when it goes off at 6am, the silence wakes you up. If it doesn’t, the roosters outside your window surely will. It’s pretty fantastic. Or annoying. Take your pick.

After breakfast this morning, our team took a tour of the Mission of Hope campus, and it blew my mind to hear all the things that go on at this place. Orphanage, nationwide food distribution center, health/eye/dentist clinic, prosthetics lab (one of the only ones in the nation), a church, transition homes & training programs for orphans that have been aged out of the system.

Oh, and there’s a school. Not just any school. They actually have 4 locations now, and serve over 6,000 kids, with 4,000 more kids waiting to get in. The kids’ tuitions are sponsored by people (this is who Kensington’s nochild.org is partnered with), but the kids’ families also have to pay a small fee which guarantees parental investment.

The school is crazy successful. The students at all 4 locations test in the top 95% in the nation. In fact, it’s SO successful that he Haitian government has requested to use Mission of Hope’s (Christian-based) curriculum in its public schools. Absolutely unheard of.

The tour ended with us heading back into Source Matelas (“Seuss Maht-lah”) for more SVT (see previous posts), followed by a Kids Camp. At one of the houses we visited, we watched a lady limp by the gate. After we left the family we were talking to, we followed the lady and saw her foot was bleeding. She had just been struck by falling debris from a house. This time we had our nurses with us, and they sprung into action. Pretty sure that House MD would be very proud of them.  They bandaged her up and we prayed for her and her family, then headed to Kids Camp.

How do I describe Kids Camp?  Well it went kind of like this: First we crammed into a makeshift shelter that is also a public school. See the pictures below. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, there were only 15 kids. Five minutes later, there were over 100. It was like Vacation Bible School on Red Bull. Our team debuted their acting skills and taught the kids about the forgiveness that Jezi (Jesus in Creole) gives us. Afterward, we gave them some awesome cinch bags (GREAT IDEA, TONI), and the local MOH team served them rice and beans with a little chicken.

As usual, the kids asked for tons of “Fotos! Fotos!” and took turns climbing on our crew. In the middle of the clamor, I noticed that one kid sitting next to me wasn’t eating his food. His name was Gannon. He kept one hand covering his plate, and he eyed the other kids suspiciously, as if hiding it from them. I leaned over to him and motioned to his food and his mouth, asking if he was going to eat it, and he shook his head “no.” Then he grabbed a friend’s empty plate and flipped it over on top of it. I instantly understood. He was making a doggy bag. I pointed at his makeshift to-go box and asked him in broken Creole “por ou family?” He nodded and said “oui. Mi famila.” I pointed to his heart and said “bien bien bien” (good good good) and was rewarded with a giant smile, a hug, and a “shhhh” sign before he snuck out a side gate.

I sat overwhelmed for a moment as I realized that this kid had a chance at a free meal that surely would have filled his 7-year-old belly. It could have been all his. And yet he took it home to share with his family instead.

5-year-old me threw a fit when my mom tried to share my Slurpee. That kid is so much cooler than I am. My parents should have sent me to Haiti as a kid to shape me up.

But little Gannon also reminded me of our team devotional today. The theme was Empty = Full. Jesus often talked of emptying ourselves: giving up our own desires, needs, and wants, and putting the needs of others first. According to him, when we empty ourselves, we suddenly find our lives more full than when we began. Which makes us want to empty ourselves and give even more. Which makes us even more filled. Which begins an endless cycle of generosity and fulfillment. Everyone wins.

Again, simply brilliant.

So if you want to know what our team is feeling right now?

Exactly that: near-empty and overfilled at the same time.

Well, the generator just turned on for the evening, which means it’s dinner time.

Tonight we’ve got dish duty, then some of us are going to go watch a movie (in French) with the orphans before bed.

So if you’re praying for us, pray that we’ll continue to find new ways to empty ourselves even more while we’re here. And pray that we’ll see Gannon again. We’d love to meet his family.

As always, thanks for all the support, prayers, and shout outs! We’ll check back in tomorrow!