World Cup/Feeding Clinic/Market Trip

Tuesday:

The kids huddled around the 8” screen watching a movie while we watch the USA/Belgium soccer game. Taking advantage of the electricity!

Something as simple as cards keeps them entertained for quite a while. To the left is “ti” Moses, the one who just came a week or two ago because his pregnant mom was unfortunately unable to take care of both him and a new baby.

The kids love looking through all the photos on my phone. They especially enjoyed watching a video of Betsy singing, “you’re worth more than gold”—remember, little B?! And Modeline is tickled looking at pictures of our granddaughter Mia—I wonder if it’s because of her curly hair and light coloring?

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Since the kids are out of school, Pastor has them working. Each day some of the girls are helping to do the laundry, cook the meals for the children or for us, clean the play area, etc. The boys sweep our balcony and the porch, run errands for Pastor, clean the car and truck, haul wood, and do whatever else is needed. Today it was decided that a trench needed to be built to divert the runoff from the evening rains, so Pastor called his nephew Ben (in pink hat) and rallied the troops, all before 8 a.m., to being the ditch digging and cement making/pouring. Jempslee is wielding the pick ax (Emil is recovering from the chikungunya virus). The next photo is Pastor overseeing the operation. One of the boys, Jerry, was still working this afternoon digging a trench and making a cement block wall up higher near the children’s building. He had a huge smile on his face when I asked why he didn’t have others helping—he said he was fine. I am in love with them and their cheerful hearts!

We are here at the perfect time to enjoy an abundance of fresh fruit! We’ve convinced Pastor we only need two meals a day, like the others here Loving Haiti, and this is breakfast today—fresh pineapple, mango, banana that I eat with peanut butter, toast, hard boiled eggs, and a ramen noodle dish in the bowl in the back. Pastor says I am Abby’s mommy, I don’t eat enough (like Abby), but now what we’re down to two meals, he sees me eating plenty!

After breakfast Mark went out in the front of the church with a couple of the boys to measure for a fence and gate. Two young men came up to me and told me all about themselves, the good work they do, the need for money for university, etc. It’s hard to go far outside the compound without hearing versions of this story over and over! We “blan” are easy targets; however, I just tell them we work with Pastor Francois and we don’t do anything for anyone else without his approval. I just try to enjoy the chance to converse in my pidgin English/French/Creole, although these young men spoke very good English.

When Mark was planning to go to Haiti last December, our City Group donated money for us to take the children to the market, a few at a time, so that they could have a treat and/or buy something they need. We are using that money on this trip, and we took our first group today (a smaller one to start with!).

Emil is 16 years old and a total sweetheart, very trustworthy, very kind. We will probably take him each day, as he’s a good one to have on hand to barter, count money, etc. He wanted some cologne—cost about $2.75—and what a nice treat for a teenager to get something he “needed”! Emil joined the Children’s Home 10 years ago after a hurricane hit his home town and a pastor called Pastor Francois  saying he had 6 kids that needed homes as a result of the hurricane and he hoped Pastor would take them. Pastor took all 6.  

Moses is 13 years old and the boy Lynn wrote about who was saved from being thrown in the river as a baby. The elderly woman who has cared for him all these years brought him to Pastor late this winter, saying she would probably die soon and needed him to be taken care of. He is a very sweet and smart boy, and he seems to have adjusted quite well. What a great smile, huh?!

Modeline is 8 years old, and she was brought here by her father about 5 years ago after her mother disappeared and he could no longer care for her or her sister Michelda. Her Sunday school teacher told us yesterday that she is very sharp, very smart. She has some recurring sores that Pastor says he’ll have looked at, but she is overall doing great!

The youngers all agreed on some cookies and then a cold drink at a new spot that’s opening near the church. We brought them back to eat their cookies and we also gave them a treat or two from us. We will take a group out each day except Sunday, I suppose. We need to bump up our numbers or we’ll have too big a group at the end!