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Bon swa from Haiti, I hope this finds everyone well and blessed. It seems about time to get out another newsletter. So now I sit down in the middle of the sandstorm of my thoughts and activities and try to reach out and take hold of a few of the things that might mean as much in type as they do in my mind. For us these last few weeks have been filled with a million little things as opposed to just two or three big things. There has been a lot of time and effort given to having "normal" days in a clearly not "normal" country. The Happy House itself is becoming more than ever like an ark for a lot of folks in our area. Since hurricane Dennis passed through here, many people lost their gardens, their means, their hope. Many roads are still out, including the big bridge in Grand Goave. When the river is low enough, we can cross through it, when it's up, we cannot. The price of staying alive here has skyrocketed. Food, construction materials, and gas have all gone through the roof. I spent $1,600H at the grocery store in PAP last week. I splurged and bought for regular cans of soup. That was over $100 Haitian. Four cans of soup. Filled up the gas tank for $430 H. Been spending on average around $400H a day to feed the Happy House and it's guests. We have been having big groups of kids staying over with us and then feeding 20 to 25 more on top of that. A lot of kids are counting on our lunch everyday. Over the last few weeks we've had kids from Mapou, Cite Soleil, Delmas, Carrefoure, Bainet, Chomielle, Marchasse, PAP, Ft Royale, Lakul, and Ti Goave here at the house. Some of the folks that have visited us here will remember Daphne, 12, for her often visits to the Happy House. She lived in a small one room block house/hut with her mother, half brother and stepdad. Daphne eats pretty much everyday as long as she comes here, but says she often went without food at her house. A few days ago her stepdad had a major fight with her brother. Her brother, 13, was beaten severely by the stepdad for not feeding some pigs properly. There was a lot of blood and it was quite a scandal on their little patch of earth. Edme, the half brother ran away to some of his older brothers. His older brothers, upon seeing their little brother, decided to repay the deed. They went and beat the stepdad severely. The stepdad in a fury decided no more stepkids in the house. He threw their few belongings out into the dirt. They say in Haiti, "Pe bourik, bat sak pai". Translated, you fear the donkey so you beat the basket on his back. In other words, there was nothing else he was able to beat, so he took the rest of his anger out on the kids. Edme went to live with his brothers. Daphne was not part of all of this, nor does she have the same father or brothers as her half brother, but she is only her mother's daughter and not the stepfather's offspring. Of course I use the term stepfather loosely. The mother and "stepfather" aren't married. Just the most current hook-up in a big square dance. Daphne's real father has brought about 35 other souls into the world as well and so has not had time or resource to help in her upbringing. She is one of 36 scattered across the country like empty cans. I say empty cans because that's about their worth to the "father" that I doubt can even name all of his offspring. It has been said many times that Haiti is a fatherless country. Daphne's mother came to us crying, and missing a few teeth that I do not recall missing from our last talk. "Can you take her?" Daphne has nowhere to go. Twelve years old and kicked out into the street. In Haiti on top of that. It's hard for me to even grasp the kind of insecurity and uselessness this must give a kid. It's at this point that little kids often get turned into little slaves as they are sent off to work in the house of some far away relative. These were set to be the worst days of her sad little life. That's just how awesome God is. She DOES have a place to go. She now lives with us at the Happy House as one of the "long term" kids. She has been very happy the last few days. It's bittersweet to see that she does not miss her "home" at all. So far she's fitting in VERY well. As to the politics of the country. Things are still very unstable. The UN has been doing some serious cracking down on the gangs in PAP. When we went in there last week, I saw more guns than I have ever seen in a single day. There were guarded checkpoints all over. There were armed soldiers and police all over the place. They were searching vehicles, and peering into every vehicle that passed. Opening trunks. Searching pedestrians. They were looking for kidnap victims, guns, drugs, etc. It is amazing to see little Haiti come to such a state. A lot of older Haitians are living in shock. They have never seen such things, nor would they ever have imagined such things on their own soil. It looks like a country at war. In some rough areas, the people are becoming more emboldened. They are tired of being killed daily. Some mobs have decided to go after some of the thugs. Some of the gang members have met violent ends, being literally torn to pieces. Bel Air, one of the more dangerous areas here, is starting to break free from the siege the gangs have had on them for the last year. It seems that the tide is turning. Still, a Canadian man was kidnapped and killed just a couple of days ago near Cite Soleil. Also, a bus filled with guns and ammo was caught coming in from the Dominican. There have been several big shoot-outs. The American and Canadian, and probably all the other embassies, are telling their citizens not to come. One of Haiti's biggest gang leaders was killed last month. Jesila, a girl from Cite Soleil that stayed with us last week, told of the gangs roaming the shacks at night. They hide during the day and go out and wreak havoc at night. Her and her mother found a place to sleep with several other residents outside of the Cite, under some trees. Jesila likes the trees better because there's less shooting and there is a breeze. I've been in a lot of shacks in Cite Soleil and I would way rather sleep under the trees. Another twelve year old, and she just recently got out of the Grace TB hospital. Welcome home. She cried when it was time to leave us and go back to the trees, but I gave her mom some money to rent a room somewhere. We also loaded them up with clothes and other supplies. Jesila wants to come live with us permanently and her mother wants to give her to me. That is a pressure here. Lives are handed to you on a constant basis. It can be overwhelming and it weighs very heavy on me at times. Someone's life is laid before you. If you help, they could have a happy life, go to school, worry about good grades instead of finding food. They can be loved, hugged, cared for. Have clothes and never have to run barefoot in the sewage. Sleep in a bed. Or we can turn them away into the gray void that is existence here. I can't count how many times I've been offered kids. One time in Cite Soleil, I had been walking along in a little mob, when a man stepped out and pulled 5 kids apart with him. His eyes weary of the fight to live, he put his 5 kids before me. "My wife has just died. I cannot take care of all 5 of these kids and I have nowhere to send them. I'm not asking you to take all of them. If you can take 3, I can keep the other two. You can pick any three you like". We could never take in the human masses that would come if we tried to take everyone in. We try to help them where they are. We try to build things that will help whole communities. Schools, churches, etc. But still, to care as we must, we must carry some pain. We must see souls. Jesus looked upon the multitudes and had "compassion" for them because they were as sheep having no shepherd. I look at some of the kids that are with us just tonight. Neekens, a little 7 yr old guy whose dad has had no part of his life. Berline, whose dad just threatened last week to kill all of his kids and his ex (Berline's mom) if his new mistress dies from a sickness she just contracted. She died this week and Berline is scared. Betty, 11, a very pretty little girl that lives in a hut in Ft Royale. Her dad has no part of her life. Thom, 12, his dad died years ago. Francette and Jaklin, whose dad died several years back. Ismael has no idea where or if his dad is. I'll stop there before everybody gets too depressed. The joy of this is that these kids are all very happy tonight. They are part of the family here, even when they are not here. The Lord has brought a bunch of folks together and that makes it a real blessing to be here. Schools will be opening in a couple of weeks. We already have 500 signed up at Ft Royale. That is our limit there. We are once again trying to get caught up building benches, blackboards, etc. Also a special thanks to Grace Presbyterian in Dalton for helping us on our way to a chapel/lunchroom at the Royale school. The walls are up. The roof is going on this week. Petit Goave itself has been relatively calm. There is still some damage from the hurricane and some roads that are still out but overall things are good, as far as Ti Goave good goes. We still have Sri Lankan soldiers here and I still can't talk to them. The other day I did get to talk to one that spoke English. We had a nice chat and will likely be talking again soon. So to wrap up, these are the thoughts I snagged from the sandstorm. There is so much more, but, for now, I'll let the dust settle. I would ask everyone to keep praying for us. I'm just now getting over a rough cold. Some of our kids are also doing some rough coughing. Also as school is cranking up, pray for our wisdom and finances to help as many folks as we can. Last year in August and Sept alone, we forked out over $20,000H helping kids buy books, uniforms, pay school fees, etc. At that time that was equal to about $3,300 US. These were all kids outside of our school systems. Remember Nayika? We've continued to help her through the years since I wrote about her a few years back. Her school in PAP needs $500H just as an entry fee. After that it's $80H a month for 10 months. This does not include books or uniforms. Ha ha. Out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth is speaking :0) A lot of folks here are wondering how/if they're going to get their kids through school this year. For now, I will sign off. Thank you again to the folks that pray for and support the work here. Keep praying for us. Hopefully we'll be able to take visitors again before too long. Take care and Bon Dieu beni nou! fre Ed |