Hey everyone!
Just wanted to send and update from Haiti. We are staying at the Mission of Hope (MOH) which is about 30 plus minutes from Port au Prince. We are staying in a compound that they have here. It is quite large and has guest housing, housing for long term staff, an orphanage, a school, a clinic, a church, and much more. We are staying in a guest house that offers bunk housing and running water. This mission has many ways in which it serves the area around them.
The work we are doing is focused on building community with the local villages. We visit the nearby communities and play with the kids and talk with the people. We are also participating in what they call Strategic Village time. We are only the third group to participate in this project. We go around to each home in the community and teach about basic health practices like washing hands and brushing teeth (most Haitians already seem to know a lot about this). We also gather statistical data about their families, their access to water, access to heath care, and their living conditions. Most importantly, we share the gospel with the people we meet and pray for them and their families. The data that we are collecting will help MOH to know more about the communities and the need that is there so they can better serve the people. This information will also help the epidemiologist that works with them to track patterns of diseases.
It is great to see how the Lord has made provisions for MOH. They started in 1998 and already have many programs that they offer to the Haitians and they are still growing. Their mission is to make sure that every man, woman, and child in Haiti have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I feel very blessed to be working with this ministry. I am excited to see what God will continue to do in the future.
We are sorry that we haven’t corresponded sooner. The internet here is very expensive and costs $5 an hour and $75 for the whole month.
The food here is pretty good. They have Haitian cooks that make us all three meals. We eat a lot of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. The food is pretty Americanized with a little Haitian spin to it.
One of the villages that we are visiting is called Leveqe. Everyone in the community was relocated to this location after the earthquake. There are still hundreds of people living in these blue tents that were supplied after the earthquake. These tents were only meant to last for 6 months and these people have lived in them for over 5 years. They are currently in the process of building them homes here. They employ Haitian workers to do the labor. We got to help paint some homes that people will be moving into soon. One of the interesting things about this community is that they have over 100 deaf people that live there. They mostly use American Sign Language.
The people here do not have much in the way of belongings. We have asked a lot of people about where they work and many sell some produce that they grow but don’t have a job other than that. While this is true for a great many, others are able to get jobs on boats, as security personnel, and cooks. We even met a lady who works for Compassion International.
Well, I hope this gives you a better idea of what we are doing down here. Hope all is well with you! We will try to update the blog again soon.
