Haiti has been a place I’ve been intrigued to experience for a while now. My parents were both born in Haiti. I grew up hearing the language, attending a Haitian church, eating the food, etc. It’s a place my mother always wanted to take my brother and I to, but has yet to have the chance to.
I don’t know exactly what I expected, but I got something completely different. I have officially fallen in love with Haiti. The people are kind, loyal, and loving. They are strong, brave, and are confident in who they are.
My team and I spent a bit of time every morning watching videos about Haiti’s history and relationship with its neighboring country. Learning about every hard thing and bad hand that has been dealt to this country, and seeing its resilience has allowed me to appreciate the people and country so much more.
I am also pleased to say that my parents make so much more sense now lol. Things that they’ve done, said, and beliefs/opinions they hold are very present in Haiti. Many dots got connected here & it’s been a big blessing.
This month, our ministry was very administrative. Our hosts were heavily preparing for the upcoming school year, so, we got to bless the teachers and staff by preparing their materials. We spent a lot of time cutting paper, stapling booklets, hot glueing projects, etc. We also lived above an orphanage, so in our free time we were able to go downstairs and play games with the kids and love on them the best that we could!
A couple of fun things that happened this month:
Made cakes and sang happy birthday for 3
different birthday parties (under the age of 5)
Got invited to and danced at a 25 year old’s birthday party
Got to witness a (surprise to us) revival service in the town square
Planned a worship night in the town square (but it rained every night we tried to have it, so we had it in our living room instead and it was great)
Hiked up a waterfall with a guide that held my hand the entire time (a.k.a. The only way I ever would’ve walked up that slippery death trap)
Near the end of the month, we got to go see the school property, clean the classrooms, & decorate the walls for the start of the year. We also got to attend the 2 first days of school and meet the children we’d been working all month to prepare for. We wrote names on hundreds of notebooks for 6 or 7 different subjects and then got to put faces to the names. We helped feed them their midday snacks and meals and played with them during free time.
I miss my new friends so much already. I miss their laughter, the language, the feeling of home. I am grateful that we got to help our ministry raise up the next generation and share the love of Jesus to a large group of amazing children.
P.S. because most of our ministry was at the orphanage, I do not have many pictures to share, as they asked us not to share pictures of the children they care for there 🙂
