2017 Haiti Mission – October 24 and 25

The mission team is so large that we split into 3 groups of six and go to different places in the village. Today, Tuesday October 24th we spend time on a construction project, in the clinic, at the orphanage and the elderly home. The team that went to the clinic had the opportunity to pray with various patients waiting to see the doctor and helped organize the office area. The team that visited the elderly home got to work on arts and crafts projects, paint fingernails and toenails for the residents and even gave massages. They also spent time praying with people. The orphanage visit was a time of straight up fun. The team blew bubbles and played games with the children. Many of the little kids found a pair of arms or a lap to cuddle in. I heard that one of our missionaries was captured on camera asleep in a rocking chair with a child in his lap…how very precious.

I went along to assist the construction team. The projects involved building a set of wooden steps leading into the church and demolishing an outdoor shed on a nearby home. I was truly impressed with the tenacity and willing spirit of this female-dominated crew. Many had never used a power tool before but, after some brief instructions, they became masters of measuring and cutting lengths of wood for the risers and treads of the stairs using a tape measure, speed square (I bet you don’t know what that is), power saw, cordless drill, a hammer and nails. This was truly a Black Girl Magic moment!

On Wednesday our assignments are to spend time in the clinic, at the school, the orphanage, the teen girls home, the “little” orphanage and another construction project. Wednesday is “mother’s day” so our team gets to see the “clinic in a can” in operation and they are awed by it. They also shared that an elderly man came into the hospital complaining of a pain on his leg. It turned out he has skin cancer but there is little the doctor can do for him because they lack the medicines to treat this disease. One of the team members gave him some money so that he could go to another hospital about 3 hours away for possible treatment. The group that went to the teen girls home reported that they had a great time playing Jenga and line-dancing. And the team that spent time at the orphanage had a ball playing board games and Uno with the children. In fact I got to witness the end of one very rambunctious game.

I spent the first part of the morning with a Pre-K class at the school. We went over the alphabets in both Kreyol and English and then focused on vowel pronunciations and counting from one to ten. After attending school a couple of us dropped in on the construction site.

Today a team is helping to build a home for the lady who cooks at the soup kitchen. This person is hard working and sacrifices a lot to help her fellow man. She cooks for an average of 200-300 people daily who show up for a meal. Home construction is very labor intensive utilizing cement and concrete blocks. It involves sifting sand to remove the rocks and pebbles, and then mixing in cement and water to make the concrete. Our team helps out where we can but the 84 year old “boss” is doing most of the intricate work of making sure the blocks are laid down perfectly straight and plumb. Take a look at her existing home in this picture below and the construction process in the succeeding ones.

Wednesday afternoon a group visited what we call the “little orphanage”. It is a very small house which is home to 21 children. It was adopted by the mission a little over a year ago although it is managed separately. Mission of Grace has provided beds for the children there, and will occasionally give them food and other assistance when asked. The children attend a school associated with a nearby church which sponsors the orphanage. I enjoyed my time there last year and insisted it be a part of our agenda this year. The team brings arts and crafts projects, coloring books, bubbles, and some board games. We also treat them to some candy. There is one little girl who is obviously suffering from prolonged malnutrition. She scooped up almost immediately by one of our team members who did not put her down until it was time for us to leave. I will definitely make this a stop on our agenda again on Thursday and I will also put ask our mission administrators to look in on this child to get her some medical attention.

We have to pass by the Mission Of Grace orphanage on our way back home and decided to go inside to give and receive some loving.