Blog Post by: Carrie Chambers
As we were unable to update the blog while we were away due to “technical difficulties”, I have had a little time to process all that we experienced. We had some obstacles, to be sure: a smaller team, with several non-medical people, as well as difficulties with electricity, communication, and transportation. Yet, those seem so trivial in the face of God’s power which was evidenced in so many moments over the week.
The kids were a little hesitant to greet us at first, as somehow they seemed to know that we were the team with the dreaded “pikis”, aka shots. Soon, however, they were pretending to give us injections and trying to argue that they should receive a sucker for each poke they got, not just one lollipop. I think a few of those kids have a great future ahead as lawyers. We vaccinated all the orphans in a day and half, pausing only to give hugs and wipe tears (theirs and ours). We rewarded ourselves for our efficiency with a morning at the beach where the waves were wild and beautiful and very refreshing.
We started community clinic earlier than planned on Tuesday afternoon. We called this time our “dress rehearsal”‘ as it gave us time to discover what worked and what didn’t with our smaller crew. We were so blessed to have that afternoon as it prepared us for what would be a very busy 2 1/2 days more of community clinic. We were able to minister to almost 650 people in the community providing treatment for many types of infections, injuries, and problems such as high blood pressure, arthritis, and diabetes. Several moments stand out in my memory: the young girl with Down’s syndrome whose mother was told she should be thrown away giggling throughout my exam, the little boy who had suffered with an earache for 3 months, and the woman who was diagnosed with AIDS on our last trip, looking healthy and fit thanks to medication she received with the help of ESMI and Long Hollow.
As a team, we struggled with all that we could and could not do in the face of needs that were so great and resources that were so limited. It is humbling to see how grateful people can be for things we take for granted: Tylenol, vitamins, and Tums. It is heartbreaking to run out of medicines or not be able to see all those who wait so long to be seen. Yet, God allowed us to see that He is the ultimate healer and that caring for the physical needs of others is intended to serve a higher purpose: that of tangibly showing the love of Christ. My most memorable patient was a 92 year old lady who presented with congestive heart failure and symptoms of esophageal cancer. She was so ill we initially tried to take her to the local hospital. We soon found out it was closed (it is open only 4 hours a day) and was poorly equipped at best. She had loving family with her and I explained that we would do our best to help her, but that she was very seriously ill. She improved somewhat with medication but the real change came when one of the team members asked her if she knew Jesus. She answered with an emphatic “yes!” and her weary face lit up with joy. She was able to walk out of the clinic later that day, and though I do not know how many days remain for her, I know her eternal future is certain.
On our final day, we taught a class for a group of nursing students on ways to improve survival of newborn infants. One of them asked why we came to Haiti. I answered that we come because we serve a God who calls us to show His love to all people. Whether we are here or in Haiti, God does not want us to just go through the motions. He wants us to truly care for others. He wants us to show love to them by our actions more than our words. And I believe he wants to show us that, in His power, much can be accomplished.
This update is one of my favorites so far! It highlights our amazing ministry partners in Haiti. They sacrifice tremendously as they serve God faithfully in Haiti. We are so blessed by their friendship and partnership as we minister to orphan children in the Jeremie area and beyond.
-Erica
Our team has been blessed to eat dinner each night at Pastor Dony’s. However, that means that most of our team had not had an opportunity to see downtown Jeremie. We were able to do that first thing this morning.
We then proceeded on to the beach for a swim. The tide was MUCH higher than when I was here last. We were not even able to make it out to the sunken submarine.
After quickly cleaning up and eating lunch, we headed to the orphanage for VBS. Our message today was on loving our enemies. We told them the story of the Good Samaritan. After acting out the story, the kids were asked who their enemies where and that they needed to pray for them. One girl started yelling out other kids names!!!! We have all laughed about this.
We attempted to show them the rest of Chronicles of Narnia this afternoon, however the generator ran out of gas……no refunds were given:)
After dinner this evening we were blessed to have Pastor Dony share with us the vision for ESMI. Each time I hear it I learn a little more. Therefore, I’m going to recap it briefly.
ESMI has four legs of their ministry – Evangelism, Education, Empathy and Economic Development. Most of us have heard the explanation of each of these legs. I’m going to only include things new things I learned.
Evangelism
A new church was started at the university in September. Since then 240 lives have been saved! Praise God!!!
There are 250 pastors in the ESMI organization. They are currently working on training them and developing resources for deeper messages for their congregations. There is
The country has a 70 percent illiteracy rate. ESMI currently has 39 schools with 6,500 students.
Education
There is a 70 percent illiteracy rate amount Haitians. ESMI has 39 schools with 6,500 students.
The next goal is to build dormitories at the university for future students. The last three years of school will be done at the university (finishing school).
The school at the orphanage currently goes to the 7th grade.
Empathy
A few weeks ago one of the couples in the community went into labor and was not able to deliver the baby. She needed a C-section. Pastor Dony loaned them their car to drive the 7 hours to have the operation. The mom ended up having the child in the car 3 hours into the drive. The family has not been saved yet, however they are attending e church. God uses many methods to reach the lost! Pray for this family.
The orphanage plans to bring on 25 additional kids at a time until they reach 200. The plan is to stay at this number for some time to make sure it is manageable. The next 25 kids will be between the ages of 5 to 7. They will come from the surrounding communities and have already been identified.
They are working on bringing on some Papas to have some male role models at the orphanage.
The church is ministering to the local widows. The other members of the church brings extra supplies and part of the offering is given to them.
Economic Relief
There are a few “businesses” that have been started – a dump truck, ice house and agriculture. The current undertaking is to start a chicken farm. The property has been purchased and construction has began. The plan is to have 6 chicken coops that will hold 1,000 chickens each. Two of these coops have already been funded.
At one point there were 2,000 orphans in the ESMI organization. Many have been reunited with their families. Currently there are between 1,200 to 1,400 children.
There are 21 ESMI orphans studying at the university in Cayes.
There is a plan to allow some of the students to go to university in the USA with an American sponsor.
ESMI has 700 employees – 7 executive level employees, zone coordinators, campus pastors, momma’s, teachers, etc.
What a blessing it is to be here! I fall in love with these kids and the country more each day! What a PRIVILEGE it is to serve along side ESMI!
-Kim Powers
Filed under: Haiti
The team ended last night with the Haitian Billy Graham (as Travis Kaiser calls him). Pastor Dony’s father, Pastor Brazil St. Germain is in town for a conference and spoke at the university chapel. Before that, their worship leader treated us to a few songs we knew, singing them in both Creole and English. We will never hear Angus Dei and Lord I Lift Your Name on High the same way again.
Today we had the opportunity to leave a lasting artistic impression on the orphanage. Under the creative genius that is Robyn Collins, we brightened the cafeteria with a mixture of just a few gallons of paint, leaving our token of “renmen” for them to remember in the days ahead.
After a quick break for lunch, we headed back to the orphanage to begin our first day of discipleship training. As many of the orphans have gotten to know Jesus, our goal this time is to continue the Bible story, focusing on love. Today’s lesson was about the friendship between David and Jonathan, and how friends treat one another. After several hilarious skits the kids wrote letters to their friends at Long Hollow.
After another quick trip back to the guesthouse and dinner in Pastor Dony’s home, we traveled back to Lundy to show the first half of Chronicles of Narnia in French. Although they had seen it before, they were mesmerized by the film and the team enjoyed a sweet time with the children, with many falling asleep in their arms. We feel truly blessed to be able to provide a bit of rest in loving arms to the lovely children of Haiti. After all, our Father holds us in His arms everyday.
-Michael Powers
Filed under: Haiti
Morning: Awoke to another beautiful day in Haiti and we were especially excited because we get to have Sunday worship in church with the children today. Started the day off well with pancake and bacon breakfast (kudos to the cook – Mike Morris) at the guest house before we left for the orphanage at 8:00am. On the way to the orphanage in Jeremie, we drove through local neighborhoods passing and waiving at the locals that were waiving at us as well. Along the road, we saw some families in their Sunday best walking to their local church, some people riding their pack mules, some women carrying large baskets or containers on their head, a family completely naked bathing next to the street at the neighborhood water spicket, passing a UN (United Nations) compound and several UN vehicles along the way, and we stopped to buy cell phone minutes from a local house on the side of the road that had a flag hanging on one of their trees signifying they were a Digicell representative. Driving up the mountain of the orphanage is always a challenge for the bus but we made it again today as we sang our traditional chant/song of encouragement — “Ole’, Ole’, Ole’ …”.
Sunday morning church service was a treat to see how the Haitians worship. They decorated their church building with flowers, cloth wrappings around the support columns and the podium. The Haitians were dressed up in their finest clothes. They are very reverent yet passionate as they love to sing, dance and raise their hands in praise (seems genuine praise is universal in how it is expressed). They have a small choir of the older children and some adults, and also a band with drums, bongos, keyboard and guitar. After the music minister was done with praise, Dou Dou (our body guard, bus driver, translator and friend) spoke briefly, recognized Long Hollow Church being present and introduced Brian Jackson who spoke to the congregation about how Haiti and the orphanage has changed his life and has deepened his faith. It was very touching and brought many of us to tears. The kids were so orderly and stayed in their pews until after the offering at which time they got up and came to sit with us (next to us or in our laps) for the rest of the service.
Lunch: After church service, we spent time loving on the children for a while before heading back to the guest house for lunch and to change into play clothes to come back to the orphanage. As usual, some of the local boys from the neighborhood surrounding the guest house were waiting for our return outside of the gate. Before we ate lunch, some of us walked down to the ocean with these boys to watch them swim. It was beautiful seeing the waves crash on the rocks and fill up the swim holes that the boys would wade and swim in. The boys were so nice and polite. They held our hands, guided and walked us down the rocky cliff to the beach. We enjoyed talking and laughing with them as they swam.
Afternoon: After lunch, we went back to the orphanage to spend the afternoon. Played hard all day with the kids (soccer, threw football, parachute game, hopscotch, patty-cake, thumb wrestling, karate, tossing children up in the air, piggy-back rides, chasing each other, etc.). Watched children be creative by sliding down a concrete hill on a plastic gas can while the day before it was a garbage can. Anything they find they think of ways to use it. While many want you to play hard, some just want to be held and loved on. I had both a girl and a boy today fall asleep in my arms as I held and sang to them. While kids are playing, the house moms are hand washing the kids and their own clothes. You may see clothes, underwear and bras hanging from bushes, trees, on lines or laid on top of tin roofs. As you look around, you will see and hear livestock throughout the campus (goats, roosters, chickens, turkeys). The children’s late lunch/early dinner today was special. We had given them bouillon cubes to add a broth/sauce on top of their normal corn and rice mush meal. They loved it! They loaded up their mush into whatever container they could find (pan, bowl, plastic butter cup, upside down frisbee, etc. Some of them take their meal back to their housing bed area and sit on the floor and eat. Many of them eat with their hands while some shared spoons. Was invited to their room to come spend time with them while they ate. Breaks your heart seeing their living conditions — steel bunk beds three rows high with 15 beds in one little room. Yet at the same time, my heart was warmed by the selfless gestures of hospitality from these precious children as they offer to share their meal with me. Children that have nothing, often hungry and food is scarce — thinking of others and not just themselves. I could not help but hug and pat them and let them know how proud I was of them for their sincere gesture. Just another example of how they are being raised well by the Biblical teachings of the orphanage. Got to see a photo of the kids in their school uniforms and was told of how orderly they are as they line up to go to class and gather to raise the flag and say their pledge of allegiance. Late afternoon we were invited to attend the local community concert/play fundraiser at the orphanage church. We had kids in our laps sitting in the pews loving on us and us on them while we laughed together. It was such a joy to see them belly laugh all through the show.
Evening: After the concert, we went back to the guest house to clean up and then Pastor Dony’s house for dinner. We had chicken, beef, rice, pasta, beans and fried plantains. Pastor Dony’s father was a special guest tonight at dinner. He was in from Miami to teach other pastors at the university on a series he was teaching on Revelation. Being Sunday night and because his father is a local legend pastor, he was the guest speaking pastor at the local church tonight. After the team dinner, everyone went to clean up and get back into church clothes to attend the evening service. It was an incredible service with both an excellent praise & worship time and a great message. After the service, the team then came back to the guest house to prep for our next day bible study and craft activities for the children, discuss the next day agenda, and have our team time devotion to wrap up the evening. Thinking of how nasty our feet and the children’s feet were from the dusty/sandy environment, it made me think about how our Lord humbled himself and served his disciples by washing their feet. This inspired a foot washing for the team as an act of love and appreciation for their servant leadership. The team also had a special prayer time for Gerald to be healed of his sickness that he has been struggling with for two days now. We are hoping he feels better in the morning and does not need to fly back home early. The night ended with the team completing the craft art pieces for the next day’s lesson plan. We are all excited to start the week long bible study plan (“The Haiti Love Lesson”) and have been blessed by Robyn’s leadership, passion for children’s ministry and application of her spiritual gifts and abilities. Monday will surely be a great day!
-Troy West
Filed under: Haiti
Well, we’ve ended our first full day in Jeremie with nothing but smiles! After a good nights rest, we woke up excited to get back to see the kids. We got to the orphanage around 9 (after walking up the hill since Dou-Dou just couldn’t make it all the way up!) and were welcomed by familiar faces and lots of hugs! Gerald started things off with about 30 minutes of worship and taught the kids a new song that will hopefully be picked up within a few days. After that, we all dispersed and hung out with the kids until noon, and then we headed back to the guesthouse for lunch. We were able to make a second trip back after lunch to spend more time with those sweet faces! A parachute (one of those colored ones used for games) was found and was taken to the orphanage and the kids loved it! They all sat underneath while we waved it above them. As Robyn puts it “hiding and fighting” because every time we raised it up the kids just had to punch someone before it fell down again! A game of duck duck goose was also miraculously put together and worked out for a good ten minutes before the kids decided they all wanted to be the duck. A memorable moment was when Tyler put a camera on Pegi’s head and let him walk around getting footage! Hilarious. We had dinner at Dony’s house again tonight, and of course, it was delicious. Absolutely loving this Haitian food! Group time tonight was great, lots was shared and brings our team together even more!! God has done it again; put a team of wonderful people together with amazing talents and a love for these kids like no other! So excited for church in the morning, and what He has in store for the rest of the week.
-Caroline Bateman
Filed under: Haiti
Filed under: Haiti
Below are CJ Rhoades pre-trip thoughts in poem form:
Filed under: Haiti
Filed under: Missions
I recently had the privilege of co-leading a break-out session at the latest Long Hollow women’s event. Our session was called “The Great Awakening Begins With You!” What a title. The session focused on “going” at home, in your church, and into the world. There was a point in the session where the phrase “going” was used so much I started thinking about the pharmaceutical commercials for bladder issues. I had to suppress a giggle on stage. So in certain situations going equals funny. But in most situations going equals being sent and sometimes going even equals fear.
I encounter this fear on a daily basis as I chat with folks interested in our Long Hollow mission trips. Fear of planes, fear of dirt, fear of bugs, fear of disease, fear of loneliness, fear of inadequacy, fear for family, fear of money…. and on it goes. I have to suppress the desire to lay hands on these people and cast out the fear! Instead I pray silently and give words of encouragement. I speak truth, Isaiah 41: 13 “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
It is my prayer today that we would not let fear stand in the way of going. We are not inadequate, we are not ill-equipped. We represent the God of the Universe and he is asking us to go. He is promising to equip us! He is promising to be with us in the plane, in the orphanage, in the slums of the third world. He lives there. He dwells there, he loves the people there. He wants them as sons and daughters. Why do you think he asks us to go? So we will be changed? Yes. But more than that he wants us to show His love, to be His message.
2 Timothy 1:7
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
He will give us power. We only need to trust him. Let’s leave the “going” problems to the pharmaceutical companies.
-Erica