My Trip to Haiti-- The Women of Haiti

While on my trip in Haiti, I encountered many women.  Nicole was one of those women.  Nicole is strong, and confident.  Nicole has  a great future ahead of her.  But she is the exception.

As we rode or walked through the villages, I saw woman after woman working so hard.  Most were squatting over buckets or streams washing clothes by hand.  Some were combing children's hair.  I'm sure many were cooking, though I didn't see anyone cooking.  All seemed forgotten.  As teams of Americans flood the villages, children run out of their homes to play with the Americans.  The women stay back to work.

The women of Haiti are forgotten, oppressed, and invisible. 

Here an example of how Haitian women are treated, even within the church.  Michaela shared with me that when one woman was asked how they could pray for her, she asked for her husband.  She  said that she couldn't join the church until she was married.

My heart was so burdened for the women of Haiti.  It still is.  My desire while there was to lift some of those women up.  To let them know how beautiful and valuable they are.  To let them know that they are not forgotten by God.

My Trip to Haiti- Even More Photos

In the village of Simonet.  Great place to find a crowd.  Later a group of men sat under this tree watching another man make a fishing net.

Nicole and I

Nicole playing soccer

Our time at the resort.

Look at how clear and beautiful the water is.

I really enjoyed swimming here with no one to disturb my groove. ;-)

 

They were selling these on the beach. They cook them for you.

My Trip to Haiti--More Photos

Water!

Instead of water bottles, they drink from bags of water

MOH hospital being built.  Pray for completion.

Prostetics lab

MOH School



Madame Cheap cheap-- We bought our souveneirs here




Beautiful!



One of the tent villages. MOH is building homes for them.



Brian and his new friend, Ronnie



Another one of our teammates met a new friend too!

My trip to Haiti--Photo Journal

At the airport in Port-au-Prince

Vendors were along the roads everywhere

We were following this truck.  Don't know what the baskets were for.

Gorgeous view as we traveled from the airport

the view from the roof of our dormitory

Another view from the roof.  Gorgeous!  I spent every morning on the roof meeting with God.

This is Belinda.  She adopted me the first day at VBS.  She saw me and grabbed my hand, wanting me to sit with her and her sisters.

Our team waiting for VBS

I sat in class with the girls.  I'm surprised I'm not still stuck in the desks.

Our Fabulous Team!!!!!!

This is Kinsley, one of our translators. Fabulous young man!  Lauren is  presenting the gospel.

My sweet daughter (in orange) with a new friend.  Everyone thought she was Haitian too!

Barbara , one of our leaders, jumping rope.  You go girl!  It was HOT out there!

My Trip to Haiti--Nicole

While in Haiti, we were able to interact with some awesome interpreters.  Our group had four interpreters, all male.  They were great.  I learned so much about the Haitian culture from them.  I spent much of my time asking lots of questions, and they were extremely gracious.  On our last day in the village, we specifically asked for a female interpreter because the women of our group wanted to interact with other women in the village of Simonet.  It's a bit awkward having a conversation woman-to-woman with a male interpreter.  God provided.

Nicole is her name.  She's 20 years old and the first orphan in the Mission of Hope orphanage.  She still lives in the orphanage, and attends the school there.  She  plans to become a heart surgeon and a business woman.  She wants to import cars from America and sell them in Haiti.  This girl has BIG dreams!  I love it!  But what I love more, is her love for God.

While in the village interacting with women, we encountered this woman sitting in an open commons area.  We began to talk to her, getting to know her.  I asked her what her favorite song was in church.  I told her I would sing my favorite song if she sang hers.  Though I didn't understand her words, I certainly understood her body language.  She felt uncomfortable, even shy about it.  She said she couldn't sing well.  So I told her I would sing first, and if she sang, I would sing another song.  I sang Amazing Grace.  As I sang, people all around began to come.  People sat and listened as I sang.  Then the lady (I don't remember her name) sang Amazing Grace in Haitian Creole.  Beautiful!  After singing, one of her cousins came and sat next to her.  By this time we had a small crowd of people gathered.  Everyone pointed to this cousin saying that she didn't follow Jesus.  So I sang "Jesus Loves Me (You)" to this lady. As I sang the chorus, Nicole sang with me in Haitian Creole.  What a treat! 

We began to talk to this lady. We asked her questions about her life.  We asked her why she had chosen not to follow Jesus.  I could read her body language.  She didn't want anything to do with Jesus, and she really wanted us to leave her alone.  Yet... she listened and I saw no anger or frustration.  She even smiled throughout our interaction, but insisted that she would follow Jesus....later. 

That's when Nicole took over!

She went on for 10-15 minutes passionately talking to this lady and the crowd.  I had the biggest grin on my face.  Wow!  This girl was preaching!  And the people around were hanging on every word.  The men were nodding and smiling. The women's eyes were fixed upon her with great interest.  That was a moment when I wished I understood exactly what she was saying.  Yet, it was clear that she was sharing the good news of Jesus.  She later told me that she was sharing her testimony of how God rescued her and completely gave her a new life. 

When she was five years old, her mother was killed.  She lived in Port-au-Prince.  Someone asked her if she wanted to go and live in the MOH orphanage, and she said yes.  She's been there every since.  She went from having nothing, to having a wonderful life and a great future. And because of the transforming work of Jesus, she's now being used to transform the lives of other Haitians.

As we road the bus back to the MOH campus, I thanked her for helping us and for sharing the gospel so boldly.  She thanked us for giving her the opportunity to share the gospel.  Because she lives in the orphanage, she doesn't go into the village unless she's going with a group.  I was so blessed to set the stage for her to shine.  I'll set the stage for her anytime!

Please pray for Nicole. That she will stay strong.  That she will stay focused on the work that God has for her. 

God has big plans for this lady!

My trip to Haiti- The Hope that is Rising

We went to Haiti to support the work of Mission of Hope Haiti.  You can read more about the work that they are doing at:  www.mohhaiti.org.  I can tell you first hand, that God is doing a great work through Mission of Hope(MOH) Haiti.  Seeing how God's hand moved to provide for this ministry over and over again was amazing to hear about and see.  It was also evident as I saw how the Haitians were loved.  Children are being educated in the school.  Orphans are being cared for in the orphanage.  Men and women are being employeed at the ministry.  50,000 people a day are being fed, with the goal of doubling that number soon. Over 300 homes have been built for those who lost homes due to the earthquake.  The plan is to build a total of 650.  We were able to see this village for ourselves.  Beautiful little homes, but I felt a great sadness there.  Great poverty.  Yet there is hope.  Please pray for the people of Leveque.  Anyway, MOH has a medical clinic for the Haitians with a Haitian staff and they are in the process of building a  hospital.  There are also plans to build a large sports facility in partnership with the NFL (and possibly the NBA).  And last but not least, there's the MOH church.  A couple of thousand Haitains from the surrounding villages attend services weekly under Pastor Patrice's leadership.

MOH has the desire to see transformation in Haiti--through Jesus.

It's happening. I saw for myself. 

I saw it in the smiles of children who attended the daily VBS every morning being taught and loved on by other Haitians.  I saw it in our awesome translators who were filled with the love of Jesus.  I heard it from the lips of children who had aspirations of becoming doctors, nurses, teachers, electricians and a myriad of other professions.  They have dreams.

While I'm talking about dreams, let me tell you about this beautiful young lady that I met.  She has BIG dreams!

My Trip to Haiti-- The introduction

This summer I went to Haiti for the first time.  It had been my desire to go for quite some time.  About three years ago I went to the Dominican Republic which is on the same Island as Haiti.  While there we served primarily Haitian Immigrants--the poorest of the poor.  Before leaving on that trip, I began to learn more about the history and culture Haiti.  I didn't know that Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  I also didn't know it was the first Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere.  There's a lot of history there.  I've since learned that Haiti was at one time the most  prosperous colony in the New World.  That was before it was an independent republic.  It was the during the time that France claimed this Island as their colony.  France's prosperity came at the expense of many lives.  First the lives of the natives who originally inhabited the island, and then later the lives of millions of Africans who were brought over as slaves.  These slaves were treated extremely harshly.  In fact, it was the policy of this colony to literally work slaves to death.  Because slaves vastly outnumbered the white Europeans, it was important to keep the slaves too weak, tired and fearful to uprise.  The french also found it cheaper to get all that could out of a slave, then import more slaves, than to take care of their slaves so that they lived longer lives.  The blatant devaluing of human lives is unbelievable!  It's no wonder these slaves decided,"Enough is enough!"  The slaves rebelled against the French, and with the help of England, and yellow fever, the slaves freed themselves of France's oppresive rule and they became a free republic called Haiti.

But Haiti has never really been free.

For hundreds of years this country has been plagued with government corruption, discrimination towards the darker skinned people (the majority of the country) and one natural disaster after another. 

These people continue to survive, though they have to struggle up hill every step of the way.

God has a great plan for the people of Haiti.  A plan not to  harm them, but to give them a hope and a future.

And while in Haiti, I had the awesome opportunity to see the hope that is rising up.