Dats' Speech Contest

Fatherly pride is oozing out of me lately.  Dats (age 11) has entered himself in a speech contest.  He will be delivering the speech tomorrow evening and I am sure he would appreciate your prayers.  Meanwhile, his sister, The Drama Queen (age 10), has a chance tomorrow to speak about the work God has called our whole family to in Haiti.  The setting will be the homeschool class of her good friend, Anna.  The DQ would also relish your prayers. 

Below is the text of Dats' speech.  He mentions baby Sammy, an orphan Dats met in Haiti last week - make sure you see the before and after pictures of Sammy at the bottom of the speech!

Why My Voice Is Important

            I use my voice to make friends.  A week ago, I was sitting outside in the searing sunshine of Haiti, helping my new friend Travis study for a spelling test. The other kids told me he was the worst speller in the school.  He once missed 22 out of 25 on a spelling test.  As we sat on the sidewalk, I explained how to use the Greek roots to remember how to spell his words. Using our voices to communicate is important.  Using my voice to make friends benefits me and others.

            But there’s another use of my voice that benefits others, even if it costs me something.  My voice is also used to make self-sacrifices.  Only two years ago, I was nine and I won an iPod at a church Easter party.  My dad bought it from me for forty dollars.  Around that time my mom was preparing for a week long mission trip to Haiti.  She explained to my siblings and me that Haiti was very poor – the poorest country in this hemisphere.  A place where the average person lives on a dollar and twenty five cents a day.

            One night, when God’s voice was very clear and evident to me, I came down to my parents’ room.  I asked my mom if forty dollars would help a Haitian.  She said yes.  I told her to give twenty dollars to one Haitian and the other twenty from my iPod to another Haitian.  This was when my voice became a part of God’s plan.

            About a week later, my mom arrived in Haiti. She found two people who could really use the money I had given.  The first person was a woman whose spine had been broken in the massive earthquake of 2010.  She was still in a hospital bed several months later, but in Haiti when you’re at a hospital, you do not get bathed, clothed or fed unless your family provides it.  My voice, that got the money down there, surely made a positive change in her life.

            The second person my voice helped was a man named Enel.  He had just lost his job and his cell phone had been stolen.  Two thirds of adults in Haiti are unemployed or underemployed. He would need his cell phone to get a new job.  The twenty dollars that my voice got to him definitely helped him.  This use of my voice costs me, but greatly benefits others.

            Sometimes it takes a lot more help to make a difference so I have to motivate others to join the cause.  Another use of my voice I have developed recently is to motivate others to help.  I did that two weeks ago by talking to not only my class, but the whole sixth grade.  I used my voice to tell and show them what Haiti looks like and what my mission is.  I was getting ready to head to Haiti for a one week trip where I hoped to visit an orphanage. Through my voice I shared about one particular orphan named Sammy.  He had been abandoned by his parents and left in a suitcase in a vacant house. When he was discovered, he was nearly a year old but only the weight of a newborn.

 My classmates saw my picture of Samuel and instantly wanted to help. Over only one weekend they brought in a ton of stuff!  They brought in baby food, formula, bed sheets and $152 for the orphans down in Haiti. While I was in Haiti a week ago, I got to deliver everything my classmates had brought in.  The orphans were very happy.  As I entered the house, the orphans sang, in English, “We are happy to see you this evening.”  My class and I had just altered the lives of the orphans through our voices.

            And I got to see little Samuel in person, hold him and feed him some of the finger food that my classmates had sent.  A few months ago he had been so small and shriveled up that nobody would pick him up out of fear of breaking him.  He is now healthy and, thanks to my class and me, he will continue being that way.  I had used my voice to multiply the help.

            I know that my voice was made for a special purpose and I will use it for that purpose.  Maybe it is to help people in Haiti.  I think it can do almost anything! My voice can save lives, inspire others, or change the world!

When Sammy was found in the suitcase, he was nearly a year old but weighed only 8 pounds.

And here's what three months of TLC did for Sammy.  Without the birthmark on his chest, it might be hard to believe this is the same child.  There's no counting the ribs on him now!  Sammy's story is still developing - there's a Christian Haitian couple living in the States working hard and praying hard to adopt him.  I will keep you posted.

Back Home

It strikes me as surreal that Dats and I have been back from Haiti just three days.  How easy and comfortable it is to slip back into the day to day life I am used to.  But I discovered just over a week ago that it was just as easy for me to slip back into life at the mission and at Cowman School.  So which one is "Home"?

Dats was certainly feeling that tug of the heart in the direction of Haiti.  On Tuesday evening - our last night in Haiti... for now - he seemed restless.  At one point I thought maybe he had put himself to bed, but when I stood up I realized he was on the couch, apparently lost in silent thought.

He seemed to be procrastinating on going off to bed - sleep would only bring our final morning in Haiti that much faster.  Dats sat around looking like this:

The next morning I had the unpleasant job of being the timekeeper - the one to say (repeatedly), "Say your final goodbyes to the Bundys.  We need to get to breakfast because our ride to the airport leaves at 7:00."  It was 6:30 AM but the Bundy kids were on their back porch and so Dats was there too.  Jake was flat on his back and wrestling the puppies and Brianna was holding and kissing puppies and Alanna, in stocking feet, was dancing around the little piles of puppy messes (unsuccessfully!) and Dats was just soaking it in like he was trying to make a mental recording that would last at least until August.

The trip to the airport was smooth and we were happy to have the opportunity to ride in the back of the big truck, since Don was dropping us up and returning to the mission with a newly arrived team of seven or eight individuals and their luggage.

The flights themselves were uneventful.  At one point, Dats was looking a bit down and I asked, "So are you sad to be going home?"

He replied, "No, I am sad to be leaving Haiti.  There's a difference."

Indeed there is. 

Of course we had reunions to look forward to.  Melissa met us at the Indy airport bearing apple fritters ... and winter coats!

Grandma had the night off from work, so she stayed home with the kids - a good thing since we didn't walk in the front door until almost midnight.  All of Dats' siblings were sound asleep when we dropped our luggage in the living room.  But the light was on over the kitchen table and the table was covered in notes and drawings.

From The Drama Queen:

 

And The Princess:



"yiw are the besd DaD"

And another from The Princess:



I had to turn to the experienced kindergarten teacher for a translation: "Welcome back, Daddy. I missed you.  What about you?"
 

Ida left this one:

 

The P.S. says, "Come in my room when you get home. I might still be awake."

Mixed in with all the welcome home notes was this extra note from Ida:

 

 



The wad of dollar bills was all the money Melissa had paid him over the week I was gone!  (We don't usually pay for chores, but with me out of the house, Melissa wanted to maximize helpfulness and minimize complaints.  I thought it was pretty smart.)

Melissa stood at the table wiping tears from her cheeks.

And me?  In that moment I didn't feel so very far from Haiti.

New Shoes

I wasn't going to update the blog tonight, because I'm dog-tired and because I knew it would take FOREVER to download any pictures with the internet connection here such as it is.  BUT then I opened the file of pics from this afternoon, and I just had to share them - I guess updating the blog here tonight is my way of saying, "I wish you could have been there!"

Jane picked Dats and me up at Cowman School after the final bell - 2:30.  (By the way, my classroom time felt very productive to me this past week - I think I accomplished everything in person that I knew I couldn't over the internet.)  We were happily joined by the Bundy kids.

When we arrived at Jane's house, we quickly headed down the road to pick up the kids from The Potter's House ...

When we got to the orphanage, we found that we had missed them - they were walking by the main road to Bud and Jane's house!  The Bundys got a quick tour of the house.  I didn't get a good picture of the "dining room" the other day, so I snapped one today.  To the right is a long table and the colorful things on top are baskets.  I assume some of the evening's meal had already been prepared and the overturned baskets are meant to keep the insects at bay.  Can you imagine cooking for 18 kids and 4 adults every day?

 

We decided we had better hurry back to the house to meet them.

 

 

They were waiting for us!

It didn't take too long before the boys (and a handful of girls) were playing soccer.  Kids were running every which way.

Some of the girls were clustered around baby Sammy, giving him lots of attention - and he was eating it up.  Bud and Jane say that he's a natural "chick magnet".

 

Like I said, I am tuckered out and unable to write coherently about all the fun we had, but there was one moment that stood out to me and almost brought me to tears.  You see, Melissa had done some shopping for the orphans even before Christmas and had put together several boxes of clothing and toys that sat in our basement while we tried to figure out an economical way to get them to Haiti.

 

(If you mail them in boxes, you have to pay for the cost of postage to a Florida address - which is reasonable enough, I guess.  But then the boxes board a flight where they will be weighed and assessed a $2 per pound charge - payable by the lucky recipient in Haiti!  Not to mention possible taxes that may - or may not - be charged by customs.)

 

So we had hesitated on shipping them - and eventually figured our best bet was to send the items in luggage with Caleb and me along with all the baby food, soap and bed sheets he had collected from classmates.  We were amazed when it all fit and came in within the weight range we were willing to pay for.

 

Some of the clothing was several pairs of shoes.  Well, while the kids were occupied with soccer and other play, Jane decided it would be a good time to bring out those shoes.  I tell you what - I don't think Jane even said a word when she walked back outside with an armful of shoes and that soccer game ended so abruptly that Caleb and the Bundys were left standing on the grass alone, looking puzzled. 

 

An absolute STAMPEDE in Jane's direction.  There was an instant tangle of hands grabbing frantically at the bundle in Jane's arms with little regard for whether fingers were latching on to a boy's shoe or a girl's shoe or whether the shoe even came close to the proper size!

 

It reminded me of Americans at a Black Friday sale. 

 

That's how bad it was.  But my initial shock soon turned to sympathy, of course.  These are kids who have so, so very little.  Who could fault them for battling one another a bit in an effort to replace worn or ill-fitting shoes?  Who couldn't forgive an every-man-for-himself attitude? 

 

But you know what? That initial instinct-driven rush and grab quickly abated and before I knew it I was watching these same kids, plopped down on their butts around the patio, passing the shoes around to test on the appropriate Cinderellas and Cinderfellas. And with a smile!

 

My shock turned to deep admiration.  Even in the face of great need, these kids really LOVE each other. 

 

 

And before we knew it, the afternoon was over and the Potter's kids headed homeward down the lane to prepare for their evening meal - a meal made possible tonight by some of YOU who are reading this.  You know who you are - thank you so much and God bless you.

The Potter's House

My mother asked me a few days ago what the name of the orphanage was and at the time I didn't even know if it had a name.  It turns out that it does: The Potter's House. 

I apologize in advance for the quality of some of these pictures - a few are stills captured from videotape.

Melissa and I first became aware of this orphanage through Facebook.  We had chatted back and forth with our friend Jane over the last few months about the needs of this special place - ever since Jane and Bud had discovered its existence in their neighborhood.  They had not known of it until the day after a great flood early last November when 12 inches of rain fell in one night.  Mud slides, the eroding of dirt roads and the rushing water left the mountainside in a mess.  In the course of helping neighbors dig out, Bud and Jane discovered a cinder block wall that had fallen in the flood, revealing the Potter's House.

 It's actually a bit of a hike to get from Jane's house to the orphanage.  The path winds through a banana tree grove, then a garden and even through a hedge row...

... and you're still not there.  Then it's a short walk down a street.

The wall which fell used to run just to the side of the stairwell in the picture below.  It was there for security and to protect the property from the rushing water that sometimes fills the gully to the right of it.  With the wall down, rains now continue to erode away the property - if not fixed soon, the very foundation of the house will be undermined.  Fortunately, the landlord is a kind and caring man who is willing to use the rent money to get the repairs done - if the rent gets paid.  Jane found the man who runs the orphanage in dire straits, barely able to keep the children fed, much less pay the rent.  So she and Bud have been working to raise funds to help out the director and the 18 children who live here.  (And that is what inspired Dats to action as well.)

As we approached the front door, the kids heard us coming and broke into song!  Part of it was in Creole and then part was in English: "Welcome! Welcome! To you, to you!  We are ... happy ... to see you ... this evening."

All the kids and a couple of adults were gathered in the front room of the house. In fact, there are really only four rooms: the front room at the entrance which then extends into a dining room with a long table and benches and then one bedroom for the boys and one for the girls.  All eighteen kids introduced themselves one by one around the room.  Jane asked if any were 11 years old like Dats and several stood up - and it struck me that all of them, though the same age, were quite a bit shorter than Dats.

I couldn't get a good picture of the boys' room since it was so dark (there's no electricity).  But below is a picture of the girls' room.  The beds are brand new since Christmas time when a church connected to Bud and Jane donated the money for them.  Before that, the kids were sleeping on the floor.  One of the things Dats' classmates collected was sheets for the beds - another church had already shipped down some blankets.

After the kids had shown us their bedrooms, Jane took us out back to show the backyard where the food is prepared and the dishes are washed.  About in the center of the picture is a hole in their back wall where a hose runs in from a neighbor's house.  This is their only source of water.  The small table and the pans and totes are used for washing up dishes.

The kitchen is an outdoor room about 4 feet deep and 5 feet wide. Jane has been helping with their groceries - purchasing two weeks' worth of rice and beans and sardines at a time.  She also makes sure they have chicken about once a week.

Everyone gathered on the front porch for a picture before we had to head back to Jane's house.

Our visit last Friday was way too short.  So we were excited to get a phone call from Jane tonight saying she didn't have to teach the English class tomorrow which she usually has each Tuesday, so she was wondering if Dats might want to return to the orphanage in the afternoon and maybe play some soccer with the kids!  That was a no brainer!  What an awesome way to end our week in Haiti.  We are joyfully looking forward to it.

One more thing I have to pass along because it is such an incredible praise:  Last Friday night when we Skyped with Melissa and the kids in Indiana, Grandma Trudy happened to be home.  She said to Dats, "Did you get the envelope I sent with your Dad?" 

"No. What envelope?"  Oops!  I dug the forgotten envelope out of my computer bag and handed it to Dats.  Inside Grandma had written a note about how proud she was of Dats' efforts on behalf of the orphans and she included some money to add to the $65 the kids in our small group had given: $300 more!

Dats was so excited to be able to pass along these generous offerings to Jane the next morning.

Well, tonight Jane told me on the phone that she had received a gift from some foundation in the States (and she wasn't even sure how they knew about her or the orphans).  The amount they sent was just short of one year's rent - and so the money which Dats brought was going to make up the difference and enable them to pay a full year's rent all at once which in turn will put enough cash in the pocket of the landlord to get the wall fixed! 

God is so very good!  Isn't He?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  - James 1:27

A Sunday in Vaudreuil

A great day of worship and rest - and we didn't travel further than a mile from the mission.  I'm glad to share some pics from today, but first, one more of Sammy from yesterday.  Dats took this picture and wanted to make sure everyone got to see how very cute Sammy is.  Dats gave him an empty Coke bottle after lunch yesterday and Sammy had a blast playing with it ... and licking it, apparently.

Now back to today.  Dats was up, dressed for church and out the door by 7:00 AM - planning to play with the puppies in the Bundys' backyard, I belief.  By the time I had showered and dressed, I found him inside the Bundy house happily sharing in their breakfast - blue berry muffins and eggs.  Since the Bundys all seemed healthy finally, I thought it might be a good time to bring over the small gifts we had transported for them in our luggage - a mixture of Valentines candy and some Christmas stuff that never got to the post office.  Melissa and I felt quite clever when we located some "Insta-Snow" to send to Haiti.  (It was another hot one today - highs in the mid-80s.)

 

 

Then it was off to church.  We went along with some of the other missionaries to a relatively new church plant operating out of the upstairs meeting room at the Radio 4VEH building. 

By the way, we have been staying in the house behind us on the left hand side of the picture, sharing one room with two twin beds.

I enjoyed the service but it didn't seem quite "authentically Haitian" since we enjoyed both air conditioning and comfortable seats!  This room is above all the sound booths and recording studio and offices of the first floor and was built to be used as a community gathering space.  Many wedding receptions are held here - it is one of the biggest and nicest spaces in this section of town.  This morning Pastor Guensen Charlot was preaching about Moses and the burning bush and it was one of those sermons (thankfully translated by our good friend Storly) that seemed to be directed right at ME.  Good stuff!

Our time after church could not have been more enjoyable. This is the pool at Villa Cana. ("Duck House"??) We first partook of a fantastic lunch - I had Creole chicken and a cold Coke.  Then, the whole Bundy family joined us for swimming in the pool.  It was a great deal: only $5/person for three hours of swimming.  The surroundings are gorgeous and it's so close to the mission that Brett says he could access their internet connection from home if he knew the password.  Apparently, it is a fairly new Catholic retreat center.  The water was cool and the sun beat down on us until the close of the afternoon when some rain clouds started rolling down the mountain.

I left the kids and the swimming a bit early in order to attend service at the English Bible Fellowship - which also meets upstairs at 4VEH.  Storly was preaching on Matthew 14 - the story of Peter walking on water.  I love it when a preacher can take a very familiar passage and shine light on it in such a way as to bring out its depth anew.  That's what Storly did.  "Keep BOTH eyes on Jesus."  Not just one eye!

I was glad to have the chance to see my friend Orinel at EBF and to catch up a bit with him - although there doesn't seem to be much new in his life ... unfortunately.  He still has no job and no prospects for a wife.  He desperately wants to have a family.  We gave him a ride towards Cap Haitien where he might catch a tap-tap more easily.  We left him waiting in the rain.

A statue at the Villa Cana depicts a slave with broken chains.  The physical chains were broken over 200 years ago.  I pray the Lord hastens the day when the spiritual chains will all be broken ...

To Market We Go

Dats and I outside the Catholic Church at the heart of Cap Haitien.  Bud and Jane and little Sammy picked us up at 8:00 to head downtown.  Sammy had to see two different doctors and then we were going to market to help buy food for the orphanage.  During the first Dr. visit, Bud walked us around Cap a bit.

Dats was eager to hold Sammy while we waited outside the cramped, dark waiting room.  Although this looks like Dats just doesn't know how to hold a baby, this is actually something that Sammy enjoys quite a bit!  He likes observing the world upside down.  He also paid attention to every motorcycle to pass by.

Dats loved the game as much as Sammy did.

The view across the street during our second doctor visit. This was the scene of an unfortunate - and bizarre - lowlight of the day for Dats.  Bud, Dats and I were sitting on the stoop outside the Dr. office, minding our own business when a rather portly Haitian woman approached us and wanted to shake our hands.  She was barefoot and oddly dressed.  She asked Bud for water and he replied that he had none.  Then she turned to Dats and asked him (apparently) if he were married.  He didn't know what to make of it and when she held out her hand to him, he just stared at it blankly for a moment.  After a pause, Dats went to shake her hand and she pulled him up off the stoop and started dragging him down the street, saying in Creole, "We are going to the church then." We were all kind of laughing about it until she suddenly bear-hugged Dats, lifted him about four feet off the ground and then suddenly and forcefully slammed him butt-first onto the street.  He was in shock and so was I and the woman just turned and glared at me without saying another word.  Weird!  Dats wasn't physically injured, but the incident spooked him - understandably!  He decided he preferred to wait inside Bud's vehicle.  A few minutes later the same woman came walking down the street again, this time smoking a cigarette -
through her nostril! 

We were relieved to finally move on from the Dr. office once Sammy had gotten a couple of shots and get to the business of buying food for the orphanage.  Jane buys two weeks' supply at a time.  The kids get chicken about once a week, but otherwise it's sardines and rice and beans.  The man with the wheelbarrow is waiting for the store to fill Jane's order, then the bags are piled into the wheelbarrow and he delivers them to the car - for a price.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Lakay (The House) with Bud and Jane and some other missionaries who sometimes gather there on Saturdays.  It was a time of good food and fellowship.  And Sammy kept us entertained throughout the meal.

In the afternoon, Dats was happy to hang around the mission.  After an ugly stomach bug throughout last week, the Bundy children were finally all healthy enough for some serious outside play time.  Here Brianna shows Dats her dad's fish pond.

Even Jake was back to normal.  By the end of the day, Dats was recounting to me all the things he did with the Bundys today and it sounded like a week's worth of activities.

Our day ended as most of our days have ended here - with Skyping the family back home.  The internet connection has been slow (it seems to take FOREVER to upload these pictures) - but reliable.  And for that we have been very thankful.

The Days are Packed

Dats took this picture of me teaching my class at Cowman this morning.  Had a lot of good face-time with my students today.  I am going to have them write a research paper this semester and there was no way I could imagine leading these guys through the research paper labyrinth via emails and Skype!

Friday mornings are chapel times at Cowman.  A visiting pastor spoke to the older kids about Luke 6:45 - "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."

At one point this morning I looked out my classroom door to see Dats and his classmates on the walkway outside.  Dats was working with the self-proclaimed "worst speller in the class" to study for an upcoming 25 point spelling quiz.  At lunch, the conversation turned to the quiz.  Dats says one student remarked, "I think I only missed three on the quiz!" The bad-speller piped up, "I think I only missed twelve!"  Now, don't think that means Dats was not an effective tutor: Mr. Bad Speller claims he once missed 23 out of 25!

Some goofy kindergarten students...

... who were getting ready to go for a march with their musical instruments.

After school we finally got to deliver the items to the orphanage.  I don't have the strength to write about this experience tonight - my heart has been squeezed a bit too hard and I'm so sleepy (dang roosters start crowing way too early in the morning).  So I will post more pictures of the orphanage later.  Besides, we are going back tomorrow to help Jane shop for food for the kids, so we will see them again.

Beyond visiting the orphanage, meeting Sammy was a true highlight of the day.  All I can tell you right now is that he is a miracle baby - brought back from the brink of death three months ago.  Dats' classmates were touched by a picture he shared with them of how Sammy looked when he was rescued - and that's what prompted those 6th graders to go out and buy piles of baby food and finger food to send with Dats to Sammy.  Here Dats was feeding Sammy some of the finger food provided by his peers and Sammy was gobbling it up.  This sort of thing isn't available in Haiti.

Sammy kept wanting more!

No more ribs showing on Sammy.  He's 13 months old - when we came to live with Bud and Jane three months ago, he looked so fragile they feared picking him up.  In three months he has gained 8 pounds, doubling his weight!  And he's just full of personality...