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.