{rice, beans & love}

We have recently been finding out lots of more infomation about the children that came to us 2 weeks ago. As I have mentioned, 23 new kids were admitted into Tytoo Gardens Orphanage (in Simonette) and two of them were originally staying with me. Last Thursday, we discovered that two of the children had been separated from their siblings during he rescue. They were reunited wth their siblings and  transferred to the other orphanage Titanyan. This opened up two beds in Tytoo, so Esther and I decided to place Guitambert into Tytoo officially. Guitambert does really well with the older kids and is very independant. I felt bad leaving him the first night, but he seems very content with the transition.

The same organization that saved these kids are now gathering information to put the lady who ran the old orphanage in prison. They have recently visited Tytoo and interviewed the children. We have discovered that 3 babies had recently died from being eaten by rats. They mentioned many incidents of abuse. They tell stories of being forced on the streets to beg. And they say they were held prisoners by “the nun” who ran the place. These details are hard to even write about, but it’s the reality of these children’s past.

I see them everyday now, and I’m beginning to see light come into their eyes. I just ask you to pray for these children, we still are missing a lot of the details and I’m sure they still fear for their own lives even though they are safe now.

Continuing with the update…. Thursay night I found my house to be surprsingly quiet with only Jeffte and Lovenson. This obvously didn’t last for long.

Friday afternoon I went and visited Luckeny and Bosny (my two boys from the post “A Basket Full of Fruit”) and they told me they hadn’t seen their mom in two days. For a 9 and 11-year-old, these two boys should not be left alone for that long. I did some further research and realized how bad their situaton really is. Way worse than what I thought.

Luckeny brought me around a cement house, and unlocked a small shack made out of bright blue Samaritan’s Purse tarp. I peeked inside and saw a broken bed being supported by cement blocks and a small wooden shelf in the corner holding their very few possessions. I knew in that moment I had to do something more for these boys.

Saturday afternoon, I returned and asked the mom if she still wanted to give up her boys and put them in Tytoo Gardens orphanage? She answered “yes” without a moment’s hesitation. Esther and I have decided that the boys are going to stay with me for 2 weeks as they finish school, and then we will transition them into Tytoo Gardens.

On Saturday, I also asked the mom where she had been the past two days. She said she had been at market. She sells dirt cakes; a cake made up of dirt, salt, butter, another Haitian ingredient and water. For 5 goudes (less than a penny) you can buy 3 small cakes. And this is how she is providing for her family. This is also the first time I had ever heard of such a thing, but Webert tells me that it’s a food people will eat to get rid of the hunger pains. It is filled with worms, germs and has absolutely no nutritional value. Something no one should have to resort to in order to diiminish hunger pains.

As I sat and waited for the boys to get ready to go, I looked at the “dirt cakes” being made. A big yellow bucket, full of fresh mud sat in front of me and all I could think to myself was “people actually pay to eat this, and their mom relies on this mud to support her family.” Wow.

After 15 minutes, the boys were bathed and carried a plastic bag will their only belongings (2 pairs of pants, 4 shirts and 2 extra pairs of underwear). And that was all it took, and the mom said good-bye. We piled onto Webert’s motorcycle: Lovenson, Jeffte, Webert, Luckeny, Bosny and me in the rear and we were one big Haitin family!

The boys have been nothing short of amazing. They are very polite, listen well, and get excited to brush their teeth at night (nothing I’m going to complain about!) Besides being very underweight for their ages, they are healthy and very active. I’m trying to put 10 pounds on their tiny bnes before they go into the orphanage. I feel very blessed to have them staying with me, even if it is only for a short time.

So, the quiet didn’t last long. With four boys, the house can get pretty rowdy, but I love every second of it.

(I can’t get pictures to upload with the blog…thank you Haiti for the incredible internet, haha…but I have uploaded new pictures to my Facebook album “a house full of boys” http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3634723064962.2140741.1180740074&type=3 You can see pictures of the boys there!)

Much love from Haiti

Two days ago (Wednesday), as I traveled down the dirt road on my four-wheeler towards Tytoo Gardens, I met two boys from our school and their mom. They were headed towards Tytoo and the mom wanted to admit the boys into the orphanage. My first reaction was why? Then, how as a mother could you give up your boys? And then, why again?

Esther handled the situation quite well. The orphanage is actually on overload since 23 kids were admitted last week from the story in my last post. Esther and I have also both agreed that we want to help the mothers, encourage them and give them what they need to allow families to stay together. We don’t want Tytoo to become a “drop off” for mothers who just want to give up. I left heart broken after this because these two boys, ages 9 and 11, are adorable and I have known them for quite sometime. Luckeny, the 9-year-old has a really bad infection in his groin area, but runs right towards me and gives me a big hug. Bosny, the 11-year-old is honest and doens’t let his younger brother get away with anything.

The next day, Thursday, I decided I wanted to check out their living situation for myself. As Webert and I headed to market on the motorcycle, we stopped by. They weren’t home, so we continued to market. I decided to buy a pair of shoes for Luckeny and the mother, because they had told me Luckeny had stopped going to school because he had none. I find no excuse for that! When we returned again, I found the two boys with a basket full of fruit. I said what is this? And they said it is for you! I could barely accept!

How could a mom, who the day before wanted to give up her children, now offer me bananas, watermelon and a pineapple!? I realized these people have more to teach me than I have to teach them. I have enough money to buy bananas for the whole village, but a mom who sells dirt at the market and can barely feed her children wants to give me a full basket of beautiful fruit? They may be poor, dirty and uneducated, but their hearts are rich and they’re beautiful.

They word that came to mind as I prayed for this family was perseverance. Which led me to the verse of Romans 5:3…. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has proved His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

So, from that, the only thing I want to show these families is that if they persevere, they will be rewarded with hope for a future in heaven.

Luckeny, the 9-year-old

To that simple basket of fruit.

Love from Haiti

Laughter from the Bathtub

My first week in Haiti was nothing short of exhausting, but in a good way obviously. My dad and I arrived safely last week Wednesday, and late Thursday afternoon as I was swimming with Jeffte observing a beautiful rainbow over the moutain horizon, my dad received a phone call. A man he met last month called him saying an orphanage had been shut down way up in the mountains (I keep forgetting the name of the place, sorry!) and they needed a place to put 30+ kids for the night. He yelled this information to me from the porch, and I ran inside, changed out of my swimming suit and off we were. We picked up Esther (lady who runs a local orphanage and who we have become good friends with) and we met the children at another orphanage about 15 minutes away. After a couple hours, my dad, Webert, Esther and I were officially responsible for 21 children (ranging in ages 4-18). There were two very small boys in our group so we decided to take them to our house, due to the fact that Esther was extremely overwhelmed.

Their names are Gitambert and Loveson (I’m also probably not spelling their names correct at all) and their story is heartbreaking. We heard that the orphanage these children came from, babies were being eaten by rats. Yes, rats. A few had pieces of their toes, cheeks and ears missing from rats. I know, it is hard to imagine. How can a loving God like ours let something like that happen to His own children?

So, here I am with two complete strangers sleeping on my bedroom floor and I cry out wondering what these little humans have gone through.I have now tucked them in for five nights and in that short time these little boys have made me fall in love with them. Gitambert is quiet and reserved, but keeps up with Jeffte’s wild side. He loves to share and says “mesi” (thank you) for everything. He is polite and seems very brave. Then there is Loveson, he melted my heart from the first minute I laid my eyes on him. Loveson is loud, funny, but very stubborn. He runs kind of like Simon Birch and his kisses are soft. He has fuzzy hair, a tiny body, and a big smile. He calls me his friend and laughs with joy when I come around the corner.

After medical assessments, Gitambert is very healthy but we found that Loveson has a heart murmur. We don’t know much more about it, but there is a chance he will need heart surgery at some time. I find it hard to believe that he has a bad heart, when I clearly see how much love he has in it.

Last night I gave the two a bath after Jeffte fell asleep. I stood outside the door in awe at how two plastic cups, a bar of soap and a tub of clean water could make them so happy. You could hear their laughter from a mile away as the splashed each other and poured water one their heads. I tucked them into bed afterwards, knowing now my life will never be the same without them. They’ve only been in my life for 5 days, but it seems like a lifetime.

I ask you now just to keep these two little boys and the rest of the children that were rescued in your prayers. We are still not sure what their permanent situation will be at this time, as far as I know I’m a mom of 3 now (and as for Jeffte, he is having some jealousy issues and needs some lessons on how to share, but he likes having new friends around). Keep Esther and her orphanage in your prayers as we continue to figure out what the next step is for all the children.To read Esther’s side of the story, visit the attached URL. http://tytoogardenshaiti.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/new-kids-arrive-at-tytoo/

Until then,

much love from Haiti

p.s. I hope to get pictures of them posted soon!

Well folks, the time has come, I’m officially leaving for Haiti tomorrow with a one-way ticket. I’ve been asked all sorts of questions in the last week: are you nervous? are you scared? are you excited? are you really going to go there forever?

While, I may have a mixture of all those feelings, I’m just so at peace with where life has taken me and where I’m headed. My life in Haiti started 3 summers ago when I went there for the first time with my family on a week long mission trip. I was quite anxious for that trip and had few expectations. When we landed, I was overwhelmed by the poverty and didn’t know why my dad had brought our family to such a miserable place. By the end of the trip, though, my heart had been broken and I had fallen in love with the country.

The next summer I returned and met Webert. Webert is the character in my story that changed my life. We immediately became best friends. We talked about all sorts of things, prayed a lot together, and laughed the most. That summer I discovered Webert was running a small school that was built out of wooden palettes. My family immediately knew that we needed to help him and the children there. A year later, God provided land for the school and we have now built him and the 150 children that attend there two brand new school buildings. God has been so active in our lives, we just stand in awe at His plan for us.

Through the school, we also started a child sponsorship program that allows Americans to sponsor a child in the school. The money is used for books, supplies, uniforms and food. With the sponsorship program, we started a non-profit organization and named it Touch of Hope. We have been incredibly blessed by people’s support and are excited for what will happen through Touch of Hope.

Aside from the school, I will be working with a company named ViBella jewelry. It was founded by a lady named Julie Hulstein out of Sioux Center, Iowa. ViBella’s mission is to give women in Haiti jobs making jewelry out of recycled plastic. ViBella wants to equip them to provide for their families and provide an encouraging workplace. I will be a manager of one of the centers in Haiti, with my responsibilities being payroll, checking the jewelry and keeping the place organized. For more information on ViBella, visit http://www.vibellajewelry.com

Lastly, when all the work is over, my last responsibility will be taking care of a 5-year-old, who Webert and I have taken into our custody. We rescued Jeffte last summer from a poorly-run orphanage and I can’t wait to be his mom. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m kind of in love with this character Webert. We started dating last summer and we are very excited to be back together.

It’s going to be quite the journey. I know there are going to be good days, bad days, and very hot days. I know I will be facing poverty, sickness and sadness everyday, but I know that the  moments of sadness will always be triumphed by so many more moments of joy. Follow me now as I start the adventure.