JUST MERCY
Of Benches and Christian Character
12th Haiti Trip – Vol. I
Bill and our friend, Jon Hynson, arrived in Haiti on January 5th. Our daughter Hannah and I followed on January 12. Our friends, Molly and Nellie, also flew in with us. They came to work with us and help Yvrose with her children for the next two months. The day after we arrived, the folks from Samaritan’s Purse (who had given us the Christmas boxes) left on a planned hike to the top of the highest mountain in Haiti, nearly 9000 feet. Hannah and Molly went with them. Hannah had to stop half way but Molly went all the way to the top. She said it was grueling but what an experience! The visit was off to a great start!
A few days after arriving, we went with Yvrose to MSC, a Home Depot like store in Port au Prince. She had been given some money from some friends in England to buy lumber to make some school benches for her school. As wood is so expensive in Haiti, we were surprised to find some really good quality 1 x 12’s for $1/foot! After Yvrose bought her boards, we bought the rest of their stock to make thirty benches for our mountain schools.
On the 18th, James and Anthony arrived from Chicago. The guys along with Hannah spent the next couple of days at the woodshop Haitian Christian Mission has down the road. They graciously let us use it to cut out the pieces for the benches, at least whenever the electricity was on. Our people had to stop work for the day a couple of times when the electricity went off which is a common occurence in Haiti.
In the meantime, Molly and Nellie were spending time with Yvrose’ family getting to know the children. They were also helping me with the Christian character curriculum we are developing to be taught in our schools. I had brought posters with me in French and English on Respect and Honesty, the first two character traits we want to teach. The girls found additional scriptures demonstrating respect and we made a monthly outline to teach RESPECT with a scripture for each day of February.
Yvrose came over and translated the bullet points with the supporting scriptures into French. (In Haiti, French is taught in all the schools and all government documents are in French. Yvrose said all the teachers could translate from French to Creole for the children.) Then on Saturday we had our first ever teachers meeting! All the teachers from our three mountain schools came down to meet at our house along with the teachers from Yvrose’ school. Yvrose introduced the material to them and we received a very positive response. I had printed the outlines, a copy for each teacher, which we put in page protectors and put in folders to give them.
I am so excited about this. Bill and I have said if JUST MERCY supports a school, we want to be teaching more than just academics. Though the children are learning songs and Bible stories, we feel like Christian character teaching is also greatly needed!
A side benefit of this is that we are teaching the teachers. All of them say they are Christians but most did not even own a Bible! Yvrose had a box of Bibles that she let us give them so our teachers would all own a Bible and be able to teach the scriptures we are using. Please be praying about this, that God will use it to touch the childrens’ hearts and help them to grow in “wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man”.
Children carrying bench parts up the mountain
On Monday, dozens of children from the mountains came down early in the morning to meet our people at the trail head. They carried all the bench pieces up the mountains in their arms and on their heads to the three villages where we have the schools, 10 benches per school. (With nearly 500 children, we need many more.)
I spent the day sorting through medicines at the mission house with Dr. James Hamilton and his daughter Hannah from Joplin. We had brought over eight military style camelbaks with many pockets for organizing the medicines. Previously, everything had been dumped in a duffel and had to be sorted out in the mountains. That had to change and it did. We were able to make packs that had medicines for specific purposes.
That night, more help from Joplin arrived. The next day everyone except Nellie and I went to the mountains. Dr. Hamilton and Hannah along with our friends held a medical clinic in Robia.
Most of the mountain team
The rest of the party put together the benches at Robia. and then walked to Chapelle to put together the benches for that school after dark. They then pushed on to spend the night at Pelerin. That was only possible because we had brought a small, fairly quiet gas generator over in our luggage. We took it to the mountains and kept our driver batteries charged up to assemble the benches. We believe there are going to be many things we will be able to do in the mountains with this generator, including showing the Jesus film. We had tried to do it with a tiny little battery operated projector but it had not worked well. We are looking forward to the future with this.
The next day, the bench group put together the benches for Pelerin and then headed back down the mountain. The medical group in Robia held a short morning clinic and then hiked back down. The packs of medicine with their printed inventories worked wonderfully as a pharmacy! Dr. Hamilton shared his thoughts.
“What a huge blessing I received serving alongside you and such wonderful Christians last week. Those 2 days will forever be among the highlights of my life. I’m so excited to see what God is going to do with your work there. You and Janet and Yvrose are such inspirational people!”
Everyone involved in both projects said it was an amazing experience. Here is a portion of Bill’s account of the trip.
After the trip up and constructing the first 10 benches at Robia, it was late in the afternoon. The bench team decided to go on to Chapelle and try to finish the benches there. We wound up arriving at Chapelle in the dark but the 1 1/2 hour hike with the sun setting across the mountains was……well, maybe Molly said it best. As we stood almost dumbfounded at the beauty of the mountains backlit by the setting sun, the profusion of light and colors, with tears rolling down her cheeks, knowing we couldn’t capture this wonder with words or camera, for we knew we were beholding inexpressible beauty, Molly said through her tears, ” I just love God so much…..!.” Nothing else to say!
Built the benches at Chapelle in the dark with flashlights. While they finished up I loaded the mules and we headed to Pelerin (another 1 1/2 hour hike in the dark) where we would sleep for the night.
I’ll have to tell you sometime about Pelerin, I hope to build a base camp there. Finished building the benches and down the mountain by dark. What a trip it was! All the kids, all the friends, all the beauty, and all the people so glad to see us.
We attempt to speak the love of God with our actions and our words. It’s our prayer that they hear with their ears, see with their eyes, and come to believe with their hearts. The only solution for us all.
From supporting the schools by paying teachers and providing a school lunch when we are able, to helping deserving individuals that God sends our way, to being a part of Yvrose’ family’s life, to all the other myriad things God sends our way to do, we continue to need funds to keep working in Haiti. We are so grateful for all of you who are praying for us, the thing we need most! To those who have made it possible financially for us to continue in Haiti, thank you!!