Mountain Schools Do More Than Educate

First week of June.  Early morning. Time to take the food for the schools up the mountain. Sometimes we have the children come down and carry the many cases of food up. 24 cases for the Pelerin school alone. So many people are hungry that if they break a box people will come and take some and the children can’t prevent them. So this time we load it on the mules.

Six mules carrying 4 boxes each. Blankets and pads and saddles and packs. Now load the rice. Times six! No small project. And that one black mule was sure cantankerous!

After getting the mules on their way, I drove the truck up. The road is too rough and steep and narrow to go up loaded. Sometimes I think half the tire was hanging off the edge. It is already eroding and I’m not sure how long it will last, especially if a hurricane comes along. But for now, it is nice to be able to drive up instead of hike or ride a mule for 4-6 hours. However, after we get up the mountain, we have to get out and hike back down a very steep mountain side to get to the Pelerin school. It is a grueling hike back up.

We were planning on doing some renovation on the post and stick school in Pelerin but after assessing the situation and talking with Dr. Jolius, we decided instead to build a new 20×32 building out of block nearby. There will be room for two classes and provide a secure place for supplies.

We have desperately needed to have a place we can leave bed rolls, food, school supplies, and other things we need when we go to the mountains instead of having to haul EVERYTHING up on mules EVERY TIME! We will have the Haitains do the rock/concrete work and then bring a team later this year to put on the roof, Lord willing.

In Haiti, the orphanages are crowded with children, many of them not orphans.  They are restaveks (child slaves) and the numbers of them are epidemic.

When we were at the big base in Fonds-Parisien where we dug a well for the community, I would watch the children pump water at the well and carry one bucket of water after another away on their heads. I would go out and ask their names and where they live. I would try to bring a smile to their faces and we would laugh and play a bit while they waited their turn to pump the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I got to know them, I found out that most come from the mountains and do not live with their families. Their parents, out of their inability to care for, educate, and feed them, will send them to an orphanage, a person, or a family that they hope will feed them and send them to school. Unknown numbers of these “restaveks” become nothing more than domestic slaves and many are in the hands of people who abuse them. We have asked ourselves and God, “How do we help?”

 

Part of JUST MERCY’s mission with the mountain schools is to stem the tide of the ever flowing numbers of children being separated from their families. By providing these 500 children with an education and one meal a day, we hope and believe that we are saving some from the fate of being a restavek and providing a better way of life in their small farming communities.

If you can help us continue to support the mountain schools and provide hope for these families, please donate to JUST MERCY. We so appreciate your prayers and help as we continue to work to bring Christ’s love to the people of Haiti.

For King and Kingdom!

Bill