Feeding the Village Children

2nd Haiti Trip – Vol. VII

Bill, Jesse, and I returned to the states on Tuesday this week.  We had had no electricity for a week so I’m behind on updating you and there is so much tell, it is not possible without going on longer than anyone wants to read.  I will try to touch on the highlights of the week with the story of our last evening in Haiti at the end.

We did get to take one trip into the mountains, driving up a dry flood river bed which I finally realized was the place one of the torrents took place during the hurricane last year that swept away entire villages.  Remains of the old road high up on the side of the hill could be seen that had collapsed as the water swept away the mountain beneath it!  So now, driving up the riverbed is a difficult, bumpy, and time consuming task.

Vegetable field in the mountains

We took several boxes of rice to Pastor Sylvio who has a church in Fonds-Varette. Then we drove on up to Pine Forest, a beautiful area of Haiti much like Colorado.  There were patches of lush corn, beans, and potatoes all growing together.

One of the major problems we see is that the people in the mountains can grow much of their food but they don’t appear to preserve any of it so when it’s gone or spoiled, they go hungry!!!  We want to help them learn about dehydration.  They don’t have the water or supplies to do canning but they have plenty of sun for drying!

We visited the Mennonite mission who are providing us with the water for our house.  They seem to be very open and helpful.  They gave us a Bible story book in Creole and also some individual Bible stories which they told us we could have in quantity.  We had gone to them asking about materials for the children in the poor village on the other side of our house.

Sherlie reading a Bible story to the village children

We went over to the village a few times to meet the people and let them start getting to know us.  What better place to start helping people than with our neighbors?   We would walk through the village calling the children. They would all sit down on rocks, some hauling some new ones over to sit on.  One of our girls would start reading a Bible story out of the book.  For the most part, they listened very well.

Some of the children are able to go to school, but many do not.  We asked the girls to continue to go over each afternoon while we are gone and read another story to the children.  We hope that will develop into possibly teaching some of the  unschooled children (and adults if they are interested) to read and write.

The village people live in concrete or mud and stick huts with thatch roofs. Bill got to talking with some of the women about their roofs leaking and the rats biting. We would like to improve their roofs to keep the rain out and do something about the rats.  Bill told them we could get them help to fix their roofs but they would have to help do the work.  We are not going to come and do it all for them.  We have seen the results in Haiti of all the “giving” and the mindset of many Haitians is expectation of being given something without working for it!

It’s no wonder the city fell down when the earthquake hit!  Bill and Jesse were tearing some concrete blocks off the unfinished building next to the house when Bill hit the first block with a 2 x 4 and the whole wall leaned out.  He picked up one of the loose blocks and hit it with another piece of concrete and it just collapsed into dust.  LOUSY CONCRETE BLOCKS!  More like mud blocks.  So poorly made!  They are able to barely bump a block and it comes loose from it’s mortar.  If they accidentally drop a block, it is no longer a block but dust with a few chunks.

We decided to invite some of our neighbors from the village for supper on Monday night before we left on Tuesday.  As we wouldn’t be able to feed the entire village, we decided to tell our two “gardeners” and two “landscapers” that they could invite their families to come and eat with us.

Jesse did the inviting and I told him to find out how many people would be coming.  He came back with a figure of about 20.

The girls cooked all afternoon and made a huge pot of rice and beans along with chicken “sauce” as they call it.  We waited for the people to come but no one showed up till after dark.  A man with three children showed up first.  I was not sure who he was but I dished up four bowls of food and had them sit down at our table to eat.  When I looked up from dishing up the fourth bowl, at the foot of the table was a MOB of children!!

The girls began serving and people kept coming!  Most were clean and dressed in their Sunday best.  We filled the table with probably 15-20 people.  The girls were filling the bowls completely full!  After that round finished, Pastor Goude, who will be living in the house with his family while we are gone, took the children outside to talk with them and sing Jesus Loves the Little Children.  Another round seated themselves at the table and were served.  This went on 3-4 times!

Feeding some of the village children at our house

After the 2nd time, I started praying that the food would last.  I did not want to send anyone away hungry!  The girls kept bringing in more rice and beans and heaping the bowls and plates full!  Finally the last of the company was finished eating.  Through an interpreter, I thanked them for coming, talked with them about how I hoped they would continue to come and hear the stories that the girls would read to them, how God loved them, and how Bill and I hoped to see them again soon when we returned to Haiti.

After things were cleaned up the girls set the table for the 10-12 people of our group. AND THERE WAS STILL PLENTY OF FOOD TO EAT!  I was in tears thinking of hard the girls had worked all day and the graciousness and generosity with which they had served all those children!  Bill said he felt like the apostles when Jesus fed the 5000 and had food to spare!  God was so gracious and it was a delightful evening.

We flew home on Tuesday the 18th.  Bill is scheduled to have surgery next Tuesday for a knee replacement.  The doctor thinks recovery will take 8-12 weeks.  Bill is hoping for six so he can head back to Haiti.

I will be writing a little more next week to outline the different specific areas that we are hoping to work in when we get back to Haiti.  Please keep us and our friends in Haiti in your prayers and pray that the Lord opens the doors He wants us to walk through and provides the funding and sponsorship we need to do it.  We thank God for all of you!