An early Christmas present

Yesterday afternoon I got my first Christmas present. I was on my balcony, with an apron on & covered with flour (…I’m experimenting with making cookies in my new toaster oven!) and Nwa Pam, aka Predel, and his friend Luckner came to visit me.



Some background on Luckner…

Nwa Pam and I have been good friends for awhile now and one day I was helping him set up an email account and he used “Luckner” as his password. Who the heck is Luckner & if he’s such a good friend of yours why haven’t I met him yet? You embarrassed you have a white friend? …followed by more ribbing & banter. It turned out that Luckner was his best friend at school but he rarely invited him to H2H as he didn’t go to church & cultural boundaries are high (too high in my opinion). We had a good chat about Luckner & I said I wanted to meet him & I wanted Nwa Pam to invite him to church. He came for a visit after school the next day and a few days later they announced in church that there was going to be a concert… perfect opportunity to Luckner to come! I mentioned it to Nwa Pam but he just smiled and said, “I already asked him & he said he’d come.” Luckner has been a regular around H2H ever since and about a month ago he gave his life to Christ.

Okay, back to my story…

Exams started yesterday & everyone has been madly studying. A few days ago I overheard Nwa Pam & Luckner talking about whether the school (not H2H school but a high school in town) would let Luckner write the exams as he hasn’t paid his tuition yet. His sister has been sick & recently had an operation, which was very expensive for his family. After Luckner had gone home Nwa Pam & I talked and the next day he gave Luckner the money to pay his school.

Days here go by so quickly that I had completely forgotten about giving money to Luckner so when he came to visit me the next day I was clueless as to the reason. After a few cups of coffee & a thorough (but friendly) insulting of my cookies, Luckner opened his bulging bag & gave me a bag of corn & limes from his family’s garden. This may seem like a small gesture but it’s really huge! Survival has always been tough but it has gotten much worse with the hurricanes, especially with damaged gardens.

I’m sharing this with you as I want to pass Luckner’s gratitude on to you. I raise financial support to live in Haiti and have built in a “Compassion Fund” so I can help people like Luckner. Since September this fund has helped families of kids that live at H2H, supported a widow that lives outside our walls, bought food for the hungry, medicine for the sick and sent many kids to hospital. So to all who so generously support me, THANK YOU… from me and from all of those you have blessed!

Since I’m already in the ‘thank you swing” I’ll add another… H2H sponsors have donated an extra $5,000 to make this Christmas season special. The money will be used to have a Christmas party (gifts included!!) for the kids & workers at H2H and a food hamper & present will be sent home with each of the school kids! I’m going to be spending Christmas with my family so I won’t be here to celebrate with the kids but I’m leaving my camera behind and I’ll share pictures with you when I get back.

In love

Don’t you just love falling in love? I do & I’m lucky enough to be in it right now!!! When I see him I can’t help but smile. Who is he you ask? His name is Eliyou and he’s perfect! He’s funny. He’s helpful. He’s cute. He’s 5 years old :)

He came to live at H2H last summer, while I was in Canada, with his older brother Donimi. They lived in a neighboring village, Leogane, and came here because their mom was sick with a persistent fever & their father couldn’t look after them alone. I fell in love with both of them immediately but bonded strongly with Eliyou because he needed me so much. Every night Eliyou & I would pray for his mom together & we visited her in the hospital. He was cheerful most of the time but sometimes got sad in the evenings & insisted on sleeping with me. When she passed away we were all heart broken, especially Eliyou. I took him & Donimi to her funeral & did my best while Eliyou peppered me with questions; Where is she? When will I see her again? Did I not pray enough? He made me stand by her gravesite until they had completely covered it with cement. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for that day & I hope there will be few like it.

In the days that followed the funeral, Eliyou was told by the other kids that one of the older girls in the orphanage would be his new mom. He defiantly refused & said he’d already chosen me. I heard through the grapevine about his decision so I was prepared for the shy question later that day, “Will you be my mom now?”

It wasn’t long after his mom passed away that I got sick with malaria/typhoid. Eliyou was in my room as much as the powers that be would let him & I could see that he was nervous when my fevers came. I was resting alone in my room after a particularly bad fever had passed & I heard something under my bed… it was Eliyou. He was hiding there. He slithered out, laid beside me & said he wouldn’t pray for me because he had prayed for his mom. Tears rolled down my face but luckily I was covered in sweat so he didn’t seem to notice.

Unfortunately, death is such a large part of life here that most of the kids (if not all) have been affected by it & they seem to take it in stride… much better than I am able to. Eliyou and Donimi are both happy, energetic boys and they have made a new family here & are very popular with the other kids. They love going to school and eagerly do their homework and chores when they get home. Eliyou is a bit on the mischievous side and often asks; “what will happen…?” Last night he swallowed a marble. He swore he didn’t do it on purpose but I have my doubts. We still have our fingers crossed that it will pass naturally!

I am looking for sponsors for Eliyou & Donimi, as well as some other new kids; Lovesom & Abjas. If you are interested in sponsoring a child at H2H email me & I will send you more information.

Eliyou & his new sandals:



Bath time:



Eliyou checking up on me:



By the way, I am feeling much better! I still get tired easily but long gone are the fevers & other symptoms. I plan to go home for Christmas & I’m really looking forward to the R&R and home cooking :)