The container and the Mule

The container that arrived last week made me think about a team that visited H2H over Christmas break (while I was in Canada picking up Renel). The team was led by Lia Neufeld - who worked with H2H after the earthquake and handled the logistics of transporting many of the containers. While her family was vacationing in the DR they made a detour and visiting H2H for the first time.

Here are some of their favorite pictures from their trip:

It was a special trip for Lia and her family as they were able to see the impact the containers were having on the local community. Pastor Luc is a member of the Pastor's Association of Grand Goave and he does his aid distributions in partnership with the other local Pastors. "Piles" of items are made around the yard and labeled with each Pastor's name. The Pastors come together, meet & pray, and then take the aid items back to their church. When the items are distributed in the churches each member is encouraged to take a portion and give the rest to someone who needs it more than them. It is a practical way that they can spread the love of God.

Lia's mother, Jane, was on the team and wrote this....

The Container and the Mule

This fall we were having lunch with my brother and his wife planning a Christmas family trip to Dominican Republic and our daughter called and said, “Hey, I’ve got this crazy idea, why don’t we go to Haiti and work in an orphanage as well?” So the plans were made…the first thing we did was ship a few personal items in a container to meet us in Haiti…and then started to pray. The container was filled with 50,000lbs. of donated items for Heart to Heart Childrens Home, along with our few rubbermaid bins to make our stay there more enjoyable, we prayed for an earlier than usual delivery date to Haiti and were thrilled to hear that it reached the home just days before our arrival. We quickly opened it up and made our beds with new sheets and pillows, marveled at our craft items, goodies, clothes for the children and eagerly anticipated our lunch of yummy KD!! It seemed like a small miracle that God gave us to reassure us and say “wherever you go I go before you and make the crooked paths straight” but several days later we saw God’s real miracle of the container.

Over breakfast one morning of white bread(my husbands favorite)oatmeal, PB, fruit and coffee that makes Starbucks seem like dishwater, Pastor Luc told us that today all the Pastors would be arriving from the surrounding area of Grande Goave to share in the goods in the container, slowly, they began arriving, mostly on foot, some on small motos and 1mule. Hundreds of white buckets, hundreds of boxes, vitamins, rice, formula, cans of fruit and vegetables were all spread out in the dusty ground and as I looked over the amazing array of goods I thought about the families and friends that many months ago picked up a bucket, drove to the store and filled them so selflessly for the people in a faraway land called Haiti who were suffering and starving and needed a miracle. Then I watched with a lump in my throat as 50lb. buckets were tied onto the motos, one on each side, a box in front and another bucket tucked behind the driver, a few more tugs on the twine and off they drove out the heavy iron gates to share their precious cargo with their neighbours. Later in the day as we returned home after viewing a local need for a water project we saw an old mule with a wizened old man with a sparkle in his eye loading up straw bags on either side of his mule, he filled the saddlebags each with a bucket and then topped them off with granola bars, rice, and powdered milk until they were overflowing each gift purchased with love long ago for such a time as this. This smiling precious little man of God had walked with his mule 5 long hot hours through the mountains to receive his goods and take them home to his church family. As he prepared to leave he pulled his tattered shoes out of his pouch and I asked Pastor Luc, “what is he doing?” he answered “well, he wore his good shoes to come to town and will change for the walk home to his village shoes.” I was so moved by this dark-skinned, small man and I realized we are the same in our pride and humanness, we are so different, oh so different, yet so similar…I wonder who is more blessed …him or me. We gave him some money and I though how fortunate we were to be able to bless him but as I watched him and his heavy laden mule slowly walk down the rubble road to begin the long, hot and dusty trip home I realized that it was him who had blessed us, I had long forgotten the new sheets and KD and saw through God’s eyes the real miracle of the container. And we thank God for allowing us to be a part of this miracle if His.

Jane Mcbratney, prov.3:6

Yesterday

Yesterday morning started with a trip to the doctor with Sandina... she's doing much better but I wanted to have her eye checked again now that most of the swelling has gone down. The doctor gave her 2 thumbs up!!!



One the way back from the doctor I got a call saying a container is on it's way!! We rushed home and arrived with just enough time to clean out the storage room so we could unload the container.

The container had food, school supplies, medical supplies, clothes and other goodies.






It even had some baseball equipment that I taught Elna (Pastor Luc's wife) to use :)

All in a day's work

This past Monday was a busy one at H2H.

We had a team visiting from Indiana, lead by Jason Braun, who were just here for one full day and were given the task of building book shelves in our new offices and a large shelving unit in our new first aid room.











They finished with just enough time for some sight seeing & R&R with the kids.



The same day we had a dental team, lead by Dr Steve, come from Port-au-Prince to do a preventative dental clinic in our school. The kids learned to brush their teeth properly and each student had their teeth inspected.









It was a great day and we really appreciated the work both teams did - thank you!

New Sandals!

Thanks to the generosity of some H2H supporters (via the H2H Gift Catalogue), I have spent the past few weeks scouring the local markets with the older girls to buy sandals for all... yes, ALL... of the kids. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun! We made a list of all of the kids & their shoe size and personally bought for each kid.











The girls were especially excited because they got to buy "fancy church sandals"... a real treat :)





The H2H Gift Catalogue is a great way to practically provide for the kids needs and connect in a more personally way. For each item you purchase you will receive an email thanking you for your purchase and a picture showing the kids receiving the item. For more information regarding the Gift Catalogue, check out H2H's website: www.hearttohearthaiti.com.

Sandina

Yesterday morning I took 4 of the kids to a mobile medical clinic at a neighboring mission... nothing too serious, but I thought I'd take advantage of the clinic. Shortly after we returned home, little Sandina decided to jump off the swings like the older kids were doing... it didn't go well, to say the least.

She face planted in the sand and this was the result...



We jumped on a motorcycle and went to the hospital. The doctors confirmed her eye is fine but the swelling will take several days to go down. It broke my heart to see her like this but I couldn't help but smile when she told the doctor, "I just wanted to fly".

Sandina hasn't been with us very long... she came while I was in Canada in December... but she's already stolen the hearts of the older girls and is getting taken care of very well! She isn't fond of the ice pack but she likes the candy flavored tylenol. PS... I'm still looking for a sponsor for Sandina... let me know if you're interested.

On another note, EDH (Electricity of Haiti) is finally running power lines down our lane so my house will have real power!! Here is a picture of them putting up the power lines.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks to an "evening snack" purchased through the H2H Gift Catalogue (www.hearttohearthaiti.com) we celebrated Valentine's Day with hot chocolate and sweet bread. The kids looked forward to it all day and they weren't disappointed... neither was I :)









Darcy completed his "to do list" and he left us on Monday. As always it was a pleasure having them here and they were a great blessing. Here are some pictures of the addition to the 2nd floor of the Children's Home...

Day 1:



Day 7:



There is still a lot of work to do but the rooms are have taken shape & the girls are excited at the thought of "spreading out"!

Darcy's Progress

Brent wiring the new kitchen/dining hall:



Passing the cement up to the 2nd floor of the Children's Home:



Renel doing some welding repairs on the playground:



Hans & Darcy laying new wires with Manno:



Renel... welcome back to Haiti!



Darcy buying wood in Port-au-Prince:



Hans repairing the water pump:



It's been a long week for their helpers:



Of course, there's always time to play with the kids:

Darcy's Team

Darcy is here this week with a team from Alberta - their main focus is finishing the second floor of the Children's Home (so the girls can spread out) but they are also doing some electrical work, surveying, maintenance on the playground and general "handyman stuff". As always it's great to have Darcy here and he's brought another great team! Here's some picture of them getting started around the compound...

Brad, training the next generation of surveyors:



Darcy getting started on the playground:



Darcy, Brad & JV (the one on top) fixing the swing set:



Brent, showing the kids how real cowboys play:



Hans, redoing the wiring at my house... hopefully I won't get shocked in the shower any more!!

New School Supplies

The H2H school had just under 500 students enrolled this past September!

Our private school differs from the public schools as it provides the kids with a hot meal each day (often the only meal the child will get) and for the past 2 years we have also provided them with all of the necessary school supplies. Not only do the kids not have money to buy their own supplies, they can often not find even the basics in the local market. Each student pays less than $3 US to enroll for the entire year as we cover the cost of the school in our sponsorship program. We are very proud of our teachers as we have one of the best academic records in our zone!

Here are some pictures of the kids getting their school supplies when school reopened after the Christmas break.













Almost all of these school supplies were donated from schools, teachers & students in the Abbotsford School District - THANK YOU, your donations are appreciated & well used!!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child or teacher please let me know.