Our team returned home yesterday after an amazing week serving the people of Bohoc. After visiting a third-world country that had been devasted by an earthquake only 18 months ago, with a government in turmoil and so many people still living in tents on the streets, you would think it would be easy to come home discouraged and frustrated with the lack of improvement. However, we came home quite encouraged. You see, we were fortunate in our week in Haiti to spend it with, what we believe are, some of the brightest, most humble, Christ-centered young leaders in Haiti.
First, 410 Bridge has two amazing leaders running things on the ground - Tompy & Ronald. These young men are two of the most amazing servant leaders with an amazing heart for their country. In everything they do, you can see their passion for Christ and desire to make a change in their country and community. Haiti is so much better off with these two men leading the way. I am so thankful that God has intersected our paths and that they are now and forever a part of my story.
In the community of Bohoc, we were blessed to work with a strong group of leaders that made up the community’s Leadership Council. Led by Jean-Claude, we were able to get a glimpse into the future of Bohoc - spending time with these men & women we were so encouraged by their faith, hope and determination to make Bohoc a better place for their children. And we did not just hear them talk about this, but we witnessed it first hand as several of the leaders worked right alongside us throughout the week - both with the physical labor projects, as well as with the children. A true picture of servant leadership. God is doing a mighty work through these leaders.
So, as we arrive home from our time in Haiti, though this is the end of our trip, we feel this is just the beginning of our journey and friendship with the community and leadership of Bohoc. We have come home with Bohoc forever on our map, excited for what the future holds. We have all talked about how we want to return to Bohoc soon - my prayer is that through our time, you have caught a glimpse of the amazing work God is doing in this community and that when we do return, you will join us.
Chris
“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” ~ Psalm 78:72
Wednesday night we experienced our first heavy rainstorm in Bohoc. We were told if it rained hard, our long trip the following day to Port-au-Prince (PAP) would be fine because heavy rain would just wash everything away. We were also told that a light drizzle over a few hours would be something to worry about because the rain water would soak into the ground and would make the road conditions very difficult to travel on. Since it drizzled most of the night, our 6 hour trip back to PAP ended up being a 10 hour tour…
We left around 7:40 a.m. on Thursday morning in our new ride we referred to as the “Holy Roller Deux” (we got a new bus because the original “Holy Roller” needed to be fixed – it took a lot of abuse over the week). Instead of heading south to the town of Hinche, we went north to Pignon and then to Saint-Raphael followed by Saint Michel de L’Atalaye and other little Haitian communities along the way. Our trip consisted of: getting our rear axle stuck on a large rock (which lifted the right wheels/tires off the ground), crossing 3 riverbeds and 11 creeks, taking detours in some of the towns we passed through, and waiting on Haitians doing road construction. Despite all this (and the dust and mud), our ride was smoother and cooler than our previous trip and we also got an opportunity to see more of the country of Haiti and its beauty (we got to see mountain tops and the valleys below, as well as the wonderful Haitian coast).
Our day ended at a restaurant in PAP and a tour of the city. We also stopped by the Presidential Palace and had a chance to see the surrounding tent communities and drive by the local markets. We finally made it back to the Mon Chez Moi Guest House. It was great to get off the bus and relax. A few went swimming, some took naps (me including), and others showered to get the film of dust off their skin. It was nice end to a long day of travel.
With regard to my time and experiences in Haiti it is difficult to put into words. Today was a travel day so that is what I decided to blog about first. But, there are many memories that I have and one that I wanted to share was something that was said in church, the pastor said to “Feel Your Heart.” I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but throughout the week I began to feel my heart. Again, words cannot describe this feeling. However, on my way home to Atlanta today (yes, I know I am posting a few days late) an advertisement on the back of the Sky Mall magazine really captured my thoughts on feeling your heart and I wanted to share it with you… “It’s about connecting. Discovering our similarities. Celebrating our differences. Your language is mine, my language is yours. And together we share something bigger. We share our voices. Our experiences. Our stories. We are better. Our world is better. When we understand” [Rosetta Stone advertisement]. As you know Rosetta Stone is a company on learning a language, well, the language I learned this week is LOVE . I felt God’s love, I felt the love from my teammates, I felt the love from the people of Bohoc, and I also allowed myself to love back. We were told that 90% of the people in Bohoc are Christians. They are so friendly and loving! Imagine if 90% of Atlanta were that way. I know I can’t change the world, but one thing I can do is make a difference in my community. So watch out Sandy Springs, I am bringing some love back from Haiti.
- Joel Esperanza
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7 & 8
Our last day was spent in a neighboring community called Maliarette, just around the corner from our guest house. We were working with an organization called Youth Action for Haiti. A school geared for teaching children about agriculture. They have this amazing property full of rows and rows of crops….much like what our nursery’s look like at home, but with a much better backdrop.
We spent the majority of our time filling small plastic bags that they would later use for planting new seeds. What seemed like a mundane tasked turned into a wonderful circle of people teaching each other English and Creole. We laughed a lot especially as we all struggled to make the correct sounds to new words. Who would have thought a basic envelope of laminated picture cards would become such a hit for the young and old?
Two teenage boys, Evans and Rubinz were so fun and we became fast friends. I loved that they had such a desire to learn and we spent most of our time learning as many common words as we could.
Paul was the Director of the property….My time with him will be one of my most cherished memories. He is a true visionary!! His hope is to teach the younger generation in addition to the local community the importance of agriculture and the value it can add to their economy. He feels that with perseverance, kind hearts and faith that the future of Haiti has tremendous promise. I believe he will be a catalyst to their change!!! He was so grateful that we were willing to come to an “unstable” Haiti to help when we could be in the comfort of the USA…. I was so grateful to be influenced by a man with such dedication, faith and integrity. I hope I get the opportunity to come back to Maliarette and see the impact Paul and his students are making! I will never forget him.
As our trip is winding down I can’t help but think of some special highlights!
Most of which revolve around the special people I’ve encountered. Barry (picture below of him and his twin sisters) is a 20 year old orphan that I met at Matthew 28. He spoke English and Creole and we spent the better part of an hour talking the day we were there. He has been at the orphanage for 6 years. I was so impressed by the love he had for the other children as well as how polished he was and the desire he had to further his education (He wants to become an architect). What a wonderful role model he must be to the younger kids.
We had a unique situation take place. Chris, along with another couple took 4 sick kids to the local clinic (I didn’t know this since I was at a ladies seminar). The truck was bringing us home and we made a quick stop and there was Barry! He came running out to see me and we held hands. He said, “Your husband has taken 4 kids to the clinic”! We were both so excited since we knew these children really needed medical attention. We chatted briefly and then it was time for us to go. I felt such an instant bond with this sweet young man and my heart totally melted to say goodbye as well as to see his genuine concern for his little buddies from the orphanage! My prayer is that Barry will have the opportunity to go to college…for he is someone that WILL make a difference and has left and imprint on my heart!
The soil is so rich in Bohoc!
The area is so lush with green grasses, trees and shrubs of many textures and mountains reaching to the sky to meet the huge puffy white clouds.
Bohoc is breathtaking!
The people are so genuine, kind- hearted, full of amazing faith and a true depiction of community…with smiles that make your whole day. There is no doubt in mind that the future for these people is promising and the hope for Haiti will keep on growing… for the soil is rich!
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Jan Woodruff
Describing my feelings about Haiti so far is a hard thing to do, since I think I have felt every emotion possible since stepping off the plane. But I’ll try my best!
Today we had the privilege to go back to the widow’s house to work on the pit latrine. Instead of bringing cement blocks, we gathered the ingredients to make the mortar. This included sand, rocks, lots of sifting, and some water. The work was grueling, but we all made many memories during the day. To start the mortar, we had to get sand from a different family, about 125 yards away. The walk was usually made just a little more enjoyable, due to the occasional rider in the wheel barrel.
Once the sand came, we had to sift it to get rid of all the rocks. That was fun, but hard work, so we took many breaks. For me, the breaks were where the real fun started. Not only were we doing this work for a widow, but also her daughter and her four grandchildren.
The grandchildren are zanmim’m, “my friends forever.” I was blessed to bond with her two oldest grandchildren. The two oldest boys are just about school age, and have the biggest hearts. The younger brother, Gordonzee, is about six years old and acts every bit of it. The older brother, Gafme, is eleven and has the sweetest smile, when you get it out of him. We walked around and Gafme helped me learn Creole. I think I asked him how to say everything around his house. With each new word, I got to know him a little more, every time with a larger smile. Gafme knew a little English, and I knew just enough French that we could communicate and have some really neat conversations. To keep the boys occupied, Nicky and I were able to teach the boys some basic English words. The boys loved this, and tried many times to grab the cards out of our hands before they repeated the word in English. They kept the cards, promising to practice their English every day (Watch the video, “Learning a little English”). To end our time together, we played with one of the simplest of games, bubbles. Blowing bubbles with these two could have lasted hours. I wish it did. Each flick of the wand created many laughs, smiles (from the so quiet Gafme) and lots of shouting I didn’t understand.
I know that forming a relationship with these boys was one reason God led me here. They kept my bubbles, along with a piece of my heart!
After an amazing lunch back at the compound, we went to a a children’s camp at one of the local churches, Maranatha. We were there to teach, sing, and play with about 50 children of the community. They were very excited to be there, and ready for us. We made salvation bracelets with each of the children, going through exactly what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
The black shows the sin that separates you from God. Romans 3:23
The red shows the blood shed by Jesus to save us. Romans 5:8
The white shows that through Jesus, your sins are forgiven. Isaiah 1:18
The green shows growth of Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible and fellowship.
Galatians 6:22
The yellow shows how you will rejoice with Jesus in Heaven. Thessalonians 4:17
We were able to connect with so many children during this time, it was such a huge blessing. One of the high points was to get to sing many of our songs from Waumba Land. We sang, “My God is so Big,” where each child got to make hand motions about our big and strong God. We sang the rock and roll version of “Jesus Loves Me,” where the kids get to yell the song as loud as they can, and then just a whisper. But their most favorite song of all is “Oh He Loves Me.” They love it so much, they could sing it acappella! (Watch the video, “Oh He Loves Me”)
As a teacher, I knew that I would love all the activities with the children the most. And as a first time mission triper, I couldn’t wait to make an impression on these kiddos. I guess I didn’t realize how big of an impression THEY would make on ME.
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3
We started our Monday off with a hearty breakfast (pancakes & SPAM) and a heart for service. We were all quite excited about the day ahead of us; a morning of digging a deep pit for a latrine (out-house), followed by a trip to the “market”, then lunch made and served by the locals, and capped off with a return visit to Matthew 28 - the local orphanage for the poorest of the poor.
A little background on the latrine: we’re taking our lead from the local council of leaders (a group of leaders from multiple churches) who have identified as a priority the need to construct latrines throughout the community. To build a relatively safe and sanitary latrine is no small task in this remote village in Haiti; The Home Depot doesn’t deliver out here. As a result, many of the residents live with an unsafe and unsanitary substitute (see picture below) which results in disease (the spread of malaria) and sometimes injury; they recently had a little girl fall into a latrine pit and she had to be taken to the hospital for her injuries.
As it turns out, we did not have to dig the pit for the latrine this morning thanks to the mission teams that preceded us. Instead, we transported about 120 cinder blocks, several wheel barrels of sand and some 90 lbs bags of cement to the latrine site. Today’s latrine is for a family of six. Our team of nine (4 women & 5 men) displayed awesome teamwork as we created human chains to pass heavy bricks in situations where individual hauling (which we also did) was inefficient; there are no slackers on our team! (below is a picture of a finished latrine)
After a couple of hours of hard labor (it felt good, but the heat really zaps your energy) our translator, Erivo (Err-ee-vo), took us on a walk through the countryside to view some of the finished latrines as well as some of the unsafe/unsanitary ones. By understanding the bigger picture of this project, we could see that we were fulfilling James 2: 15-17; Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food . If one of you says to him, “go I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing for his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself; if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
After our tour of the countryside, we piled into our Nissan pickup truck and headed to the local market where you can buy your necessities for the week, such as rice, beans, pasta, and toiletries, not to mention live chickens, goats, pigs, cows, and oxen.
Next we headed back to one of the churches to join the two other teams (we’re down here with two other teams from our church) for lunch served by some local women. After refueling, we walked across the street with one of the other teams to spend the afternoon at Matthew 28, the orphanage that we visited the day before.
The best way to describe the conditions at Matthew 28 is that you feel you are in one of Sally Struthers’ commercials. The conditions are deplorable by our standards with naked children running around, some partially clothed with soiled and tattered clothes and living in dark and cramped quarters. My initial reaction (which was shared by the rest of the blancs; the nickname given to us by the locals) was that we need to fix this! We have means and we can get some clothes and money to improve the conditions to a standard that’s acceptable to us. Upon further investigation and discussion we learned that the children are fed two meals a day, attend school, and share a bond of love with each other that would be envied by many American families. They were quick to smile and quite content even without electronic games! And, one of the most exciting things for me is that they know our Lord and Savior, it’s a priority for the pastor who leads the orphanage. In the end we concluded our need to fix things needs to be replaced with a renewed TRUST in God. While our time with these kids seemed short, at the end of the day I was reminded of the verse from Matthew 25: 40; when Jesus said, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
by Tim Rolston
