Haiti is in good hands! Hello Sponsors, friends and family. THANK YOU for your prayers. God was listening.
King’s Garden It was a very productive trip. Thursday was a day to enjoy the kids at the orphanage. Teri Dykhuis had the Garden kids total attention with the story and crafts she had planned. The kids read the story of David and Goliath and then had crafts to go along with the story. They colored a huge picture of Goliath and then made poppers that shot yarn balls at him. They also made David’s pouch and rocks out of felt and clay. They threw the clay at Goliath and conquered the giant. When you have a little bit of chaos, you know it was a success.
We had a short visit with the kids Sunday afternoon. We went to their church service and enjoyed watching them devour the mangos my friend Twana bought for the kids.
Graduates from King’s Garden Friday ReachGlobal graciously came and taught Bible storying to the Graduates from the Garden. The training taught the kids the art of storytelling, which helps to illustrate points and share the gospel. Reachglobal used the story of Zaccheaus and then the graduates were divided into teams and assigned a Bible story to learn and retell.
While the Graduates were participating with ReachGlobal, Mark and I met one on one with each of the young adults. We were able to get updates on their lives and had the privilege to pray for them about their biggest concerns. It gives us a peek of the daily struggles these kids face and how important it is to continue to support and encourage them.
One of the main goals of this ministry is to help them become independent productive adults. We ultimately want the kids to be empowered and not dependent on us. An important step to this process is to form an Association that is able to distribute their monthly funds with out relying on King’s Organization, Dr. Morquette or any other outside help, other than Hearten Haiti Project (HHP) and the support their sponsors send. The first step is to become a legal association so they can open a bank account. This should become official at the end of September. They have already established the leadership team as follows: President Jean Marc (Moise) Alexandre, Treasurer Juniot Jean-Baptiste, Secretary Wilna Francois, Advisor Sindy Francois and Assistant Secretary Melissa Metellus.
Saturday was devoted to casting vision for the association. God had already been working! The leadership team had already had many discussions about the organization. The kids were on the same page as us and took over the meeting. We were blow away by how much thought they had already put into the issues such as distributing the monthly money with out cash to protect everyone involved. They will take over all requests for money and follow up with collecting receipts, verifying report cards and general accountability. We also encouraged them to dream big. With good stewardship comes more opportunity. If all goes well, we will help them raise money that can start a small business such as making soap. We can send mission teams that will support their vision and help them raise resources to create jobs and income for themselves. The kids had already been talking about such possibilities.
I am so encouraged by this trip. In the past it has been about how can we help them. Now it is about them owning their future and the possibilities are endless!