What an Easter celebration the kids had at New Life and three other orphanages yesterday! We started the day splitting ourselves into two teams. One to stay at New Life and one team to travel to three other orphanages for Easter basket giving and meal serving. Patty and I chose to stay at New Life since I had never shared a holiday with the kids before. A local hotel kitchen and the New Life chefs volunteered to prepare the meals for all four places. We had a traditional meal of chicken, beets, salad, mashed potatoes and macaroni. We all agreed one of our best meals we have had in Haiti!
But to backup just for a minute, the day started out with Sunday school for all under the Mango Tree. I visited with the young children and handicap kids all dressed in their Easter best! Vanessa got up to practice a solo with the rest of the kids as a back up, that she would later sing beautifully in church. They talked about Jesus dying for our sins and that He rose today. The kids were so excited to thank and praise Him! We then moved into the church where Pastor Lionel did his best to recreate the days leading up to Easter and why we should celebrate our risen Lord! I even got a chance to get up and give the Easter prayer, no advanced warning. For those of you that know me, definitely stepping out of my comfort zone for God. Pastor Lionel brought young ladies from his church to join our girls, Sophonie and Christela. How exciting to see all of the young people worshiping and celebrating on this day we are all so thankful for. After service we had to get some quick pictures of everyone in their beautiful new Easter dresses and some of the guys were even wearing ties!
So the kids headed back to the orphanage while the little Easter bunnies, (us) arrived with all the colorful Easter baskets. We had bags and baskets for the girls and baseball caps for the guys filled with all kinds of goodies and enough sugar to give everyone a good "rush"! Jean Rony setup the sound system under the Mango Tree and we started to blast, "We are the World", and they all started to come from the orphanage and sit under the Mango Tree! It's hard to explain the feeling of watching all their faces in anticipation of what the rest of the day would bring and the words to that song ringing in your ears and everyone singing and dancing. It's a time I wouldn't trade for anything! Soon it was time to handout the baskets. They all had to wait until everyone got theirs and then we said, "go"! So many smiles on the kids faces as most went for the candy first, followed by many toys, sunglasses and such. We each sat down with the young ones and handicap to try and help them all feel loved. We finished up by some of the older boys telling all of us what they were thankful for in their life and many, many thanks all around for all the missionaries that made it possible.
Then the kids were off to checkout the rest of the contents in their bags and just to have some fun. The older boys played soccer, the girls danced to the worship music under the Mango Tree and many just relaxed. Dinner was served late afternoon and we continued with music and dancing until 7:00. The night ended with a movie in the church! Fun was had by all and many hearts were filled with joy! Must say it was a long day but very satisfying. God with all His grace blessed both our teams with a wonderful day at all four orphanages. Something tells me sleep came easy to all the children at New Life last night :)
Today, Monday, is the last day before the children return to school. We had rain again last night so the morning brought cooler breezes and much water sitting on the soccer field. Jimmy and a couple others would spend their day bucketing off the water. Why we asked? Only to find out New Life had a soccer match against Marie's church later in the day. For those of you that don't know Marie, this is an orphanage of girls IFJ was supporting. What a surprise this was to us when we came through the gate from being out in the afternoon to see some familiar faces. Got a chance to go with Heather and Patty to the Apparent Project today at Delmas 75. This is a shop run by Americans who employ Haitian women to make beads out of recycled paper and sell them in various forms of jewelry. They work with many types of recyclable products. Got a chance to meet one of the owners as her and her husband have been living in Haiti for a while also waiting to adopt children. Bought many pieces for the Art Auction in August in Naperville to raise money for Haiti and was thrilled to get a 10% discount! Knew we brought Patty along for some reason:)
Another long day driving through the dusty hot streets of Port au Prince. Sometimes you tend to forget the struggle of most here when you never leave the loving confines of New Life. Street after street of concrete still left from the earthquake and garbage everywhere. I have to share two scenes with you as we drove the streets today. I watched a woman as she walked up her street from the main street, garbage on the street everywhere. There was more garbage to see then street and she just kept walking like nothing had changed. Also, an elderly gentleman standing in the doorway to his house looking like he was contemplating the day. Garbage all around his house and down his street. It literally looked like his house was out of place, not the garbage. For as much as we seen progress here on the last couple of visits we have made, much stays the same and is even getting worst. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti. Thanks for your continued prayers. Renee
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