Grace Team prepares for trip to Haiti

Grace’s Haiti Mission team will leave on Nov 7 for the island of LaGonave, Haiti.  The team of six will be doing construction work while in Haiti.  Pastor Shirley and Joe Edgerton recently visited with the team and helped to prepare them for the mission.  The Edgerton’s are long term volunteers on LaGonave with the GBGM of the UMC.  Haiti, before the hurricane season was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphereand since the hurricane season began, the poorest of the poor are hungrier than usual, without work, some without housing due to hurricane damage.  The fisherman are having a difficult time as the fish were damaged from the storms, the farmers whose crops are few under good circumstances are now mostly without as the crops were washed away in the storms, schools have yet to open.  Shirley shared some most needed items with the team-pencils, pens, spiral notebooks, TUMS or generic equivalent, work gloves.  If you would like to donate any of the items, please bring them to the donation box on the lower level and mark them clearly “Haiti”. 

Please have donations to the Church prior to October 31, 2008. 

The team will return home on November 14, 2008. 

Comments

[Cindy Hahn]

Grace's Mission Team to Source au Philippe, La Gonave Haiti brings you greetings! The mission of the team was to help rereoof a guest house at the Haitian Methodist compound at Source au Philipe, LaGonave, Haiti. Old rusty tin roofing with holes was removed by local men who were hired for the project along with assitance of team members. The roof was completed and the used roofing is being gifted to a school in another community. The schools' previous roof was palm leaves which were blown away in the summer Hurricanes and so one project has helped another one be completed. The team also hung wiring to allow computer access in the office at the compound. Pastor Shirley and Joe purchased a satellite dish and solar energy system to allow the outside world into this isolated, forgotten island. The physical work of the team project was completed. The island is about 35-40 miles from mainland Haiti. Many Haitians do not know that near 100,000 of their countrymen live on the island. These are some facts and my thoughts about LaGonave.
-It is a place where food and goods from the mainland require a minimum of a 4hr boat ride one way
-A place where there is not enough fresh water, some walk 8 miles to get water, the closest water, salt water to drink and give to their animals.
-A place whre 15 or more family members share a one room home. I went on a house call with Pastor Shirley; missionary from Ks East and retired nurse, a man 80 in age, lay on the only bed in the one room, sick with fever and chills, a skeleton of a man, but surrounded by his family from his adult son to the littlest of children about age 1-2. You could see the concern in their faces. His granddaughter with braids in her hair, gently touching him. His son, telling of his fever and that he had not eaten or drank in several days. I witnessed a most compassionate moment in time as Shirley assessed the elderly man; listening to his lungs and his heart while gently touching him as she went about her work, believing he is suffering with malaria.
-A place where boys up to age 12-13 go naked and yet are dressed for school in uniform; blue pants and yellow shirts. Where girls also go to school dressed in yellow gingham checked dresses with pleats, instead of their usual worn and soiled shorts and tops.
-A place where we swam in the ocean to cool off, where young boys decided to scare us, just like our own children would; they would swim under water and pretend to be a fish and grab an ankle or touch you. We laughed, they laughed just as we would at home.
-A place where a sail boat was finished just in time to pick us up and sail us to Source au Philippe. Hand cut and hewn boards were molded and shaped together like a puzzle to make the boat. They used cloth to fill in the cracks and then sealed it. A sail was patched and hand sewn. A bilge pump had been hand made; a tree branch, with cloth strings attached to a denim cloth pouch to hold the water and hand operated periodically during the five hour boat ride. All of this hand made, ancient hand work to make a boat and yet in present time we watches at the Haitian boat captains spoke to others on their cell phones.
-A place that nears 100 degrees daily this time of year and the humidity is high, with no relief day or night. The people rest in the afternoons, some lying down on concrete anywhere just to rest.
-A place where school lunches were to be served last year daily and were served only several times.
-A place where rats, bats and tarantulas abound, as well as malaria, dengue fever and hunger and coughs. Where mothers worry about their sick children as we do.
-A place where families eat two-three times a week, not two or three times a day.
-A place where children go to school and can not afford tuition and will continue to go until they are denied for not having the money for tuition. Where teachers have not been paid five months of last year's salary or the two months of this year's salary. Where teachers sign contracts knowing they may not be paid timely, but it is a job.
I shared this scripture with the team the night before our return home as a base for our devotion. "Behold a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprang up, but because they had no deepness of earth, when the sun rose, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. And some seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But other seeds fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. As a team we discussed and shared what we had seen what seeds had been planted. How some of what had been done to be helpful, was not and now has withered away.
As I shared earlier the physical work that was to be completed is done. The work of the team is not. The less tangible work is not complete and may never be. We came home wondereing what is the best way to empower the Haitians so they could be more self sufficient. We also left HOPE, hope that people outside of LaGonave know that they are there, we know of the gifts they have and the problems they have. Hope that as we came, others will come. Hope that their children as we do ours will have a bright future.
As I close, please know that we live in very different worlds, be we share more likes than differences. The Haitians are beautiful loving people and that although we got little sleep, resided with rats and bats, and sweat nearly every minute of each day we were there, we were blessed. Blessed with the gift of friendship, compassion, sharing and the natural beauty of Haiti's sunrises and sunsets.

Thank you for interest in Haiti, you can support this and other missions at Grace at the Alternative Gift Fair, Nov 30, 2008 at the Ridgeview site. Team photos are located on a separate website. See my next posting for the address.

[Cindy Hahn]

to view team photos go to picasaweb.google.com
the email address to use is OlatheGrace@gmail.com the password is Haiti 123
you will aslo then type in the letter/numbers that appear.

[Grace to Grace Haitian Ministries]

PRAISE THE LORD!

THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST IN HAITI.

I NEED YOUR MAILING ADDRESS TO MAIL A PROGRAM OF A BIG CONVENTION OF ABOUT 40.000 PEOPLE IN LAGONAVE ON DECEMBER 2009 TO YOU.
YOU CAN SEND IT THROUGH MY EMAIL
glorestoration@yahoo.com

THANK AND GOD GLESSED

SISTER ROSE ESTIMPHILE

[ROSE ESTIMPHILE]

ALL GONAVIANS NEED TO ANSWER TO THIS:
WE WILL HAVE A GLOBAL CONVENTION IN ANSE A GALET LA GONAVE FROM DECEMBER 28 2009 - JANUARY 03 2010
ALL GONAVIANS NEED TO PARTICIPATE PLUS VISITORS
WE WILL HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT OUR ISLAND FOR THE FUTUR
MEETING WITH THE DIASPORA GONAVIANS
MEETING WITH ALL LEADER GONAVIANS
MEETING WITH AAL GOVERNMENT PEOPLE
10 YEARS FREE SCHOOL IN LAGONAVE
MEETING WITH ALL ORGANIZATIONS
MEETING WITH ALL MISSIONS, CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS
PLEASE CONTACT US AT glorestoration@yahoo.com
or 770-572-9281 OUR WEBSITE IS
www.grace-2grace.org
YOUR SISTER IN CHRIST,
ROSE ESTIMPHILE