Month: August 2011

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I did get a pretty good night’s sleep and had the nectar of life to start the new day. Any day in Haiti that starts with coffee has the potential to be a good day. I studied the Bible for an hour or so and visited with Ashley for a little bit while I was waiting on the tap-tap to take me to Harry’s property.

On the way I found a car rental place that let me use their wireless to send off some website stuff. They were real kind about it. If we ever need to rent a car I will check them out. I spent some time with the workers before Harry arrived and then just chilled and had good conversation with Harry. It has been very nice to spend time with Harry. His time is always stress free. The work on the house is going so well and the worker dudes are doing a killer job.

I returned to the guest house and chatted with Ashley for a while again and then started my preliminary packing for the flight home tomorrow. I leave around 2:30 pm and should get to P’Cola about 10:00 pm. I will be praying for no cancelled flights. I finally heard from Fede. He said he has been calling me, I guess I never heard my cell ring at the time he was calling. He wants to come by in the morning and talk. ??? Oh well, we will see what happens. I am touching bases with Kim and calling it a night.

Kenny

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I got up way early this morning and read scripture, drank coffee and waited for my posse to awake. Deborah and Aiyana will be leaving this morning and it will be lonely not having my two new friends around to keep me straight. Aiyana kept me cool on the iPad stuff and Deborah just kept me in check. It has really been a blessing serving with these two.

Deborah hits work when she returns and Aiyana gets ready to leave for Washington State to enter college. They took off around 9:00 am and I waited for Harry to give me a call. I took a moto machine over to Harry’s property and hung out with the workers for the day and talked about future plans and ideas with Harry. I have not heard from Fede since yesterday morning which is kind of surprising in a way. He is a man of strange convictions. He keeps his plate way too full.

I really enjoyed the day with Harry. We never just have time to ourselves so it was cool. I hooked up with moto machine dude and got back to the guest house. I will say that this cat is a good safe driver. He is who Harry only rides with so I was cool with him.

Man it was quiet at the guest house. It is pretty much just Ashley, Nene, Emma and me. Nene and Emma are two Haitian people that work in the guest house and I am not really sure where they sleep. I think Emma may sleep with Ashley. Ashley is probably the sweetest young lady I have ever met. She is from Tennessee and you cannot mistake it. “Hi y’all prayze the Loward y’all got heyer sayf.” She is absolutely a pristine example of southern hospitality.

I will go back to Harry’s property in the morning and will hang with him for the day. I heard there was a little surf back home and hope it stays around for my return. It always gets the best of me and I end up calling the surf report just to torture me a little. I wonder if that qualifies as persecution. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, amen !

Kenny

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After a hot and not such a good night’s sleep we awoke to some hot coffee and pancakes. Shortly after breakfast I received a phone call from Fede who informed me that his vehicle had been broken into the night before and 95 dollars had been stolen from his wallet, and he now has a busted window. With limited gas in his vehicle he picked us up at God’s Planet guest house to take us to Harry’s church to meet Madame Fani and her son Michlet. On the way there we stopped and filled Fede’s car with gas and as far as we know he was going to take care of some more personal things and then head back to Peligre.

Once at Harry’s church Deborah, Aiyana, and I were let into the gate and we sat under the big mango tree to wait for Madame Fani, Michlet, and Harry to arrive. I was looking very forward to seeing Madame Fani and talking to her about how life in Corchi is and the progress on her home that we are trying to complete. I was also excited for Deborah and Aiyana to meet Madame Fani. We sat and talked for many hours under the mango tree.

We order some chicken from a little restaurant for everybody. Harry sent Adonis to pick up our food. After a long wait we finally got our food. It was fun eating with Madame Fani. Deborah and Aiyana were very impressed with Madame Fani they were able to see her strength of character and witness my relationship with her. Deborah was able to communicate with Madame Fani and Michlet and they spent quite a while talking.

During our conversations we had an impromptu focus group session. We asked what they would prioritize as the most needed between water, education, and health . Crochi is a small village in the mountains close to Z’Orange. Water is well over several hours away and food can be relatively nonexistent at times. The answer to the question we received from both of them was that they felt that education was a priority over water and health and that a school was much needed. When we heard the answer we all three looked at each other in agreement that the face of Give Me Shelter Ministries may be changing.

Out of the many people we interviewed on this mission trip all of them gave us the same answer as far as education being the primary need. Once Madame Fani and Michlet left the church, the three of us along with Harry and two other men went into Port au Prince and played tourist. Harry deposited us back at the guest house where we were met by our hostess Ashley and had a Haitian-American meal of grilled chicken, rice and beans, sauce, and pickles. Today may very well been one of the highlights of this trip, being able to spend time with Madame Fani and introducing her to my new friends. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Kenny

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We woke up very early and started getting our chum together to pack up and head out. We had an appointment at Partners In Health (PIH) at 9:00 am with a young man named Joel who has an administrative role at this organization. This was the first time I have been to Cange and to PIH. PIH is a free clinic in various parts of Haiti that was started by a man named Paul Farmer back in the 70’s. This is an important relationship to the Peligre school and orphanage that has been damaged for reasons that would be too much to try to explain. One thing for sure though, most of our professional (doctors, nurses etc.) folks we bring up here want to work through them for the good of the children.

So Deborah, Aiyana and I had a nice meeting and was able to gather some good info that may help to begin bridging the gap. We were given a tour of the compound. We were shown the school, hospital,and training centers. We were shown the production facility where PIH makes a protein supplement from their farmed peanuts to be given out to severe starvation cases.Over all we were very impressed with PIH.

From there we went back to the Plaza hotel in Mirebalais where we were able to send our emails and eat one of the worst sandwiches made by mankind. The Lord was truly watching over us because no one got sick.

After leaving Mirebalais we went to God’s Planet Guest House in Croix de Bouquet where we dropped our chum off and Harry picked us up in a Tap-Tap. We took Deborah and Aiyana to Harry’s property and church. I was happy that they were able to see what Harry has going on in his world. We met Harry’s wife Nadesh and his daughter Djina for a meal at a restaurant by the airport, then headed back to the guest house. Deborah and Aiyana’s flight back to the states on Wednesday was canceled, so they will be staying one more day in hopes that Thursday they will be able to leave. Although I know they are ready to get home for various reasons, I will enjoy their company for one more day. We are not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we will fill it with whatever opportunities come our way. Praise God for whom all blessings flow.

Kenny