December 29, 2013

Jwaye nwel tout moun e bon ane!!   (Merry Christmas everyone and happy new year !)

WOW, What a week! So much has happened in the last few days. We have had so much fun and very much enjoyed seeing all the ways two visiting families wanted to be a blessing to us, to the HUG girls, and to other orphanages in Haiti. But at the end of it we are pooped! So of course we needed to prepare for a 23 person team that arrived at the guesthouse Saturday night. (For those of you with good math skills and better memories you might remember we are set up with 22 beds at the guesthouse!) We are using every bed, every plate, every chair, and every square inch of space. But first some of the many awesome things that happened this week. The 23^rd was spent reviewing report cards for the first trimester where as expected, there were results to celebrate and results that needed a strong admonishment not to settle for mediocre. While all the girls passed, some did not pass by much and didn’t seem to think that scraping by was a big deal. There was a pretty big speech covering how all the advantages these girls have with a staff to cook and clean, and an awesome tutor coming daily to help requires them to do better than just passing. We also negotiated the terms of returning the TV for vacation time. The TV went back on Friday morning and will be taken away again the 7^th of January when classes resume and will be gone the ENTIRE second trimester. To get the TV back for the third trimester, EVERY girl in the house needs to get a 6 or better on their report card. (In a nutshell, on a scale of 10, a 5 is passing, a 6 is adequate, a 6.5 is good, a 7 is very good and a 7.5 or higher is outstanding – 8.5s or 9s are unheard of)

Tuesday was Christmas Eve and involved painting chairs and prepping the girls home for the big upcoming party on the 26^th. Christmas day, Julie and I had the fun of delivering the many cards and gifts that had been sent by friends and HUG folks. Many thanks to those who sent pretty headbands, personalized cards, games, toys, books, and DVDs. It was all AWESOME!

Thursday was the big event where the girls’ home hosts a big party for the girls, the staff, visitors, and the family members of any girl who still has someone involved in their life. Over 50 people were there! The girls sang and danced, the meal was great, and Pastor Maxeau and one visitor each gave the girls a great speech encouraging them to strive for excellence.  It is a really special time and everyone who has a role in caring for the girls in any way was there, from their staff to their tutor, to their social worker to all of us! 

Interwoven with all this was the Jackson Family – Jamie and Nathan and their three kids (Yes, I started referring to them as the Jackson 5) chose to spend their family Christmas in Haiti to be a blessing to kids down here. They helped out at three orphanages. The HUG-A-Child home, the Faith, Hope, and Love Infant Rescue home just down the street, and the Lifesaver Orphanage which is another ministry under Pastor Maxeau. Nathan made our girls some awesome study desks, Jamie taught a dance class including elements of ballet and HipHop, and Lifesavers got a brand new diesel generator!! You can see a short video of Jamie and the girls here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYDFYtrNgWo&feature=youtu.be     and here   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p93OMQxKUDc   

Finally, Julie and I want to be sure to be thankful for all our gifts. Every person receiving this update is a gift to us we truly appreciate. Each of you in your own way supports and fills us so we can do what we are called to do down here. Thanks just seems inadequate. Then there is the gift of Christmas itself, a small helpless looking baby over 2000 years ago who changed the course of human history with his life (and death) and changed the course of Julie’s and my life when His perfect love intersected with our imperfect selves.

Blessings from Haiti, Gerritt and Julie

Language study week

Hiya everyone,

As many of you know, this past week was a full week of intensive Creole language study from 9am to 4:30 pm each day Monday through Friday. With a 1 hour drive or more each way in thick traffic, the days were pretty long. Obviously from the photo below, the stunning beauty of the school’s setting made the trip well worth it. Again, soooo very thankful for a 4wd pickup with low gearing. Those steep mountain “roads” are not for the faint of heart. Despite many times saying “Oy my head is FULL”, we are so glad we took the time to do this. Since moving to Haiti, we have picked up a decent amount of vocabulary, but our spoken Creole had little structure or organization to it. It didn’t take long for us to realize that our Haitian friends and co-laborers have been showing us a tremendous amount of grace. It also didn’t take long to realize how much English grammar we had forgotten much less how little Creole grammar we knew. Wait…. What’s an indefinite article again??? Anyway, the program was great, and with us being a class of two, we got all the custom tailoring and individual attention we ever could have hoped for. Pictured below, we are with Souloque (French spelling) or Soulouk (Creole spelling) or Soo – loo – ck (Gerritt spelling) He was our head instructor and trainer for the half dozen other instructors in the language institute. He is a natural teacher, and has a great personality – we had serious instruction but also plenty of laughs with him.

 You can see from the other picture what a gorgeous setting we got to look over every day. The school is at about 3,000 ft above sea level and the air is so much cleaner and cooler than the greater PAP area. There was even a wild poinsettia bush blooming on the property just in time for Christmas. It was a good reminder that Haiti isn’t just the rough and tumble city of Port-Au-Prince, but also includes many beautiful landscapes and also many beautiful, smart, helpful people.

That kinda covers our whole week this time. Momma and Poppa Gerritt will come to Haiti for the first time this coming Thursday and we are really looking forward to some great family time as we show them not just our corner of Haiti where we serve, but also some of those beautiful places not enough people outside Haiti ever get to see.

Blessings from Haiti, Gerritt and Julie

T-giving week update

 Well I was completely lax in getting last weekends update posted to the blog - my apologies, it is a fun one!

                                                                                                       November 24, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

          It’s surprising how full the days are and how fast time goes even when there are no guests in the guesthouse. Though I have to say it sure is nice to be cooking for ourselves for a bit. Quesadillas. cream of potato soup, risotto, and homemade mac and cheese are all favorites we have enjoyed the last few days. The soup was such a nice fall treat, but it still made me sweat to eat something that steamy hot. Nights have definitely cooled off and for that we are thankful.

          As always, one of the best things about having less responsibility at the guesthouse is the ability to do more with the girls. Saturday morning we were invited by Tim and Michael – pilots for Mission Aviation Fellowship (www.maf.org) - to give the girls a tour of a real airplane and an explanation of what MAF does in Haiti. They did a great job, and the girls loved it, though Widline wanted to know where “the BIG planes” were. Maybe next time Widline. At one point the girls were asked if any of them wanted to be a pilot someday and Yorline – one of our most confident girls - shot her hand up. Who knows?? Maybe someday. 

          You can see Nahomie at the controls looking great with all the gear. Nahomie is 15 years old and last summer passed the 6^th grade national exam to enter secondary school this fall. In fact, Nahomie got the highest score on that exam of any girl in her class! About a year ago we had some “growing pains” with Nahomie, but we are pleased to say she has really shown effort and maturity as she has taken more responsibility in her schoolwork, and also shown more interest in using her musical talents at church where she seems to be integrating herself more there. She knows she is a pretty girl and sees the attention it gets for her. We continue to try our best to give her a solid sense of self as a person and as a child of God so she does not feel the need to seek validation in the attentions of others. It is a tough battle against much of what the media even here in Haiti is telling her, but she is a smart girl and we work for the best as we do everything we can to enable her to make good choices.

          You may also notice there are not 17 girls on the group photo. While Nahomie has upped her game at school, our four 5^th graders have run into trouble this week with their teacher and were not allowed the privilege of joining us for the fun outing. The house TV also disappeared for a few days and will only return with a renewed commitment by all to follow the house rules for watching. Ahhhh, the joys of trying to do the right thing training up young people!

          Blessings from Haiti, Gerritt and Julie

Weekly Update

Dear All,

This past week, we had two teams here at the guesthouse.  One was a returning group of 11 that set up medical stations at 3 churches and 1 prison throughout the week.  Their best guess is they saw over 1,000 people!!  At each stop they diagnosed symptoms, distributed medicine and gave our “care bags” with basics like soap/shampoo/toothbrush + paste.  The other team had a story I will not soon forget.  Hours after meeting this team of 2 for the first time, I got to hear how the first part of their time in Haiti was to meet the birth mom of her adoptive daughter for the very first time (along with her dear friend that was photographing this visit).  The love and prayers she poured into the family meeting was evident in the gifts of photos and other special items.  She also shared with me a very moving story of how the big earthquake in 2010 allowed her daughter to come home to the USA just weeks later.  The pieces that God orchestrated and the amazingly selfless people that put these little ones needs above their own, quite literally brought tears to my eyes.  No one knows why God allowed this tragedy to occur, however it was such a sweet story to witness.

Below is an updated picture of Dawine.  It was taken on her birthday so she was dressed up with a big smile on her face for an outing to Epi’dor with Sainte Therese J  Dawine’s full name is Rose Dawine, however she only uses her middle name.  She has a living birth mom that visits a few times of year (they look a lot alike!) and most recently brought a gift of copy books for school.  It was really touching to see Dawine share a copy book with some of the others girls – knowing full well that this was a special gift she had received. In July 2014, Dawine and one other will sit for the government exam so the girls tutor is spending extra time with the two of them each week.  Dawine is bigger than most of her sisters and sometimes even gets teased by them about this.  Next year, I am hoping to spend extra time with her – and ALL the girls - to start teaching healthy habits for eating and exercise.

Another thing we are excited about is signing up for Creole classes!  When we moved here, we did not take the time for dedicated language study, but instead were self-taught with lots of guidance from our Haitian staff members (as well as the 17 girls!), but we feel it is time to “bump up the level” of our ability to speak Creole.  In early December, we will have a week long intensive class that will be specifically designed for us and our learning level.  Stay tuned!

MR. BROWNS CORNER ~ This week has been a busy one for me!  On Monday, my doctor friend Kelly and her Haitian assistant Michael paid me a visit to check why I have been scratching the side of my face so much.  I got a shot and some medicine - also taught Julie/Gerritt and even Jean how I CAN be around Haitians without barking etc.  Also one of the visitors brought me treats J  She was missing her doggy at home, so Julie/Gerritt allowed her to spend some time with me … sure hope she comes back soon!!  Thank you to all the kids who pray for me so I can do a good job to keep everyone at the guesthouse safe.