When we returned to the States at the end of October, we were hoping and praying that things in Haiti would settle back down so we can return by early December. What does “settle back down” mean? We are awaiting the safe release of 17 American and Canadian hostages that were abducted by a gang in the Port au Prince area in mid-October. Many other issues will be resolved when fuel is available on a regular basis. Gangs are currently controlling and limiting fuel distribution.
We’re back in Haiti after our visit to the Rochester, New York area. It was great to see so many people at our Panera open house and to be able to meet with many others! The end of a furlough is often bittersweet. There are always people that we aren’t able to see. We would love to stay longer and visit with more people, but we also feel the need to get back to Haiti and continue our work firsthand. And we miss the kids and staff when we’re away!
It’s been a busy month in Haiti! August brought us a great weekend of celebrating our village values of love, honesty, responsibility and obedience with all of our kids and staff. We taught about the importance of these values, awarded children and staff who exhibit these characteristics.
Village Values Performance
We also celebrated with dances and singing performed by the kids. The weekend ended with a pizza party Saturday night and a church service on campus on Sunday morning. During this month we also had some fun outings for our kids, unpacked and distributed school supplies & shoes from amazing supporters of Hands and Feet Project (HAFP). We have seen great progress on campus maintenance and improvement projects, too.
Our hearts are broken for Haiti. July has been a tough month with the assassination of the president and the subsequent challenges with the investigation and apprehension of people involved. Changes were in the process of being made, but not finalized, regarding leadership and succession of power. A new leadership team is being formed to help the country move forward and solve the issues of violence that hold many of the Haitian people hostage and make life more difficult. Hands and Feet Project sent out this message about the situation in Haiti recently. If you’d like to receive HAFP messages, you can sign up for their newsletters here. Please join us in praying for peace throughout the country, and a smooth, peaceful transition in leadership. This country needs strong, Godly people in leadership that care about the wellbeing of the Haitian people.
We’re thankful that life in Jacmel continues to be calm and peaceful. Our local grocery store has been able to get supplies from Port au Prince on a fairly regular basis despite persistent problems with gangs, armed robbery, roadblocks, kidnappings, carjacking, and protests for various reasons. The local markets have been open for our kids and staff to purchase food and supplies. Schools have been open so that final exams from last school year and placement tests for the upcoming school year can be taken. It’s not long before school starts again in the fall!
It’s been a few weeks since we posted anything here. We’ve posted and shared a few things on our Facebook page, but an update here is overdue. Here’s what we’ve been up to since our last post:
Returned to Haiti
Unpacked some amazing care packages
Moved off campus
Settling into new job roles
New staff started
Summer interns arrived
Leadership team visited
Trip to Grand Goave
Network equipment repairs & updates
Repaired computer lab…again
Appreciation event for daycare staff
New daycare staff interviews
Appreciation event for other Jacmel staff
Appreciation event for Grand Goave staff
Schools ended for most of our kids
Summer activities / celebrations
Soccer games & tournaments
Student rewards planning
Graduation ceremony?
Vacation Bible School planning
Village Values preparations
Hurricane / Tropical Storm Elsa prep
Back to Haiti
It happens every year at this time: the school year ends, we roll into summer activities and event planning, and the time just flies by as we endure some very long, busy, but fun days. This year is no exception!
Spring is a time for new life and new growth after surviving the winter season. Every year we see the pictures of snowdrops and crocuses poking through the snow on warm days. We had many of those flowers at our house in upstate New York and looked forward to seeing them mark the beginning of the Spring season every year. This Spring is a new season for us as well.
The challenges of a pandemic and politics continue to be a burden on Haiti. They also impact the ministries and other organizations that work there. The instability continues to affect the tourism industry and short term mission trips in a big way, resulting in countless jobs lost and a significant reduction in income for many people and businesses. Here’s a recent newsletter from Hands and Feet Project that provides an overview of the current issues and the impact on each area of our Circle of Care. This covers a lot of key areas of our work and how we’re accommodating the challenging times.
If you aren’t already a subscriber to the Hands and Feet Project newsletter but would like to sign up, you can do that here. They share details and information about the programs and kids that affect all of our campuses and offer a wider perspective than our work that focuses primarily on caring for kids in Jacmel.
Happy New Year! We’re thankful that 2020 is finally over, but there’s still a lot of work to do in 2021. Are you ready?
Thinking ahead about the new year before us, some of our Hands and Feet Project team have chosen words to describe their intentions for 2021. What word would you choose for 2021? Here’s the post from the Hands and Feet Project Facebook page that you should be able to see even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
Here we are at Thanksgiving 2020. What a year it’s been for all of us! Covid, travel restrictions, mask requirements, business closings, jobs lost, and election challenges in the United States. Haiti has dealt with huge exchange rate fluctuations followed by substantial price swings for goods and services. Thankfully Covid hasn’t been as big of a factor here in the Caribbean countries. There are many days we’re thankful that we’re in Haiti!
what are you thankful for this year?
In a year of challenges, can you still identify positive things that God has provided for you? A good friend? Extra time with family? Time to clean the house? Extra time to devote to Bible reading and devotions?
Randy & Denise celebrating their anniversary at their favorite restaurant in Jacmel
September 1st seems like it was so long ago. That’s when we returned to Haiti. It seems like every time we write an update we’re saying the same thing, but it’s so true. The time just flies by as we continue to work towards keeping things running smoothly, but also implementing changes to further improve how we care for the kids. Here’s a not-so-quick overview to get an idea of what activities we and our team have been up to since early September:
Visitors and Team Activities
Serious after-dinner discussion about solar power and batteries
Coworkers and supporters from the States visited and helped move some programs and projects forward
Our team visited, inventoried and evaluated each of our 11 residential houses on our campus and have been working on updates based on those findings
Some members of our board of directors visited and completed some projects and implemented some upgrades that were a huge help – we now have 2 more working washers, a basketball net up again, improved network and Wi-Fi, better office computers, another solar light and a working lawnmower!
