Seniors Appreciation Sunday - Sunday January 29th 2012

Cleoda Midi receiving her “Certificate of Encouragement”

The setting for this celebration was the Norgaisse Baptiste Church, five to six miles off the main road.which is five or six miles of rough, sometimes “river bed” looking, roads. The Church Council expected to provide lunch for 400 people. The sermon was provided by a pastor that had been the church’s pastor in 1990’s and had moved away to Brooklyn, New York, USA.

The old people of Grand Goâve are few. The average age of the Haitian population is 21 years. Men are expected to live till they are 61 years old and women till 66.  We were celebrating anyone that was over 80 years old.

Haiti is a hard place to live. illiteracy is high. Access to clean water is difficult and often an hours walk up and down a mountainside. Education is a privilege, and not a right. The majority of our congregation and the community as a whole are subsistence farmers.
With that as a back ground Sunday was one big celebration for the church community, for the longevity of some Haitians, men and women, and it was a great witness to the younger community.

Brenda and I rose early, for a Sunday, as we had offered to be the Tap-Tap taxi service for a number of the seniors. We have a Nissan pick-up with a king cab; 5 or 6 seats inside and space for……you’ll see, at the back! We were asked to pick up four people from the Grand Goâve area and upon dropping them off at the church to do a second run, this time further up the mountain.

As the day started I realized that I needed to stay calm, pray and be at peace with whatever the Lord had in mind. As we picked up our first person he morphed into a husband and wife. We were expecting four old people and Brenda had already said she would ride in the back of the pick-up truck! With a smile they hopped inside and we drove to house number two. Here a young girl, eight or nine came out! OK what happened to the old lady? No, here she comes and as she is with her Grand Daughter she deliberately hopped(!!) into the back of the truck saying riding outside would be just fine. Now the count was meant to be two had grown to four! When we got to house three we knew that this lady, Cleoda, was not able to walk and came to church, when she could, in a wheel chair. Moise had told us it was OK to tie her and her wheel chair in the back of the pickup, she would be fine! Cleoda came out of the house, no wheel chair in sight, supported by her son, Inatel, and daughter-in-law. Cleoda was eased into the car making up three across the back bench. Her son, climbed into the back.

The fourth (!) person we picked up was Lucius; we saw him walking at a very quick pace (for him) along the river path, as soon as his son told him we were waiting for him – up the path he came, Brenda gave him the front seat and Brenda and Lucius’s son, Borgella, hopped into the back.

With the pick-up now with a total of 10, few by Haitian standards, we headed for the hills. The drive did not need the 4x4 engaged but there were a few points when I thought I might need to. We arrived at the church in time for the adult Sunday School lesson.
So if you made it to Sunday School, remembering that the service runs, without a break from the start of Sunday school through to the end of the main service, you will be in church for a total of 4 hours – hmm comfortable pews?

I dropped them all off, carrying Cleoda into the church; saving her from having to negotiate the uneven ground, which includes the raised run-off canal from the water pump in the church yard.

How many of us do we know people that won’t go to church because it is too far to walk from the car park or that there are no wheel chair access where they think it should be! Perhaps we should be thinking more about these people and offering to help!

Off again, this time up the mountain to the community of Monthabort. This road needed the 4x4 to get there; it always does. Arriving, there was no one to greet me, mountain time is not clock time so I parked up, under a tree and waited.

About ten minutes passed and couple of ladies, one old, one middle aged came along the path. Neither of them seemed in a hurry. They stopped to chat to the lady digging in the field; the younger lady bounded over to the local church and chatted to the Pastor, then popped into the church and greeted her friends. Meanwhile, the younger of the two ladies gathered up the old lady, by the field, and wandered over to me to check I was their ride down the mountain. Mme. Deniye told me other people were still coming so we would have to wait a bit longer.

After maybe five more minutes we all piled into the pickup, there were now two middle aged ladies and the old lady. Off we went down the road, maybe an eighth of a mile, before being told to park up under a tree.

Mme. Deniye, one of the ladies, got out of the car walked 100 yards further down the road; she then stood on the side of the road and yelled, at the top of her voice, to a house way in the distance across the valley. She was telling a family to hurry up! The conversation went on for about five minutes and she got quite cross; it was obvious the family had either over slept, unlikely, forgotten the special church service was this Sunday, or had just not realized the time. While the yelling back and forth was going on the neighbors joined in and it was also obviously that Mme. Deniye did not appreciate their comments! After fifteen minutes Mme. Deniye stormed off down the valley, up the other side and out of sight, five minutes later I saw her directing three men as they physically carried Granddad, on their shoulders, all the way to the car!

How many of us would wait nearly 40 minutes for basically one man to get to the car? The family should have known the time! The family should have planned ahead! But this was about honoring the Seniors and for me it was a lesson in patience and working in God’s time and not my “Hurry up and get it done” time.

When I was ready to drive off there were three of us in the front, four on the bench seat and eight or ten in the back – now that is a real Haitian Tap-tap – 15 to 17 and we were ready to go!

Arriving at church we were met by the church officials and the Seniors were ushered into the church, to take up their official seats, at the front of the church and the rest of us were left to ourselves to find a seat. The church service had started 30 minutes before we arrived, and it was packed, like our church, in the USA, at Christmas or Easter!
Would your church service just carry on as 17 people, some with the guests of honor walk in, late, and march right up to the front of the church? It was their day and everyone was just glad they had been able to attend.

Brenda and I like to keep a low profile in these events. It is a Haitian church, a Haitian celebration and while we were very pleased we could help with the transportation, extremely content to be part of the occasion, we were also happy to blend into the congregation! However, Pastor Pascal had us sit at the front pew and then almost immediately asked me to come up and say something! I think I can speak Creole almost acceptably but in a church with 350 people looking at me, it is difficult; but I was able to say some words of encouragement and return to the pew with a few “Amen” as I finished – perhaps they were for the Lord, or perhaps they were glad I had finished!!

A packed church celebrating the Seniors of the church

During the service Pastor Peshwoir introduced all the Seniors that were being celebrated. The things he noted about each one were
• How many children they had and how many of them had died.
• How many grandchildren they had and how many great grandchildren.
• How long they had been married.
• The year they were baptized, where they were baptized and by which Pastor.
• If the individual held a position in the church and some had their profession announced too.
There were 22 Seniors in all, each one was spoken about at various times in the service. The oldest person was a gentleman that was 105! Apparently his father lived to 120!!

The Seniors, smart and attentive.

The sermon was given by Pastor William; he had been the Director of Siloë School and the Pastor of the Grand Goâve Church too. He made a point to thank both the CBF Disaster Response team (us) and CBF Medical, Jenny Jenkins, for the work we have done and the on-going work in these communities. It was a very heart felt appreciation for our efforts – these efforts are yours, mostly, and the thanks were for all the support we have received over the last two years. Pastor William now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Planning his trip here and the date of the service was not a simple task! When he was welcomed to the pulpit, by Pastor Pascal, he was moved to tears and emotion at the words Pastor Pascal gave for his introduction. It was a sweet moment to see a Haitian man show emotion in a public setting.

The service was not a true Haitian church celebration because the men leading the service kept assuring everyone that the service will end at midday! Normally a service of this nature goes for a long time with additional hymns, verses and impromptu comments and witness. The sermon would be long and people would not be at all uncomfortable to be in the main service for three hours plus.

Would a three hour service have been OK at your church, before a meal?

We were, however, sung to by the children, the teenage ladies, and the women group from the host church.

At the end of the service special awards were presented for four of the Seniors for outstanding service to the church and the community and then all 22 received Certificates of Encouragement in recognition of their longevity. Each person was helped up and brought forward for their certificate and photos were taken of each one by the official photographer and others that wanted to capture the event too

At that point the service closed with the Benediction and the Blessing of the lunch.  We were all told to sit in the pews at which point 400 meals, with a cool drink, were served to us all. It was handed out and consumed in 35 to 40 minutes. The community that did not attend the service had, by this time, all appeared, knowing food was being served, they all received lunch too.

Lunch preparations for 400 people

How many of our churches can feed 400 people, including people coming in, just for the food, in 35 to 40 minutes? Rice & beans and lots of it, fried chicken, pasta salad, Haitian coleslaw, and fried plantain.

Lunch served to 400 people

After the food I was back on Tap-Tap duty. The ride up the mountain was uneventful and I took back the same people as going to church. On the trip down the mountain, however, it was obviously noted that there was “space” for more on the trip down. They did me proud; I had 17 people all the way to Grand Goâve.

Probably a good thing this doesn’t happen at home, the police would pulled us over for overcrowding!

The oldest Senior heads off home…..on a motor bike!

What a special day we had. Neither of us can remember ever attending something like this honoring our oldest family members, either as a family or as a church member – before their funeral services. As the generation ahead of us, pass the baton of their years of service, the least we can do is thank them for all they achieved and from which we benefit so much. On Sunday each of the Seniors’ dressed up for the occasion and stood rightly proud. The children, or were they the great grandchildren, were pleased to sing for them also dressing in their finest, the boys looking a bit awkward in their collared shirts, but the girls, they were beaming We were honored to be part of the celebration.

Praise the Lord

News ending January 26th 2012

We left our last entry as the first team of the year was about to arrive. This team was from Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, 2 other churches were also represented making it an interesting team of people. This was the first of 2 teams from Oakland; a wonderfully supportive church. This first team came to build rubble houses, as part of our partnership with Haitian Housing Network.  They were an enthusiastic, hardworking and loving team. One member had an adopted Haitian daughter and we were delighted that he was able to take the opportunity to visit with his daughter’s birth family in a nearby village. Although the physical labor was appreciated by everyone it was this team’s interaction with the Haitians that really stands out, they showed such love and empathy. This interaction is what we think is mission work at its best: teams interacting and sharing with the local community, especially the children, reminding everyone that there is only one God and he loves us all. To visit, share and work with our brothers and sister in Christ is a privilege and a blessing.

The team load yet another wire basket on the truck - heave!

Tozin rubble house during the week of Oakland first team

The same Tozin house a week later

Jeanson shows the team how to lay foundations.

A week later.....

The second Oakland team came to work with Siloë School and to help Jenny’s medical mission. Their visit coincided with the completion of the school. A bittersweet time for us all, the school completed but the construction crew have been laid off. Their final task was to build the basketball court. It was good to see the whole school lined up on the court for the morning flag raising ceremony and later to see the children pleasure in having a smooth surface to play their games. We will be fixing the basketballs hoops up soon; we have a set of hoops and balls kindly donated by a previous mission team.

First assembly on the new basketball court/courtyard

The 2nd Oakland team was our first mission group of teachers. They were keen to share their expertise and experience with their fellow teachers and in turn to learn from them. They spent the school days in the class rooms and were able to teach English and mathematics lessons. The other half of the team helped Jenny conduct a medical check-up of all the school children, for 2 days and then help a two mountain clinics. The 6th member of the team came to film Jenny’s work and also to help us with a promotional film for the rebuilding of Temple Baptiste Church.

We appreciated both the teams, so different in their agendas but so similar in showing their love and compassion for Grand Goâve.

We were very pleased to have the opportunity, between teams, to visit the community of Monthabort an hour’s journey up the mountain from GG. We are looking at ways we can help with water in this area. Unfortunately it is not possible to drill a well here, but rain catchment was a possibility. Since we first explored the possibilities in this area the church has been rebuilt and a community hall has also be built, nearby, giving them two large buildings to gutter and harvest rainwater from. With the success of our rainwater project at Siloë, a similar system in Monthabort, with the local people supplying their own labor and CBF providing the materials is another blessing for the community as a whole. This is the sort of project we can use our partnerships with WASH to achieve, and our SHGs, to promote good hygiene and safe water practices.

1,800 sq.ft. of roof for rain harvest

News ending Monday 9th January 2012

As the Lord blesses us with a great New Year we would like to welcome any of the Sunday School classes that are studying Haiti, this month, with your classes.

We continue to be uplifted by prayer, continued support through short term mission teams as well as financial support.

Our current focus is the re-build of the Temple Baptist church. It was destroyed in the earthquake, two years ago. This Sunday we worshipped in our make shift church. Our congregation truly show that they ARE the church. Their prayers, praising, hymn singing and enthusiasm for the word of God remains a constant source of faith building to us as well as constant inspiration.

Our Christmas and New Year were quiet compared to an American version; we enjoyed each others company and that of our local church congregation. With the use of technology we enjoyed talking our family on Christmas Day through the internet; we remain blessed, daily.

This week we have welcomed our first short term team of 2012, a construction team from Oakland Baptist Church, SC, that has brought two other churches too through family and friends connection. This is a great team, eager to support the locals, give them encouragement and prayer. The team are working with rubble house construction. It is tough work but with regular rests and a lot of water to drink the teams' spirits remain high. We have given a prayer of thanks to the Lord, this lunch-time for the cloudy day - so much more worker friendly than 100% sunshine.

What can you do for our Haitian mission?

• Prayer - NEVER under estimate the power of prayer
• See if there is time to join a short term mission team. Please contact Brayden Huskey at bhuskey@thefellowship.info
• Financially support the re-building of the Temple Baptist Church; it will cost approximately $80,000 - $100,000US. Our congregation are keen to start the re-build but we need to see a lot of the funds in the bank before we can realistically start.
• No funds are too small, all the funds will go directly to the project - examples of the sort of things that we would use you contribution for are..
• $2.00 one workers lunch
• $2.00 pair of worker's gloves
• $8.00 for a bag of cement
• $9.00 average daily wage
• $10.00 for a shovel
• $25.00 for a cubic meter of sand
• $20.00 for a cubic meter of gravel
• Please remember these are examples of an tremendously long list and we would respectfully request that we would use any funds in the project fore what we need and not necessarily have them ear marked for a specific - we would hate to have 1000 lunches and no cement!
• Prayer - NEVER under estimate the power of prayer.

Thank you for reading about us in Haiti.

Photo Gallery

Dr. Vestal and Pastor Tim in the old church

Demolition

Current worship center

We are re-building on the same site.