ECCC 2019-09-21 ECCC 2019-09-21

What does God see when he looks here? (Petite Anse Feeding Program)

What does God see when He looks here? I think He sees a Pastor who is obedient to Him. I think He sees the Pastor’s wife loving kids and feeding them. I think He sees orphans caring for orphans. Braiding each others hair. I think He sees people living deeply in community. When Jesus says we should love our neighbours, this is what it looks like. Haitians are best example of this.

At breakfast as we prepared to go to Petite Anse, which is a very poor area in Cap Haitian we were told to ask ourselves: what does God see when He looks there.

The day was emotional. We pulled up to the orphanage and immediately the kids started spilling out from the front porch. Warily approaching us with warmth and curiosity. A little boy in a blue shirt wandered over closer to our SUV and I met his huge dark eyes.

As I crouched down to say hi and ask for his name in Creole. He whispered softly and I missed it. His little hand slipped into mine and he captured my heart instantly. And from there it slowly began to break. What does God see when He looks here?

We toured Petit Anse and saw Pastor Dugue and Madame Dugue’s house, which is where the food is made for the kids feeding program. On our walk to their house we wandered the streets and there was garbage everywhere you looked. Actual garbage. It’s something you can't even begin to describe.

What does God see when He looks here?

It was a hard day and I felt sad. I asked myself in the car ride home as the tears were brimming in my eyes; what does God see when He looks here?

I think He sees a Pastor who is obedient to Him. I think He sees the Pastor’s wife loving kids and feeding them. I think He sees orphans caring for orphans. Braiding each others hair. I think He sees people living deeply in community.

When Jesus says we should love our neighbours, this is what it looks like. Haitians are best example of this. Help support the feeding program in Petite Anse.

The little boy in the blue shirt, who’s name I later found out was Kenny. He fell asleep in my arms. Another child older then him scooped Kenny up and out of my arms to put him in bed. Did you read that?! Another child caring so sweetly for another child.

My heart has been slowly breaking today. Little moments when I am hit with things the people are missing, but when I asked myself what does God see when He looks here? He sees love. Communities loving each other.

At dinner tonight I was reminded that when God looks down on our day in Petit Anse He saw the children in the orphanage with so much love and me too. He saw me there too. Learn more about trips and help Haitians thrive.

-Tara Linsley

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ECCC 2019-03-25 ECCC 2019-03-25

My heart would be broken again (Sante 2000 Clinic)

As we drove, I couldn’t help but to think to myself what I would do if I were a parent of a child with diabetes in Haiti. This little guy was only half the size of my own son Otto, yet he is 3 years older than Otto. As he complained about being hungry and uncomfortable and his mother gripped a small piece of paper (which she cannot read) with the information explaining were she needed to go and who she needed to see. It was terribly difficult to watch.

Just before heading into Cap-Haitian, Dr. Manno stopped in the clinic to make sure everything was going well. When he returned he had a little boy named Jacqulin and his mother in tow. Jacqulin is 10 years old and a Type 1 Diabetic. He and his mother live about an hour from Limbe. Jacqulin had come to clinic to get some more insulin however the type he needed Dr. Manno was out of. Jacqulin needed to go to a different clinic a long distance away in Milot to Hospital Sacre Coeur run by the CRUDM foundation. They have a special program there where they help juvenile diabetic patients and their families.

Dr. Manno felt it was time for Jacqulin to try and get into that program as it specializes in children. When Jacqulin turns 24 he will not longer be eligible for that program and Dr. Manno says if he lives that long we will once again be responsible for Jacqulin’s care at the Sante 2000 Clinic.

Our plan was to get Jacqulin and his mother to Cap Haitian and put them on a TapTap for the second leg of their journey. (A TapTap is usually a small toyota truck with a topper, it’s not uncommon to see up to 20-25 people ridings at a time with many hanging on the back). As we reached town it became obvious that the city was not a place either of them were used to. The idea that we were about to them get out of the comfort of our vehicle and into the crowded TapTap was very difficult for me.

As I watched them leave, I caught a glimpse of Jacqulin’s scared little face. It was more than I could bare. To imagine placing my own son in this TapTap seems unimaginable, yet to get him what he needed to survive I would do it. Driving away from this story was overwhelmingly difficult. As I let the tears flow out from behind my sunglasses and tried to be strong;

“ I remembered that to not allow myself to weep when I need to is the path to losing who I am as a human. Strength is not shown in the absence of tears, but in our willingness to accept them, and what they teach us. ”

I have traveled to Haiti and seen many hard things, however for some reason today was the day my heart would be broken again by this place and these serious issues. Reflecting on this has reminded me that as much as I can try and explain why this kind of thing happens in this world it cannot become a method for removing myself from the shear pain and heart ache it causes.

There are so many children suffering in our world, so many children that Dr. Manno is called upon to care for, to do the best he can for each one and to trust that God will take it from there. My heart breaks for them and my friend Manno who each day sees the needs and knows that only God has the resources to care for them. Support patients like Jacqulin and others who need urgent and life saving care.

Can say a little prayer for Jacqulin, his mother and Dr. Manno? Can we say a BIG prayer for others like them and a world that cries out in pain? Jesus said, “what ever you ask for in my name I will give it.” Well, even as I pray this prayer, I know that God’s answer to this prayer lies in his people. It lies in you and I to be people to stand up and do something. Can we choose to place ourselves in front of the hurting in our neighbourhoods and in our world? That I believe is the first step.

In true Canadian fashion this blog post comes with an apology. It has been my intention to break your heart a little as mine has been broken. Please know it’s with the best of intentions. For when we allow our heart to be broken by what breaks the heart of God, we create soil for new things to grow within us. May this soil grow something new in us all.

-Pastor Evan

ECCC 2019-03-25 ECCC 2019-03-25

Meeting Madame Mark (The Sarepta Project)

Madam Mark was a widow raising her young children in the community of Haut Limbe. She began to notice elderly people fainting at church and even with the pressures of raising a family she saw a need in her community and did something about it.

The first thing to say is it has been an amazing experience. There have been some surprises along the way, but mostly it has been a real uplifting journey. Even the things I expected to see, still created some confusion.

This is truly a good place. The people are filled with pride, full of belief, and a sense of community so strong that it has me wondering about the lost connections we have in Canada. Do our collection of items, and conveniences take away from us having this rich life that I have been experiencing here?

The first day we arrived was an overload of information to take in. We stepped out of the plane and I was immediately hit with a battering of heat and humidity. Getting into the building for customs is a relief from the beating sun. It’s not long till the crowded room starts to fill with everyone’s body heat.

As stepped onto the street outside of the airport it was frantic array of people everywhere. Dr. Manno meets us there and brings some order to everything. Driving to Haut Limbe the street life is almost overwhelming. People are everywhere. Traffic was a hectic array of trucks, cars, motorcycles, and pedestrians all moving at different rates, bobbing and weaving in and out as they share the roads, sidewalks and beaches. Yes, vehicles also drive on the sidewalk. In what appears to be complete chaos I saw people sitting on to the backs of trucks, as calm as can be. They are standing roadside with everything busily moving around them as if it is nothing to notice as all. This is life, this is their normal.

As we drove away from Cap Hatian and towards the rural areas things slowdown. When we arrived at Dr. Manno’s we headed straight to the Sarepta project New Year’s Eve celebration without much pause. One thing that stood out to me was Madam Mark, the founder of the Sarepta project. It filled my heart to help feed the elderly people of the program. I had a real feeling this, right now is where God wanted me to be.

Then I heard this powerhouse of a women talk. The commanding glow of her eyes and her deep-rooted passion moved me. You could feel the pride she has for her community. Without knowing what she was saying, I could see her it flowing past the language barrier.

Later, I heard more of her story from Pastor Evan. Madam Mark was a widow raising her young children in the community of Haut Limbe. She began to notice elderly people fainting at church and even with the pressures of raising a family she saw a need in her community and did something about it. She gave and served by using what little she had to start a feeding program for the elderly at her church. Madam Mark changed my whole perspective. Instead of observing what differs I saw the people. Their character and just how rich in life so many here are.

Madame Mark reminded me of the story from Luke 21 1-4: “While Jesus was in the temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus said. ‘this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.’” Support people like Madame Mark who are helping Haitians thrive.

I arrived here with the idea of I would be helping and teaching, but so far, I have learned more than I could have imagined, and all this has come in the first 20 hours.

-Ben Scott
*Ben was in Haiti in January 2019