With

Working with fifth grade this summer has been a treat.  My class is (generally) well behaved, hard-working and very clever.  They are fun and creative and have wonderful senses of humor.  We work each morning on our reading comprehension in English, with a break for hands-on science or art activities and a French lesson in reading and conversation.  The other morning when a few of our number were running late for school, we took a little time out for an impromptu photo shoot.  "Wait Miss Jessica!  Just one more photo!"  As you can see, these almost-sixth graders thoroughly enjoyed posing for pictures!

One student who has not been attending very regularly this summer is a little girl named Fedna.  Her classmates explained to me that her family said that she wouldn't be coming back to school. In a place where natural disasters and poverty can lead to changes in living circumstances all the time, I honestly didn't think too much of the story.  There are other names on our list who haven't been able to attend summer school for various reasons.  But the story of Fedna not being with us is one that I want to share...

Sometimes the needs and confusion and complexity of the situation in Haiti can feel overwhelming.  Every summer I spend here, I get to meet new friends who are working on amazing projects of hope and restoration.  One of the programs that I want to highlight is the Restavek Freedom Organization (https://restavekfreedom.org/).  In 2011 there was a special news program highlighting the work of the Restavek Freedom Organization to end the childhood slavery problem in Haiti (see the link below).  Known as "restaveks," which translates "to stay or rest with," these children currently number between 200,000 and 300,000.  They work as domestic servants, often living with distant relatives or complete strangers and are generally not given access to education.  They are assigned the tasks of collecting water, selling goods, cooking, and house-keeping and work without pay.  The history of restaveks in Haiti is long and complicated.  At one point, it was a common practice for families living in the remote provinces to send their children to relatives or friends or friends-of-friends in the city so they could have access to education and better opportunities.  Overtime this system has become a form of exploitation and modern-day slavery.  

In addition to the nearly 300 students who attend normal schooling at Christian Light School, there are also about 50 children who attend an afternoon program specifically designed for children in restavek situations.  Christian Light School has been partnering with the Restavek Freedom Organization to find children in need of access to education and work with advocates to persuade families to allow children to attend school.  We recently got to view the end-of-school celebration for these afternoon classes.  It was so exciting to watch these children behave like children!  They participated in a spelling bee, had a dance competition, and took turns singing for the audience.  Knowing that many of their lives have been characterized by exploitation, it was priceless to see them enjoying the simple treasures of schooling and fun and learning.  Gifts which I can find easy to take for granted.  

This week a camera crew came to Christian Light School to film an interview with the little Fedna who has been inconsistently attending our fifth grade summer school.  I hadn't realized until the camera crew arrived that the bright, shy little girl who had started the summer with us was one of the children featured in the 2011 documentary about restaveks.  Apparently Fedna did so well in the afternoon courses sponsored by the Restavek Freedom Organization that she was able to join in the full schooling program at Christian Light.  From what I've heard, there are some complicated dynamics with the home situation which are threatening to take Fedna away from access to schooling once again.  As you think of her, please pray that Fedna would be able to stay with her classmates, to stay with her school, to stay with her advocate and teachers and friends - that she would be able to rest here with those who want to protect her from a life of exploitation and slavery.  This desire to see enslaved and persecuted people go free is the heart of Jesus...

 "'The spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he has anointed me

To proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovering of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.  And he began to say to them 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"  ~ Luke 4:18-21

Many thanks for following along with me on this summer in Haiti!  Much love in Christ, Jessie

Common Dreams Documentary from 2011- featuring the Restavek Freedom Project and Christian Light School:

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/01/watch-the-common-dreams-documentary/ 

Conflict

This afternoon we got to go visit Pastor Dari and his wife who run a children's home for children with special needs.  In Haiti where life is complicated and families will often find the task of providing for the basic needs of families a difficult task, there is a cloud surrounding the treatment and care of those who have special needs.  Often ostracized in the culture and at times abandoned in childhood, those with special needs can have a difficult time getting access to the support they need.  I've heard some people say that Haitians sometimes attribute disabilities to voodoo and use this as a reason to mistreat those who most need help.

We went to visit Pastor Dari's home to take photos of the children to start a sponsorship program in order to get the children access to schooling and to help care for their medical needs.  It was a short visit of taking photos and writing down names and ages and medical needs for each child.  I wish we could have spent the whole day with these sweet little ones, showing them the love and attention that they have not always known in their short lives.  

My friend Amber, who is partnering with Pastor Dari, explained that most of the children have very traumatic histories.  One of the youngest children who recently joined the home was in a little walker when we entered the gate.  She explained that he was rescued from a trash can.  It's enough to make your heart break as you hold his little hand and think of the beauty and value of this life.  Your heart breaks as you think about the mothers and fathers and families and communities who believe that they can't care for such precious little ones.  It makes me so thankful for people like Pastor Dari and his wife who are confronted with a need and step out in love and faith to meet it.  

One of the reasons that we weren't able to stay for a longer visit is because of the landlord of the current property where the children are staying.  Since special needs and disabilities are not understood or respected here, it has been difficult for Pastor Dari to find a stable home situation for the children.  The current landlord recently moved back onto the property and is trying very hard to get the children to move out.  I was told that he has taken to walking around the property carrying his gun just to intimidate the children and nannies who are caring for them.  He has even refused the admit visitors onto the property recently.  With this kind of conflict, Pastor is again searching for a place for the children to call home.  

We took the Pastor and his wife to look at a new home they are hoping to start renting in the next few weeks. It looked like it would suit their needs well, as soon as some repairs can be completed.  The landlord has even been very welcoming about the fact that they would be caring for children with special needs on the property.  It all felt very encouraging and hopeful on the drive over to the house.  

As we wandered from room to room and around the yard, we started to hear shouting.  The Pastor and his wife had gotten into a heated discussion with a neighbor who overheard talk about the possibility of a children's home moving into the neighborhood.  He was shouting and threatening them and saying that he would call the police to come and send them away if they tried to move the children onto the property.

I couldn't help but feel discouraged.  Just when it seemed like they had found a good situation with a welcoming landlord and a comfortable facility to care for the needs of the children, now another point of conflict has arisen.  And so, I'm writing this blog to ask for you to pray.  Please pray for Pastor Dari and his wife to have courage and wisdom in their search for a new home and to continue in the grace and compassion they have been showing towards these children.  Please pray for the hearts of these little ones to be soft and trusting of those who are trying to care for them now.  Please pray for the practical needs like medication and clothing and food.  And please pray for the truth of the gospel to break into this situation so fraught with conflict.  

Before we said goodbye, we gathered together and the children sang a few songs for us.  One little boy with a particularly handsome little smile has taken on the role of "song leader."  His little voice echoes in my mind as I write, "This is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it..."  

Thank you for following along on this summer in Haiti.  If you're interested in learning about ways to get involved in supporting Pastor Dari and his work with these children, their information should be online at the Don Shire Ministries site sometime this fall: http://www.donshireministries.org/sponsor.html. 

Much love in Christ, Jessie

Kingdom

We got to go to the mountains this weekend.  I was more excited than I can say!  Although I do sincerely love my time working at the school in Port au Prince, with the students and teachers, and visiting with the children at the home, I get weary of spending the whole summer in the middle of a city in the middle of a valley.  My heart longs for forests and mountains and my legs ache to wander along paths through the countryside.  When I get back home to New Hampshire, I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends, but I'm also looking forward to reconnecting with the beautiful places in God's creation - trails that wind along familiar mountainsides, by streams and hidden lakes - the beautiful places that I get to call home.  For now, though, I'm thankful for a chance to visit the mountains of Haiti, if only for a little while...

As I was reflecting on the beauty of the mountains today, and still enjoying savoring that view,  I went to church and heard the second sermon in a series about God's work in our memories.  Since hearing the first sermon last week, I had been looking forward to this sermon almost as much as I had been looking forward to the time on the mountaintop!  

The sermon was preached by a visiting pastor who has lived and worked in Haiti in some non-traditional ministry settings.  As this long-haired, tattooed preacher with a quirky sense of humor, a great appreciation for art, and an academic approach to preaching shared, I was challenged to look at grace in a new way.  It was a much needed reminder in a season when I can sometimes lose sight of grace.  

Honestly, I can sometimes find it hard to navigate the very different approaches to Christianity that I find in the missionaries that I meet here.  From my perspective, it sometimes seems like working hard, being "good," belonging to a certain political party or cultural background, or even holding a certain philosophical perspective on missions seem to be more important to some of the missionaries than grace and love and hospitality.  I can find my heart hardening as I hear people who claim the name of Christ judging one another for the way they dress or the ways they spend their money or time or how they approach ministry.  In a place where it seems there isn't always an abundance of grace and love and humility, my own heart jumps into the chaos.  I think I know the ways things should really be going.  I know how these people could get along.  I know how they should solve the problems in their ministries and communities.  And then I hear a sermon like today's and I remember that it's not about building my kingdom either.  My heart, just like everyone around me, is full of a feisty self-sufficiency and proud independence.  I want to make my own way.  I want to do things the way I want to do them.  I want to be the judge.

Sitting in church today and listening to the sermon was exactly what I needed.  It didn't solve the problem of pride and my frustration in working with those who are coming from a different perspective, but it did remind me of the bigger story that's being told.  This life isn't about building my kingdom, or your kingdom, it's about God building His kingdom.  And He does it in the most beautiful and gracious and loving ways!

The sermon was all about how God cares about our memories.  There were many different illustrations to prove this point, including the ways poetry in the Bible was written to be memorized and highlights key themes by repeating them.  We heard about cairns, the rock formations that God called His people to build as physical memorials to His work in their lives.  We also talked about how God brings us back to the same hurts and fears and challenges over and over again to draw us to Himself -

"We worship what we fear.  Sometimes a walk towards the place of our pain and fear is the very act of trusting God again.  It can be a return to the place you left God behind or the cross he once asked you to bear."

As we wandered through the landscape of the Old Testament, we saw how God takes individuals and families and brings them back to circumstances where they are trying to build their own kingdom and graciously tears them down.  We talked about Jacob who was born as a sneaky "ankle-grabber" trying to steal from his brother through clever tricks.  Then we followed the kingdom of self later into the story where Jacob's father-in-law uses the same kinds of tricks on the trickster himself.  In the end, we saw how Jacob, finally confronting the wrongs he had done to his brother, has a fight in the desert.  He thinks he is facing his brother, who is making good on his promise of violence against his sneaky little brother, but he is actually wrestling with God.  It's not a story of Jacob's kingdom versus Esau's, it's a story of God looking at the hearts of men and loving us.  It's about a God who is in the business of restoring all of His creation to Himself.  Sometimes this story looks like a battle.

So, although I'm certain to still have struggles with God's kingdom coming in my life, I'm feeling hopeful.  I'll still struggle with pride and independence and fear, but this struggle is evidence of God's work in my heart.  He's breaking down the kingdom I have built and creating His own kingdom.  He's doing this in such loving and gracious ways.  He even gives moments of perspective when we get to see His work, like the view from the summit when the clouds break.  And so as I thank God for friends and family who follow along with me on another Haiti journey, here's my prayer for my heart and your heart too... His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Much love in Christ, Jessie