Givensky

Sweet little Givensky fell into the fire at his house last week. He and his mother (Julie) are blind. His little sisters can both see and all are so precious. They all came to the clinic today to have his wounds cleaned and it took 3 of us to help him. Sam (student nurse) and Emily (missionary nurse living at Pator Daniel's) worked as fast as they could to first take the toothpaste off him his mother had covered him in and then cleaned his wounds. We're still not sure if it's a Haitian thing to use toothpaste or if she didn't know what she had in her hand.

Thankfully, he still liked me afterwards and came to get hugs and to hold my hand. Maybe to comfort me after the trauma of him screaming................"Ne fait pas sa!" ...... "Don't do that!"

Still makes me cry to think about it.

28 boys and their presents

Lubie trying to peak before time to open.............
Outside playing with the toys
Davidson with his games!
Samson so happy!
Danita with all the boys in the church!

Christmas celebrations with 28 boys! We did it in stages. I think that’s the only way to handle presents for that many! Not one boy asked for his present so we were able to get through breakfast, Christmas lunch of delicious goat and do presents at 2pm! So much fun! A church in the US donated funds specifically for presents for the kids so we were able to really have some fun! Tinkertoys, trucks and board games are all we’ve been playing with since!! I love TROUBLE! I’d forgotten how much fun it is. We didn’t even do socks until Boxing Day! It’s kind of fun to spread out the presents.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope everyone has had a Very Merry Christmas!

Some sadness amongst the celebrations.............

Along with the wonderful celebration of Christmas we had some losses in our community. Dameus (second photo with Linzi, a missionary who lived here and befriended Dameus) passed away on Dec 22 and we had the funeral here on the 24^th. He had battled brain cancer for over 3 years getting chemo and radiation to no avail. He suffered so much with no proper medication here for the last year. No morphine. We were blessed to have Sam, a student nurse care for him daily, changing his dressing and caring for him. I am so glad he is not suffering anymore.

Tiny baby Junika (bottom photo) also passed away before Christmas. She is the 5 month old baby whose mother died of Aids and she herself was diagnoised with the terrible disease at 2 months old. The only prescription she was given was Vitamin C and Similac. Her grandmother was doing her best to care for her and we were giving her food regularly. Too young to go on the medication for Aids and too sick to survive.

The 3^rd death last week was an “older”gentleman (first photo) whom no one knew his name but would come every day with a plastic container to get food at lunch. He had no teeth, walked with a cane and asked me for a job every day. Once the medical clinic was done he wanted a job. At least that was what I think he was asking. It was really hard to understand what he said because he had no teeth but he was adorable.

I feel so blessed to have known all 3 of these people. So different, at different stages of their lives all with something to contribute.

Julien at Baker Joe's

Julien deserves his own blog for his trip to Baker Joe's simply because I feel he wants to be a farmer one day. Also because he is the only one that warmed up to the animals. Now we understand why he hoards all the farm animals in the preschool! Heather keeps telling me that she hands out 2 to every child and Julien takes them from the other kids and won't share! Now we know why!!

Preschool trip to "Baker Joe's"......

We took the preschool kids and Rose Mica (Marie Joy, Stanley, Julien, Carlos, Fedner and Fitson) to "Baker Joe's" Friday morning. Joe bakes most of our bread for us and lives across our road. He has an awesome garden! He grows bananas, plantain, corn, beans, peas, peanuts, coffee, guava, citronella, potatoes, melons, pumpkins and lots of other flowers and herbs. He also has 4 goats (2 of them 6 week old babies!), 3 dogs, some chickens and honey bees! Joe took 2 hours out of his day to show the kids everything! I have to admit that Mami Heather did turn to me at one point and say sarcasticly "great idea Mami Jen"... but with love, as all the kids were crying because they were afraid of the goats and dogs! Stanley's favorite pastime is to chase the chickens around our property so he was fine with the chickens but was having nothing to do with the goats or dogs. Marie would have nothing to do with anything and if you ask her now if she likes goats you get a very loud NO out of her. Mami Jen will have to keep trying with them...............

Christmas for the school children..........

Through wonderful donations we were able to get presents for every one of our school kids! We have been told that we are the only school in Ouanaminthe that is able to do this so we feel very blessed to be able to give these children something to smile about at this time of the year! Some of the teachers even made it into a party for the kids and brought snacks while the kids decorated their classroom. It was wonderful to be part of it!

Post election.............within the last hour

Within the last hour things at the border have gone downhill. It's Market Day so thousands have come from around the country to go into the Dominican Republic to sell their wares. Unfortunately things have disintegrated post election with all the talk of fraud and cooruption. Shots rang out about an hour ago, UN troops have come and gone - hopefully for reinforcement and we've gotten word that there have been some fatalities. Trucks are burning and people are still coming and going from the border. We are all safely in our houses. The girls house is right on the corner of the main road to the border hence the photos from our window. Everyone else is down at the property behind the gates. I'll keep everyone updated as the day progresses as long as we have power!

Love Jen

Elections Update..........

The Presidential elections are happening this Sunday in Haiti. There has been a lot of trucks going around with loud speakers encouraging people to get out and vote. As well as ones for different candidates. You can imagine how loud it is here with that going on all the time. They are shutting down the border with the Dominican Republic on Sunday as well as closing it early tomorrow in preparation. 19 candidates in all are running. You will probably know before we do who the next president will be!

Mami Heather brought new church clothes for the pre school kids...........

The babies....... Marie Joy, Stanley and Julien

Julian..........missing the babies...and everyone else.

The Feeding Program in action..............

Out an about in our community of Ouanaminthe, Haiti

Part of my job (a big part) is getting out to visit the children that attend our school in their homes. Here are some pictures from the adventures..............