Ream Team International

Here is little sneak peak at El Shaddai Learning Center, the school we moved here to work with in St. Marc. El Shaddai has been growing since its founding in 2001 by Pastor Gary and Dr. Carolyn Walker whom we came to help and work alongside. There are over 150 students from Pre-K through 12th grade and a growing waiting list as positive word about our school continues to spread around the community. Tuition is kept very low so that non-wealthy Haitian families can afford to send their children to an American English school–a growing interest/demand.

El Shaddai provides employment to Haitian teachers that are adequately experienced and trained in English. Part of Eric’s ministry is to work with the Haitian teachers each week in continuing education classes helping them to become better teachers. Many discipleship opportunities arise. There are a few American teachers presently at El Shaddai as well. Foreign (non-Haitian) teachers come for a semester or longer and volunteer with the school. If you or anyone you know may be interested in coming to work with us in the future, you are welcome! We also welcome visitors!
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“T.I.H.” is the term used to explain pretty much all the hard to explain time and energy draining beyond frustrating experiences that most everyone experiences daily here in Haiti. Here is my all too typical day so far. And yes I am venting, but not expecting sympathy because after all This. Is. Haiti. 

I wake up at 2am. The batteries died an hour early leaving us without power. The small fan I shared with Esmée in our twin size bed was no longer keeping the mosquitoes at bay. I fumble around in the dark to find the mosquito repellent. Eric meets me in the kitchen with a flashlight. He is after the same thing. I innocently ask why he thinks we lost power early. I get the usual answer, “because we used up too much electricity too early!” I give the usual response which is, “we haven’t used anything!” We dispute about what house members have issue with keeping our tiny refrigerator open longer than the 2 seconds it should take to grab desired food target and of course someone has turned on the cold switch on the water dispenser and heaven forbid everyone wanting to sleep with a fan. I think to myself, I really want a large freezer so I don’t have to go to the grocery store so much and Eric really wants a washing machine because he thinks it will help with laundry soap waste/costs and appease his frustration with that. I wonder how exactly we would run such appliances if we are running out of power on a mini freezer/fridge and a water dispenser? This is 2am talking. 
Continue reading “Another T.I.H. Typical Day”

We have been reading about the life of George Muller with our family the past month. Tonight we read about how George Muller prayed for yet more money to be raised for another house to meet the needs of those in his care. God had already provided so much more than he could ever imagine and yet here he was asking for more. But he had seen God provide over and over and over again and George knew God could do it again. We believe that too and pray that we will continue to learn to have that kind of faith.

Honestly my prayers lately have come from a place of weariness and desperation more than faith, but I know God understands that too. We moved several times in Haiti (um. exhausting.) in the past four months while waiting to move to St. Marc in January. We are still living out of suitcases. None of us really want to unpack because we do not want to have to repack–again. We are living in the house that was previously the elementary school building before the new school building opened in January. It needs a lot of work and we have found that this house isn’t working very well for us and the Haitian family that moved here with us. We thought there were three bathrooms. There are three. One is an outhouse, one does not work, and the other is the one that the 8 of us are sharing and also where all of our laundry is washed daily. This doesn’t work out well too much of the time. Today the girls came and reported (in a humiliated tone) that Evan had resorted to Haitian style peeing on the street outside.

However, we are truly thankful for this house and to experience what it is like to use an outhouse! Landing here has provided an opportunity to get to know our community and live as inexpensively as possible while scoping out other options before the rent needs to be renewed for the year come April. We do not desire to renew the rent. My frustration with utter disorganization, tons of dust, millions of mosquitoes and the many dogs that are very drawn to this house led me to almost immediately start searching for an alternative. Nothing seemed right. I sensed God saying, “think about where you are, who you are, what I have called you to do, and what is best considering all these”.
Continue reading “Haiti Hospitality House”

A walk around our block is always a walk to remember. Sometimes I just want to forget that we live here. Sometimes I just want to do something about it…faster than it can be done. Other times I just want to walk and watch, learn and listen but most of all love however we can along the way. This was one of those walks.

We set out. The street dog that won’t leave our house because we loved it a little tags along too. The biggest pig I’ve ever seen stands in our path. A mommy goat and her two babies shuffle along beside us. We attempt to cross a patch of road covered by trash and sewer water almost stepping on a mother hen and her chicks pecking along in front of us. A baby cries loudly in the house across the way. I try not to think about why she might be crying. We hear a mother down the street tell her child to go ask the white people for some food. The child obeys and tells us he is hungry. We tell the child to go tell his mother. He looks at us confused. Then we tell him to tell the mother to come talk to us herself. The mother hears us speaking Creole and realizes we heard her before. A few kids who have been watching us curiously for the past few weeks point at us calling us the “blan hatian”. I first take this as a complement that the word “hatian” followed the usual “blan” but then wonder if the kids have labeled us real “white haitians”–as in the lighter skinned Haitians that are not foreigners like us– or if we were being labeled as bourgeoisie. Wait. Never mind.
Continue reading “A walk around our block”