A Look at Big Mama...
March 9 and 10, 2010
A Haitian Creole Proverb...
"Kote ki gen bouyon, gen soutni ke..."
"Where there is broth, there is encouragement..."
Bobby and "Chef Lucky," inside our mobile kitchen, "Big Mama."
Eating with family is the main part of the day for a poor Haitian family. That one pot of cooked food, over an open fire, brings them together. Since the earthquake, most of the displaced families and injured victims have not had the luxury of a hot meal every day. There are thousands, still under little pieces of cardboard and sheets, trying to make a home, but there is no food for them. What will happen to the people of Port-au-Prince in this camp of tarps and tents, when the rains come?
When the wounded began arriving in our Love A Child - HHI (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative) Recovery Camp, by truck, tap tap, helicopter or any way they could, we knew they needed good food.
Dr. Hilarie, director of the Love A Child - HHI Recovery Camp, hired a Haitian man, a great cook named "Lucky." She put him in charge of cooking the food.
In the beginning, Love A Child supplied nearly all the food for the many hundreds of victims, and then we were blessed with donated food. Until this day, much is donated and much is purchased locally...
Right after the earthquake, when all the people came for medical care, we had to cook the food for all the people at our orphanage over charcoal fires, using huge pots...
Once the food was cooked, we hauled it over to the Jesus Healing Center in pick up trucks...
In the the Jesus Healing Center kitchen, the cooks put the food on plates to be taken to our patients.
It was a hard way to feed the people, but we did what we had to do.
Then, Dod, from "Rice Bowls," donated this huge propane stove, which is such a blessing...
Here are ladies cooking inside our church on the propane stove.
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The one on the right is our daughter, Dana. She does a great job helping to feed the injured people.
It takes a LOT of food to feed all the patients, doctors, medical staff and volunteers three hot nourishing meals every day. |
And, it takes a HUGE KITCHEN!
We are so thankful to the Richard W. Hotes Foundation, who purchased and donated this portable kitchen with all these stainless steel appliances for our Recovery Camp. We call this kitchen, "Big Mama."
Everything inside is the best of kitchens...
Huge stoves... and we even have exhaust fans.
The kitchen staff is working hard to keep it clean and tidy.
This kitchen is so big and heavy that none of our pick up trucks could pull it from the port. So, we had to go to "Plan B." Jeff and his "Canadian Mounties" rose to the occasion. They had donated the wonderful "Love A Child Ambulance/Mobile Clinic," and they were actually fine tuning it when the call came in about "Big Mama" being stuck out on the highway...too big for trucks to pull. So, Jeff and the "Mounties," loaded up in the ambulance and went to fetch "Big Mama!"
She has been feeding thousands of people since that day!
Special thanks to the Richard W. Hotes Foundation, for this donation, and thanks to Jeff and his friends for fetching "Big Mama."
Everyone is happy...
Where there is broth, there is encouragement.
We must continue to feed the multitudes. Please pray about how you can help us feed the earthquake victims on our LAC property. We are feeding the people three meals a day. We need you to stand with us as we continue to meet the needs of the earthquake victims and those in our feeding programs. If you would like to help sponsor food to Haiti, please click on the red button below and donate now.
Your gift, large or small, will be such a blessing. Please help today. We need you!
