October 8-15, 2013
A Haitian Creole Proverb…
“Timoun ki kriye nan kay ak sa ki kriye nan pòt se menm.”
“The child who cries in the house and the one who cries at the door are the same.”
Many people have asked us, “How did you begin the Love A Child Orphanage?” Our partners always want to hear stories about our children and how they are doing now.
How it All Began…
Nearly 18 years ago, we were called to the village of Bethel, which was formerly called Babylon and Petit Desdunes. It is one of the poorest villages and one of our toughest.
Most people in this HUGE VILLAGE live in mud huts…
and try to make their living by working in rice fields for wealthy landowners.
Bethel is a very poor area and many mothers resort to “selling a child” to be able to feed the others. In this village, many children eat mud cakes called “te” or earth. Sadly, many of these children die of severe malnutrition. We had never intended to build an orphanage, but strangely enough, years before we ever moved to Haiti, an evangelist who was ministering at a church in Melbourne, Florida gave us a word from the Lord. He said, “I see you in a two-story orphanage with many, many black children.” We thought he was “nuts,” but he wasn’t…he was a prophet from the Lord.
After moving to Haiti, Pastor Narcisse, our Haitian pastor, told us about his dream from the Lord. He saw us with a great work here in Haiti that would include an orphanage, churches, schools and many other projects.
As we drove into the village of Bethel where we had started a school, the mother of four of our school children was dying and wanted to see me.
As I knelt there on the dirt floor in the heat of the noonday sun, I begged God to heal her. Her husband was dead and she had four hungry children. Several weeks later, she died. The villagers called us to come back and they said, “If you don’t take these four children, they will die.” We put those four hungry children in our truck and drove off to Petionville, not knowing anything about starting an orphanage. We rented a house for this “orphanage,” but it had no electricity, no running water, only one toilet and a refrigerator without a door. It was so bad.
Then about ten years ago, the Lord blessed us with partners who helped us build our beautiful Love A Child Orphanage. It is a two-story orphanage, and we live there with many precious black children, just like the word from the Lord.
Now, the children are growing up and new ones are coming to the orphanage.
Jonise weighed only 16 pounds and had severe malnutrition when she came to live with us. Now, she is in her last year of school and wants to be a lawyer or even a judge!
Julanne was also near death when she came to live with us. She is now attending the University of Quisqueya in Port au Prince. She is in her second year and she wants to be a pediatrician.
Yonel was found starving to death in the mountains of Greffin while we were conducting a mobile clinic. Now, he is studying to be plumber. (Thank God, as Haiti needs plumbers!)
Dieubon was found malnourished and with severe double clubfeet deformity. He had several surgeries to correct this deformity. Now, he is one of our best workers. I think he will remain with Love A Child all his life and lead many people working under him. Everything he does, he does it WELL!!!
Dieuferly was born with double clubfeet and has also had surgeries to correct the deformity. He wants to be an airport traffic controller! He is in high school in Haiti.
Dana’s mother died and her father could not feed his children. She has now completed four years of college to become a kindergarten teacher. She has to do one year of free service in a school, and then she gets her diploma! We hope she can work for Love A Child!
Julia is Dana’s sister. She has completed lab tech training, and is doing one year of free service at our Jesus Healing Center Lab. We hope that she will be working full time soon.
Moses was dropped down a Haitian outhouse to die. His mother was pregnant, and had too many mouths to feed. An old man heard his cry, tied a rope around his waist and went down in the hole to get the abandoned baby. Someone sent him to us. That was five years ago. Now, Moses wants to be the President of Haiti!
All of our children at the orphanage have dreams and you can help make their dreams come true by giving to our Love A Child College Fund or by leaving something to Love A Child in your Will. For more information, please contact our Love A Child Office at (239) 210-6107.
One more thing… Our propane stove that we have had since we built the orphanage is old and all of the pipes inside are rusty. It is now EXTREMELY DANGEROUS to even light the stove to cook for the children. We need to buy two new commercial heavy-duty propane stoves that cost $4,500 each. A stove company here in Haiti is holding two stoves for a total of $8,200 for us.
Please, if the Lord has blessed you and you are led to give this or any amount toward these stoves, please call our office at (239)-210-6107 IMMEDIATELY. As soon as our office receives your gift, the funds can be wired to Haiti to buy the stoves the next day. This is an URGENT NEED because our old stove is DANGEROUS and we have little children to feed!
This is the old stove in the above picture. We have had it for ten years. It looks good on the outside, but everything is rusted and ready to blow up on the inside. It is very dangerous and cannot be fixed. We’re asking someone to please help us with both stoves, one stove or at least part of the replacement costs. I feel the Lord is speaking to someone’s heart right now. Please call our Fort Myers Love A Child office right now at (239) 210-6107.
God bless you and thank you for caring for our children and Haiti’s future.
Love, Sherry
P.S. We always need BLACK DRESS SHOES of any size. We need shoes to fit toddlers, boys, girls, teenagers and young men and women. Please send the shoes to our Fort Myers office at Love A Child • 12411 Commerce Lakes Drive • Fort Myers, FL 33913