We always get questions like “How did you start your orphanage in Haiti?”

Well, we never had intended on having an orphanage. We were content with our Christian Schools… The Artibonite area was one of the areas where we began to work. We started with a school. We also had Mobile Clinics.

One day, during a Mobile Clinic, the people of the village came to me and said, “Madamn Sherry, a woman is dying, and she needs medicine.” When I went to her in her mud hut, she was barely breathing. She made me promise that if she died, we would take in her four kids, Barry, Jonise, Sheline and Julianne…

I “begged God,” not to let her die… but she did. And when we went back to the village, there were all the village people (like something out of Africa), all gathered there with four little children in front of a mud hut. They all insisted that we take them, or they would die…

As the children got in the truck, Bobby and I began to wonder “What did we get ourselves into? This is not a “babysitting job”… it is a job for a lifetime!”

Barry was one of those four kids… His Grandma had said, “You’ll have to beat Barry every day, because he is “dezoid,” bad!

As Barry grew older, we did have problems with him. When he grew older, we had to make him leave. After suffering on the streets for a long time, he begged for another chance. We gave it to him… Today, he works for us in our Food Depot. He organizes all our Food Distributions. He is very “trustworthy.” Barry is also married and has a child. (I can’t believe he lived this long!! Ha.)

The biggest thing I have learned from having an orphanage all these years is that God is a God of the Second Chance… That is all that is guaranteed… A second chance, because some will not change. We are so proud of Barry!!! His grandma would be “really proud of him!!”

Sherry