Thursday, January 12th was the 13th anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that ravaged the country, leaving 300,000 dead and many more injured, displaced, and with little hope. Since then, each January 12th Haitians commemorate the devastation and loss by praying and honoring loved ones lost. This year we also held a Memorial service at Love A Child village campus for our dearly departed former missionary, Bob Stufflebeam. Bob and Carole had served as missionaries in Haiti for over 20 years and their last 7 years of that was serving with Love A Child, and Bob worked 4 more years in our headquarters office in Fort Myers. In Haiti, Bob was in charge of “fixing and maintaining everything,” and entertaining the children with his jokes. Bob was everywhere around our campus tirelessly taking care of those things that no one else wanted to do. Now, a Memorial tree and plaque have been donated by Friendship Church, which faithfully supported Bob and Carole in their mission work. A soursop (Corosol) tree was selected for the Memorial. We grew this tree from seeds donated by Mike, a sustainability teacher in Illinois. Soursop is a favorite fruit tree in Haiti, appreciated and loved by all, just like Bob. As one of his Haitian friends put it, “We hope this fruit tree will always remind us of all the good work Mr. Bob used to do for the advancement of the poorest. We also say, good job Mr. Bob Stufflebeam.”
As Bobby says, Bob has been promoted.
Rad Hazelip, Assistant Executive Director