November 14-25, 2014
Update on the Grand Miracle Market in Haiti…
“Helping Haitians to help themselves…”
Turning bushes, thorn trees, and raw land into a “Dream for the Haitian Poor…”
It all started as a “DREAM” and turned into something much bigger than we could have ever imagined. A marketplace that would transform lives, give dignity to the poor, create jobs for Haitians, and provide a clean, spacious environment to sell their products and goods created by our “Sustainability Programs.”
After the January 12, 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, Love A Child built an entire community for thousands of homeless Haitians. This community quickly became known as Miracle Village. The people were thankful for their houses, but they had no “jobs.”
The majority of Haitians “love to sell” to make a living. However, most Haitian markets are filthy. There are flies, pigs, trash, mud and much more all throughout these street markets.
Others search the dumps for anything to sell. 
As the Lord spoke to Bobby about building the marketplace, we thought, “Lord, we don’t have any idea how to build a marketplace! There has never been any missionary organization that has attempted to build a private marketplace in Haiti. Who will be the project manager? Where will we get the money? Who will run it?” But the Lord had already planned everything.
As Bobby was walking the floor of the orphanage praying…
Pastor Jentezen Franklin called him in Haiti and said, “Bobby, the Lord just spoke to me and let me know that you have a need. What is it?”
Bobby said, “I have a $1,000,000 need! I am going to build a marketplace.” We estimated that it would cost $1,000,000 and that is exactly what Pastor Franklin committed toward building the marketplace.
There Were GIANTS on the Land…
As we began to clear the land, we had so many “obstacles” to face. One obstacle was dealing with small local landowners that claimed the land belonged to them. More obstacles were clearing the land, fighting the poisonous bushes and fighting forces of evil.
Roger Rinker made several trips to Haiti to clear the land. It was a HUGE JOB!
A BIG CRUSADE TO DEDICATE THE LAND…
The people wanted us to have a big crusade and then, dedicate the land to the Lord. We did that! For three days, there were thousands of people in attendance under our big Gospel Tent on the marketplace land. Souls were won to Jesus and we dedicated the land to the Lord!
Marketplace Project Manager and Son…
God blessed us with the best “Project Manager” we could ever have…Mark Ostrander and his son Jesse. They made many trips to work on the construction site and oversee it.
Missionary Robert de Vries…A GREAT FACILITATOR! We are thankful for our missionary Robert de Vries who speaks fluent Creole and has the ability to handle the many tasks of teaching Haitians to do construction work. He also handles everyday problems and does “anything we need him to do!” Thank you Robert!
Marketplace Management Team: Building a marketplace in Haiti is one huge job, but managing it is a lifetime job, and foreigners should not be part of the marketplace management! God led us to Villy Choute and his team from Metro Management Haiti. Villy, Oriol, Sarah and many others have done a wonderful job!
CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES…
We hired many Haitians to build our foundations, walls, put on roofs, and much more.
This created more “jobs” for the poor. We want to give a HUGE “CHAPO BA” (HATS OFF) to the BEST HAITIAN CONSTRUCTION CREW IN HAITI! These guys are as professional as Americans and they can do just about anything! They are hard working, honest, sincere, and we really LOVE THEM! THANK YOU JEAN, EADDY AND THE REST OF THE TEAM!
NIPPER CONSTRUCTION AND MARKETPLACE ROOFS – We ordered specialized steel beams (made to withstand an earthquake) and special materials to be shipped in for the large roofs of the marketplace. We had used Nipper Construction for our Food Distribution Center and also for our Miracle Village Church.
These guys spent nearly four months here in Haiti erecting giant steel beams, putting up the roofs and all of the buildings.
Loans and Business Seminars…
We welcomed Open Hand, Inc. directed by our friends Alisha and Lisa to help with this project. They offered “no interest loans” and seminars to Haitians interested in selling items at the marketplace. It was a great success.
A visit from Betonex Concrete Company…
Steven from the Betonex Concrete Company flew his helicopter out to see the construction of our future marketplace. We have bought tons of concrete from his company, and we poured ten large concrete foundation slabs for our huge new buildings. This marketplace will be a great place for many Haitians to sell their goods. Steven could not believe all that we are doing for our Haitian brothers and sisters – without making any money for ourselves. There are greater rewards in life than money.
The marketplace office opens for applications.
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day…”
While we will always “feed the poor…”
We realize that food is the bridge to get Haitians to sustainability. They need a FISH to eat now, but they also need to learn how to FISH.
We will ALWAYS feed the hungry and those who cannot help themselves, but each Haitian family needs to gain the dignity that comes from having a job.
We want to thank Mike Welch and our friends at the USAPEEC International Poultry Development Program for sponsoring the Chicken Co-op Project. This is a wonderful sustainability project (Food for Life) that helps hard-working Haitians form a co-op, raise and care for chickens, go into business for themselves, and leads to many more jobs! There are now ten large chicken houses built in the back of the Grand Miracle Market. The Chicken Co-op workers sell wholesale and retail. Many chickens will be sold in the marketplace and other areas.
At the back of the marketplace is an area for selling animals like goats, pigs, cows and other livestock. Some very good friends of ours, who wish to remain anonymous, are also building a meat processing plant in this area. This was a great miracle because all government markets have a place for Haitians to be able to process and sell “fresh meat.” What a huge blessing this will be and it will also help create jobs.
Villy Choute, our Grand Miracle Market Manager, holds meetings to teach the vendors how to sell and how to manage their money. They are taught to pay their tithes first.
Home Stretch… We are now in the “home stretch” of the DREAM for “jobs for the poor.” Work still continues each day, such as spreading the ground cover between the ten huge buildings and in the front.
Four more “small kitchens” are being built for Haitians to sell their food. There is still lots of electric, painting and finishing touches that are being done every day from “sunup to sundown.”
First Opening…We will open the Grand Miracle Market to get the vendors established and their areas setup on November 18th, but the dedication service will be on December 9th.
We will officially turn the marketplace over to the Metro Management Team on the day of the dedication service. Love A Child will not and cannot accept any proceeds from the Grand Miracle Market. We will not be running it or managing it from that point on. We have other projects for the poor that we need to start in January 2015.
The Gwo Maché Mirak (Grand Miracle Market) will be the first privately built marketplace in Haiti. There will be an Epi D’or Restaurant (those who live in Haiti know this great restaurant chain), Digicel building (cell phones and cards for phones), a bank and much more. These large buildings will also employ lots of local Haitians.
There will be hundreds of Haitians selling everything from fruits and vegetables to hair ribbons, school supplies, clothing, plastics and much, much more.
We again want to humbly thank Pastor Jentezen Franklin and his Kingdom Connection partners for sponsoring the committed $1,000,000 for the Grand Miracle Market. We have added much more to the marketplace than we originally planned (we have never built a marketplace before), but the Lord has supplied everything up to now. We still need an additional $30,000 to finish everything by December 9th…and reach the FINISH LINE! If the Lord is speaking to your heart to help, please call our office at 239-210-6107 and ask to speak with Rad or Shar. All of your gifts, of any size will help finish this DREAM for the Haitian poor!
God bless you and we love you,
Bobby and Sherry
P.S. We wish to thank Open Hand, Inc. for the loans for many of the sellers. This was a tremendous blessing.
P.P.S. This is an EMERGENCY! We have 200 people who need sponsors to get them started in a small business here at the Grand Miracle Market. You can help one of these Haitians get a business started for $225. That is a small price to pay to get a mother or father started in a business in this marketplace. Please pray about this URGENT NEED. If you want to put a Haitian in business for $225, please call our office at 239-210-6107 and ask to speak to Rad or Shar.