"Often Times Nonprofits Do Not Listen..."

We had the privilege of attending a celebration for Haiti’s Flag Day at the local Haitian church recently. It was festive with people dressed in the colors of the flag and flags hung in different areas around the church. The morning started with the standard service and then a dance, poetry reading, and another dance. There was a panel discussion about missions in Haiti and afterwards we broke out into separate classrooms which covered history, language, and cooking. The celebration ended by enjoying a Haitian meal. My heart left so full being able to celebrate the beauty of Haiti and to enjoy the culture.

My heart was also wrenched after listening to a discussion panel as they spoke about what has been resonating in my heart. The panel consisted of a professor in social work from a local university, a pastor from Haiti, and a member of an organization in Haiti. The heads nodding with agreement among the congregation on certain topics made it clear that others' hearts were in the same place as well.

Some of the key points were:

1.     “Often times nonprofits do not listen to Haitians…” was the lead in to one of the topics. “How do we get nonprofits to listen to us?” Frankly, from my point of view, Haitians should not need to be asking this question. Foreigners are visitors in their country and need to show the nationals they are there for them and not there to run their own agendas. Nonprofits should be asking what the nationals want and learning from them. In my own observations, some sample questions would be: “What would be helpful to you and/or your village?” “What is the best way to accomplish this?” “How can I come along side of you to obtain these goals?” Ask what their thoughts are and how they think things would work best. Don't just listen but truly listen and observe and then let it soak in and think it through before speaking and doing. Don't just ask questions that further your goals and to use these questions to make you feel like you have "done your duty". Truly ask questions that will end up benefiting the locals. Ask detailed questions, not generic ones. Along the same lines, just because something works in the U.S. doesn’t mean it is meant to be done (or work) in Haiti. From my own experience, if you are not asking the locals and learning from them, then you are missing it all. Foreigners need to be coming in as friends and partners. ASK, ASK, ASK! The locals know their country and community way better than an outsider ever will.

2.     STOP bringing items in, especially used clothing. This act over the years has created an unhealthy dependency that needs to be changed. Buy what you can in country and reconsider your handouts (ask yourself what the consequences of your handout will be once you leave). To give an example, Pierre is running his clothing business and he has regular customers in the neighborhood. Team A comes into his neighborhood for a week and hands out many clothes for free that they have brought from their country. Now the customers no longer need to buy from Pierre so he can no longer support his family and the customers will wait for the next handout from the next team. They no longer see a need to start working as items will just come to them for free.

3.   Haiti needs job opportunities. If you are going on a mission trip, see what skills the nationals in your area want to learn. This way they could potentially start their own business from the new skill after you leave.

The professor mentioned above leads a team every year to Haiti. Bruce had the opportunity to speak with the students from her class and learn about the trip. I love how she leads the trips. She incorporates learning by observation and participating in the culture. The students will see the south and north of Haiti along with the capital, Port-au-Prince, and part of the Dominican Republic. They also do a little bit of hands on work based on what the local village asks of them.

It is time to learn from past mistakes, stop repeating them and make changes for the good of Haiti. Haiti is a beautiful country with strong, able bodied, motivated and resilient people. I tip my hat to them. 

For additional information, I would highly recommend the following books: "Toxic Charity" by Robert D. Lupton, "When Helping Hurts" by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, and "From Aid to Trade" by Daniel Jean-Louis and Jacqueline Klamer along with the movie: "Poverty Inc." Also, a documentary, "Trade, Not Aid" by LYNK Communications is scheduled to be released this fall.

The Best Week of Our Life

A few years ago, before we moved to Haiti, my family had an amazing week that you just can’t plan. God had been working in my heart for a few weeks prior. The day of the call, the Spirit nudged me and said, “This is what I have been preparing your heart for. I want you to say ‘Yes’” but of course we are given free will and can make a different choice. I am so glad Bruce and I said “yes”.

A complete stranger needed a place to stay for a week until she could move into her rental house as her current living space was no longer available. We found out over the weekend when we were out of town. Bruce and I discussed it and discovered the Spirit had been working in both of us. We responded that she and her kids could stay with us. A friend paid for them to stay in a hotel over the weekend. We returned home early Sunday afternoon and started scurrying around the house getting ready for our visitors.

They arrived late afternoon just in time for dinner. I have to admit I was still a little nervous inviting a family into my home of whom I knew absolutely nothing about but the feeling soon subsided as everyone piled out of the car and settled into our house. We gathered around our kitchen table and got to know each other over pizza. During the week we hung out with the family, our kids played together, and had dinner together every night. They were some of the most well-behaved children we have ever met! It was SO much fun! As the week came to a close, we were all sad to part ways but happy that they could move into their own home.

I write this for three purposes:

Everyone is made in the image of God. We are all equal in God’s sight and God doesn’t play favorites. It doesn’t matter what someone’s financial status is, race, education level, career, gender, age, etc. No one is more important than anyone else. We all have a role in God’s kingdom. To give perspective, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a homeless person in Chicago (former CEO of a large company who got caught up in the fast life). He said it well, “You are only 1 step away from where I am, but I am 20 steps away from where you are.”  What matters is what is in someone’s heart. That week we were able to help a sister in Christ (we did not know she was a Christ follower when she came into our home).

Second is to encourage you to respond to the Spirit’s nudge if you aren’t doing so already. If you are, keep it up! God’s plans are so much better than ours. He may not ask you to do what we did but he has his own plans for you. God asks you to listen and follow. This does require making a choice every single day to let go of having control (yes, a big leap of faith but I would rather be where God wants me to be than anywhere else) and letting God do his work. It doesn’t mean life will be easy but it does mean he will be there with you every step of the way to help you get through it. I have been through absolutely beautiful situations and I have been through ugly situations but I have seen God turn it all into his glory in his timing. He asks us to follow. I have become more comfortable with being uncomfortable and I am now uncomfortable being comfortable. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Several people have told me that God only speaks through the Bible. Then how can you call God all powerful? I am not willing to limit God by human perspective. There any many stories in the Bible showing how God speaks in other ways. What we are required to do is to check everything against the Bible to make sure what we are hearing is from God and that requires knowing God’s Word. Nothing God says will ever go against what he has spoken in the Bible.

I encourage you to listen and see what plans God has for you. You might just be preparing to have the best week of your life!

Let go and let God.

Another chapter closes with new beginnings starting…

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has partnered with us through prayer, encouragement, and financially through this journey. We started with accepting the call as Field Directors with Starfysh, located on LaGonave. 

The year prior to leaving, we took language lessons and built our support. As the time got closer, we sold our vehicles, quit our jobs, emptied our house and put it up for rent then moved to Haiti in June 2016. The first three weeks were spent at bootcamp learning the language and culture. We then took the boat over to LaGonave to start our work with Starfysh which supports a school in Makochon, installation of water filters and agriculture. We formed friendships with both the nationals and missionaries. As time progressed, after much prayer, it became clear we were to move to Port-au-Prince and work for an ambulance company providing American level services. Bruce accepted the EMS Director position and Amy volunteered as the HR Director. We found ourselves transitioning once again. This time from a rural island to Haiti’s most populated city, the capital. 

We were blessed to continue friendships formed at bootcamp, on LaGonave, and new relationships made in Port-au-Prince. Again, as time passed and through prayer and listening to that still small voice, it again became clear it was time to move but this time back to the States. We spent some necessary family time in Florida for a couple weeks before returning and now we are transitioning back.

This journey has never been about us. It has always been about following God. Through this journey he has brought us into places where he said, “Stop, Listen, Follow, and Learn”, other times, “Do”, and other times “Your only real choice is to lean on me” so that is what we did. There are times where we could clearly see why we were called but there are other things we may never understand why we went through what we did. We do know it is all part of God’s great plan and we leave it in his hands. God calls us to be faithful servants, not to understand his master plan. He leads and we are to follow. We can only believe that in time some things will become clear to us whether it be how we impacted people’s lives or how God changed us and is working on forming and preparing us for the future. We are thankful for our time in Haiti. We walk away from this experience having learned so much about another culture, growing in faith, and doing missions. We have a feeling that God is not done with us yet in missions but we have no idea what this looks like going forward.

Thank you again for your support! Please continue to keep us in prayer as we follow God’s lead for our new normal.

Phillipians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the price for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

When God Winks At You...Remembering Jason

In the process of trying to decrease what I was packing for Haiti, I finished a book my mom gave me while we were visiting in the States. It was a series of nonfictional short stories about how God speaks to people and how the author, Squire Rushnell, views what some call coincidences as "God winks" in the book When God Winks at You. There were a couple stories that reminded me of some God winks I experienced 5 years ago.

Five years ago today in the late evening I was tucking my girls in bed and reading bedtime stories to them. Out of the blue I heard my brother's voice and I went running to the front door to greet him as I was hoping to sit and talk with him (I knew he was struggling and I always enjoyed our conversations). When I got to the door he was nowhere to be found nor was there any trace of him. I called for him but there was no answer. My dog was acting weird too like he expected my brother at the door but he sensed something didn't seem quite right. As I couldn't find Jason I went back to putting my girls to bed. About an hour later my husband came home and told me my brother was brought to the hospital but died shortly after arriving. The next day we were going over the timeline of events. We discovered I had heard my brother's voice right after he passed away. I could not hear Jason's words but I can only believe what my mom said, that he was letting me know it was okay.

The next year was a very dark and difficult time for me. I not only was trying to cope with my brother's death but I didn't have time to process everything as I was also the executor of his estate. (Just a side note, if you hear, "God won't give you more than you can handle" it is a lie! God never said this. People have misinterpreted 1 Corinthians 10:13 which refers to temptations NOT life events. God promises to be there with us if we ask him to. He carried me a long time that year and provided amazing friends to support me and a husband who walked by my side and put up with me the whole time. When we moved to Haiti, a friend gave a photo to us that has the ""Footprints in the Sand" poem by Mary Fishback Sanders. This poem is a perfect example of that year.)

I struggled with knowing whether or not Jason went to heaven. My parents assured me he did but I had found on his computer, videos he recently had watched and I had spoken with one of his close friends which led me to question this. I prayed for 6 months asking to know. It was a Saturday evening when we were at church where it hit me like a ton of bricks and I knew what I was to ask and look for as confirmation. The band on stage was singing "10,000 Reasons" (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman and I asked the Lord that I hear that song 3 times within the next 24 hours, knowing we wouldn't be listening to the radio much within that time frame. That next morning as we were pulling out of the driveway the song came on. In the afternoon it started playing right when I came upstairs from ironing. The last time was when Bruce was putting Brianna to bed, I walked in her room and it started to play. Yet, doubting Thomas I am, "Lord, just to make sure these were not coincidences, one more time, please???" It was normal to leave for lunch at the same time every day at work. The next day, it "just so happened" that the two co-workers before me both had dentist appointments and didn't arrive until 15 minutes after I was supposed to leave for lunch. As I was starting my car to leave for lunch, that song came on!

Yes, that still and quiet voice speaks in many different ways and I love the God winks He provides if we watch for them. Those winks feel like hugs from our Heavenly Father reminding us that He is there and He has us.

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10.

Miss you Jason! Til we meet on the other side - Love you! 

The Girls' Q and A

We thought that it would be cool to answer questions that people have. You can also learn more about what we do here, things we like, and more about Haiti. So, we did a Q and A.

Q and A:

Q: As kids what was the hardest thing to get used to living in a foreign country?

A: We think the hardest thing to get used to is probably the language barriers along with the heat and humidity. Now we are used to it though, and 70 degrees F is cold! We are also learning the language which takes practice, and until you learn the basics, it is hard to communicate with most locals.

Q: Do you recommend living in a foreign country to other families?

A: This is a tricky question, we would recommend it for some families but not others. Even though it comes with many adventures and memories, it comes with many struggles. You do need to keep in mind that whether or not you move to another country, it should be God’s will, not necessarily your own.

Q: What is the best experience you have had so far?

(Sleeping on the roof)

A: For Riley, some of her favorite experiences on La Gonave were, sleeping on the roof, watching the meteor showers, and all of our friends that we have made. For Bri, Some of her favorite experiences on La Gonave were, going out to the sand bar, going to our friends’ house, showering on the roof. Our best experience on the mainland so far would have to be having friends stay over for a few nights. Also, getting to do fun trips to places such as Baptist Mission and L’Observatoire, and watching Kanaval and the Toro Ralley.

Q: What food do you miss that you used to eat in the states but is not available in Haiti?

A: We miss fast food restaurants. Normally if you get street food it can take more than 10-20 minutes. The food is good though. Some of the fast food restaurants that we miss are McDonalds, Wendy’s and Freddy’s.

Q: What’s your favorite thing to do down there just as kids?

A: Our favorite thing to do down here would probably be having friends over, cooking, baking, and drawing.

 

Q: What spot do you feel is the most beautiful spot to look at?

A: That is a hard question because there is a lot of beautiful views that can start from just a flower to the whole city. So, it is really hard for us to answer our favorite spot.

Q: How are the people here compared to the people in the states?

A: Now that we have been here for a little bit, we have realized that everybody has a family and friends, everyone has struggles, and are just regular people like you would see in the states.

Q: What things do you like to do that you can’t do in the states or vice versa?

A: Some things we like to do here that we can’t do in the States are sitting in the front seat, riding in the car without seatbelts, taking a moto (motorcycle) or taptap as a taxi, and sleeping on the roof. And vise versa, talking in Haitian Creole and not having people understand us, bike rides, cooking on the grill, etc.

Q: How long have you been in Haiti?

(Our one year anniversary breakfast)

A: We have been in Haiti for officially one full year and 24 days! We were on LaGonave for 10 months and we have been on the mainland for about 3 months. June 5^th was a full year.

Q: Do you have a substitute ingredient that Haiti doesn’t have? Does the food still taste the same?

A: In Port-au-Prince there is a lot more American food. If they don’t have an ingredient that we need we do substitute. The food might taste a little different but it still tastes good. For example, a recipe called for sour cream but the sour cream didn’t make it to the island so we substituted cream cheese. We thought the cheesy potatoes were better that way anyways!

Q: What do you do for fun?

A: We play games, watch movies, bake, color, have friends over, etc. During the summer we do a lot of the same things, but our schedule is more open because we don’t have class. However, we can go swimming, to Clay Café, and just get out of the house more.

 

Q: How is LaGonave different from Port-au-Prince?

A: LaGonave is definitely country and Port is a large city. Port has paved roads as LaGonave has dusty, rocky, and bumpy roads but there are some paved roads though. On LaGonave we could walk around but here we can’t do that as much.

That Still Small Voice and…

Things tend to happen in threes don’t they? Two things happened about a week ago and I was waiting on the third. I didn’t have to wait too long though.

First:

I went with a friend to DGI (similar to going to the Secretary of State) about a week ago. While we were out front a peaceful demonstration walked past. I had heard they were either protesting something about a local school director or wanting someone out of jail. After they passed, we went to grab lunch at a local restaurant. When we were done we both hesitantly got up (because that is what you do when you are done eating, right?…) but then we both sat down again. A minute later the demonstration walked past again but this time it was not peaceful. I watched several men throw large rocks at the truck parked right in front of the restaurant. We ran into the back kitchen area and waited for the demonstration to pass. My friend looked at me and said “something told me to sit back down again.” I responded, “me too”. We both knew the Holy Spirit had spoken to each of us. The demonstration was only targeting government vehicles but if we had left when we were initially planning on it we would have been caught in the crossfire.

Second:

Last Sunday morning I was taking my kids and their friends to church. We were planning on going to Sunday school and the service following. I pulled out of our apartment complex and waited in the driveway until my navigation app pulled up on my phone. It was taking an exceptionally long time and I was starting to get frustrated. In the meantime, our guard was trying to get my attention and I heard him say, “kawoutchou”. I went to look and sure enough, my back tire had lost air and it would not have been good to drive to church with it that low. Bri looked at me and said, “I think there was a reason why the app was not pulling up”. As soon as I knew about the tire, yup, the map pulled up! I promptly pulled back into the garage until I could figure out how to get it taken care of. We didn’t make it to Sunday school but we did make it to the service.

Third:

Yesterday Bruce was on his way home and a car was not paying attention and hit him right in our back tire. No damage except it tore out the tire stem and the tire was completely flat. A man walked up to Bruce and handed him a tire stem and walked away. Bruce promptly took it to our local tire guys and they fixed it for him. This prevented Bruce from getting all the way home but kept him closer to the airport. The significance is that while Bruce was getting the stem replaced, he received an emergency call needing him to get to the airport ASAP as a medical flight was heading to LaGonave. Once the tire was fixed he immediately headed to the airport! He did not end up on the flight but assisted with coordinating everything once the patient arrived on the mainland.

You can choose to call these coincidences but when things like these happen over and over again I find it hard to continue to call them coincidences. When I handed my entire (and not just a piece here and there) life and everything in it over to God years ago I started seeing things differently. God does speak quietly, I do believe in guardian angels, and I believe he uses people around us. I am sure there are many things that have happened that God has protected us from that we know nothing about. I need to remind myself each morning to give each day to Him and to stop and listen to Him throughout the day. I still struggle with praising in the storm but He knows this and is working in me on it. Sometimes the things we find to be annoyances are actually protecting us and helping us make our faith stronger.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Keep listening for the "still small voice"

If you are weary on life's road;

The Lord will make your heart rejoice

If you will let Him take your load. -Hans Ernst Hess

Haiti Through the Eyes of the Kulfan Kids

In the past twelve months, our lives have been changed. From new ways of learning to meeting new friends. We wanted to change things up a bit and tell you what Haiti is like through our eyes. So here is a brief explanation of our everyday life. We hope you enjoy.

This is what we did on LaGonave for school: on Mondays and Wednesdays we went to the Moringa room. We called it the Moringa room because it is where they package the powdered Moringa. We stayed there for most of the day trying to get our school work done. On a normal day we usually arrived at 7:00am and left around 5:30pm. We went to the Moringa room because our internet wasn’t good at our house and it was nice and fast in the Moringa room. We don’t quite have a schedule yet for Port-au-Prince. Our days are always different.

We have lots of friends here, whether they are locals or other third culture kids (TCK’s). Our local friends are really kind and help us learn Creole. Their mom owns a boutique so sometimes she gives us a sucker or a bag of water. What we like about them is that they are so friendly and always willing to help us.

We enjoy hanging out with our missionary friends too. These friends are fun to spend time with because they know what it is like to go from hot showers all the time, groceries a five minute drive away, and the tap water being filtered and fresh, to none of the above. Also, they always make us laugh no matter how much we miss our friends in the States or how bad of a day we are having. 

We also love having friends in the States who are always willing to let us talk to them when we need to or who just fill us in on things that are happening in the States. We thank Jesus every day for the people whom he has placed in our lives to make life more enjoyable here. We are still making friends on the mainland and are glad for all of the friends that we have and will come.

There are many kinds of food that are different from the States. One of our favorite meals to eat here is rice and congo beans with sauce. Some different foods here are labouyi, penposh, pates, chicos, grenadia and many other foods. Some drinks that we have here that aren’t in the States are Limonade, Fruit Champagne, Sekola, Tampico and Ju Goo. The labouyi is like a porridge or cream of wheat, penposh is a bread pocket with seasoned burger, and pates are a fried dough with stuff (pikliz, chicken, beef, eggs, etc) filled inside of it. Chicos is Haitian Cheeto puffs. Grenadia is passion fruit. Limonade is a really sweet pop that makes great slushes. Fruit Champagne doesn’t have any alcohol in it and it tastes like a liquid Juicy Fruit. Sekola is a watery lemon lime drink. Tampico and Ju Goo are fruit drinks.

                                                                                                        

Looking back on the past eleven months, there were many good and bad times. During the difficult times we lean on God and fall on our Savior. There are also times to cry and times to laugh. Times with friends and times with family. Although there are hard times, we really have enjoyed living here in Haiti. Some of our favorite memories are… showering on the roof in the rain, watching meteor showers on the roof with Laura and Ybene (missionary friends), walking to school for several days, sleeping on the roof, meeting some amazing friends, and many more. Here on the mainland we have already made many memories like beautiful balcony sunsets, having friends stay over, family moments that make us laugh and many more.

                                                            

We came to do God’s work and continue to plug away. We are very thankful for all of our friends and family who have helped us through everything. 

1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.