Grace--Profile of Lendz Joseph

August 6, 2015

Today our assignment is to reveal the stories of some of the local children at the village. So with the help of John, our translator, we are able to share Lendz's story. 

     Lendz Joseph is an adorable ten year old boy.  He and his six year old brother, Lendly, have been outside the clinic everyday. Lendz and Lendly live across the road with their parents, grandmother, and aunt. They have purchased some land and are now collecting materials to build a new house. They have been renting their current home, a shack made of mud and wood, for about a year. 

     Prior to living in Latennerie, the Joseph family lived in Grand Rivière. During the school year, Lendz and his father take a bus to Grand Rivière. Lendz's father teaches in a public school, and Lendz is in his fifth year of primary school. Lendz enjoys going to school, and he says his favorite subject is math. In Haiti, the public schools are good, but space is limited, and more wealthy families have first pick, so the boys have go to private schools. The family must pay tuition for them to go to school. Lendz's mother Adeline tells us that it is difficult to pay for the two tuitions every year. The tuition for Lendz school is 50 U.S. dollars per year, and L'Ecole Methodiste, were Lendly attends, is 20 U.S. dollars per year. Adeline says they get through their hard times by working.  Lendz's father is a teacher, and Adeline cooks and sells plantains at tre church. When money gets tight, the family will sell the hens they breed to pay for the children's  tuition. Adeline tells us that it was easier when she was growing up. Prices have risen, and it has gotten harder to care for the boys as they've gotten older. Tuition for older students is higher, so as Lendz gets older, it's harder for them to get by. Also, when he finishes primary school, the closest intermediate school is in Cap-Haitien, about 30 minutes away by car.

     The family works extremely hard to ensure the boys always have what they need. Mealtime is very important to the family. They use it as a time to stay close within one another. Lendz tells us that he has always had enough food, and his favorite things to eat are meat, spaghetti, and beans. The family buys most of their food at the local market and grow beans and plantains in their garden. They also catch crawdads and fish in the river behind their house. For water, the family uses bagged water or digs to find a spring. The river's water isn't drinkable, but they use it for bathing and laundry like many of the other locals. 

     The community here is very close, especially the church community. Adeline and Lendz both stress the importance of church to them. 

     Another thing Lendz finds important is having fun. The last day of school is Lendz's favorite day because his family has an end of ther year party for him and his brother. Joseph loves to play keeper while playing soccer with his brother, friends, and other classmates. 

     When asked about what he wanted to do in the future, Lendz said he wanted to become a doctor. This is because his cousin and role model, Wishner, is a doctor in Northeastern Haiti. But for the next few years, all Lendz wants to do is play soccer.

Day 6--Dawn--I see you

I see you when you come to my country for a week, but you don't see me. 

I see you when you cringe at our outhouses, but you don't see me. 

I see you when you come to my village for a day, but you don't see me. 

I see you when you stare at my culture, but you don't see me. 

I see you helping out then returning to your lives, but did you ever really see me?

You see me in the faces of your children, but I don't see you. 

You see me in plates full of food, but I don't see you.

You see me in closets full of clothes, but I don't see you.

You see me in your hospitals and doctors, but I don't see you.

You see me in the excess and waste of your culture, but did I ever really see you?

Day 6--Doug--Last Day

 It's hard to believe the week is already gone, and we are going home tomorrow. Cap Hatien feels like home. It's crazy to think that I've been here twice now and I am in love with this city. We will definitely be back. Words I've used before come back to me, so I think I'll share them now:

What keeps us going? Why do we keep going back?

On the one hand, that answer is easy: the need is so great. The people we serve don't stop getting ill once the cameras are no longer trained on them or their country. The earthquake was terrible, but the need was tremendous before the quake, and it continues as the rubble still is being cleared.  We see that every time we go.  We save lives on every trip.

The second answer is that we are trying to build something: Each time we go, we want to leave this area that much closer to serving the needs of the community. Also, with each trip, hopefully one more team member gets the bug to return to serve again.

Third, it is personal: to me once I've seen the look in one child's eyes, I cannot unsee it. Once I have opened my heart to these people and this place, it always is with me. I really have no choice. I need to go back.

Here's the thing: We don't do it for thanks. We don't do it for recognition. We go because our lives don't make sense if we don't go. We do it because when we are there, in this desperate place, all the pieces come together, and we know we are exactly where we were meant to be, doing what we were made to do.  We are alive. 

People in the States will come up to me and thank me for what I am doing. I understand why they do. I recognize that I am doing something that many are unable or unwilling to do, and people recognize that our work is  needed, but I always feel a little awkward when I hear the "Thank You" or when someone is trying to tell me what a great person I am for going on mission trips.

  Thanking me for going on mission trips is like thanking me for breathing oxygen. I do it because I have to.  Ask anyone who truly has it in their heart, and they will tell you the same.  Praise for what I do, in a strange way, makes me feel more humble. I often tell people, in reply, that I am only a vessel. I only play a very small part, doing the work that has been given me.  That's all I want to be.  I don't need this to feed my ego.  In fact, I have seen, unfortunately, people for whom it is one big ego trip.  They are tourists.  That is not what I want to be.  I want my work to mean something.  My name and face can disappear in the wake of what I have done.

And yet....it does make me happy when people see that our work is worthwhile. Because the more people are behind us, the greater chance that someone will be moved to help out: with money, with supplies, with volunteering...anything that keeps this machine going. And we need it.  Fundraising was easy after the earthquake. Now we are operating with less and less of a cushion. So if you feel gratitude for what we have done, recognize that you do not have to be a spectator.  You can share in our mission.  Maybe you can join us physically in a future mission.  Maybe you can join us by sharing financially.  Any gift can extend our common reach and can allow the mission to live on.  Always, we are working so that we can continue to work.   And we will continue to keep going.  Because we have to. It is how we are made, why we were made.

Doug

Kè Nou
PO Box 2
Jefferson City, MO 65102

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Day 6--Steve--Road to the Clinic

It's Friday and we are on our way to our final clinic in the country. I'm riding in the back of a pick-up packed with clinic supplies. We've reached the round-about at city center, and will edge our way in to the free-for-all of trucks, cars, bikes, motor bikes, brightly colored tap taps, and hundreds on foot. The market spills out across the street and chaos reigns supreme. People yelling in a language I can't grasp. Car horns and loud Haitian music . Trash lines the streets and buildings and alleys and the river.it coalesces with mud and grease and flows in the gutters like thick coffee. It smells of diesel, exhaust, sewage, and dead fish. We are yet to cross the bridge. We stop to pick up the Haitian nurse who will ride silently back here with me. Soon we will accelerate on our way past banana trees, sugar cane fields, and mountains upon mountains. Past the pictures of the ladies at the well. Past the crowing roosters. Oh it's so far the other way my own country has gone . I feel the wind in my hair (both hairs). I feel like everything will be ok . I think to myself, what a wonderful world .

Day 5--Ryan--Road Trip

On Wednesday, part of our group take the mobile clinic trip from Cap-Haitien to Jean Rebelle. It's eight hours of bumpy roads. Stopping. Going. Twists. Turns. We go from the city up into mountains, down to ocean coastline, and across a desert. All this to help a different mission group with seeing patients. It is a lot longer, bumpy ride than any of us expects. It's really funny as we hit bumps that send us in the back of the vehicle flying that Jackie scolds Luc about watching for bumps. He in turn teases her when we stop to ask people if we are going the right direction and she says "thank you" in English instead of "mèsi" in Creole. Everyone's spirits remain high and lighthearted. Despite the long, hot trip we make  it safely and are rewarded by getting to sleep in air conditioning! 

We get up the next day and go to the clinic where Sabine and I see a little more than100 people, Beth counts and dispenses all the meds, and Sara triages the people.

As a reward we get to drink coconut water and eat fresh coconut. Then back in the vehicle for the 8 hours ride home. It is a rewarding experience and I never guessed I would get to see so much of Haiti on this trip.

Day 4--Sara We and They

I am struggling to fight saying the words 'they' and 'us/we'. It is hard to not be divisive when there are so many obvious things different. The Haitian people definitely are broke but they are rich in other ways. I watched for a while yesterday, several families playing in the stream and taking a break in the heat of the day. When we got back to the mission house, everyone was immediately on their phones posting. I couldn't help but think how wrong we have it. They are enjoying life and each other and we aren't living it, we are posting about it. (There are those words again) I'm excited about the trip today where I only have the option to live in the here and now and SEE, HEAR, FEEL, EXPERIENCE. 

A small group is breaking off today to trek across the mountains to a small village. The Swaim girls volunteered- no one else wanted to go. I was told it is a 6 hour trip each way and I think that is why no one wants to go... But I think it will end up being less. I volunteered right away because I love adventure! I wish we were camping under the stars but sadly, we have dorms with running water (I say this only half joking). 

Some day 4 pics

Steve takes a break

The girls with their fan club

In clinic with Dr. Eugene

She said 'let me take a selfie.'

Day 3--Doug--Chasing a Dream

Today is our first day of clinic in Latennerie. I ride with Dr. Eugene, our local physician, to get medication that we need but did not bring. Albendazole, a medicine to treat worms, costs $0.40 per dose here. In the States, it costs $120 per dose. We get the meds, and I have time to get to know Dr. Eugene. He is a dreamer. After medical school in Haiti, he trained for a time in North Carolina. His children were born there. He had the opportunity to stay, but he came back here to Haiti to serve the people who need it the most. He basically has 5 jobs, dividing his time among several different clinics in the area. For all that, he earns roughly 1/10th of what American doctors make. Still, he has big dreams. The contryside around Latennerie has about 200,000 people. If he wants a patient to get a CT scan, they have to go six hours away to Port-au-Prince, if they can get there, if they can afford it. Then Dr. Eugene will be lucky to get a result one month later, and he never actually sees the films. So he is building a hospital,. He has the land. He has to start building something because if he doesn't do anything with the land, the government will give it to someone else. So he's building a modern hospital in the middle of rural Haiti. Some dreams are worth chasing.

Day 2--Doug--Why we are here

There is a problem with short term mission trips. They are frenetic, splashy, and pricey, and then they are gone. If there is no ongoing effort and continuity, It's a waste of resources, of time, talent, and treasure. 

Today we went to Latennerie, a small town to the east of Cap Haitien. They have a church, a school, and a clinic. The poverty of this area is hard to comprehend. There are about 100 students in the school. The teachers make about $40 per month. Tuition is $20 per year. Many of the families cannot afford even that, so the Methodist Church supports them. The church cannot afford to keep both the school and clinic open, so in 2012, they made the painful decision to close the clinic. The nearest medical care is now 45 minutes away. So we come this week to not just give away our vitamins and blood pressure medicine. We want to establish a relationship with this community and its people. Our goals are many: restart the clinic, figure out how to support a physician to staff the clinic, sponsor students at the school, help them build up their village. These are not short term trip goals, but this week is a start.

Day One--Grace--8/1/15

     It has only been one day, but this has felt like the longest day of my life. I attribute that to the lack of sleep and early morning flights. When we arrive at the Cap Haitien airport, I can't stop smiling. I want to be able to take in as much as I can, as fast as I can. After getting our checked bags, we wait for the car to come. When it pulls up I saw that it didn't have any seats in the back, and I immediately think "This must be where our luggage goes." What I don't realize at first is that it has two benches in the back for people to sit on, and our stuff is going in the back of a truck. Ten people squish into the back for what feels like the most dangerous ride ever. Cars are passing each other at speeds that are way too fast, honking their horns for a warning or a greeting or just to be noticed. Motorbikes with three or four riders weave crazily through the traffic. Pedestrians risk their bodies just to walk on the side of the road.

     After breakfast, we settle into our rooms, and then set out on a walk through the town. Again, the traffic. Cars come hurtling through narrow streets, honking at you to get out of the way. The streets were littered with trash because they don't have an organized sanitation system. Whatever they have ends up on the street. The terrifying traffic and large amounts of trash cannot take away from the beauty of the town, though. Since they were built around the same time, Cap-Haitien's architecture resembles that of New Orleans. Buildings are painted bright colors, and people are selling things in the street. One thing I realize while we were walking is that for the first time, I am the minority. We get looks in town because there aren't many white people here.

     For lunch we eat at Deco Plage, which is just down the street from the mission house. We order and wait for what feels like forever, but the food is totally worth it! Sitting on the patio, we have an amazing view of the ocean. After lunch, we go back to the mission house for a quick siesta, and then some of us go to see the clinic, so we squish into the car and head out there.

     After 45 minutes and a literal speed bump along the way (it sends me crashing into to roof of the car), we arrive at the village. The clinic has been closed for several years because a lack of funding made them choose between the clinic and the school. There are no working light bulbs, so it is difficult to see. We sort through the medicine that had been left, sweep the floors, and try to set up the space in a way that would flow smoothly. As we are cleaning, some of the local people (mostly children) come to watch us work. At first they are silent, but after a while one spoke up and asked for my name. I, of course have no idea what she is saying, so I look to my dad to translate. When they hear my name, they giggled because maybe it sounds funny? (I'm not really sure.) The girls then start to follow me around while I was cleaning, and after I am done, I go outside where they all crowd around me. They all want to touch my hair, look at my eyes, and they must have found my hands intriguing, because they won't stop looking at them. I then put my sunglasses on one of the girls, and they all take turns wearing them. When we leave the girls are all waving and leave right after we do.

     Once we got back to the mission house, we have dinner, our devotional, and then go to bed. Nights here are nearly as noisy as the day, but only a few car horns, and more bugs and waves. It takes me a while to fall asleep because I am still processing everything that happened. First day=success, I can't wait for the rest of the week!

Begin--Doug--7/31/2015

It's hard to believe that Kè Nou is 5 1/2 years old now. I may have lost count, but I choose to believe that this is our 12th mission trip to Haiti. This is a new place for us. Cap Hatien is on the north coast of Haiti. Near here, Christopher Columbus wrecked the Santa María and founded La Navidad, the first European settlement in the Western Hemisphere. Cap Haitien is where my wife Sabine was born. And it is here where I bring both my daughters to share in this experience.  It's with a restive spirit that I look forward to this week. We want to do some good work. We want to help some people feel better and get some healing. We also are especially eager to see if we can establish a foothold that will allow us to help improve the health of this entire community in the years to come. I hope we find some WiFi to share our stories. For now, on to Fort Lauderdale.

August Trip 2015

Our Team is gearing up for our August Trip to Cap Haitien August 1-August 9th.  This trip will be a new venture for us all. We have been to the clinic to see where we will be working. Currently there is only one other group going out to this clinic so our assistance is welcomed by the community This trip will be led by Sabine Boudreau.  The team will be working at the Tovar Medical Clinic which was established in 1985. The clinic is about 20-30 min drive from the city of Cap Haitien.

Here is a vimeo video created by the only medical team currently partnering up with the people of Tovar to provide health care: https://vimeo.com/62080786

Doug and I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Raymond Ford leads the team in the video; he has been working with the people of Tovar for the past 20 years and states they have been the only team coming out to the region for the past 10-15 years. We are excited to work together with organization on this venture.

Please consider supporting the team and the work at the Tovar Clinic.  You can donate using the PayPal button the menu or by mailing a check. As always thank you for your love and support of our mission.  

Our February Team will be leaving tomorrow for OSAPO.  Please join us in praying for our February Mission Team!  We'll be looking forward to hearing from them next week as they blog about their experiences.

Mission Trip Prayer

Dear Father,

We pray your help and blessings on the members of the mission trip.  Thank you that each person is taking time out of their busy lives to serve You by serving others.  Thank you that You have spoken to their hearts and that they are willing to venture outside of their homes, neighborhoods and comfort zones.  Keep them strong mentally, physically and spiritually.  Give them safe travels, energy and enthusiasm and an ability to be flexible when plans change.

May their arrival at their destination be a sign of Your love to those they serve.  Help the smiles and hugs and acts of friendship of the mission team members clearly communicate acceptance and comfort to those hungry for You.  May they be true ambassadors for Christ through their actions both on and off the job, both with those they serve and with their fellow team members.

We pray that this trip will be extremely successful in strengthening the faith of every team member.  Increase their trust in You as they leave their responsibilities and worries about their families and lives back home in Your watchful care.  As they see and experience different ways of life, give them new perspective on their lives and about the things that really matter most.  Give them the joy of service.  Strengthen their faith and reliance on You.  Enable them to graciously and humbly receive small gifts of great magnitude given to them by those who have little yet who are moved to give sacrificially.  May each team member strongly feel Your Holy Spirit at work in them and through them.

And so Father, we ask that you bless the mission project, the team members and leaders, those they serve and the team member’s families back home.  Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to actively work in a meaningful way in Your wonderful Kingdom.

Amen.