Sunday, November 23, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
We are almost at Thanksgiving and my pledge to blog more often seems to have fallen by the wayside! Where time goes is really a question and I'm sure it's one you've posed often as well. As we look we can see that it wasn't wasted but moved away nonetheless. The great equalizer is time isn't it? We are all given the same amount. I would like to think that I'm using mine wisely but in retrospect perhaps there was some wasted! All I know is that when we end a day at El Shaddai, I'm exhausted. We had some company the other day just as we finished school. They had dropped in to use the internet and all I could do was point them to it and went to the porch and laid down on a half bed we have there with water in hand. No one seemed to mind, but I thought, this isn't being much of a hostess. The energy just wasn't there.
Right now I'm teaching first grade for a half hour, kindergarten for a half hour and split the rest of my time with other classrooms. We finally counted accurately....we have 50 students! We couldn't figure out why there weren't enough sandwiches each day for the kids....duh! We had more kids than we thought. You may be asking how that could happen. It's like this: Gary is juggling the school office, the hurricane relief, Bible school and the Touch office (keeping accurate records of where the money goes that you send us). He also drives the kids home everyday (school bus driver), has to continously run to town to get our water supply, has had multiple mechanical problems such as the generator and batteries (not much city power these days) and we are now going to Russeau every Tuesday, and a children's group in town every Monday. Hummm
Right now I'm teaching first grade for a half hour, kindergarten for a half hour and split the rest of my time with other classrooms. We finally counted accurately....we have 50 students! We couldn't figure out why there weren't enough sandwiches each day for the kids....duh! We had more kids than we thought. You may be asking how that could happen. It's like this: Gary is juggling the school office, the hurricane relief, Bible school and the Touch office (keeping accurate records of where the money goes that you send us). He also drives the kids home everyday (school bus driver), has to continously run to town to get our water supply, has had multiple mechanical problems such as the generator and batteries (not much city power these days) and we are now going to Russeau every Tuesday, and a children's group in town every Monday. Hummm
Friday, November 14, 2008
CATCHING UP
It continues to happen, I spend a long time getting things on the blog and the internet goes out before it gets posted! Bummer.
We had some drama last Sunday morning. At 7:30AM a knock at the gate. It was Eliant with her youngest (9 month old boy) crying that her husband had bitten her finger and YES he truly had. Her middle finger was laid open. Seems they were fighting over the other boy (age 2) being hungry and no food to feed him. He hit her with a broom, she grabbed his nose and her finger ended up in his mouth. Same story from the two of them, and Ronid the 12 year old daughter who is a student at El Shaddai. Eliant ended up leaving Antonio with one child, returned a day later to get all of her things and the 2 year old, leaving 12 year old Ronid with Antonio. To make a long story short and spare you all the heated discussions, we have Ronid living with us until the marital situation gets worked out. Antonio is not Ronid's father, he's got a drinking problem and wisdom was to remove her from the home. He says he's going after Eliant and making her come back to take care of her responsibilities in the home.....that all remains to be seen. Ronid is enjoying a clean bed, shower daily and clothes that I've had here, actually some of my granddaughter's things that were yet to be given away, now I know why I was saving them. Ronid said, "I like living here." She's a sweet girl, smart, speaking English but just to give you an idea of how impoverished her life has been she asked me, pointing to the clock, "is that a watch?" She was also fascinated by the computer screen when. Oh, one more thing, she didn't know how to use an American toilet. She asked Jessica where she was supposed to go to have a bowel movement. Jessica directed her to the toilet. She asked, "How do you use it?" Jessica explained but the next question was, "Where do you put the poop?" Believe me when I say she is at the bottom of the poverty level. What will we do with her? When the family gets straightened out she'll go home. If the family doesn't get back together, we'll find a way to care for her. You can pray for Ronid. We took her into El Shaddai about three years ago simply because she wasn't getting enough to eat. She looks so happy now.
This experience drives home the point that a child with a little attention and nurturing can change overnight.
The same thing good is happening with the three boys Bev is nurturing daily in McDonal. They are changed creatures from street urchins to smiling, happy boys. Do you know how many of these children are on the street in McDonald? It's too painful to count them because we don't have the ability to help them.
On the other side of the coin is a boy named Kennson who was sent to Haiti because his mother remarried and the new dad didn't want him. Although well fed, well dressed, with a caring Auntie, he's angry, withdrawn and refuses to allow anyone in. Please pray for this boy because at 13 he's headed for a very uncertain future.
The world is full of children who have been left to fend for themselves. A very hard picture to look at close up or far away. Jesus said, "Let them come to Me and forbid them not." Pray for us as we minister to the children that they may all come to HIM!
Have a blessed day!
Carolyn
We had some drama last Sunday morning. At 7:30AM a knock at the gate. It was Eliant with her youngest (9 month old boy) crying that her husband had bitten her finger and YES he truly had. Her middle finger was laid open. Seems they were fighting over the other boy (age 2) being hungry and no food to feed him. He hit her with a broom, she grabbed his nose and her finger ended up in his mouth. Same story from the two of them, and Ronid the 12 year old daughter who is a student at El Shaddai. Eliant ended up leaving Antonio with one child, returned a day later to get all of her things and the 2 year old, leaving 12 year old Ronid with Antonio. To make a long story short and spare you all the heated discussions, we have Ronid living with us until the marital situation gets worked out. Antonio is not Ronid's father, he's got a drinking problem and wisdom was to remove her from the home. He says he's going after Eliant and making her come back to take care of her responsibilities in the home.....that all remains to be seen. Ronid is enjoying a clean bed, shower daily and clothes that I've had here, actually some of my granddaughter's things that were yet to be given away, now I know why I was saving them. Ronid said, "I like living here." She's a sweet girl, smart, speaking English but just to give you an idea of how impoverished her life has been she asked me, pointing to the clock, "is that a watch?" She was also fascinated by the computer screen when. Oh, one more thing, she didn't know how to use an American toilet. She asked Jessica where she was supposed to go to have a bowel movement. Jessica directed her to the toilet. She asked, "How do you use it?" Jessica explained but the next question was, "Where do you put the poop?" Believe me when I say she is at the bottom of the poverty level. What will we do with her? When the family gets straightened out she'll go home. If the family doesn't get back together, we'll find a way to care for her. You can pray for Ronid. We took her into El Shaddai about three years ago simply because she wasn't getting enough to eat. She looks so happy now.
This experience drives home the point that a child with a little attention and nurturing can change overnight.
The same thing good is happening with the three boys Bev is nurturing daily in McDonal. They are changed creatures from street urchins to smiling, happy boys. Do you know how many of these children are on the street in McDonald? It's too painful to count them because we don't have the ability to help them.
On the other side of the coin is a boy named Kennson who was sent to Haiti because his mother remarried and the new dad didn't want him. Although well fed, well dressed, with a caring Auntie, he's angry, withdrawn and refuses to allow anyone in. Please pray for this boy because at 13 he's headed for a very uncertain future.
The world is full of children who have been left to fend for themselves. A very hard picture to look at close up or far away. Jesus said, "Let them come to Me and forbid them not." Pray for us as we minister to the children that they may all come to HIM!
Have a blessed day!
Carolyn
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