You may have heard that a 4.6 magnitude earthquake rattled Haiti. We want you to know that all is well at Jumecourt and all GO partners locations. No damage. No problems. We do request prayer for continued protection and progress for our children, partners, and staff in Haiti and around the world. Thank you.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
update on Jo and Wilkey, the new orphans at All-in-One Village
We just received this update from Chris Savini, the missionary living in our village:
"Wilkey and his brother Jo have bellies full of worms. Thanks to the Vision Trust Clinic that was at All-in-One two weeks ago, the boys were able to receive tablets that will take care of the problems."
Let's continue to pray for Jo and Wilkey, that they develop and grow in health-- spiritually, emotionally and physically!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tony Lisotta's new "Man Crush"
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| Pastor Kesnel sharing his vision with our group |
Throughout my life I have had the so-called "Man
Crush." Up until recently, Laird Hamilton, who is the best big wave
surfer (70 foot waves) in the world, held that position in my mind. He is
an amazing athlete and was born with an athletic gift that will be very hard to
duplicate. I’ve spent my life looking up to Laird Hamilton and other
athletes who have defined what it means to be successful, what it means to
achieve the ultimate manhood.
Last month, I went to Haiti with a group of friends from
Church at the Bay. We were going to visit the orphanage we partner with, which
is run by a man named Pastor Kesnel. When I met Pastor Kesnel, on day three of
our trip, I could immediately see a peace in his eyes. It is hard to
explain unless you come face to face with him. I felt immediately
captivated by his presence. It was like I knew him for years and it felt
like he was another father to me. A few of us walked around the orphanage
with him as he told us his story -- it blew me away.
He had been born and raised in Haiti with his brother.
They were extremely poor and on top of this his father had abandoned them at an
early age. There were several times during the week where his mother
would not come home from working until they were asleep. She did this on
purpose as she did not want to face the embarrassment of not having food to
feed her kids. They would go without food for 2 or 3 days sometimes. Their
bed was a concrete floor.
Fast forward the clock and Kesnel had left Haiti and had
become a successful real estate business man in Miami. He was married and
had several children. He kept having dreams of being needed in Haiti and
a calling to take care of orphans. This was very significant to Kesnel
because Haitians strongly believe that God speaks frequently through dreams. He
approached his wife and told her he had been called back to Haiti and wanted to
move the family back. As you can imagine, she said, “no way -- I can't go
back to that environment!” He said he understood. He promised to take
care of her financially while she stayed back in Miami, but he was going anyway!
This blew me away! It
reminded me of the priorities we say we should have-- God first, wife second, kids
third, and everything else after that. Over the course of a few day or
weeks, she came around and stuck by his side.
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| Pastor Kesnel with his wife, Madame Yanick Kesnel |
Pastor Kesnel bought a piece of property and started to
build out his vision. His entire family actually slept on the back of a flat
bed truck for 5 years as things started to take shape. They went the
bathroom in plastic bags, struggled with the heat, the mosquitoes, the weather,
and more. On top of this, they went through the earthquake in 2010. Pastor
Kesnel actually met representatives of the Global Orphan Project right after
the quake, after offering his dump truck to them to borrow.
Their obedience to the Lord and their passion for chasing
after His calling just blows me away.
Pastor Kesnel is also an entrepreneur at heart. He is
working hard for self sustainment at his orphanage. As we walked through
the village, we saw just a few examples of his efforts to bring the village to
financial self-sufficiency. Kesnel sells water from his well to the community
at less than they can buy it other places, and if they cannot afford it, he
gives it to them for free. He charges car batteries for a small fee.
He sells lumber supplies out of his complex. He builds bunk beds and
sells them. He is in the process of building a swimming pool so he can baptize
the children but also give swimming lessons. All the money raised
goes right back into his orphanage.
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| Pastor Kesnel with "all of his children." |
There are many days where Pastor Kesnel counsels people from
dawn to dusk. People come to him from all over for spiritual
advice. You can imagine the energy, commitment and compassion this takes
day in and day out. However, he believes (and it shows) that the Lord
gives him the strength to sustain this type of pace. If you ask him to
point out his own children, he says, “all these children are mine.” He
truly believes that and you can see it in the way he carries himself.
I could go on and on about Pastor Kesnel. Meeting him
definitely changed my view of what it means to be a man and most importantly, a
Christ-follower. I actually get very frustrated with all the reality TV
shows about this person or that person. While our society sits around and
idolizes these people, wasting valuable time in front of the TV, Pastor Kesnel
is out there, in action, doing something about the pain in this world.
Pastor Kesnel is my new “man crush.” Sorry, Laird, but I
thought you would understand.
Pastor Blaine Albright's post--Where's Shelly?
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| Shelly |
We arrived at All-in-One village on a Saturday morning and
all I could wonder was whether I’d get to meet “Shelly,” the girl on the side
of our fridge, the girl my boys prayed for every night and called “their
sister.” There would be no mistaking her smile. Or those eyes! As we piled out
of the van, each of us was claimed by a couple of children. As one grabbed my
hand, I engaged, but I also kept my eyes peeled for Shelly.
We played soccer, I attempted Creole, and all the while I
wondered where Shelly might be. Finally, I approached Yanick Kesnel, Pastor
Joseph’s wife and asked where Shelly was. Yanick paused for a moment and I
couldn’t read her facial expression. A flood of possibilities flooded my mind: Was she affected by last year’s cholera
outbreak? Had the malnutrition been too much to overcome?
Thankfully, that split second of anxiety was quickly
relieved by Yanicks’s smile, pained though it was. I recognize it now as the same smile my Mom
gives me every time we leave South Florida to come back to Tampa. There is pain
because she wants to be with her kids and grandkids. But more, there is pride in
that I am doing what God has called me to do. I could see that same pride that
in Yanick’s eyes, that Shelly is where she’s supposed to be.
Yanick began telling me about Shelly. I would be
lying if I said that my eyes stayed dry
(a common experience for the team—the men blamed the
watering of eyes on “Haitian dust”).
It turns out that Shelly was not an orphan, in the sense
that both of her parents had died. She was an “orphan of necessity.”Her mother
and father split up years ago. Shelly’s biological mother was terribly abusive
towards her. Pastor Joseph and Yanick welcomed Shelly into All-in-One,
likely saving her life. A couple of months before our trip, Shelly’s mother
died. Shelly’s biological father was apparently unaware that she had been at
All-In-One, as he had been sending his ex-wife money regularly. When Shelly’s
father learned of her mother’s death and Shelly’s apparent whereabouts, he came
to retrieve her and take her back home to live with him in the Dominican
Republic.
As Yanick described the reunion between father and daughter,
I began joyfully (and tearfully) laughing.
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| Madame Yanick Kesnel and Blaine, with the children |
Later that afternoon, I visited Yanicks’s office for
some paperwork and noticed a framed picture of Shelly on her desk, another
indicator of their special connection. When I asked her about it, I gained even
more pride for Shelly (unreasonable, I realize) as she described Shelly, with a
pained smile, as brilliant and sweet, as the girl that lights up every room.
She paused and whispered how it’s hard to bond with every child because there’s
just so much pain in their stories, and so much pain in losing them, even when
they’re “happy endings,” as in Shelly’s case. There was a lot of “Haitian dust”
in that room.
Shelly is now with her father in the Dominican Republic and
this is, without a doubt, what is best for her. I am so thankful for the role
that my family got to play in her story. I am thankful for Pastor Joseph, Yanick Kesnel, and everyone at All-In-One village. God is using that community
(and our community) in ways that I didn’t even know. When I arrived home to
Tampa, I shared the exciting news about Shelly’s story with my boys. The smiles
on their faces to hear that “their sister” was with her dad…true joy! We still
pray for her, but we also have new “brothers and sisters” that our partnership
with All-In-One makes possible. And many
of their stories are just getting started.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Update packets are in the mail!
The CATB Orphan Project update packets have gone out today!
You can look forward to reading about the positive changes and developments in our village, the All in One Village, in Dargout, Haiti. You'll also get a glimpse of the life-change that the orphans are experiencing and how trips to Haiti have impacted fellow CATBer's.
Due to the transitory nature of Haiti and our orphanage
in particular, most partner families will not be receiving updated photos of the orphans they originally received. Most of the orphans we originally took photos of back in May 2010 have been relocated or reunited with family members, which is exciting news!
Please join us on Fridays at four o'clock to stop and take a moment to pray for the child you'll receive in the update packet and for the orphanage as a whole. And don't forget to enter your email address on the right hand side of this blog to subscribe and receive regular updates!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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