It's
time to give you the latest news from Haiti and Honduras and to
let you know that we are now accepting gift packages for the
children in Haiti.
Nothing has changed as it relates to:
Honduras Gifts
They have
continued to flow in and have been processed as usual; there are
no changes or restrictions. The new school year began in
February and runs through October.
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58 women
distributed sponsor gifts just hours before the
earthquake struck |
Haiti Gifts
Gift packages
are now being accepted for Haiti. Suggestions on what to send:
basically more of the same and include more food items such as
peanut butter and canned meats (no pop top cans please).
Sending money is the best thing you can do.
How many packages can I send?
There is no
limit on the number of packages you send but every shoe-box
sized packet needs to be accompanied with a $5.00 contribution
to cover our processing and shipping costs.
Even if you
don't ship in shoe boxes (which are not required) you need to
measure the quantity using a shoe box as a guide and if you
exceed 1 shoe box, then please enclose more money for
processing/shipping costs.
April deadline for gifts
All gifts
coming in now are for the April 2010 quarterly gift deadline.
Haiti:
this deadline hopefully makes it possible for all gifts to reach
the children in Haiti in time for next fall's school year in
September 2010. (turn around time is minimum of 4 months) Keep
this in mind for what you send. Book bags with clothing,
nutrition/food items, and fun items are ideal for the opening of
school each fall in Haiti.
Honduras:
The April Honduras gifts should be distributed in June.
El
Salvador
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Jose baptizes a new believer in El Salvador |
Bob is in El
Salvador now where Jose' Rodriguez reported 4 more baptisms this
past week. Jose' is amazing; he is so effective in leading
people to Christ and through The Bible Institute, the "Timothys"
there are a huge help in the mission outreach. El Salvador is a
gorgeous country. But unlike Haiti and Honduras the mountains
are all volcanic, so as soon as you fly over the border you see
a different looking type of mountain...they all have the cut off
peaks, indicative of a volcano. Jose' told us that there are
30+ volcanoes in this tiny little rectangular country and 17 are
active! That is probably another disaster waiting to
happen! (smile!)
When Bob returns to Haiti from Honduras, he and I, along with
David Price will be here until April 6; then we will leave for
about a month and return to Haiti again for several months.
Updates from Haiti
The Grand Goave Christian School
began holding classes on a
limited basis 2 weeks ago. The re-construction is coming along
well of the classrooms that collapsed in the quake.
Leogane Christian School & Church
had to be totally rebuilt. The construction is coming along
well under the direction of David Price. This includes a
remodeling of the school kitchen, which was funded by Plainfield
Christian Church (Indiana). We also recently distributed gifts
under a tarp in one of the newly rebuilt classrooms; it was
sooooo hot here.
We are very excited about an up-coming visit from the
Indianapolis Colts wide receiver
Pierre Garcon!
He is a Haitian whose mother is originally from Leogane and he
wants to help his people, especially at this time of disaster.
He will visit us April 5 and see the school and grounds. He has
established the Pierre Garcon Helping Hands Foundation and in
conjunction with Pierre's partnership with Northwest Haiti
Christian Mission is coming to Haiti to visit their work in Port
de Paix, Haiti and will come to Leogane to see our school for
which his Foundation has granted funds to help with the
reconstruction of the Leogane Christian School. We are all very,
very excited about this event. And of course the children will
be eager to meet him.
Vieux Cayes Christian School
lost a 2-classroom building and the offices behind the church.
Next on the school rebuild agenda is Vieux Cayes.
Deuxieme Plaine Christian School
has classrooms that need rebuilt, walls to rebuild, and some
general upgrading that we will do at the same time. The
parsonage at that location will need to be rebuilt also.
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The tent city at the Children's Home |
Lovelink Children's Home and Mahotiere Christian School both
have major reconstruction needs. Recently, Bob and I visited
there and, just as has happened here at our main campus in Grand
Goave and all around Haiti, "the neighbors have moved in" and
are living on the grounds in tents. But as we walked around
looking at everything and hugging the kiddies, we saw these
small blue tents that had been stenciled with white paint and
they were identified as LOVELINK 1, LOVELINK 2, LOVELINK 3,
etc. These are the tents the children are living in from the
Home!
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There are many
youth activities going on at the Children's Home. Teachers
come in and teach all the kiddies (residents of the
Children's Home and neighborhood kids living there in tents)
how to make crafts, brooms, baskets, etc.
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The kids learn how to make crafts, brooms & baskets |
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It was quite a
nice visit and work has already started there on some of the
smaller problems with the larger issues of some demolition
and rebuilding needing completed there too. The church
there is in bad shape because the house right next to it
collapsed and damaged the church.
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Also Dr.
Souffrant has to hold clinic outside under a shade tree.
Relief Money Distribution
In January we suggested people send only money for their Haitian
children for the January deadline. Money began flowing in and I
have distributed much of that money already and will complete
that distribution within 3 weeks. I took photos so you WILL
receive your child's photo of them getting the money. We
distributed it independent of gift distribution so there is no
confusion. The photo with only money in their hands is what you
sent as of February 18. Another distribution is scheduled to
take place around April 1; all money received after that will be
distributed with the April sponsor gifts.
Haitian staff has been busy collecting data on each child and the
effects of the quake on them physically and emotionally.
The school directors are involved in this process.
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Note that this
is a lengthy process to interview all of these children
and/or their parents. It will take us a long time to send
this information to you but basically remember that "no news
is usually good news" in this case. And you will only
receive a report if your child did lose family members,
animals, home, etc.
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The Haitians
are very good about getting messages to us when someone dies
or loses a close family member. Losing their homes and
possessions however, was so wide-spread that they don't
automatically tell us the specifics of those loses. They
assume we know that if a child was in one of the areas that
suffered damage by the quake that we know they lost their
homes or at least can't live in them.
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The homes withstood the earthquake! |
Homes for Haiti
Again we want to state how much we praise God that none of our
Lifeline constructed homes were destroyed! A few had cracks in
them and only a couple need repaired to be totally safe again.
And that is taking place.
Distributing the Christmas sponsor gifts
A problem we have encountered in the Leogane and Children's Home
communities are that many of the school children are currently
not living in the communities. Because their homes were
destroyed and there are no other ones to rent, they have moved
to other areas not hit by the quake and are residing with other
family. So we had a higher than usual absent list at these 2
places.
NOTE: Please be patient with us...if you don't receive a photo
by May of your child receiving the gifts you sent for Christmas
it is probably because the child was not there at the time.
Eventually they will come back and settle in and receive those
gifts. If they end up not returning at all and decide to
relocate to another town, then we will notify you and assign a
replacement child from those children already in the program,
receiving the same benefits but not yet sponsored.
Updates from Honduras
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The 1st day of school
for the girls at Omoa! |
Honduras students are back in school
and this week we have our first work team of the winter
joining Bob,
Celeste Craig and Brenda Johnson. This is a team from Gladstone
Christian Church in Oregon. The Gladstone team will hold VBS
at 3 locations and visit their own sponsored kiddies, as well as
helping distribute sponsor gifts.
Gift Distributions
The Gladstone team will distribute gifts to the children that you
sent for the October and
January deadlines. So you will eventually get photos of those 2
distributions. Because of school being out, the holidays and no
work teams in Honduras we were not able to get these distributed
until now.
Ocotillo School Library
There was an attempted break-in at the Ocotillo Christian School
library. I don't have the details yet if anything was stolen or
if anyone was hurt. We'll let you know what we learn.
Bob and I miss the people of Honduras and El Salvador so very,
very much.
Our love for them has only grown deeper over the past few years
and we just miss being with them. But Haiti is where God has us
focusing our personal time and it is bearing fruit. No matter
what else happens this year, we are going to do our best to take
our grandchildren to Honduras to experience the beautiful
people, culture and country for the first time! It is because
of the great leadership God has given us in Honduras and El
Salvador that our presence there is not required.
If you have any additional questions about the Lovelink Child
Sponsorship Program, please don't hesitate to email Erma or I at
Gretchen@Lifeline.org, Erma@Lifeline.org
or
Lovelink@Lifeline.org.
God bless you
and thank you for all you do!
Gretchen DeVoe
Director of
Lovelink Children's Ministries
