We Are On Our Way!

There has been a lot of activity going on at the Alabama House in Jacmel, but there is also a lot of really hot (imagine temp. of 104) activity going on at the land site for Children's Hope Orphanage. As you may recall, the land that we are in the process of purchasing had five shipping containers on it with the goal of turning them into a home for children. The Canadian team had done a lot of work in transforming these containers to make them livable, but there were still many issues. On July 25th, Charley Elgin with Pathfinder Mission began to tackle these issues which we refer to as phase 1. Charley and his wife, Martie, answered God's call a number of years ago to serve the folks in Waveland, MS who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. They spent five years in Waveland organizing the construction of storage sheds for the victims. They made a lot of connections and acquired invaluable experience.

Then they sensed God's call to work in Haiti but weren't sure where their entry point would be.

Thanks to Jay Wolf and Donna and Jessie Conte we connected with the Elgins. They agreed that overseeing the construction of our permanent home for children in Jacmel would be their entry point! Charley begins work early everyday and faces numerous challenges everyday from the water system to not being able to locate a key to the tractor not to mention the heat! God has gifted Charley with an unusual skill set that includes logistics, organization, seeing the big picture, and knowledge about a lot of things. Add all of these gifts to a compassionate heart and a good sense of humor and you have a remarkable servant. We are so thankful for Charley and Martie and the sacrifice they are both making to provide a home for children of Jacmel.

The plan is to move the 18 children to the land site October 1. The boys and girls will each have their own dormitory and for the first time in their lives, they will have indoor water with toilets that flush, working sinks and showers. Trusses and roofs will be added to cover the containers and cement is being poured around the containers. There will also be a system to provide cool air into the containers.

As I mentioned this is just phase 1. Phase 11 will be permanent homes for the children. The plans now are to build 4 to 5 homes with each having Haitian house parents overseeing 10 - 12 children. We can then use the containers as a school, vocational classes, English classes, etc.

Another remarkable way God has blessed this ministry is through a ministry that is adjacent to our land site. It is Calvary Chapel. A focus of this ministry is to provide vocational training to Haitian men. We are partnering with them by using their students to help with the construction of Children's Hope Orphanage. They provide us with labor at a reasonable price and they get hands on experience!