The following week, we had a team from Lookout Mountain, Georgia.  Faculty of Hilger Higher Learning trained the teachers on new curriculum and helped map out a schedule and provide structure for the school.  The ladies encouraged the children to let their creative juices flow in the afternoons with different art projects.  They cut, glued, drew, and colored wonderful works of art.  A line was hung to display their creations.  The men in the group screened windows to prevent mosquitoes from entering the bedrooms.  Cubbies were built for each child to have a place to store their own treasures.  They installed fans, and sawed a door in half to improve ventilation in the rooms.  They problem-solved, made lists for future teams, and encouraged the staff at Maison through their dedication to providing a quality environment. 

The next team to arrive held a VBS for the children and a ballet/dance camp.  The children spent time learning about God’s salvation plan for them from the beginning of time, and how God has a plan for each of them through Jesus, God’s gift to us.  They acted out parts of Bible stories, created a mural of people in God's family, decorated a Christmas tree with hand-crafted ornaments, mixed up a tasty ‘creation snack’, and made a hand-print quilt to remind them that they are part of God's family.  Each child had the opportunity to learn ballet and other movements.  The toddlers participated in circle songs and dances, and the older children learned basic ballet positions and actions. In the midst of the planned teams, we always have visitors who stop in to bless us in many different ways.  Some groups stop and play for a bit, others stay for a day.  All provide love and care to the children, and encouragement to the staff at Maison. 

 

We are thankful for our summer servants so far!  Thank you for partnering with us to care for the children at Maison.

Last week we had a lovely group of ladies come from Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan.  They came to serve at the orphanage, as well as other orphanages in Port au Prince.  They led a Vacation Bible School program for the children at Maison for four days.  They started with Christmas and ended with Easter.  The children loved the things they made during these times so much that there is a huge stack in the office of things the children wanted to keep.  The ladies also spent a lot of time sorting and making an inventory of medical supplies we have on hand.  This is very helpful for the medical team here this week, and the one coming later in the fall.
We spent time visiting two other locations that we help support.  The ladies played games and distributed food, clothing, and other items to these two locations. 
It was a very fast week, and we said goodbye to them yesterday after a last round of rocking babies on the porch.  We are thankful for the time they spent assisting at the orphanage, and the love they shared with the children here.

In July, the OAK project from Chattanooga, Tennessee:

• Provided group trauma counseling for all nannies (all received certificate of completion)
• Conducted soap making workshops for over 40 people.  Each person received one bar, and the rest will be sold in the US with profits going to those in the workshops
• Team assisted in daily tasks to lighten workload of nannies, cooks, and clothes washers
• Provided child care for the nannies who were in counseling sessions and soap-making workshops
• Created video of photos from the week and presented it to staff and children during a celebration time held for the workers
• Provided daily encouragement though cold drinks, little treats, gentle hands and kind words
• Photographer and videographer captured sights of Port au Prince, the orphanage, children and staff
• Committed to long-term care of staff and workers at orphanage

The week was filled with times of encouragement to the workers.  The volunteers from the OAK Project "did life" with these amazing women.  We were blessed to have such thoughtful, caring people come and care for the staff.  Through providing such wonderful care to these women and men, they are better able to care for the children.  The children were part of great play times with the team, as well as the celebration party and video time at the end of the week.

Brian and Christy Guenther from River Stone Church brought an amazing team of people to serve at Maison.  They were at Maison for two weeks.  I hesitate to simply list off what was accomplished, because the risk there is that we would look at those accomplishments and miss the bigger picture of what God was doing in and through this team. (I know the same could be said about other teams as well).  The following things happened during River Stone's time with us:

• Visited the land: the team left very committed to assisting with the development of the new community
• Constructed:
  • Tables and benches for orphanage
  • Cabinets and shelves in kitchen, shelves in all storage areas for food, clothing, and formula
    
  • Shelf for washroom
• Painted all old tables and benches
• Provided opportunity for children to build and paint their own creations
• Retro-fitted outdoor classroom
• Organized supplies and food in all areas
• Fixed electricity to water cooler
• Photographer in group provided portrait-style photos of each child
• Provided hygiene kits for nannies
• Daily praise and worship with the children in both English and Kreyol
• Planning and curriculum development for the school
  

We are looking forward to seeing the servants from River Stone again very soon!

It has been a whirlwind of activity these past two weeks.  Teams have dedicated a lot of time to building shelves for organizing supplies.  The managers and workers are very excited to have storage for the supplies we have.  Take a look...

We have been blessed this summer with a construction intern, Brett.  He has coordinated many projects around the orphanage.  Here are pictures of a few of them:
Putting a new roof on the storage room.  No more leaking on supplies!

Building a wall to separate the inside of the toddler room from the porch.  Complete with a door!
Painting intricate metal work on  doors.

New storage shelves in the nurse's office.

Rabbit cages for the rabbits we were given.  Great job providing a healthy home for the rabbits!
New guard shack where the old one used to be.  A shady place for hot Haitian days.

The Cause Community Church drove from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to spend a few days with us at Maison.  They brought the pastor from the church they were serving in Santo Domingo, Pastor Louis.  It was a great time of encouragement for Pierre and Pastor Louis.  The team served in the following ways:

• Built and painted tables and benches for Zanfan house (a local house for former street boys)
  
• Installed fans in Zanfan house
• Puppet show for children at the orphanage
• Distributed hygiene kits to a local tent city of 100 people
• Spreadsheet creation and administrative assistance
  

Their trip was extended unexpectedly by a day, and we were blessed to share worship time at a local church and another day together.  We are so thankful for their help during their time here, and we were sad to see them depart.  That seemed to be a fairly common theme this summer...

Grace Church (and a friend from Oregon!) brought a team to serve at Maison for a week towards the end of the month.  They kept busy during their week!  Two doctors and a paramedic provided a medical clinic to nannies and families, as well as to a tent city where one of our nannies lives with her family, as well as another local tent city.  In all, over 300 people were treated.  All were given de-worming medicine and vitamins, as well as medicines for their illnesses or injuries.   The team provided a daily VBS program with songs, games, and an awesome sharing of the Gospel.  A translator delivered Pastor Chris' message each day.  Pastor Chris Riser presented the Gospel to a group waiting to be seen by the doctors and one woman accepted Christ as her Savior.  The team provided two weeks of food to local tent city of 100 people.  One missionary created a hallway display reading "Hope" and "Peace" from notes sent by school children in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  In construction, some of the guys rebuilt the guard shack, and fixed the chicken coop and rabbit hutches.  The staff and children were greatly encouraged by the care given by this team.

During the month of June we had several teams working on very different projects.  One team completed the following:

• Rebuilt second floor roof over storage rooms
• built tables for kitchen area
• designed and build outside tent classroom
• provided daily assistance for nannies

During the month we also had counseling for the nannies and children, fun activities for the children, and more assistance with work projects.  God was so good to send just the right people at just the right times.