Compassion Haiti 2014 Day 2

Our second full day in Haiti we traveled only about 40 minutes away from our hotel to visit another project. This time we were focused on the Child Development Program (CDP). This program focuses on children ages 3 up through high school. The children did a presentation for us. They sang songs, some sang solos, and a girl even played the trumpet. We also introduced ourselves and told where we were from. We then led the children in a rousing rendition of "Hallelu Hallelu Hallelu Hallelujah!" Oh, that was pretty fun. The kids got a kick out of that. There was lots of cheering going on! :)

After that, our team broke into four small groups. Each of us did a different activity and the children could pick where they wanted to go. One group played out on the "field", which was a dirt, concrete, stone field. Another did crafts, the third did face painting and fingernail painting. The group I was in jumped rope. What fun that was! I can't remember the last time I jumped rope. And the kids were awesome at jumping rope. Some could jump double dutch, some could jump with partners and jump around each other while jumping rope. I was happy I could jump in! :)

After playing a few hours, we then had lunch with the staff and learned about what each one's job is at the project. We also got to see where they are constructing new school buildings, built to code and strong enough to withstand strong earthquakes.

Me and Sara. Everyone on our team was just so awesome.

Roof of the new school rooms

Safety blinds

We then went on another home visit after lunch. It was a quick walk across the street and then down a turkey path to a bunch of houses scattered here and there. We went with our translator and one of the staff members from the project. The home we went to was a four room house, with one of the rooms being rented out to someone else. It had a concrete floor, concrete walls and a tin roof. There was no kitchen in the house. It was outside under a roof with tarps around it for walls. Inside there was no electricity, running water or bathrooms. There is typically a community "bathroom" which can range from a hole in the ground to an outhouse. 

In the home was the grandmother, the matriarch of the home. She had her daughter living with her who had three children. The daughter's husband left her when she was pregnant with the  baby. There was just a heaviness about the home. You could tell there had been a lot of pain and sorrow experienced there. We talked to them a little and then prayed with them. We asked the grandmother what she would like prayer for, and she answered that she would like her family to know and believe in Jesus. As we gathered around to pray, this dear woman, who looked like she was in her late 70s, and couldn't get around well, sank to her knees for us to pray for her. I have tears again just thinking about it. One of the other team members worded it so well, "It was as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders as she knelt there for us to pray for her."

So while this home visit was hard, it was good to know that Compassion is there, partnering with the church, to love these children. To teach them about the Friend that never leaves them, even in all the uncertainty  and difficulty of life. And to give them a hope.