Gauvreau en Haiti

Friday, February 4

Already February, but there is a lot of actions taking place. The Haitian politic, finally Mrs. Manigat and Mr. Martelly will be on the second tour on March 20, 2011. Thank you Lord! Continue to pray for the good President to be at the head of the country. The right person, who will really help the country to recover from the earthquake. There are also Senators and deputies to elect on the second tour. They are the seats that did not get the majority votes to be elected on the first round in last November 28.

Wednesday night, February 2, Georges has preached on “Our relation with God”. He said that if our relation with God is not there or only when we want it, this affect the relation with ourselves and with others. We must be in peace with one another this is what the Bible teaches us. The only way we can make peace, with ourselves and others, we must have a constant relationship with God and even God must be present in every small detail of our relations. It was so interesting that even the girls, who told him that they will sleep during his preaching, did not sleep and afterward came to thank him.

At the orphanage, we received a group of 10 persons on January 31 for a week. The work is well organized for them. There is a lot of paint and cleaning to do on the three houses in Thomassin. When volunteers come here they probably will not work in the domain of expertise, but must be ready to do whatever we ask them to do, that means to be flexible and humble; and do it the way we want the chore to be done. We must not think about the North American norms, we are in an underdeveloped country. I give you an example. At Toddlers House, there were cup cakes done for lunch the day after. But during the night, the ants had a feast in the sugar topping. New volunteers wanted to throw them in garbage, but here we take the ants off (ants are clean) and we eat the cup cakes and if there is an ant in it, it is protein.

Last week and this week, the orphanage lost two babies, who were at the last stage of malnourishment. It is very difficult on the emotional side. This morning I cried because I understand so much all that they are doing to bring this babies to a normal life, it is very hard. Their heart goes to these unfavoured children and taxed with malnutrition. There is the father of one of them who just lost his wife during the delivery and now has lost his child. It is for people like this that we are in Haiti.

Even if Georges and I are doing a support work, without this support the orphanage could not help the babies and the young children who suffer so much. Often, I ask Susan, the chief nurse, if she needs such and such medical item or food for the babies or young children and I offer her what we have in the warehouse. Without this support she could not take care of the children.

Yesterday, I found a machine which makes oxygen, or something like this. John said: “We are bringing it down right away at the orphanage, because we have no replacement if the other machine breaks.” There are many babies who are on oxygen full time or part time. So you understand that without support staff many babies could not be help or saved. Susan or Dixie could not go to the warehouse to see what is in there and do the data entry on the computer. We must realize that each person is necessary for the orphanage good functioning. Every one has a place and as we work together we are doing God’s will to take care of the little ones. Because Jesus said: “Whoever receives one of such children on My name receives Me. And whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but the One having sent Me.” Mar 9:37

Yesterday, Thursday February 3, the orphanage did another distribution in Calebasse in a church of one of the nannies who works at the orphanage. Georges went and took some pictures. (See photos February 2011).

Friday, February 11

Last week, Georges got in an accident with a motorcycle. In Haiti, the motorbikes drive everywhere, overtake you, drive on the sidewalks and go to the opposite sense of the traffic if necessary. So, Georges was coming out slowly of the gas station because the cars on both side of the road were letting him go out. Suddenly, a motorbike coming from nowhere, with 2 passengers (it is illegal), passed all the cars and hit our car. It was at the intersection where there are always two policemen. They told Georges that he must drive the two injured passengers at the hospital. At that moment, a police truck passed by, so they took the two passengers from the back of our car and were transferred in the back of the pick-up truck. The poor girl, who had a broken leg, was screaming. Following this, one of the policemen sat in the car to make sure that Georges was going to the police station to report the accident.

When Georges arrived at the station, it was too late to take the details they kept his driver license to make sure he will be back the morning after. The driver of the motorcycle never showed up. He knew he was wrong.

The day after, Georges went to the police station. After, he went to the government insurance office to report the accident. They checked in case it would be a stolen car, verify the damages on our car and took pictures. Now, we are waiting for the final decision of who is to blame.

Last Wednesday afternoon, volunteers and a few members of the staff did another distribution. This time it was at Delmas 48 on the golf course, the tent camp of Sean Penn, also where Pastor St-Cyr has a church and where Georges and I went last month. The volunteers liked it very much and came back overwhelmed. This camp is one of the best.

Wednesday evening, we had a BBQ around the fire pit at Fort-Jacques. Actually, there are a lot of volunteers, around twenty. I always like these times when we can talk and be together, being able to learn more about each other. Following the supper, we had a time of signing praises and a time of testimonies. (See photos February 2011).

Thursday at Fort-Jacques, the truck to dig the well arrived around 11:00 am. They had lunch and then they succeeded in bringing the truck down the steep road. (See photos February 2011). Today, they start to dig a hole to get to the water. Dixie and John hope to find enough water to supply all the houses of the orphanage and to give some to the community of Fort-Jacques.

This morning, Georges went with Yannick and Kathiana at the Baptist Mission in Fermathe, to see the ophthalmologist. Their eyes are hurting when they read for too long. Tomorrow, they will see the doctor at his office in Petionville for more exams.

Friday, February 18

This month it just seems that I write always on Friday. It is true that I have a little more time as the maid clean the apartment. We decide to give her a key so she can enter the apartment when we are not here. She has been with us for almost 8 months and she is honest and trustworthy. There is more and more work to do up at the orphanage and Georges cannot come to pick me up in the afternoon. It takes too much time and also a lot of gas as the average speed we drive is 15 km/h.

Since yesterday, we have a new girls staying with us. She is American and her name is Tara and she is 24 years old. We met her at GLA and she comes back in Haiti to work with an organization that works with deaf and mute peoples. The name of the organization is Four Ten Bridges, and they work at making bridges with different people groups that need helps. Tara will stay with us until September. She is doing a 7 months trial, after she will probably look at staying long term with the organization. We will be parents for another young adult. You can see her picture at Yannick’s Birthday pictures.

The orphanage has received many new babies and children, around twenty. Some are very sick, they come from Cazale. Others come from an orphanage that we help in Kenscoff. They are all for adoption. If you want to adopt a young child from Haiti go to this web site:  http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/so-you-want-to-adopt/  At the Toddlers House, they double the number of children from 20 to 40. They were able to call back many nannies that were laid off earlier because there were not children to care for.

Saturday, February 19

Have you ever found small flies at the bottom of your refrigerator? For me, it is yes! I do not know why they search a cold place to die, but they do not touch the food.

Today, it is Yannick’s birthday and tomorrow it will be Georges’ birthday. Tara will bake a cake and we will go at “Epi d’Or” for supper. It is cheap and the food is really good. It is a well known place and many people buy their bread there. We buy our bread there because it is always fresh. Following the supper, we will come back to the house to eat the cake. (See photo February 2011).

Tuesday, February 22

The car is in repair, this time it is the motor but it has 230 000 miles on it. Tomorrow, Wednesday we should be able to use it again.

We have three pictures of Billy and his friends; Gus the dog, the cat and Elsa the maid.

My end word:

Even in hard times we can be confident that we will have victory through Jesus. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Romans 8:37

Much love!

Jocelyne and Georges