Cultivating....

Bonswa! (No, i didn't spell that wrong; it's Creole!) Another great day in the community....

We began our day breaking up the soil behind a young mother's home so that she may grow a garden. We were so grateful to have so many workers and marveled at how long it would have taken to break up this land alone. We soon realized just how vital this task was when she suddenly passed out, likely from anemia. The community here is so supportive of each other. When Mirlande passed out, she immediately had Deaf neighbors at her side, concerned and offering their support. Once she regained consciousness, we learned that all she'd had for breakfast was coffee. She has 3 very young children, and her husband is away, caring for his sick parents. Her parents are sick and don't live nearby, so they are unable to help. She needs work to earn a living to provide for her family. Right now, she is a single mom, essentially. How blessed are we that we, even when we think there's "nothing to eat," we can actually stroll into our (air-conditioned) kitchen and use electricity to cook something that we haven't had to kill or harvest ourselves?

One of the pastors here was speaking matter-of-factly about the daily struggles Haitians face. He asked if Americans face the same struggles. We told him no, that their are millions across the world who face similar or even harder struggles, but that America is abundantly blessed (even if we rarely realize it). Pastor Greg once did a series of messages on "How to Be Rich," and one of the statistics was this: "If your family income is $10,000 a year, you are wealthier than 84 percent of the world. If it's $50,000 or more a year, you make more than 99 percent of the world." Read that again. Even our most impoverished Americans are wealthier than 84% of the rest of the world. And middle-class Americans are richer than 99%! 

So, while we are giving of our time this week, we are getting back so much more in return. While we cultivated Mirlande's soil this morning, Tracey correlated the breaking apart that hard soil so that something will grow with how God breaks our hearts for us to grow. How true is that?

We finished out our day with some playtime with the kids from the community. I have to be clear when I say this, because there ARE baby goats roaming freely here, but I think you know what I mean by "kids". We pulled out frisbees, punching balloons and jump ropes and let the fun begin. Vincent can jump a mean rope, and Donna is a veritable pied piper when it comes to herding children. And the children love to yell, "YoLANda!" We finished the afternoon with MaryChris's enthusiastic retelling of the story of Jonah and the big fish, translated into Haitian Creole and sign language. 

Tomorrow, though our plans may well change, we hope to be teaching a jewelry-making class to the community ladies and engaging the children again with more Vacation Bible School activities.

Until tomorrow, this blogbabe (Kim) is signing off!