Chuck G and I have been in Haiti since May 30 preparing for the Rocky Bayou Christian School team that is coming this week. Not only are we looking forward to seeing some of the same faces, the Haitian children can’t wait to see some of their American friends! We have had to go into Port 5 out of 6 days to gather supplies for the mission house. It takes a lot of food, water and supplies to feed around 40 people, including interpreters, for 12 days. Last Tuesday we were blessed with food from Feed My Starving Children, distributed by Love A Child.
Today Love A Child asked if we would like to come out and pick up some new tennis shoes, new women’s Chicko clothing, new baseball caps and assorted clothes. Of course, the answer was ‘yes!’ All these items came from World Vision. Our plan is to let the youth sort through them when they get here and group them according to size so we can give them all away one morning.
What a blessing for the Haitian people – all these clothing items are new. (Just so you will know, never send old, used clothes to Haiti, or any other third world country.) I know we, as Americans, think the Haitians should be thankful for whatever they get – that is not the case. They are a proud people, especially when it comes to their dress. Men, women and children in the mountains wear nice clean clothes with nice shoes when they are not working in the field. Their shirts are white – white and sometimes even pressed – for Sunday. They wash all their clothes in lye soap and iron them with a charcoal iron. So, if you wouldn’t wear the white shirt with the mustard stain on it, don’t send it to Haiti (hopefully, just some constructive advice.)
Again, we would like to thank our friends at Love A Child, Bobby & Sherry, at Feed My Starving Children, Mark Crea & Matt Muraski, and at World Vision, for providing for the needs of the Haitian people.