Happy New Year from T.H.E. Mission!!

We want to thank all of our members for their incredible support during 2010. As you know, this was an incredibly difficult year for our friends in Haiti. Between the January 12, 2010 earthquake that caused the deaths of over 250,000 people, the cholera outbreak and political unrest, many Haitians have faced the most challenging year of their life.

This year, T.H.E. Mission has been able to bring a lot of good to a lot of people. Here is a review of what we did in 2010.

Thanks to our supporters we were able to feed and clothe over a thousand people. These people also received life saving medical care through our clinics. We have seen lives improved and malnourished babies brought back from the brink of death. Thank you to our nurses!

We helped build a school in, Labadri, a community where the children had never been to school. This school is now thriving and plans have been made to expand this year.

Also, many children been enrolled in schools for the first time thanks to our scholarship program. These children have been so excited to be a student and are working hard!

Over a thousand children received a pair of shoes to protect their little feet.

Dozens of shelters and houses were built to help get families out of their makeshift tents and into homes.

Through these projects we are helping to build strong communities and sharing hope with our neighbors. We could not do it without your support. Thank you for all the ways in which you help us be successful!

~ Christa

In December 2010, we connected with the Bon Samaritan Orphanage in Croix des Bouquets, a suburb of Port Au Prince, Haiti. I haven’t cried in Haiti in a long time but my first visit to Bon Samaritan had me in tears. This four bedroom house is home to 112 children ranging from 10 months to 17 years old. In one small room, 43 little boys sleep on the phone without blankets, pillows or mats. This home has no indoor toilets, electricity or clean water. Lack of staff, materials and financial support has contributed to the dire situation of these children.

Also, the orphanage was out of food. For dinner the night of our visit, the children were eating a paste of flour and water. Needless to say, most of the children were malnourished. One of the sickest children was a one year old boy named Samuel (pictured below). Despite his age, Samuel weighed as much of a newborn. He had no use of his legs and was non responsive. The next day, we took Samuel to a clinic for treatment. Hopefully, with continued care and the food he needs he will be running around with the rest of the kids soon.

As soon as T.H.E. Mission staff received word of this situation fundraising and collections began. Thanks to the generosity of some of our members, we were able to provide several weeks worth of food and supplies. We plan to return this month to deliver more supplies and to connect with other NGOs in Haiti that provide food to orphanages. Our goal is to get Bon Samaritan on par with the other orphanages we work with and get these children the loving care they deserve.

This is an ongoing project. If you would like to donate to help these children, please contact me at christa@themissionhaiti.com. As usual, our main need is money. Funding can open so many doors for this orphanage. If you have it in your heart to donate, please do so using the link to the right. However, there are some things that are cheaper to buy in the U.S. and ship down. Some ideas of donations are:

Baby formula

Diapers

Shoes

Children’s Vitamins

Small pillows and sheets

If you would like to donate any of these items, contact me.

Thank you all for your love and support. With your help, we will make this orphanage a beautiful place for these children.

~ Christa

Dear Friends, Supporters, & Prayer Partners of El Shaddai,

We have had Youvengy for about one week.  He had a very bad night last night and the night before with high fever and trouble breathing.  Today we took him to a private doctor who told us that anemia was his main problem.  His heart did not have enough blood to pump correctly. She asked to do some tests before she would admit him to the hospital and told us that he would probably have to receive blood transfusion.  Since we were not finding immediate care until we brought back the tests results, we took him to a hospital which admitted him right away.  They put him on IV and oxygen to help him breathe better.  The hospital also told us he had a real problem with anemia and needed blood transfusion.  Since they have not asked us to act on the transfusion right away, but were just talking about it, we are taking this opportunity to ask you to join us in fervent prayer.  Pray that the Lord will give Youvengy all the blood that he needs so he will not have to go through the process of blood transfusion.  Please believe with us. Both pediatricians said that he is so anemic that we could lose him at any time. Please see this as a serious request. God can give him the necessary blood and we believe He will do as soon as possible.  Thank you so much for partnering with us in prayer. May God bless you!

Greetings in the name of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, We are in need of prayer at this time.  We have begun working in a new area called Canaan.  This area is growing larger with each passing day.  It is like a desert there and the people are in need of drinking water. The people have to walk very far to obtain water.  Hearts with Hope for Haiti received funds to dig a well in this area.  The process has begun and so far the well has been dug 30 feet.  It has been a hard process. Rocks have had to be drilled through and right now they have reached an area that is very difficult to drill through.  The people in Canaan are very happy to see a well being dug in their area and they wait anxiously to pump water to use for their families. Our prayer request is that the drilling process will be able to be complete and the people of Canaan will receive the much needed drinking water.  Pray that everything in the ground that is blocking the process will be broken up and the drilling process can be completed as planned, even better than planned. Please pray for all the workers not to get discouraged, but continue trusting the Lord.  Please pray for wisdom and direction from the Lord! Thank you for your prayers and we are looking forward to sharing the praise report with you.

We are preparing for our next trip to Haiti  (May 24-29, 2010).

This team will be involved in working at several orphanages, doing food distribution and offering small medical clinics.

Keep us in your prayers as we try to find funding for building projects and sponsors for orphans.

We know that going to Haiti on short-term mission trips really do make a difference.  Ask Deverson who would have died at 9 months old but is now 10.  Ask Kenzie’s mom and Oliver’s Godmother – who both would have lost their babies to starvation and malnutrition had our team not been there to provide medical care and formula.  Thank you to all of you who pray for us, donate to us and support us financially.  You are making as big of an impact as those who are able to go.

We will keep you posted on our adventures.

-Shasta Grimes

Another amazing team that left it’s mark in Haiti.  I continue to be amazed at what God is doing and how He brings these teams together from across the US and Canada.  I have such respect for everyone who is willing to sacrifice their time and resources to come join us, people they don’t know, in a country they’ve never been to that is so often portrayed on the news as one of the most dangerous places to go.  I think we can all disagree with the “scary / dangerous” portrayal of Haiti and the people.  One of the most common comments from team members when we talk about what surprised them the most it is often that it’s not as scary as they thought it would be.  Like every country, culture, state, city, town, whatever, there will always be bad things that happen but I have never felt scared or threatened in Haiti.  Downtown Miami….maybe….Haiti, not so much.

We, (Charity, Christa and Shasta) learn and experience new things with every team and trip to Haiti.  Though we’ve been doing this for years we are always in awe and amazement at all the things teams accomplish, the skills that are utilized and the lives changed – both in Haiti and the team.  This was an especially interesting mix because we basically had 2 teams merging over into 1 team but as usual, it all flowed and worked out the way it needed to.

Team A arrived on Wednesday April 21:  A medical crew from Canada (Sarah, Tara, Brianna, Andrew, Michelle, Danielle), Paul – the do-all/give-all from VA, Penny – our counselor and teen mentor from Ohio,  3 March team members from Miami who couldn’t wait to get back to the kids at the orphanage (Carlos, Estella, Keilah) and our 2 fearless leaders (Charity & Christa) who stayed the entire 11 days.

They immediately got to work setting up clinics and giving oral hygiene classes.  They held a birthday bash for the kids in the orphanage who had a birthday that just passed or was coming up.  On Sat., leader #3 (Shasta) arrived in enough time to join the kids from the orphanage on a trip to a local “beach”.  The first beach we tried to go to looked like a building graveyard and someone sitting there tried to charge us hundreds of dollars to stay and swim so we packed up all the kids and headed up the road to a nice beach which was a little less expensive but we sat and walked on rocks.  They had a blast though and that’s what was important.

On Sunday 2 more medical students from Canada arrived, Nicola and Lindsay, and on Monday our couples arrived: Michael and Ann from California and Mike and Amanda from Florida.

In all of what should have been chaos of team members coming and going, trips into the capital city with gas stations out of gas and buying “pink” gas on the side of the road for over $10 a gallon we saw little to no chaos and a lot of amazing progress and impacting those we came in contact with.  Here is a snapshot of the trip (check out the pictures in the photo gallery):

*Held four clinics where they treated nearly six hundred people (wow!!!)

*Held four dental hygiene workshops and distributed hundreds of toothbrushes and toothpastes to people in the area

*Held three food distributions

*Gave the JBA orphanage kids their monthly birthday party

*Took 67 people to the beach (in two vehicles) and sponsored the trip for many children who had never been before

*Triaged a number of different accident victims

*Loved on dozens of children and babies

*Began painting rooms for some of the JBA children

*Shared the gospel in Labodie

*Helped supply food, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and hygiene items to people in the area

*Completed the lighting of the mission house and saw construction begin on the new property

*Pioneered a counseling session for children who recently lost parents

*Rescued an eleventh month old baby from malnutrition and dehydration and enabled his godmother to stay with him in PAP

*And most of all continued to show the people in the Cabaret area that our organization and Pastor Pierre are committed to long term community transformation

Amazing time. Amazing Team.  Amazing love.  Amazing God.  Amazing experiences.

Thank you team for going.  Thank you anyone who has prayed for, donated or supported T.H.E. Mission in any way.  You are making a difference too and for that we are thankful.

Shasta

What an amazing week and group of people.  As I sit and reflect on this past week I am amazed at the group of people God brought together.  In the past I have led groups of people I know from my hometown.  This was the first group I pulled in from across the country and Canada, the first leading without my husband and the first team Charity, Christa and I led under T.H.E. Mission.  I’m not sure it could have been any better than it was.

We accomplished a lot in one week which is a feat in and of itself in Haiti.  We had a slogan, “T.I.H” which just means, “This is Haiti”.  If you’ve ever been to Haiti you understand that you can get frustrated with the way things go or you can just say, “TIH” and know the flexibility is the key and “Hurry up and wait” is the lifestyle.  It’s amazing how my week in Haiti was one of the most relaxing and calming weeks I’ve experienced in many months.  It was quite refreshing.

The construction crew was given a few options of work and they decided to help rebuild a home for a dying young man and his mother.  The young man, in his 20′s, lay bedridden with little answers to why he was so skinny and weak.  They had given him all the tests for diseases and illnesses yet they still didn’t know what was wrong with him.  He was stuck in his bed when the earthquake hit and pieces of his house crumbled around him.  His mother created a make-shift home out of sticks and sheets to help keep him protected since his home was no longer safe to live in.  Our crew was able to secrure the structure, rebuild the wall, fix the outter walls and “windows” and put a new roof on so he could move back in.  They can explain better than I the frustration of the lack of tools and materials but in the end they worked very hard with what they had and finished the house.

The medical team ran a small clinic where they saw many children but lacked the medicines they needed to meet all the needs.  There are just so many needs and so limited resources.  There was one baby though that will stay with all of us.  Baby Mackenzie came to the clinic on the verge of dying.  For the first several hours of treatment they all thought he was 2 weeks old.  They found out later he was over 2 months old.  He was very sick and dehydrated but in only 2 days of treatments they were able to notice great improvements in his health.  We sent his mom home with food for her to help her produce milk, formula and clean water for the baby in case the mom is still unable to feed him and also some tarps to help keep them dry in their little “home”.

The kids and recreation team were amazing.  Always ready to love on and play with the kids, this group was full of love and energy and it was amazing.  I was so impressed with the giving spirit they all had.  I know the many kids they came in contact with are better because of the love shown by our team.

I can’t wait to continue to see these types of changes made in Haiti, in the lives of those we come in contact with and those who get to go experience this. I hope to have many more stories like this.

Shasta