World Renewal International

Biglanda is the girl on the right when our staff in Haiti decided to bring her to Christ Compassion Orphanage. During my March 2008 visit I had a chance to visit our orphanage and meet the kids. It was a wonderful experience for me. I am so grateful for those of you who make the orphanage possible. What did I find? What were my observations?

The orphanage is not all I want it to be. It is not up to the standards we have for future goals. It is obvious that all is being done by the Haitians and our staff that can be done. They are doing an awesome job with the resources we have available. The good news is that the children are being well cared for and you can see the changes in their lives like Biglanda. Their quality of life is greatly improved. We had some children who were recent additions. Their emotional and mental state as well as their physical is quite different from those who have been there for a while. Biglanda is the one on the front left in the middle picture and she is the one in the middle on the lower picture. She is really a fun, high energy girl.

On Sunday night the youth of the Gonaive Church gave a two hour presentation. Most of the time the city of Gonaive, population 104,000+, is without electricity. During my stay from Wednesday through Tuesday it was on two times, one time for 3 hours, another time 8 hours, both times were late at night or early in the morning. That means there is little television, radio or many other entertainment resources. When folks get together for church on a Sunday night and the youth are in charge, worship and entertainment seem to crossover from time to time. It seems to be a great place to have good fellowship and a good time as well as worship and teaching and training from God's word. I truely loved this time. Our orphans were part of the presentations that night. The church seems to be doing a great job of integrating our orphans into the church. In the lower picture the children are singing and dancing before the Lord. Biglanda is the best dancer of them all, second only to Pastor Luc.

When we left the church that night, the streets were so dark. Without electricity this city where voodoo and evil are
seemingly everywhere, it really, really gets dark. Life is cheap with a man's life expectancy at only 55. As I lay in bed one night thinking of the darkness of the city and how scary and evil the
streets at night seemed, I had 25 images pop up in my mind. Our orphans! They all once lived on those dark streets at night! That's were they were before Pastor Luc and Rosana took them into Christ Compassion Orphanage. That is why they felt we had to start the orphanage!

I have not been able to get this out of my mind! Those dark streets, the children all abandoned for whatever reason. No one to say, "Honey, don't touch that! Don't go there!"

No, the orphanage is not what we want it to be yet. I and another man on the trip left funds for 9 more mattresses as not everyone had one yet. We still need two more mattresses at $40 each. We need more children sponsored at $30/month so that we can continue to provide the food and safe water to drink. It actually costs $60 per child per month so each child needs two sponsors. They are behind twelve foot protective walls. They are off the dark, evil and dangerous streets. They are well cared for by Pastor Luc and Rosana and the orphanage matrons. We do have enough room in the house. However, the house does have some limitations on plumbing and it is hard without electricity. All laundry is done by hand.

The faces and attitudes of the children are heart-stealing! The are happy and joyful and well behaved. They are polite and well mannered. I thought they were the best behaved kids in both Sunday morning and Sunday evening church. Our Gonaive Church building is also where they go to school during the week. Pastor Luc, his family and staff are doing an awesome job. They are doing all they can. However, most of the improvements needed are things that cannot be done without our help.

I can say this, of all the things I have been privileged to do in life, none seemed more important or meaningful than holding those children in my arms and hugging them and kissing them. Once I started doing that, I noticed they were standing in line for seconds and thirds. I gave those hugs and kisses until someone would say, "Gary, it is time to go." I won't ever be the same, can't be, I should not be.

[Below our orphans are ready for school. Federal law requires uniforms] Biglanda is far right on the front row. Sponsor a child at World Renewal, PO Box 399, Greenfield, IN 46140.

Thanks for stopping by.