Leaving... For Now

I know if I look back over previous blog posts from trips to Haiti that I am sure I have said that Sunday is my favorite day. In case I didn't, I want to tell you Sunday in Haiti is always my favorite.  I love the worship.  Today's worship ranks up there with some of the most memorable for me.

It's been 4 years since I last worshipped at Pastor Pudens' church called Philadelphia.  The church is completely different because it was under construction when I was there last.  We were some of the first to arrive and service started with an hour and a half worship/prayer time with brief moments of prayer as a segue into the next song.  The message was inspiring- especially since we got it translated and for those of us English speakers, we felt a part of the 3 hour service.  Yes, I said 3 hours but it didn't feel like it because after all our focus was on Christ.

This afternoon we arrived at our final destination before we depart the country tomorrow.  Expecting to get on the road to the airport in the morning, I'm sure the team will turn in early to get some rest.

As I reflect on this trip, and there is more reflection coming, I am thrilled to have been invited to this exchange.  I've learned a lot, I caught the passion that educators in Haiti have for teaching students and have a new found respect for their work.  I want to see them succeed.  And I hope in some small way, my contribution was found helpful for the teachers.

Certificates and Good-byes

Today was our last day with the Educator Exchange.  The morning was spent with a few more learning activities for students as well as discussion and exercises for active listening.  There was a school principal breakout that was led by Dennis as he addressed some of the challenges brought up by the school principals.

The morning drew to a close with the presentation of certificates for the teachers attending the exchange.  The pastors represented at the Exchange congratulated and presented certificates.

The goal of the afternoon was to make a quick trip up to Desire to show a few of my fellow teammates the project including Dennis who joined me on the trip for the Exchange and is in Haiti for the first time.  We got a couple miles away from the hotel when a rear tire blew.  Knowing there was no spare, Pastor Jeannot set out to find a tire to replace the blown one.  This event might keep us from getting Desire.  About a half hour later, with daylight burning, the tire was changed and we started the long, bouncy journey in Pastor Jeannot's Pathfinder that has seen better days (and shocks).

With the amount of rain we received last night, I was still a bit skeptical that we could make it to Desire on the narrow, often muddy road.  We barely forged the river and creeped through muddy sections of the road before we finally arrived in Desire.

Our visit was short but sweet.  It was difficult because I had seen our kids for a total of about two hours on this trip.  But it was two hours that will sustain me until I return.  All the kids wanted to know where the rest of my family was.  I had the challenge of trying to explain that Kennedi is now married and that her husband is a real special person and now my son.  They had fun looking at a few of 
the wedding photos on my phone.

Tomorrow we worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Pastor Pudens' church at 7:00 am.  Then we make our way back towards Port au Prince to stay at a hotel by a beach before heading home on Monday.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to participate in the Educator Exchange.  I have new insight to new areas of ministry and I look forward to seeing how God may use our church in the future.

Coming to a Conclusion

Another great day with a lot of excitement.  Teachers arrived ready to dive into today's topics.  As is the case when in Haiti you adjust when things don't go quite as planned.  But that's one of the reasons I love working and being in Haiti- everything is at a different pace and things happen when they happen.  Our late breakfast turned out to be good on timing because of our late lunch.  

I would say that on this trip I have had to step out of my food comfort zone.  And what I mean by that is having meals cooked by the host mamas for the teachers.  It is quite an experience to actually see the goat you will have for lunch tomorrow being "prepared" today.  It really has been delicious and interesting at the same time.

Our day got cut short by a torrential downpour and the raindrops on the metal roof made it nearly impossible to hear.  So we resorted to doing math games with decks of cards.  All in a day in Haiti.

One of the things we are doing as a group from the States is asking what are the teachers finding helpful that they would want to implement in the classroom when school starts in a couple of weeks.  Today a young man stood up and expressed his appreciation for spending time with other teachers to collaborate with same grade level teachers.  They are having intentional time to discuss and share ideas with one another and that seems to be a new idea for them.  

Someone else said that our team has been challenging them to answer their own questions by discussing challenges and issues that they face as teachers.  This has been intentional on our part- we don't want to presume to have answers that they are looking for but instead open dialog with each other and us at times, to find the answers.  Hearing those kinds of responses let us know that we are accomplishing some of our goals.  It is important for the teachers to not look at us as someone who has all the answers and that they do not.

Tomorrow is a celebration and certificate day for the Educator Exchange.  We will have fun celebrating all their hard work of the past four days.

Depending on the roads from today's rain, we are going to try to make it up to Desire to visit the kids up there.  All of the mamas are enjoying a much deserved break from their responsibilities as Global Orphan is sponsoring a retreat for the area mamas at a nice beach resort.  Pastor Jeannot as well as the other project pastors have recruited people from their congregations to stay with the kids while the mamas are on their retreat.  So we will get a report on the road conditions in the morning when Pastor Jeannot joins us at the Exchange.

Haitian Educator Exchange Day 2

Yesterday was great and today was even better because the teachers were fully engaged from the beginning through to the end.  As someone who has never been a part of something like this, it has given me a new perspective about things in Haiti- like education in this instance.  I came into this expecting to "equip" the teachers to be more effective with their students.  That is my ignorance showing through.  What I am now witnessing is a group of very passionate, dedicated teachers who are seeking to improve but the benefit of something like this event is bringing the teachers together to share experiences and ideas and begin to create a true collaborating effort between 3 Gonaives-area schools.

Dennis started the conversations this morning by inquiring with the teachers on classroom management and the difference between dealing with the difficult students and creating a positive atmosphere in the classroom to give students the best chance at success.  They discussed strategies and things they could do to create a positive classroom.

I then had the opportunity to share about active storytelling with the teachers.  Asking how can we make learning the Bible memorable for the students.  I then demonstrated telling the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers in a fun, active way that all the students (teachers) would have an active role in telling the story.  After the story we used time to ask questions to help cement the message of the passage so that kids could make the connection between what the Bible says and what it means for each of us in our lives.  We had a hilarious time as 10 volunteers placed sticker dots on each other only to find out that they were going to be the "lepers" in our story.  We made them feel like lepers- left out of everything and cast out.  In the story, the lepers wanted a chance to see Jesus but were made to stay far away because of their leprosy.  Jesus healed the lepers when He told them to show themselves to the priests but only one came back to give thanks to Jesus.  The moment wasn't lost on the teachers as one of the lepers came running to the front of the room to give me a hug and say thank you as if I were Jesus in the story.  The point of my exercise was to get teachers thinking about creative ways to bring Scripture to life for their students.

The rest of the day teachers really engaged with the exercises and worked together to create strategies.  Their passion became even heated at times and we ended up with some really great teaching moments with the teachers as they were challenged to actively listen to one another and use encouraging words with each other as they shared ideas with the whole group.  We couldn't have scripted that better.  The Lord was at work with our time today.

Tomorrow is day 3 of 4 and we have another full agenda.  I am looking forward to the conversations that will come out of this experience as we seek discernment and direction for our church and these exchanges in the future.

Haitian Educator Exchange

As I shared in my earlier post, I am here in Haiti on a different kind of mission trip.  Exploring the possibilities within education to help the Haitian teachers grow in their teaching ability for orphans and community children.  It is true that if a child receives a good education, they can accomplish just about anything.  And in the context of a Christian school, they also grow in their relationship and understanding of God's incredible love for them.

Today was our first day of the Educator Exchange and being on "Haiti time", those of you who have been here know what I mean, the 8:00 start time really got going at 9:00.  But once we started, we were in high gear.  About 30 teachers from area Global Orphan Project schools are in attendance from Gonaives, Desire and Marmelade.  The turn out is a huge encouragement for me because I realize that each of these teachers really desire to be the best they can be in educating children.  We have three more days of the Exchange and while the teachers may be exhausted at the end of our time together, our prayer is they will return to their schools recharged and encouraged to try new ideas and collaborate with one another in teaching these children.

Return to Haiti

It's been a long time between blog posts.  Almost as long as the time gap between my trips to Haiti.  It has been almost 10 months between trips to Haiti for me.  That is something new, especially for someone who had an average of 3 or 4 months between visits to Haiti.

This past year has been one of transition for me and it has forced me to remain close to home to ensure a good transition for my new role.  It has also forced me to spend time reflecting and praying for our ministry in Haiti.  So the absence has been fruitful for me and is focusing me to look at the next period of three years of our partnership in Haiti with Desire and Pastor Jeannot.

I am in Haiti to explore an opportunity to help Haitian teachers look at other methods for teaching, learning new strategies for classroom management, and becoming better equipped to teach the children in Haiti.  I invited a retired, seasoned educator to accompany me and participate in the Exchange.  This is Dennis Baker's first trip to Haiti.  As we pray, process and evaluate this opportunity, we look forward to engaging teachers, project Pastors and administrators.

Tomorrow starts the Exchange where there will be 8 presenters- 4 Americans and 4 Haitians.  By Saturday afternoon we will have covered various topics, observed teachers impletement new concepts with students and celebrate the hard work they are investing in this week.  

It's good to be back!  And I am trusting The Lord for His direction for the future.