Transformation week

The last week was pure transformation. It all started on Monday morning. Pastor Eves had arrived to tell everyone in the tent city about the second meeting that was to take place tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. We weren’t sure what to expect but we hoped that this meeting would accomplish more than the last one did. The very first meeting was supposed to uncover the needs in the community and to be a time for ideas to be shared of ways to improve the living conditions. Unfortunately everyone just took their turn introducing themselves as “a victim” and told their stories of how they got to be here in St. Marc. Which was good, but not what we had hoped. We had been praying into this tent city for a few weeks now and we were eager to begin to see some development.


The next morning all the adults were assembled in the breeze way of the clinic along with a few kids who snuck their way in to be with the “blancs”. Pastor Eves started the meeting out with a prayer and then got down to business. Emmanuel stood up to give an example of how he wanted them to communicate in this meeting (staying on subject can be difficult for them). Starting first with their names, then their immediate needs and any ideas they have to meet them. Once he was done the room went straight to business. I could not believe how well the meeting was going. People were communicating effectively, not just the needs, but also being willing to be the solution to those needs. We learned that the toilets that they use belong to the entire neighborhood and that’s why nobody cleans them. Andrea suggested that the tent city can take responsibility for cleaning to be a blessing to the rest of the area. A Haitian man suggested that they lock some of the toilets to designate them for the tent city and clean THOSE. We also learned that they have no designated shower area, (which we had discovered by accident, blushingly so) that the tents are excruciatingly hot in the day time, that a canal needs to be dug to avoid flooding when it rains, and that most of them sleep right on the tarp floors with no mattresses. Some people mentioned that the holes in the wall surrounding the camp need to be fixed. Other concerns were that a lot of the school-aged children were not attending school because their parents could not afford to get them the uniforms as well as the need for jobs.

After the earthquake YWAM paid to house these refugees and continues to feed them on the condition that they contribute to the community with the small jobs they are assigned like picking up trash. So they work for their food, but ideally the refugees need to get real jobs and save enough money to move out of the tents. YWAM would like to pay them to do jobs, but cannot afford to long-term. Also the buisnesses in St. Marc generally don't hire outside the family.

Another really promising thing happened in the meeting. One young man stood up and said that he sees that many kids are not doing well in school because they don't do their homework and pledged to start a homework group with the kids personally. This was followed by thunderous applaus. The pastor was so excited he promised to provide the chalk and chalk board for him. Pastor Eves also proposed to plant flowers around the clinic (a seamingly insignificant contribution) which also recieved thunderous applaus. Everyone was so unified that we proposed a community work day to start the next morning at 7. Everyone was in agreement. My favorite part was when a man said,"We don't need the white people to do this; WE can do this!" The desire that seemed to come up the most was that everyone wanted to learn how to live with eachother in community.

Andrea and I left the meeting with our notes and speed-walked to the base. We were so excited about the work day and could not wait to gather materials for it. I went to get tarps and rope from the relief depot for the shower and an easy-up for shade. Andrea went to the market to buy bathroom cleaners and coolaid to reward their hopefully hard work the next day. I hoped that we could find people to sponser the families in the tent city as I looked fo tools to bring. One old woman's statement kept ringing in my mind, "We arn't hungry, we just don't have money for anything." Her words were certainly true. The tent city is supposed to be a temparary situation for all of them. In the mean time how can they get clothes and shoes for their children? Who will hire them? What will it take for them to get on their feet again? I proposed different solutions in my head, but all of them seemed impossible. It was going to take an act of God to get these people jobs.

Wednesday morning came and Pastor Eves brought us some homemade bread! As soon as 7 o'clock came the entire community was mobalized. I could not believe their modivation. They were so excited to have the resources they needed that they didn't even wait for us to begin working. In fact, the entire day there was nothing for our team to do. They met almost every need discused in the meeting. By the end of the day the toilets were cleaned and a schedule was made to keep them clean, a shower area was made as well as extra shade and flowers were planted. The transformation went deeper than physical as well. The people learned how to accomplish something with eachother. I could see the relationships building, it was very encouraging. Pastor Eves also earned his credibility by working side by side with them all the way.

(How the finished shower looks inside)(This is the new shade area!)(My sandals became mud flaps)

(The shower to be)(Two adorable sisters)(Me with my favorite orphan Mckila)(The Koolade stand)(Brian and Julio)(and here we have man cleaning toilet, very fascinating)

Later that afternoon Terry Snow dropped by to deliver some news. The tent city had been sponsored by an outside organization for 100,000! He said 40,000 was going toward hiring the inhabiants to build a new wall around the camp and 60,000 was going toward running and staffing the currently closed clinic for a year!
We all screamed. Then cryed. The medical staff coming to operate the clinc was also nothing short of a miracle. A few weeks ago we had learned that someone was trying to kick Gilious and his family out of the clinic because he thought Gilious was going to die and didn't want it to reflect negatively on the clinic's reputaion. This person was NOT with YWAM (who is in charge of the clinic) but is still a person who kind of had control of it. I was outraged when I heard this and I had prayed that God would send medical personel to manage the clinic to replace this person. It was a prayer I had forgotten about since a turn of events made Gilious was no longer in danger of being kicked out. But apparently God hadn't forgotten!