Prayer for Orphans

I can think of a hundred reasons why I shouldn't write this post today. All of them have to do with how this could be taken or how I will be seen when you read this. But I have been talking more and more lately about my "mystic" tendencies, so I will risk sharing this publicly. It is a true story about my encounter with God in prayer and an invitation to intercede for orphans in Haiti.

Last night we had a marvelous visit with an American family living temporarily in Prague. We were amazed at how many seemingly random connections we had. One of the biggest ones was that he and his family had served in Haiti after the earthquake. They had been at Operation Love The Children of Haiti, the orphanage where I visited in order to connect a Czech mission agency to short term work in Haiti. Furthermore, they are adopting a child who I remember interacting with (not talking with...I don't speak Creole.) This family has a real burden for this child because he is older, has been an orphan for a long time, and the process of adoption is taking so long. We spent time in intensive prayer for this boy and the speeding of the process of adoption.

So, with this on my mind and my heart, I was shocked to see a Facebook post from TouchGlobal about a different child who just died at the OLTCH orphanage. The story tells of one volunteer's grief and frustration at losing a child. I was very moved and fell quite naturally into intercessory prayer for the children and workers of this orphanage and others in Haiti. I had turned on an Internet radio station when I came into the study that was playing Christian music. I don't know when it cut off but sometime during my prayers, I noticed the overwhelming silence. In the long silence I felt the burden of intercession and what I can only name as God's grief over the orphans of Haiti and the families who will adopt them. After some time, I stood up from where I was sitting on the couch. At that moment, two things happened. First, I stood up into the sunlight streaming through the window and had to close my eyes because it was so bright. Second, the radio kicked on again and Jeremy Camp was singing these lines: "Power in hand speaking the Father's plan. You're sending us out, light in this broken land. We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb. And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome."

And the tears came. And I literally got on my knees to worship the Lord. And I met God in a deep way. And I felt compelled to write this testimony to His greatness, His ability to speak to his children, and His care for the widow and the orphan.

Can I ask you to take a moment and pray for the workers at OLTCH and other orphanages in Haiti, as well as the families going through the long, arduous, unpredictable process of adopting internationally?

asojourningsoul.blogspot.com

www.operationlovethechildrenofhaiti.org

The Day the Roofs Fell In-Part 4: Temporary Shelters

TouchGlobal Crisis Response Team in Haiti has partnered with a number of organizations in order to do the work of relief, development, and church planting. 6 months after the earthquake, the relief work is beginning to "morph" into longer term development work. One of the most pressing needs still is "perma-temporary" housing. The picture above shows a typical scene in Haiti as tent villages sprang up around the affected area. Now it is hurricane season and it is raining in Haiti...a lot. TouchGlobal has partnered with Samaritan's Purse in order to provide housing that will last 2-3 years and withstand a category 2 hurricane. (Remember the problem with wood as a long term building strategy in Haiti? No lumber industry and termites) We travelled with TouchGlobal staff and short term mission workers to the city of Bethel where they were moving families into the "perma-temporary" housing.


The houses don't look like much, do they? But to someone who has been living in a tent in a "tent jungle" in the rain and the mud, in fear that their children will walk out the door and get hit by a car, these homes are like "paradise". The TouchGlobal staff and teams prayed with each family as they dedicated the new "home" and helped them move in. This work will be necessary for many more months until the work of building real permanent shelters can take place. This is a very real possibility for a short term project for the Czech churches.

The Day the Roofs Fell In-Part 3: OLTCH Orphanage

When the earthquake hit, Greg and his son were sitting on the balcony at the orphanage they founded in Haiti. As the support gave way, they had to link arms to avoid slipping and falling to the driveway below. Greg immediately thought of the 33 orphans on the ground floor coloring in their books. He yelled, "Earthquake! Everybody out!". As he prayed, "Save us, Jesus!" the house straightened out again and they were able to run downstairs and get EVERY CHILD OUT ALIVE!

When Canadian missionaries Greg and Jasmine moved to Haiti a couple of years ago they did not have much of a plan. They purchased some land and lived on it while they built a shelter and figured out how they would help children in one of the poorest countries in the world. They found their calling in establishing an orphanage and caring for abandoned and orphaned children. Haiti had an estimated 380,000 orphans BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE and that number is estimated to have doubled now.

Operation Love The Children Of Haiti was founded in order to help some of these orphans. After the earthquake, 33 children had to sleep on the ground, in fields, under tarps. They were only able to get 2 meals a day for a while until help arrived. At the present time, they are housed in a combination of tents and temporary wooden buildings. One semi-permanent (will last 2-3 years) building is almost completed to get the youngest of the children out of tents. They are looking to build a permanent structure within 4-5 months on a new piece of land near by. They now have 41 orphans and could take more if they had the facilities and staff to help out.

Please take the time to look at their web page and consider helping them out:

1) Praying
2) Giving
3) Hands on help
4) Adopting a child (look at the profiles of the kids on the web page)

The Day the Roofs Fell In-Part 2: MaCambre Academy

Before Earthquake-classes in a building


3 Months after Earthquake-classes resume in tents


Robinson looked at the clock impatiently. Almost 5:00 PM. As director of the MaCambre Academy, a local Haitian, Christian school that served pre-school, elementary, and high school students, Robinson was responsible for 730 students, 37 teachers, and 28 other employees. Robinson was glad for the relative quiet of the afternoon. Only the cleaning lady was on campus.

Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by a sound like a freight train rumbling by...but much louder. The floor was vibrating and dust was falling from the ceiling. Robinson knew he had to get out quickly. By the time he made it outside, the roof had come down on the main building. "The cleaning lady!" he thought. As he ran back towards the building, he called out her name. By God's grace, he knew where she should be and found her quickly, alive but buried in rubble. He cleared out the rubble and helped her to her feet. As they stepped back to survey the damage, two thoughts entered his mind. One, the campus is completely destroyed. Two, Thank God that this happened after school hours.

Pre-earthquake Haitian Public Schools were far and few between. The government had no money. Haiti was tied for the 2nd poorest nation in the world BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE. Public services were intermittent and poor. These 730 students would not be attending school if MaCambre Academy wasn't here. Many of them wouldn't be eating either. The school provided the only meal that many of the students would get during the day. The instant these roofs fell in, 730 students were left without the opportunity to feed their minds...and their stomachs. This was not acceptable so Robinson got to work. The safety of the students and staff was ascertained. There were only a few staff or students killed at home by the earthquake. In the next several weeks, a water tank was built, the kitchen was rebuilt, tents were raised, tables and chairs were set up, curriculum was secured, and classes were resumed three months later.

I arrived in Haiti 5 1/2 months after the earthquake brought the roof of the MaCambre Academy down. Robinson and his daughter Sofia, the principal of the school, graciously welcomed our team in and told their stories. They showed us the 19 tents that were classrooms for 800 students. I, a former teacher, quickly calculated 42 students per tent with a view to the fields, the cattle, and anybody walking by...including us. Eye contact or a smile was enough to distract 42 seven year olds from their over-worked, frustrated teacher.

The MaCambre Academy, with the help of an American missionary and students from the University of Florida, has drawn up plans for a 20,000 square foot building to house the pre-school and elementary school. The budget is $200,000 to $250,000. As one of the possible projects for a Czech team, the MaCambre Academy has some appealing qualities.

1) Education for those who would not get one otherwise
2) Meals for those who would not get them otherwise
3) Christian teaching
4) A Director who is involved in helping locals become self sufficient through small agricultural projects
5) A Director who is facilitating church plants in 11 locations

After interacting with Robinson, Sofia, staff, and students, I experienced a feeling of hope for Haiti for the first time since arriving in the country. It gave me a great motivation for getting Czech (and American) churches involved in the relief work in Haiti. Interested in finding out more? Write me at thomas.becker@efca.org.

The Day the Roofs Fell In

Shortly before 5:00 PM on January 12, 2010 a massive earthquake rocked the tiny island nation of Haiti. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused catastrophic damage and killed hundreds of thousands of people. An earthquake of this magnitude would naturally cause a lot of damage but one significant factor in Haiti's buildings made this earthquake more deadly...flat, concrete roofs. Haiti's homes and buildings were covered with inexpensive, inflexible concrete. When the earthquake hit and the walls began to shake and sway,the solid, concrete roofs had nowhere to go but down. So down they came. All over the affected area roofs came down...on the people who built them, on the people who worked under them, on the children who were meant to be protected by them.

The rubble from the roofs and buildings are strewn over the cities, villages, and roads of Haiti. Almost 6 months later with thousands of volunteers cleaning up, the sight is still apalling. 40-50% of the buildings in the capital of Port Au Prince were destroyed. In Leogane, where the epicenter was, 80% of the buildings collapsed, including a nursing school where 300 nursing students died. In the ensuing weeks 212,000 victims were buried in mass graves. Another 150,000 to 200,000 wil never be identified or even found. In total, 4.5% of the population of Haiti was wiped out in one of the worst disasters in decades.

Statistics can't tell the full story of such devastation. Even pictures and testimonies can't tell the whole story. Death and destruction on this scale are hard to get a grip on. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing the stories of destruction...and hope in order to share how God is working, even in the midst of tragedy and to challenge you to join in what God is doing in this country.

The Prague City Team, TouchGlobal, and ZMA (Czech Foreign Mission Agency) are partnering to send short term teams from the Czech Republic (and America) to help with the relief effort in Haiti. To this end, Prague City Team members Curt Mobley and I joined the head of the Czech mission agency, Daniel Hejzlar with his wife Daniela, and Paul Brown, videographer from Kingwood Bible Church in Texas, on a vision trip to Haiti. Our goal was to choose a project, create a promotional video, and recruit teams of Czechs (and Americans) to serve in Haiti in early 2011.

The relief effort will require millions of dollars, thousands of people, and decades of work. One missionary with TouchGlobal, welcomed us to "the land of opportunity" when we arrived. In Haiti there is boundless opportunity to show the love of Christ through construction, care of people, and many other projects. TouchGlobal is sharing hope in a hopeless situation and strategically thinking about church planting in the "aftermath" of a concentrated effort in relief and development. Over the next years, thousands of roofs will be built on new homes, schools, churches, government buildings, and orphanages. And you can be involved!

We visited a school, an orphanage, and a site where temporary shelters for those living in tents were being put together. These are three typical opportunities to help and I will be highlighting each of them in the next 3 blog entries. ZMA, the Czech mission agency, will be choosing one of these projects (or one like it) and sending teams to serve in Haiti. As you read about these opportunities, would you prayerfully consider joining the Czech team in Haiti to bring hope to those who have lost everything?

Here are a few random pictures of the first half of the trip http://www.flickr.com/photos/pack926/sets/72157624218941661/show

Next up, a visit to a Christian school where close to 300 students are meeting under tents.