Tuesday - School Supplies for Refugees

Wow, what a day today. It may seem like that's all we did today was pass out school supplies, but it was an unbelievable experience and we met some wonderful people!!

Unfortunately, the UN meeting we were to attend is tomorrow, not today. We discovered this when we showed up with a group of 5 people and were the only ones there. A miscommunication error. As it turned out, because of the confusion, the minister of civil affairs met with us personally and he spoke ENGLISH! I was able to chat with him a little about the immediate needs for relief for the victims of the earthquake and get his perspective on what help they would like. For me, it was probably more informational without the meeting.

This also gave us more time to devote to the purchase and distribution of school supplies. This is what we did the remainder of the day. A man by the name of Nixon who is part of a group called CLAV (translated in English it stands for Club of Friends in Verrettes.) They help with what is needed in their village. Nixon diligently helped us with our mission. Now let me tell you that this was "no small task!" It took us 2 whole hours to find notebooks, pencils and pens!! We went to a total of 4 stores and all through the market in Saint Marc to find supplies. Not like just going to Wal-mart. We purchased $800 American dollars ($6,240 in Haitian) in notebooks, pens and pencils. We literally loaded up the back of Jean Rony's pickup truck! Then off to Verrettes to visits schools and hand them all out! The village of Verrettes has received over 1000 school aged refugees from Port au Prince and these are the students that received the supplies. They arrived with not a single piece of paper or pencil. We only had time to visit 3 schools today. They will continue distributing them tomorrow. At each school we first had to speak with the principal or headmaster, then the principal would have us speak (with Jean Rony or Nixon translating) in front of each classroom. At the first school, there were 9 classrooms. This was the public high school in town. The girls really liked when Jake shook his hair - they giggled - it was cute! We did this at each school, then we passed out the supplies to the refugee students. It was a very exhausting day, but a very good one.

It was amazing to be with Jean Rony and with Nixon. They both just want to serve their people. We would talk to the students and tell them that we are from the same family. Brothers and sisters helping brothers and sisters. I saw Christ in both the dedicated teachers and the wide inquisitive eyes of the students and in the servanthood of our new friends.

Tomorrow...Port au Prince to build shelters. I will try to post pictures tomorrow night!!