Peanut Butter!!!

The next time you walk into Walmart and buy a jar of peanut butter think of this.......

I went to the market last week and bought peanuts, oil, and hot sauce. (Haitians like spicy peanut butter) When I first came to Haiti and seen all the poverty my first reaction was to just hand people all the money in my pocket. After staying here for awhile and spending a lot of time in prayer I've come to realize that handing people free money only creates a welfare system. Plus, no one wants to be on the receiving end of charity. So I spend a lot of time brainstorming how I can give these people jobs. That's why I bought the peanuts. I made a deal with a woman that lives close to the land. I would buy the supplies and she would make it. Then we could split what we made. I'll use my peanut butter for my programs and she can sell hers at the market and make some money. I knew I was only going to break even on the deal but that wasn't the point. The point is giving this woman money without actually "giving" this woman money.
When I arrived at her house yesterday I asked if I could stick around and help out. I was curious about how she made it. Little did I know the effort that goes into making peanut butter. It took nine hours to finish it!!!! We worked so hard!
The first step was roasting the peanuts. We didn't have a stove so we set a pot on top of three large stones and started a fire underneath. We could only cook a little at a time. After the peanuts were roasted we laid them on a large mat to cool. Then the children and I set hunched over peeling the outer skin off every single peanut. We also had to pick out the burnt ones and the little pieces of dirt or rock that had fell in. You can imagine how long this took by hand!
The women were trying to teach me the correct way of doing things. They kept say,"Konsa Blan." (Like this white lady) After awhile I got a little aggravated and told them my name was Carrie. They said,"Oh Ok. Konsa Carrie Blan." (Like this Carrie white lady...hahaha) They meant no disrespect.
After about four hours of work just to make the peanuts look like the ones you buy at the store it was time to grind them. Two of my kids and I walked a mile down the road with our peanuts to a lady that owned a grinder. And it wasn't an electric grinder either. We hand cranked that sucker for over and hour!!!!! We attracted quite a crowd too. Everyone was curious to see the white lady that made her own peanut butter. They kept whispering, "Doesn't she have enough money to buy her own?" They missed the point.
When we were finished we took our mashed peanuts back to the house. One lady then heated up the oil and added a few wild onions for flavor. Finally she mixed it altogether along with the hot sauce.
Nine hours after I arrived I'm holding my can of peanut butter. Its about $30 worth. I was exhausted  and hungry.
When I was about to leave a little old man came walking up the path and set down beside me. It was the same old man I had given rice to many times before. He's never been to friendly with me but I haven't let that stop me from trying to help him. Yesterday, however, was different. He set in his little hut all day watching me work with his daughter and grandchildren. After we had finished and he sat beside me he looked at me with a big grin on his face. Then he rubbed my back and said thank you.
That made it all worth it in the end. If I didn't accomplish anything that day at least I made a new friend.

I'm hoping that yesterday I earned that family's respect. And some day soon when I walk into their house with a book and tell a story about a man that died a long time ago they will take the time to listen.
You see, its not about the peanut butter......it never was.

A Rat!!!!!

We had our Bible lesson and feeding program yesterday. Over 80 kids showed up. That number just keeps getting bigger and bigger every week.
We're all sitting in the field listen to the Haitian pastor when all of a sudden a giant rat ran past us. Of course, like any sane person, I screamed and ran around in circles. My children, however, ran after the disgusting thing! And caught it!!! No kidding! One little boy caught a live rat with his bare hands. They stomped on it's head until it was dead and then proceeded to throw it at each other. What kind of children are these?!?! I was yelling at them to stop and come back and sit down when I noticed one boy crying. Sure enough, he had been bitten. After I explained to him that this is what happens with you hold rats, I cleaned up is hand and gave him a band-aid. Robert prayed over him for protection against rabies.
How in the world am I going to raise these children. Lord help me...lol

A Day with Ms. Carrie

I've decided to start having "Ms. Carrie Days". I'm just going to randomly kidnap a couple kids every once in a while and bring them home with me for the day...lol I can feed them and play with them and just get to know them better.
 Yesterday I brought a little girl to my house because her arm was badly burned. I had been trying to keep it clean at the land but when I seen her yesterday it looked awful. Her mommy had put some kind of home remedy on it. It was like a paste made with mud and tree bark. I tried to get it off but it was stuck on like glue. I know she was just trying to help her but I knew if I left it like that it would only get infected. So I asked her if she would let her baby come home with me for the day and I would take her to the hospital. Her mother agreed.
Once we got to my house I gave her a bath and fixed her something to eat. After her belly was full I laid her on my couch and turned on Finding Nemo. She was asleep in two minutes. This is what always happens when a child comes to my house. If you set them in a clean cool place with a full belly they sleep for hours. Their little bodies are just worn out and they never have time to rest. We visited the doctor after she woke up and then I took her back home. I'll go check on her today and change her bandages.

Today I'm going to go find another child and let them spend the day at my house. I went to the market  and bought a bunch of clothes so when a kid does come over I can give them something clean to put on. There is one little boy I have in mind. I can't figure out if he has special needs or not so I'm going to hang out with him for the day and try to figure it out. He's very active but he doesn't talk much. He's only 5 years old. He may just be a slow talker but if its something more then I'll have to decide how to help him. Either way I'm sure we'll have a blast hanging out together!

Quite a Day

I am officially 100% Haitian now. I received money from the sponsorship program I started last month. I decided to use some of it to buy clothes for a few of the kids. I figured if I buy for a few of them every month then eventually everyone will get something. I went to the Market in Ti Goave with Kenzy who, by the way, doesn't speak English at all. The Market is outside. It looks like a giant flee market. You can find just about anything you want there but I have never been able to go. When they see me they automatically think I'm rich because I'm American and the prices always go up, but yesterday I was determined! I picked out a stack of clothes and asked the Haitian woman, in Creole, what she wanted for them. She said 800 goudes. I said, in Creole, all I have is 500 goudes. Do you wan it or not? She said she did. Ha! I payed about $12 for everything. Please don't be alarmed by that. I wasn't trying to rip the lady off. After living here for a while and watching how things work I realized that they throw a high price at you expecting you to come back with a lower one. However, most Americans that come don't get that concept or they can't speak Creole and the Haitians take advantage of that. I mean I don't blame them. If an American is willing to pay twice as much for something why shouldn't a Haitian be willing to take it? But this American's budget is a little smaller then most Americans. Plus, this American has 70 children that she's responsible for. That's a lot of clothes to buy!
I was so excited about my purchases on the drive home. I kept telling Kenzy that I was Haitian now. We were laughing as we rode the motorcycle home until the engine started to sputter and then completely stopped. I said," Umm Kenzy, Eske ou te mete gaz nan moto a?" (Did you put gas in the motorcycle?) He just smiled. "Crap" I said. We had to call someone to get gas and bring it to us. We were stuck there for over an hour. I kept telling him he was fired but he just laughed.
Finally we made it home. I sorted through all the clothes and decided which kid was in the most need. They all need clothes, but some more then others. We got back on the motorcycle and headed towards the land. We drove onto the main road when all of a sudden Kenzy slammed on his breaks. I looked over his shoulder and could see a huge bus blocking the road about a mile away. They were rioting again. This has been going on for the past week. Apparently they are angry at the mayor. There is UN officers everywhere but they don't seem to be doing much good. Haitian men are stealing buses and blocking off the roads with them. Then they are setting them on fire! They will throw rocks at anyone that tries to pass. All this was happening right beside our land. Needless to say I couldn't deliver anything to my kids. We had to turn around and go back home. Hopefully today I can get over there to make sure everyone is okay.
It was quite a day yesterday. There is never a dull moment working in this country. I don't know how I could ever go back to "normal" after this.

Many Projects

I spent the day on our land yesterday. I rounded the kids up and taught them English songs. Then I gave them marbles and a soccer ball. We all just played under the tall mango trees all afternoon. Its always the little moments that I love the most.
The men around our property are working very hard to get a road built onto our land. A friend of mine, Robert Nickell, is staying with me to supervise the project. Thank goodness he's here because I have no idea how to build anything like that. As soon as the road is built we will begin drilling the well. Everyone in the village is watching and anticipating the day when they will have clean fresh water close to home. I'm excited too. Once the water is more accessible I expect my kids to be able to take baths more regularly. Its hard for them to stay clean now because they have to focus on conserving what little water they have. Many of them have rashes from being dirty so much, but God plans to change all that!
Today I'm going to the Market to buy peanuts. A lady on our land is going to teach me how to make peanut butter. After we finish I'm going to split the jars with her. She can take half of what we've made to the market to sell. I'm going to take half of what we've made to the prison to feed the inmates.
The future in Haiti is exciting. I can't wait to see all that God has in store for our little village!!!

Lost Boys

Kenzy drove me to a town near by called Ti Goave, yesterday. We needed to pick up some groceries at the market. When we were leaving he stopped the motorcycle at the edge of town. I started to ask him what he was doing, but I stopped when I heard people across the street yelling his name. When I turned around all I could see was arms waving out of a tiny barred window. It was a prison. I asked Kenzy how all these inmates knew his name. He said, "When you were in America I used the money you sent me to buy them food." Then he asked if we could buy them some food now. I said, "How could we possibly feed all of them?" From looking at that one small window I imagined that the prison was huge, but I was mistaken. When I agreed to walk inside I saw that the prison consisted of only two cells. A women's and a men's cell. It was an average size cell. It was probably made to hold 4 people. I counted 27 people inside. Thats why the prison seemed so large from the looks of the window. It was way overcrowded. However, that really didn't surprise me much. I mean I kind of expected that out of a third world country, but what did surprise me was the age of the inmates. They were boys. Most were teenagers, no more then 15 years old. They crowded around their jail cell looking over at me at me with curious eyes. The curious eyes of a child.
I asked,"When do they get fed?"
"Never,"answered Kenzy
"When are they given water?"
"Never"

The only way they can survive is by family members bringing them food. Family members who are, no doubt, struggling to feed themselves.
I asked, "What have they done?"
"They stole"
"Because they were hungry?"
"Exactly"
"How long will they be here?"
"Haha. A long time."

You can imagine what this conversation felt like as I was staring into the eyes of these "lost boys".
I woke up in the middle of the night thinking of those eyes, and again this morning.

What will I do now? Now that God has opened my eyes and broken my heart.......

Interesting Fact

Interesting fact; the word zombie originated in Haiti. In America, we constantly make jokes about the zombie apocalypse and watch horror movies that makes us cringe, but no body really takes it too seriously. At least, I hope not. However, you'll find a much different reaction to the topic of zombies when your in Haiti. These creatures are a direct result of the voodoo religion. The concept, I believe, was to instill fear into those less educated beginning in the days when slavery was the life of every Haitian. Slavery in Haiti was so cruel that often the only relief or hope one could find was death. But committing suicide was the ultimate blow to a slave owner. When the witch doctors came up with the concept of Zombies, a person who can be bond to servitude even in death, the slave owners were more then willing to exploit this belief. What could possibly be a worse fate than this? Neither living nor dead, a zombie walks the earth with mindless obedience to their master. They have lost the will even to hope for freedom. And within the Voodoo religion most believers will tell you the only thing to free a person from this zombie imprisonment is with a taste of salt. Yes, salt. A "wise" witch doctor knows to always feed their drones tasteless meals. 

I find it amazing that 2000 years ago Jesus proclaimed Christians to be the salt of the earth. His followers were the ones entrusted to spread the gospel message to a dying and hopeless world. A world enslaved by their own sin. 

God is everywhere. Not only can he be found in the beauty of his creations but he is also seen in the legends of a people who claim not to know him. He planted a seed in the minds of the Haitian people before any missionary ever stepped foot onto this land. 

He was here long before I arrived and he will be here long after.......

Christmas in Haiti

I arrived in Haiti safely. I couldn't have asked for a better traveling day. My flights were on time and all my bags made it to Haiti in one piece. The Haitian airport has been rebuilt. It looks beautiful! It was destroyed after the earthquake and it was no more then a large warehouse. It was a nightmare trying to recover your bags from the baggage claim. But now it is up and running again. I'm so proud of the Haitian President. It seems like he he trying to help his people, and as long as he's trying then I cant complain.
Yesterday I celebrated my first Haitian Christmas. It was wonderful. I bought presents for four children that come to my house after school everyday to learn English. They are a part of my Haitian family. There is a 3 year old girl, a 6 year old boy, a 10 year girl, and a 12 year old girl. I brought cake mix back from America and made them all vanilla cake with chocolate icing. When I set the cake down on the table they all looked at me like I had two heads. They were really quite at first. Then it dawned on me they had never tasted or even seen cake before! I had to encourage them to try it. Can you imagine trying to talk a kid into eating cake. Once they tasted it they dug right in.
After cake, we opened presents. The older girls were a little shy in the beginning. They looked at they're gifts and then quickly put them back in the box. They would only whisper thank you. The three year old was a whole other story. She jumped up and started diving into her presents just like any other American kid. She got a new baby doll and another little doll that was dressed like a doctor. She was so excited she started shaking. Ben, the 6 year old boy, got a brand new green scooter. He never said much though. He's eyes got really big when he seen it and he started trying to get the box open. I helped him put it together and then he was off. I'm pretty sure he's still riding it even now...lol.
All the kids left with smiles on their faces and their arms full of gifts. They were waving good bye and laughing as they passed through my front gate to walk home. It was truly one of the best Christmases I've ever had.
Thank you Lord for showing me the joy of giving and teaching me to love.