I'm sure many have heard of Child Sponsorship, but maybe don't know much about it. This post is to help inform for those who may be interested in becoming involved in sponsoring a child or school, and also give you an example of our personal journey to visit our sponsored child last month.
First, the information, which was given to me by some of the AC missionaries that are currently serving in Haiti working with Child Sponsorship.
HarvestCall operates two Child Sponsorship organizations in Haiti. The biggest is the MEBSH Child Care program based in Les Cayes in southern Haiti, 4.5 hours west of Port-au-Prince, with schools all across southwest Haiti. There is also HCH (Help a Child in Haiti) Child Care program, with schools located in southern Haiti by Cote-de-Fere, about 2 hours south and west of Port-au-Prince.
Currently with HarvestCall's support in these two organizations, 1,167 students are being sponsored and have the opportunity to attend school and receive an education. In addition to individuals being sponsored, there are also 114 MEBSH schools being sponsored. These schools total approximately over 10,000 students that have the opportunity to receive an education. The monthly support covers the cost of uniforms, books and entrance fees.
We serve Christ when we serve "The Least of These." In Matthew 25:40, Jesus taught that whatever you do for the least of these my brothers or sisters, you do it for Me. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Approximately, 54% of Haitians live on less than $1 a day and 78% on less than $2 a day. Just over 47% of Haiti's population is illiterate.Without an education, children cannot learn to read and write, and if they cannot read, they cannot read the Bible. Child Sponsorship brings hope to children in their poverty through a Christ-like education so they can help themselves, their families, their communities, and their country.
While providing a basic education to some of the poorest children on Earth, HarvestCall's mission through Child Sponsorship is "to provide a Christ-centered education to needy children." More than just learning to read and write, a sponsorship provides the introduction to God's Word and the gospel message, so sponsored children would learn about the hope of eternal salvation through a repentance and a faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. HarvestCall brings the humanitarian focus (education) with the mission proclaimed message of Christ and His Word to transform lives.
When you sponsor a child, you will truly change a life forever. They will send you letters on a quarterly basis, and they love to receive letters/photos from you, as well as small financial gifts. One of the greatest blessings is when a sponsor can meet their Haitian child for the first time. We pray that many poor children can be sponsored because due to their poverty, many cannot go to school without financial help. You truly make a difference in the life of a child when you give them hope of a Christ-centered education that will transform their lives for eternity. That is our vision for Child Sponsorship.
Please see website for Child Sponsorship: www.harvestcall.org/child-
Now, our Child Sponsorship visit story, and more:
The weekend was Haiti's Mother's Day, and we were invited to a restaurant down the road for a special breakfast. The owners live in the States, but their family still lives in Haiti and helps keep the restaurant open. It's a nice place to go eat, has good food, good prices, and we don't even have to leave the mountain!
This time, the owners were back to visit, and had invited us down. They made a huge spread for us....oh so yummy! Some of us headed down early, and Rick and David came later as they had to unload a piece of equipment that was being delivered to the Hospital that morning.
After breakfast, we headed down the mountain to go visit Gluwons, our sponsored child. But we weren't even to the highway yet when we saw a group gathered on the side of the road around a man lying on the ground. We stopped, fearing he had had an accident. "Is he breathing?" we ask as we get out, in full medic mode :) Oh, for an ambulance! Yes, he was breathing, but his body was rigid and he had saliva coming from the side of his mouth. He didn't respond, but his pulse was strong and normal rate. I gave him a sternal rub (pushing your knuckles into someone's breastbone is a very uncomfortable sensation and wakes most people up to their fullest capacity at the time) and he moaned. His eyes were rolled back in his head. We asked if anyone around knew him. No one did. They had just seen him lying on the road and came to check out what was going on. He finally aroused enough to ask him a few questions. He tried to form words, but none came out. I asked if we could take him to the hospital and he shook his head yes. We asked the crowd if anyone could come along to help us out, and one young man offered. We picked up our "patient" and put him in the back of the vehicle. On the way up, we tried talking to him more, and through yes or no questions and hand signals, we got some info. Apparently he hadn't eaten in three days, and he was walking to go visit someone. He said he knew who he was, but he didn't have any ID on him because he lost it. We couldn't understand his name. David called Dr Lee whose vehicle was headed back up to the Hospital, and they turned around to meet us. The man who was with us said a prayer for the sick man. We had no blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, or IV's. It was a transport only ambulance trip I guess :). We met up with the other vehicle, moved him over, and they took him up to the Hospital. We turned around and headed back on our journey.
We were periodically stopped at "roadblocks" where young men were clearing mud off the roads from the recent rains. There was minimal work being done, as the longer it takes, the longer you can get money from the vehicles. We handed out snacks, and I made a mental note to carry more food when we go on a trip.
It was a beautiful day to take a road trip. We listened to a book on CD, enjoyed the scenery, and enjoyed the opportunity to "get out" and go travel.
The day was so beautiful it was almost magical. Suddenly, butterflies started coming out of the trees and flew across the road. They flew in the hundreds. And they kept coming and coming and coming. It was hard to get pics of them in a moving vehicle, but here was an idea of what we saw...
About two hours from home, we stopped alongside the road and met an employee of Child Sponsorship that lives in the Puit Sales area. He got in the vehicle and was to guide us to the home of our sponsored child. Of course, I had assumed that it wouldn't be very far away, and hadn't asked, so we were getting a little concerned when we kept driving and driving and driving and driving for about an hour and a half. Were we EVER going to get there?? But we passed some beautiful countryside, and saw some towns like Fond de Blancs where there is a hospital.
There were other areas that we passed through (like the one pictured below) that were totally uninhabited. It was crazy driving through there. As small and as densely populated as Haiti is, even if you live in the country it is like living in town. There are always people everywhere. It's not like in rural Iowa where you can really just be virtually alone out in the country...seems like there is always a "community" even if it's rural here. Driving through, it seemed like we were in a national park. So many trees, a lot of beauty, but not a soul in sight.
We had some adventuresome driving experiences on the way, and about an hour into this venture, we got to some pretty muddy patches. We hoped we wouldn't get stuck way out here in the middle of absolutely nowhere. But we made it just fine!
We finally made it out to Gode, the town where our sponsored child lives. There had been a funeral that day, and so there were a lot of people there. The family had fed the funeral meal, and it was a busy place. We got to spend a few hours with Gluwons and his family, talking and playing. Gluwons just finished 4th grade. His class has about 25 students. He writes us letters a few times a year. He writes them in Creole and they're translated into English, but it's kind of cool that we can now read what he actually writes!! His father has been gone a long time, and his mother died about two years ago. Since then he lives with his Uncle and Aunt and their family.
The kids traveled well for the most part which was really nice since it was a really long day. On the way home we were pretty hungry and the pb&j sandwiches didn't last too long in our stomachs. There were no restaurants open along the road, so we kept an eye out for roadside chicken. We thought we spotted some, so we pulled over. We got some patays (fried sandwiches) and piping hot fried plantains with pikliz (a spicy coleslaw), and a hot dog for Orrin. Yum, yum! We got home before dark, and were glad for the really good day it had been!
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