GOG was first established in Gonaives, Haiti after many of the children lost one or both parents in the floods following Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Construction was underway for the orphanage in September 2004, but all of that work was destroyed by flooding on September 18.
By November 2005, the orphanage was built and became home to 25 orphans. By late 2007, a second story was added. On September 1, 2008, Hurricane Hanna flooded Gonaives and the children were stuck on the second floor for 16 days with very little food or water. The children then became sick from drinking the contaminated flood water.
From there, the decision was made to evacuate the children to Port-au-Prince being that the old site in Gonaives was vulnerable to future flooding. After one year of living in temporary housing in Port-au-Prince, they endured the earthquake on January 12, 2010. Thankfully, everyone at GOG was safe from the earthquake, but from there, the children slept in stuffy military tents for eight months. By September 2010, the current orphanage was built and is now home to 50+ children.
Imagine going through all that and only being 10-years-old? The amazing thing to me is how big those children can smile and how loving and sweet they are despite what they have endured. To me, that is a picture of hope and trusting God.
The Sunday we were there, Kemsleye, 13, preached on those topics based on when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He said that even though they might not have parents, God has a plan for their lives and that God can do anything. What a powerful message?!? Those of us who have been through far less should have the same hope and should trust God to bring it to pass.
Below is a picture of Kemsleye while he was preaching. If anyone is interested in seeing a video clip of Kemsleye's preaching in Haitian Creole, let me know and I can direct you to it. I couldn't post it on here the way I wanted to. Even if you don't speak the language, you can sense God's presence in his preaching. I would add that Kemsleye is not normally so serious. If you would have seen him any other time on the trip, he was a very playful and happy young man.
On perhaps a far less important note, I also learned about trusting God with the seemingly small details of life. When I first got my itinerary for my flights back home from Haiti, I was perturbed because even though we were leaving Haiti early in the morning, I wouldn't be home until after 10 p.m. and my children would be in bed. To make matters worse (or so I thought), I didn't understand why I was flying from Miami the whole way up north to Chicago before flying back down to Dallas.
I was quickly able to consider the possibility that being in Miami for most of the day wouldn't be so bad especially if I made some great friendships with my teammates and was able to hang out with them a little longer while we waited for our connecting flights...and I was right. I was not ready to say goodbye so I really appreciated that extra time with some of the other people on the team. Below is a picture of the seven I was blessed to have lunch with in Miami. Our last supper so to speak. :)
What I really did not see coming was how much of a blessing that flight to Chicago would be! It turned out that Trish, one of the women I roomed with in Haiti, was going to be on the same flight! We asked a gentleman to switch seats with her so we could sit together. It was so awesome to have a few more hours with her on that flight that had me so annoyed initially. :) Shame on me for grumbling when it was a blessing in disguise!
The fact that I was on that exact trip, at that exact time, with those specific people was a huge lesson for me that I need to trust God when I don't see the bigger picture. This lesson went even further once I realized the circumstances of how I was motivated to go on the trip.
One night in May, my minivan was packed up for my children and me to take a trip back East to visit family and friends who we hadn't seen in two years. The day we were going to leave, all of my children and I came down with some kind of sickness. Despite that, I was still planning to go on the 21-hour trek across the country. My plan was to leave around 3 a.m. until around 10 p.m., we had tornado warnings all around our immediate area and for the first time in the three years we have lived here, I heard the sirens for the tornado warnings. Then I saw there were going to be major tornado watches across Arkansas and Tennessee the rest of that week (and those two states are the bulk of the trip). Stubborn me finally said, "OK, I guess I'm not meant to take this trip right now."
I talked about going to Haiti last year, but then couldn't go due to circumstances. The disappointment about not going back East in May, along with my husband's encouragement, pushed me to seriously look into going to Haiti this year. I started inquiring online about short-term missions trips to Haiti two days after my trip back East was cancelled.
If I had gone back East in May, I would have been gone for a few weeks and would never have made the cutoff to go on the Haiti trip that I did, with the group I did. So...that was a HUGE lesson in that even though I suffered some major disappointment, I had an even bigger blessing in the end...one I couldn't have dreamed up on my own. THANK YOU LORD!!!
To add another little praise report: I also had the chance to visit my family and friends back East just prior to the trip to Haiti. :)
And last but definitely not least, I felt this trip was a perfect example of Romans 8:28 coming to pass in my life, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." The last few years have been extremely trying, but if it weren't for circumstances being what they are, I know that I would not have gone on that trip. The experiences I had in Haiti were such a blessing to me in so many ways and I would most definitely call them "good".
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