Day #5 - Elder Visits and Grace Village

Day #5 – Elder Visits and Grace Village

Today half the team got up before 6am to attend Haitian church. It was quite a unique experience, especially for the younger team members. At Haitian church, everyone walks while they pray. One older gentleman welcomed us with hugs and a smile. Everyone enjoyed the visit. 

After breakfast, the team went up to the city of Titanyen (which means “less than nothing” in Kreyol). There we visited Grace Village and learned about the school, orphanage, and clinic. We then went to visit some of the participants of the Elder Care program. Each of them welcomed us into their humble homes. We brought them a hot meal, and our team cared for them by giving them massages, painting their nails, shaving of a man’s face and praying for them and their families. It was so wonderful to see how the team jumped right in, even the kids were happy to help. 

After our elder visits we toured Fleri Bakery, our first job creation program. It was amazing to hear the back story of how the organization grew to where it is today. Healing Haiti’s Fleri bakery has hired nearly 50 Haitian employees as and has a goal to hire 50+ more Haitian employees in the future.

At the Bakery enjoyed delicious pizzas before venturing home. The ride home would normally be 30 minutes, but tonight it was closer to 3 hours. This team continues to amaze us with their flexibility and patience, nobody complained, they just made the best of a rough situation. They are incredibly adaptable, and so generous to each team member and the people we serve here in Haiti.  We are so grateful to be here in Haiti serving alongside them. 

Carissa & Taylor

Day #4 - Orphanages and ASL School

Anyone that has been on a tour to Sweet Home or No Place like Home Orphanage will remember the story told about the Forget me Not tree. The director tells how we as American’s come visit and love the children then pass

under the Forget me not tree and go back to the states to live our lives forgetting about Haiti and its children.  I don’t believe we ever forget any of the children we have encountered. What I do think is we may want to forget because the pain felt while here is too much to bear. The love you see in each of the children’s eyes brings so much joy. 

Visiting three orphanages today left us feeling joyful and relieved as we see all the children truly being caring for. Our first stop was Sweet Home where the children smiled and ran around giggling. Our next stop was a special needs orphanage where there were a number of children of varying abilities. A few young men used walkers and were very quick with the soccer ball. All five children on our team interacted with the children with love and care. They assisted the kids with watercolor painting, building towers with blocks, and playing soccer of course. Our last stop was to Montfort Deaf School which was a favorite for some of our second time teammates. Here we communicated with them with some basic signs. It is always amazing as these children are so intuitive and ask so many questions as what child belongs to what parent and how old we are. 

Bethany