Personal Message
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
We pray that all is well with you and your family and that the Lord is blessing you mightily. Please know that you are regularly in our prayers.
For those of you who have kept in touch with us through your letters and emails, thank you. Your words of encouragement mean so very much. And for those who have actually been able to visit us here, another big thank you -- you have blessed us beyond measure.
We realize this newsletter is bigger than usual but it is just because so much is happening. God is moving in big ways here in Haiti and we are doing our best just to keep up with all the exciting things happening.
We hope you will enjoy this newsletter and find the information encouraging, uplifting and helpful.
Right before we were ready to send this newsletter out we received word that one of the little street girls who was supposed to move into our home died. We do not know a lot of details at this time other than she had been sick since December. We mourn the loss of little Ketley but rejoice knowing that she is home in the arms of her Savior. Please pray for her family, that they might be comforted and come to know the love of the Savior as well.
God bless you.
In Christ in Haiti,
The Manasseros
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Sweet Adeline
 She is very shy and tends to run and hide when she gets too much attention. But her sweet spirit and tender heart deeply touch everyone who meets her.
Adeline is from a small village in northern Haiti, near Cap Haitian. When difficult times hit her family, they moved to Port Au Prince to beg for money. Unfortunately, Adeline was the only one who was placed out on the street to beg. Her mother and step father sat home each day as they would send her out, early in the morning, to dodge and weave in and out of busy traffic -- tapping on car windows and extending her hand -- in the hopes of earning enough money each day for her family to live.
This was her life for years before we met her. When we first sat down to interview Adeline, she would not reveal much about her past. The more we would dig, the more withdrawn she became. Her beautiful smile would fade as she became somber, staring off, as if in another world.
It is apparent that this precious little child has experienced much pain in her short life. By the grace of God, however, she is healing, laughing, playing, and singing -- all for the glory of God. Her new life at Maison de Lumiere has given her fresh hope through Jesus Christ. She knows that Jesus loves her and that she has a new life in Him - the past is washed away.
As she looks to the future, she is encouraged and excited about the things that God can and will do in her life. Please keep Adeline in your prayers.
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Welcome to MDL Preschool!
 They arrive at 8:00am. With their best smiles in place, they greet their teacher - "Good Morning Miss Brittany!" This is a typical day at the Maison de Lumiere Preschool. Now, it may be a small class, but it is nonetheless, as exciting and thrill-packed as any preschool you may find west of the Caribbean Sea. Although the students all speak Creole, the class is taught in English. They are learning the language while they learn their ABCs, colors and good classroom citizenship. This is where our youngest residents of MDL go while the other kids are out at school.
Brittany Bohlinger is their teacher, principal and encourager.
A typical day starts with prayer, then on to learning colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Then they have their English lesson, followed by art, snacks, playtime, Bible stories and nap time. The children love their school and are learning a lot, especially about getting along with others.
We are thankful to have this new program at the orphanage and for Brittany who pours her heart out on these special little children each day. Please keep Brittany and our preschool students in your prayers.
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Israel Seeking Medical Assistance
 For those of you who have known the first boys who joined the orphanage, you know Israel who has been with us since the beginning. He is a very special young man whom we have been blessed to watch grow.
As a baby, he experienced a horrible accident leaving his face scarred and disfigured. As is common in most Haitian homes, his mother had a kerosene stove that sat in the middle of the floor. The stove was very hot as she was in the middle of cooking a meal for their family. Israel was playing with a curtain when it fell and wrapped around his head. As he tried to pull the curtain off, he rolled into the stove, setting the curtain on fire. But before anyone could do anything, he had suffered severe third degree burns to his face and other parts of his body. His mother rushed him to a hospital but they were illequipped to treat the burns and just did what they could to save his life.
Today, he is 15 years old and he has learned to live with the burn scars. When he was on the street, the kids used to call him "monster boy" and other cruel names. At one point, a person came up to him on the street saying she knew of an orphanage that could help fix his face. He went there with the hope that something could be done but it proved to be false hope. And the next two orphanages he lived at actually exploited his burns to raise money. By the time he ended up at Maison de Lumiere, he had resolved himself to the fact that nothing would ever be done to help his situation.
We are praying that his dream can be realized and want to know if something can be done. We are working with a medical missions organizations that sent children to the states or Canada for medical care and are willing to help if we can find a clinic, hospital or plastic surgeon willing to perform plastic surgery on a pro bono basis? If you know of someone or other contact that might help, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at childhopeintl@yahoo.com. And please join us in praying for a wonderful resolution to this lifelong quest.
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Brooke James Wraps Up Extended Stay
 She has been a friend, sponsor and supporter of the orphanage since the beginning. She knew some of the boys even before we did. She has a great love and heart for Haiti and it's people -- especially the children of Maison de Lumiere. In fact, this is what prompted her to take a month off of her full-time nursing job in Washington state to spend time serving and ministering to our children. Since arriving, she has reorganized our pharmacy, helped the new girls get blood tests, administered first-aid to the children at MDL, as well as in the neighborhood, taken kids in for doctors appointments, helped take a rock out of one of the girl's ears and helped update and organize the children's medical files... just to name a few. She has not slowed down since she arrived, but, then again, that's what she wanted. Her heart is to serve and encourage -- and she does both very well. We will miss her greatly and will be praying for her as she ministers to another group of children -- those in the oncology ward of the hospital where she works. Please keep Brooke in your prayers as she seeks to do her Father's will. God bless you Brooke.
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Two Newest Girls Home Residents
 These two precious young girls are the newest residents at Maison de Lumiere girls home. Their names are Katrina and Katiana. Both girls lived in a small remote village east of Port Au Prince. Nine months ago a band of gangsters invaded their home in the middle of the night. Their mother was helpless as the armed men raped and brutally murdered their 18 year old sister. Shortly after this incident, their three year old brother disappeared while playing in their yard and has not been seen since. Their mother, who is very poor, had to beg on the streets to feed her children. When we heard what had happened, we took the two girls into our girls home. The mother still struggles to survive on the streets but is comforted to know that her daughters are safe and well at a home where they are loved and nurtured. Please pray that girls' brother will be found, that their mother would find work and that the Lord would heal and restore this family.
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Current Needs List
 A number of people have been asking, "What do you need most at the orphanages right now?" -- so we decided to list a few of the regular items we always need. Those items are as follows: Shampoo (Selson Blue, especially, is a big need), deodorant, bars of soap, tooth paste, tooth brushes, sanitary napkins, cough/cold medicine, boys/girls underwear (mostly 8-12 sizes), boys white t-shirts (all sizes - mostly medium to large sizes), socks, shoes, sandals, skin creme, vaseline, twin size sheets (fitted and flat), towels, band-aids and AA batteries. These items we go through on a regular basis and can never keep enough in stock. If you, your school or church want to send a care package or any of these items, you can ship directly to Child Hope International, c/o Agape Flights #PAP 16174, 100 Airport Avenue, Venice, FL 34285-3901. Please enclose a check for $2 per pound to cover shipping and customs fees. You can also check out additional needs at our web site. Thank you.
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Missions Teams
 We have been blessed to know that a number of missions teams are planning a visit to Haiti this year. If your family, church, school or organization is interested in visiting, we would love to have you. Please contact us first to make sure the dates you prefer are available. We know you will be blessed by the children at our orphanage and the people of Haiti. Just call Brooke Herman at 888-808-9595 or email us at childhopeintl@yahoo.com if you have any questions. Thank you and God bless.
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Manassero Kids Update
 Some of you have been asking, "So what are your kids up to?" Well, first of all, not all of our kids are here with us in Haiti: Jordan and Jasmine, our two oldest children, are in the states, happily married and raising beautiful babies. Here's the latest on the kids here with us:
Ari - Ari loves Haiti and has made many great friends who share her heart for Jesus and Haiti. We've been blessed with recent visitors (Brittany and Brooke) who are like big sisters to her, and whom she spends lots of time with as well. She also continues to lead her weekly neighbor kids Bible study and young girl discipleship group.
Vienna - Vienna has made some great friends locally and is very involved in the local church youth group, where there are other missionary kids and Haitian kids. She has become a wonderful singer and sings each week as part of our church's worship team. She loves emailing friends in the states and maintaining her multiple websites.
Elijah - Riding his bike is a favorite pastime, especially at a big park-like area near our house. He received a GameCube for Christmas and has already mastered NCAA Football 2003. He just completed reading through the entire bible with his dad and is starting to go through it again.
Francesca - Frankie was able to be a "princess for a day" as a flower girl for our driver/security guard Tony's wedding. She didn't want to take off the dress for days. She is excited about the possibility of joining her family in her first trip to America in July. Although there is no guarantee the travel visas will be granted, she is praying heavily that all will go through.
Kenson - Kenny is also really excited about coming to the states -- especially in seeing Disneyland. He keeps asking, "Are we goin' to Merica today?"
Please pray that the Lord will open the doors to allow Francesca and Kenson to visit the US with us this July.
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Still in Need of Sponsors
 Three special children are still without sponsors. They are Katiana, Diene and Daniel and are some of our most recent residents at Maison de Lumiere. Please pray that the Lord will bring forth sponsors for these wonderful kids. Sponsorship is only $25 per month. As a sponsor, you can write or email your sponsor child and also send packages. Our children have very special relationships with their sponsors and it is a true blessing to these special children to know they have a person who cares about them enough to sponsor them each month. If you are interested in finding out more about sponsorship, just go to our website.
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Vocational & English Teachers Wanted
 If you have the gift of teaching and would like to share that gift with the needy children in Haiti, have we got a job for you. We are currently looking for teachers that would be willing to give one month to one year to serve as a teacher to the children at our orphanage. If you have a specific vocational skill that is transferrable to a third world country (carpentry, plumbing, welding, auto mechanics), we would like to set up vocational training classes to prepare our children for life beyond the orphanage. Likewise, if you can teach English to non-English speaking children, we would like to talk with you. We are looking for English teachers during the summer break to teach 1-2 hours each day. It is a volunteer position. If you are interested, please email us at childhopeintl@yahoo.com.
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Baptism Event
 We were blessed to see 21 of our children get baptized at a special baptism event held by our Haiti home church, Port Au Prince Fellowship. 19 MDL boys and 2 MDL girls publicly proclaimed their faith through baptism. It was a blessed event that moved many of us to tears as we watched so many of our kids demonstrate their love for the Lord. We couldn't help but think back to where many of these children were just a few years ago and how God has moved, and continues to move, mightily in their lives. Praise the Lord! To see a list of all the children who were baptized, check out our latest MDL printed newsletter online.
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In Loving Memory
 She was scheduled to move into the Girls Home after Christmas. Unfortunately, she became ill and had to go to the countryside to be with family. It was while there, with her family, that she passed away. Her name was Ketley and she begged on the streets to survive. Her friends were many of the girls who now live at Maison de Lumiere Girls Home. We don't know many details of her illness other than she was sick. This, unfortunately, is the sad reality of Haiti. Death is real part of life here in Haiti. It comes swiftly to young and old alike -- without discrimination. Although we mourn the loss of this precious flower, we also rejoice, knowing that she is in the arms of a loving Savior - free from the the pain and struggle associated with life on the streets. Please join us in prayer for the family of Ketley and the many who will miss her her sweet smile and tender presence.
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