Walgens is a very special boy who grew up in a rural village in the northern part of Haiti, near the city of Cap Haitian. When Walgens was young his father had abandoned his family and left them to fend for themselves. Like many families in the rural farming sections of Haiti, when things got financially difficult, they left their village for the city.  Walgens, his mother and four older brothers moved to Port Au Prince to seek better opportunities.  However, the "better opportunities" took the form of begging on the streets to survive.

On the street, Walgens, at age 8,  tended to band together with other kids with similar backgrounds from the Cap Haitian area.  The packs of children would walk down busy congested streets tapping on windows to beg for money or wipe down cars to seek a few gourdes (Haitian coins equivalent to 1/40th of a US dollar) to support themselves and their families.  The packs would provide a sense of safety in and order.  Unfortunately, it did not always protect children from predators, evil individuals and other cruel street kids that sought to harass or physically harm the younger children.  Walgens had many unpleasant experiences on the streets.

One day,  Walgens heard about a Bible study at a local church that also provided a free meal for street kids.  He checked it out and soon began attending regularly.   The Bible study was being conducted by a local missionary who also knew the Manassero family.  Knowing the difficulties and dangers Walgens was encountering on the streets, she asked if they could take Walgens in to the Maison de Lumiere boys home and they did.

At first, Walgens was very shy, nervous and uncomfortable at the home.  He didn't know what to make of this new home and the other former street kids living at the home.  But, over time, as he grew to trust the missionaries and staff, he began to enjoy his new home and blossom.   In school, Walgens became an excellent student and demonstrated a high aptitude and strong ability to learn new concepts and ideas quickly.  He also taught himself English before any formal classes were offered at the home.  He especially loved to study his Bible and learn about Jesus.

Today, Walgens is number one in his class at school and well liked by all the other students.  He is a very friendly and considerate young man.  He speaks and understands English well and is always very helpful around the home.  Soccer is his favorite sport and he wants to get on a famous soccer team one day.  He still loves to read his Bible and worship God daily and thanks Jesus every day for rescuing him off the streets.  He hopes to become a carpenter one day.

Recently, Walgens and his friend Willie Blanc have taken a keen interest in our new rooftop gardens and have become part of our "Green Team," watering and helping take care of the gardens.  According to Mimi and Andrew Anderson, who set up the garden, Walgens learns quickly and has a natural "green thumb." 

Walgens is a very special child that God shines through in everything he does.  It is our prayer that God will continue to work mightily in his life and that Walgens would grow to serve the Lord in a big way.  Please regularly pray for Walgens.

While the King's Harbor missions team was recently in Haiti, the news came over the radio -- a local school had collapsed, children were trapped and they needed help.  Our team had a doctor, Dr. Eddie Anorga, who was ready and anxious to go, so when we heard, a small group of us rushed over to see if we could help.

 

When we arrived, we saw that the entire back of the school had completely collapsed. It was horrible to think that there were children caught beneath this mass of rubble.  Susette went into the lower floors with Dr. Eddie and said she could hear the cries of children beneath the rubble.  Their cries still haunt her today. 
Haitians drew together quickly, forming bucket brigades to pull blocks and debris out by hand.  The UN was also there, along with Doctors Without Borders, Haitian police and neighbors, but it was still utter chaos.

The infrastructure and economy of Haiti were sadly revealed in this tragedy. Precision and planning are as rare as forested mountaintops, swept clean by loggers and people cutting down trees to make coal to survive.  Day-to-day survival is hard enough. Rising fuel and food prices led to riots earlier this year. Then four hurricanes pummeled the country in the space of four weeks; the resulting floods displaced approximately one million people, killed more than a thousand and left thousands more homeless.

In a bigger spiritual context, what happened at this school is symbolic of Haiti's biggest problem.  Even the noble efforts of educating the children means nothing unless a strong foundation is in place -- a foundation built upon the Rock -- Jesus Christ. 

 

Please pray for the poor devastated families that lost children in this terrible tragedy and continue to pray for Haiti, especially her children.

 

God bless you all for your prayers and support of our efforts here.  Despite the horrible things that are and have happened here, there is still a Light of Hope in the next generation of children who are on-fire to see positive transformation come to Haiti through the Spirit of God.

They came with a mission!  (As is often the case for a missions team)  However, their goal was to create a special low-maintenance, self-watering vegetable garden that would act as a prototype to other gardens that might not only benefit the children at the orphanage but might, one day, help struggling Haitian families, limited by space/land who seek nutritious food for their families.

This unique garden system required only a little cement, cinder block and some empty plastic storage bins.  The end result is a high-yielding garden system that could potential feed an entire family.  We are very excited about the prospect of this project.  Over the next few weeks and months Mimi and Andrew Anderson will be emailing, reviewing digital photos, monitoring and directing our green team regarding this project.  We are very optimistic about the results.

While the team was in Haiti they did lots of stuff -- daily joined our kids at their 6am devotionals and worship time, painted powerful scriptures on the walls of all the homes, conducted non-stop medical clinics, fed a small ravine village, fixed up the guest house, created our new Med Clinic office and, of course, built a killer state-of-the-art rooftop vegetable garden.

We are so very thankful for these awesome incredible servants of God.  We especially thank them for the love they brought and imparted on our children, staff and the missionaries here in Haiti.  Thank you and God bless you all!

We now have a wonderful new facility and home for visiting missions teams guests and interns.

In the past, visitors would stay in the lower part of the Manassero home.  The facility was nice but had only one bathroom.  It was a little difficult for teams of 8 or more.  Now, with the Hojara family living in our former guesthouse, we saw a real strong need to house visitors.

As only the Lord could do, a house became available at a very reasonable rate right next to our girls home facility.  Our new guest house now allows us to provide accomodations for larger teams. With more extensive facilities and services (including internet service, complete kitchen and THREE bathrooms with showers), we are now able to comfortably house teams of 20 plus.  Located right next door to the girls home, and right between the boys and girls homes, the new guest house is in the perfect location for teams who will now be able to walk only a few yards to either orphanage.

One great advantage of the new guest house is that we will have a guest house staff consisting of some of our older children who will be learning the hospitality business.  This new micro-business affords the children an opportunity to serve and learn a new vocation.

In addition, the new facility will also act as the Child Hope Haiti office, as well as a special place for meetings, classes, seminars and other special activities of the ministry.  And, our new rooftop garden, situated on top of the guest house, also provides a nice sitting/retreat/prayer area providing a great ocean view of the city and Port Au Prince bay.

If you are thinking of visiting us next year, it would be wise to reserve your dates early.  Once word gets out about our new 5-star guest house (lol) the available dates may fill up fast.  Just call us at 888-808-9595 and book today!  The first 500 respondents will get a free set of Ginsu knives {just kidding).

It's hard to believe but it is already happening - we are forming our own English-speaking school.  Working closely with a fellow missionary, Sherry Fossee, who has a ravine children feeding program and her own accredited English-speaking school, we launched a pre-K/kindergarden class that is technically a satellite of her school.  It is our intent, over time, to work closely with Sherry to eventually break-off and form our own school.  She has agreed to help up in registering and developing our own school.   In the meantime, we have 12 students, consisting of MDL residents and the children of employees.  The school uses English Christian curriculum but also teaches French so that children will always have the option to move into the Haitian school system.

The new school will allow our children to grow proficient in reading, writing and speaking English, receive a higher level of advanced education, have increased opportunities (perhaps to one day continue their education at a U.S. or Canadian university) and allows the mission to insure our children receive the highest level of education within a Christ-centered environment.

As the school grows, it is our prayer that the Lord will send someone with strong academic teaching and administrative credentials to head up the school.

We're very excited about our third annual Haiti Christmas Outreach.  This special event will consist of a neighborhood feeding of approximately 200 children, a musical program featuring the MDL Kids Choir, a neighborhood kids choir, a praise/worship hip hop dance team, skits and a Nativity play, complete with live animals (as available).  We are also praying that we will be able to present each attending child with a special little Christmas gift bag.

This unique program brings joy to those whose Christmas is not usually very merry, as well as presenting the hope of the Gospel message.

Please pray for this special event and for those putting it all together, especially Ariana and Renald.  The event will take place Saturday, December 20.

We are blessed to have Brook James, a long time friend and supporter of the ministry, to join us in Haiti for a one-year internship.  Brook, who is a register  nurse, will be overseeing our medical clinic, visiting medical/dental teams and working individually with our children as well as conduct health/hygiene education with the children.

Brooke's heart for the children of Maison de Lumiere is very evident.  The children love her very much and are excited to have her here.

We are thrilled to have Brooke join us and to be a part of the exciting work God is doing through Child Hope International here in Haiti.