Sometimes a facial expression says it all. Madam Tigaceon, a custodian at HCM who is very dedicated to her job, for years had been without a place she could call a home. She had moved from house to house living with various family members. Some had treated her well, but the ones she was currently living with had been treating her harshly.

When desperation evident in her face, she approached Edwens earlier this year about the necessity of building her a home, Edwens and the team went to work to find a solution. While they did not question Madam Tigaceon's honesty, they still had to research the validity of the need before moving forward. At times, we can become enablers by simply throwing money at a situation at hand without being sure of the need and the cause of problem. In Madam Tigaceon's case, she was living in terrible conditions and HCM needed to act quickly.

  Speaking of the difference between enabling versus progress, Madam Tigaceon did not sit and wait for HCM to move. Instead, she began the process of building her home by herself until HCM could help. She bought the land, purchased gravel, and assembled rocks so as to be ready for when HCM was able to join forces to build WITH her. Her gesture urged HCM to respond even more quickly. "Every time I would walk by and see her sweeping the schoolyard, I could only think of how quickly we needed to get her into a safe home", said Prophete, " We knew God would provide, He always does".

It ended up being the group at IDES who financed the home for Madam Tigaceon. A group from Kingsway and Haitian builder Boss Edner worked hard on building the home where Madam Tigaceon can now rest in peace.

The expression on her face when the keys were placed in her hands and furniture was set in the home was a stark contrast to what it had been before. It was a display of God's goodness.

Folks go on missions for many reasons: to serve God, to minister to others, and to learn about people, and not least, themselves.  On a recent trip to the Haitian Christian Mission at Fonds-Parisien, 11 members from the Imbler Christian Church in rural Northeastern Oregon experienced that service, ministry and learning.

They arrived on Oct. 10 at the Haitian Christian Mission complex in Fonds-Parisien and the experiences of the next 10 days proved to be unique and individual, so it's best to let members of the mission team share, in their own words, their experiences and thoughts.

"The people here are amazing," said the team's youngest member, Marissa. "With so little that they have, they still show the biggest smiles that assure you that there is still love and hope in their hearts.  Not only did helping HCM open my eyes to the needs of people in Haiti, but it also opened my heart for the Haitian people."

"I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach a sewing class with the teens my age...I made some great friends in the process.  I have enough laughter and smiles to last me a lifetime."

Rusty, Marissa's grandfather who worked in the wood shop had similar thoughts about the people.

"I had the pleasure of working with boss Charles Evens and his team of carpenters in their spacious shop. The people were a delight to watch and to learn from their expertise. The making of school benches went by much too quickly. I recommend having multiple projects or one larger project to keep yourself busy."

The load of school benches just before the truck left the HCM complex in Fonds-Parisien bound for pastor Rene Goude's church in Port-au-Prince.

Dwain, who, along with his wife Darlene, had visited HCM twice before, worked with Rusty on the bench project.

"We raised money in our home church to build 20 school benches.  Part of our team worked with the Haitians to build those benches.  When we loaded them into the (covered) truck to deliver to one of our churches, there was just room for exactly 20 benches."

The benches went to the main church of pastor Rene Goude in one of the poorest and roughest sections of Port-au-Prince. Imbler Church, through HCM, supports Rene's work, but it is not enough. He supervises seven churches and each church has a school. More financial assistance is needed to pay his teachers. Some months they have not been paid but have kept teaching.

The team spent their first Sunday Haiti in Rene's main church where he told them his best evangelism tool is teaching "the love of Jesus Christ to the children" in the schools.

Darlene with a handful of flannel diapers sewn by members of the team. Anne organized three sewing projects in which Haitian girls and women made diapers, wrap-around skirts and shoulder bags.

Anne, another member of the Imbler team, organized sewing projects at the HCM.  Assisted by Lynne, Marissa, Shannon and Darlene at different times, Anne and her assistants taught all who came to make flannel diapers, shopping bags and wrap-around skirts. The sewing was done by hand or on three treadle machines.

"It didn't matter what age they were, all the women were eager to sew," Anne said.  "Over the course of the week they all completed the three projects.

"I could not have taught sewing without my interpreter, John-John.  He was a kind and patient man, and he listened well and even helped with the projects.

"I am so thankful to God for bringing me to Haiti. I will never forget this once in a lifetime experience and the rewards of being on a team of dedicated Christians that served the mission in a variety of ways."

Lynne was one of those who served in a variety of ways, helping with sewing and teaching among other things.

"As someone that came to Haiti without a designated job, I found that there was a need just for people to be there to fill in the gaps in areas that need an extra hand," she said. "Don't feel that you are expected to come here with an agenda.  Come here to meet and love the Haitian people, especially the children."

Often, as Lynne pointed out, there is a need for help when something just happens.  Lacey and Clarice, two registered nurses who volunteered in the HCM clinic, learned that lesson one stormy night when a little boy arrived with a cut on his scalp. The storm prevented the Haitian nurses from coming in to assist the on-call doctor so he sought out Lacey and Clarice to bring their medical supplies and expertise to help.

For this 6-year-old and his anxious mom, HCM was "an oasis of calm, clean and order,"  as team member Shannon observed.

"The village people count on the clinic, hospital and school," she added. "(Meeting needs) is a very practical way of showing God's love."

"Doctor" Nick working on one of his patients, the HCM van. He installed new shocks, tires and fixed the air conditioning. It was one of several vehicles and generators on which he worked. One of his projects included repairing a generator to light the HCM clinic.

Shannon's husband Nick met a major need for HCM.  A police officer for many years and a mechanic for most of his life, he was re-named "Doctor Nick" after demonstrating an almost miraculous talent for repairing everything from generators to school buses. He even gave the HCM security guards a few lessons in how best to deal with intruders.

"It is very difficult, strenuous work with very little equipment or tools and long hours with little sleep," he said, probably summing up the feelings of everyone on the mission.  "But (it is) one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had." 

Midwives For Haiti

Midwives For Haiti partners with HCM's Christ For All Hospital by sending two midwife students to join our midwives La Paix, Michele, and Izma. The two new students will have a chance to practice and help provide safe prenatal care, deliveries, and OB/GYN treatment and counseling to the community of Sud-Est (Southeast) department of Haiti. We continue to be grateful for Labor of Love who supports the OB/GYN work at HCM.

PIF Haiti

The Play It Foward (PIF) coaches and players clinic held earlier this month was a success. During the week, the PIF athletes in both Fonds Cheval and Fonds Parisien trained under the leadership of the PIF coaches and Rafe Mauran from RYSA. Later in the week, the entire PIF and RYSA team provided a day of community service, learning English, and a movie night. We thank PIF's Thonny Fabien, Alison Gaddis, Rafe Mauran, and the team from RYSA for their hard work and efforts.

Board Retreat

The board retreat began with the Helping Without Hurting seminar in California. Coming in, we all knew we were going to be taking a critical look at how HCM is operating after reading the book When Helping Hurts. The conference began with Dr. Fikkert looking at United States and its effect on global missions, both what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. The first step toward improvement is admitting we can always do better. We must not settle for the norm, but instead strive to do better as we work to alleviate poverty without hurting the people we are serving.

Building Progress

The youth center is 75% completed. The church at Fonds Verrette is 85% completed. We sure would love to finish these up, but lack of funds has slowed us down. Let us know if you or your church or group would like to partner with us in getting these much-needed buildings completed.