Hey everyone, turns out we didn’t have internet for the last two days as we were in a remote village called Perrca. More on that later!
In Haiti’s Grand Goave, a coastal community about two hours west of the captial city of Port Au Prince, there sits a strip of land no more than four acres. The 15-foot walls surrounding this property encase a lush green space with dozens of palm trees, kid goats scampering below the boughs of giant mango trees and a host of other tropical plants.
Inside these walls, Haitian men and women are learning the Word of God and gaining technical skills to go and support their families.
There is a particular mango tree that sits in this property. It’s an area where people often gather to swap stories, to talk faith, to impart wisdom. During the hot and humid days, the shaded boughs offer a cool comfort and the vantage point is optimal to see all that goes on at the compound. The dirt driveway cuts the mango grove from the guesthouse where teams come to stay and a long-term missionary couple now live. To the left you can see the technical and Bible school compound. Behind the school you can see the edge of the outdoor church where more than 400 people fill the pews and spill out into the grass as hundreds kids pile into one room for Sunday school.
We chose this mango tree as our interview spot. We listened as men and women shared their stories of how they came to be at HaitiARISE, how God has worked in their lives, and how the community of Grand Goave has been transformed because of the faithful Christians serving here. We met with a man named Sterling. He began attending church at the HaitiARISE compound because they were offering a music class. He ended up becoming a Christian there, getting baptized and is now the administrator for the HaitiARISE school. He praises God for saving his life and wants to continue to serve as administrator of this expanding school.
Sterling, who is from Grand Goave, says before HaitiARISE set up five years ago, the community was not looking good. There were many practicing voodou, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for jobs and most training was far away in the big city of Port Au Prince. Now he sees community transformation taking place and is excited to be a part of what HaitiARISE is doing for people’s souls and lives.
We met another woman named Nadia. She was a small, frail young woman when she showed up to HaitiARISE for the clinic. She could barely walk and spent much of her life lying down because her heart did not work right. When she showed up at a medical clinic set up at HaitiARISE by a team from Cranbrook, she found out she might only have another six months or so to live if her heart was not fixed. The medical team was able to get her into Chile for heart surgery and cover the medical expenses. Nadia is now a healthy woman. Shy and sweet, Nadia spends her days at HaitiARISE helping cook, take care of Marc and Lisa Honorat’s youngest daughter and be of assistance in any way she can. She is now able to go to school and is taking elementary level classes right now. She praises God for saving her life, both spiritually and physically.
As we listened to story after story under the mango tree, it sunk in how important ministries like this are in a community. In Canada, we have well-functioning levels of government. We have social assistance offices for people in financial need, and food banks to feed hungry bellies. We have employment assistance programs, tuition assistance to go to school and so many other opportunities. We have hospitals in most communities and safe transit if we need to get to more specialized medical services.
In Grand Goave, what do the people have? They have Marc and Lisa Honorat, and the team of people serving to make HaitiARISE help raise up godly men and women in Haiti who will help to turn the country around. It was quite the experience, to sit under the mango tree and realize through hearing the stories how important this place has become in such a short time. God is clearly working here. And everyone we talked to was excited to see what God would do in the future here too. I would recomend that if you ever go to Grand Goave, sit under that mango tree and watch God’s hand at work.
what a great and important work they are doing at HaitiARISE. and you’re doing a fabulous job of documenting all the stories
Thanks Michelle, it really was amazing to see what they are doing there!
What a beautiful story of how lives are being changed. Thank you for going on this journey, for asking the questions, for listening to the answers and for sharing these beautiful stories of hope with us all. May God continue to give you insight and wisdom as you continue in this journey of documenting changed life stories around the world.
Praying for you!!!