Who and Where in Haiti?

Reality is setting in-we leave for Haiti.
Here's the lowdown on Who and Where in Haiti.

Who: There will be many people (50-150?) we interact with, but a few key names you should know.

Pastor Widelson Marcellus has been our main contact in Haiti since 2008. Widelson is a very well connected man, and we learn more about him and the amazing things happening in Haiti every time we visit. He is married and has four grown children of his own, and one grandchild. His home is the orphanage, he owns nursing schools and he cares for his church congregation.

Ernst went to college to be a music educator and has been teaching music lessons over the past few years. He is excited to get some help and instruments from Sarah and the team.

Enelson is Pastor Widelson's son and he is one of the key planners in this trip. Enelson graduated this spring with an Accounting degree. His English is pretty good and he has been sharing his knowledge of business and technology with others. He is very interested in helping others start micro-businesses and creating sustainability.

Where: Carrefour is just west of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. This is a very poor, run-down neighborhood of the capital. Our home-base will be at the Villa. The villa is a pretty nice place to stay and many America mission trips spend time there. (They have a pool but no air conditioning and the electricity is unreliable.) Villa is very close to the Widelson orphanage where we will spend most of our time.

The Orphanage:  St. Paul's congregation sends monthly support to aid the orphanage in his home. I hesitate every time I write the word ORPHANAGE because it is not the typical orphanage most of us envision. Technically many of the children have at least one living parent and they are "poverty orphans" or "children of grace." Regardless, many (35)  children live with the Marcellus family. All of the kids are sent to school and attend church with him. The older kids were part of the technology class in 2011 and gone on to teach those skills to the younger kids. Many move onto college or nursing school, too. It is really fun to look through Rob's photos of Haiti over the years to see the growth of all the kids. Look HERE.

The Nursing School: Widelson became the owner/director of a failing nursing school in 2008. St. Paul's raised money to build desk/benches for the school. This has been a blessing to give his kids access to education and careers.

The Church: This church is up on the mountain side, in the country, overlooking a growing village and the sea. The church is a wooden framed building with tin roofing. It gets really HOT during service. Most of the music lessons and activity will take place here. We will all attend the Sunday service as well.

---------------------- Widelson in MN Storytime Break---------------------

Its my blog, so I get to do this :)

Pastor Widelson came to MN in the spring of 2013 to learn more about us, including a visit to Buffalo High School. Pastor got a personal tour of BHS from principal and St. Paul's member, Mark Mischke. Widelso was blown away by our school's sheer size, organization, and music facilities. They stopped by my classroom to visit and he loved seeing the Haitian flag and mementos in my room (Sister Jake, as he greeted me.) Actually the WHITEBOARDS were his favorite. BHS presented him with some BHS gear, which he proudly wore the rest of the week, including at St. Paul's where he received a bit of teasing from the STMA students, but he proudly insisted that, "Mark Mischke is my friend!" -- Love this story!!

Oh- and Widelson loved the Irwin's pitbulls, Jasper and Tito. He affectionately gave them nicknames, ti tet "little head" and gwo tèt "big head." Dogs are not seen as family members in Haiti, or most developing countries, so this was a fun surprise. When my husband was down there, he of course made friends with the dogs that hung out at the villa. (After the Sochi dog situation in Russia, I am curious about Haiti's dog policies, but I am having a hard time finding anything. Clearly we don't want un-vaccinated strays wandering around for public health and safety.)

He was able to see both snow and experience a warm spring day while he was here. He also had his first s'more around a MN backyard fire pit. The Mall of America was a bit overwhelming, but he asked to take photos by the amusement park to show the orphanage kids.

Overall it was a great visit. Relationships take time to develop. Trust is important.