Restoring a Community, Tradition, and Trade

by Isaac Gardener

Jubilee Blanc is a beautiful but impoverished suburb of Gonaives, Haiti. Our marginalized neighborhood is marked by adverse social conditions, food insecurity, unstable infrastructure, and environmental degradation. Emerging from a history of corruption and political violence, this fringe community has endured many obstacles to forward progress, recently recovering from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2008. Despite this adversity, our friends continue to amaze us with their courage and resilience.

Central to this effort is a desire to reclaim their identity as a flourishing fishing community. As part of our mission to “inspire and empower individuals and families out of a mindset of scarcity and into a posture of abundance,” Much Ministries is excited to partner with our friends in Jubilee by offering a pilot program designed to restore the multi-generational tradition of fishing.

We are currently exploring the concepts of micro-finance in an attempt to construct a strategy that will effectively empower fishermen and their families. We will help community purchase nets and boats, most of which were lost in the 2008 storms. This is not necessarily teaching a man to fish, but empowering those who already know how to fish, with the tools they so desperately need to prosper.

Our model will consist of appropriate inputs as indicated by our participants and current trends, supplemented by educational opportunities intended to accompany participants in their struggle against the complex web of poverty.

They like me. No seriously, they really like me.

Posted by April Komasinski

This week we have a group of professional teachers here to train us how to do this thing we are trying to do. They have put together really awesome teacher trainings every afternoon full of awesome ideas and tools we can use to further our classrooms. Since I am not a “real” teacher, at least by training, I was super nervous for them to come. I have this very legitimate fear that I am a horrible teacher. I do testing with my children every Friday, and nearly every Friday I come to Lala and say, “I’m not doing this right. My kids are not getting the material. I am not a teacher. You got the wrong person. I quit.”

She looks at me like I am stupid and reassures me in her ever so blunt way that she thinks I am a good teacher and it is all okay they are getting it. Throughout the weeks she has poked her head in to see my class and is shocked that Ashline can sound out and find vowels in the words all by herself. Or that Tcheventchina is talking in class, or Eccelesiaste is the smartest kid in my kindergarden class. And she uses this to further her point that I must be doing something right. However in my brain I write most of this off as simply my friend trying to make me feel good.

So, I was terrified that these real life teachers would come down and declare once and for all that I was right all along (that I stink as a teacher). And though I believed I did, I did not want anyone else to believe it. Because we all want to put on our best. We all want to be good at where our heart is. And my heart is for these kids. I love teaching like I never thought I would.

So today, some of these professional teachers said they wanted to “hide out” in my classroom. Thinking nothing of it since they have been in and out all week, I ushered them in and continued with my lesson. Little did I realize it was a teacher evaluation. I was proud of my kids for their behavior and their ability, at 4 years old, to identify what letter started a variety of words. At the end of the lesson, the real life teachers said they liked me and that I was doing well. Not just kinda well, but really well. Like, good teacher, well. It made my whole heart happy. They ranted and raved about me to Lala and she got this proud look on her face and said “see, I told you so.” And for once, I was okay with being a little bit wrong. And I thought to myself, maybe, just maybe, I can do this.

Trade School English Classes have become an Institute

The ESL classes Chris began in the fall grew until the space in Jubilee could no longer contain them. So in February Chris Greene, Scott Peters, and Valmy Peirre rented classroom space in an existing college located in central Gonaives.

Young men and a few women are coming from all parts of the city to learn English in the beginners’ classes. In the intermediate classes, students strengthen and practice English through classes in Theology, Marketing and Business, Political Science, Philosophy, and Computer Repair.

They have had a huge response, and God is using these young men to bring revolutionary ideas and nation building concepts to the up and coming leadership of this city. The central theme of each class is integrity and character development. Please pray that these classes would be filled with all God has for them!

Sacred Work of their Hands

It is amazing to watch the Trade School grow!  I am not talking about a building but the community of artisans that continue to expand.  Last month a new “guild’ was formed.  This one using fabric…fiber art. This is the fourth guild, following the Jewelry, Journals, and Baskets.  The women are SO EAGER.  As soon as we set a general design, the work floods in.  Each one has their own style and flair with color.  We are in the process of creating some truly artful pieces…soon to be revealed!  This is a dream come true — to watch women literally walk out of desperate poverty by the sacred work of their hands.

Medical Provision and Needs

Our nurses Keziah Furth and Grace Deal (pictured above) have joined Martha Hanna to work side by side with the local doctors and nurses in the Providence Hospital here is Gonaives.   In our meetings with the director of the hosptial he has suggested that we focus on the ER.  On Jan. 14, Dr. Cupo (an ER doc from Brunswick, GA) will be here to lend his expertise!  It is our goal to be a help in real tangible ways.  The Emergency Room in the hospital is in need of the following basic items: fans, chairs, thermometers, trash cans, a nebulizer, oxygen tanks, regulators and tubing, blood sugar monitor (gloucometer), scissors, gloves, and bandage supplies.  All of these items can be purchased here!  For those who would like to invest in helping with these needs, please note “medical supplies” with your contribution.  Thank you!

St. Simons teenager teaches Haitian women to make Christmas ornaments

St. Simons teenager teaches Haitian women to make Christmas ornaments
Article from Jacksonvill.com by Terry Dickson

ST. SIMONS ISLAND – Most teenagers who won $1,000 in an essay contest would shop for iPads or maybe finance a ski trip. Althea Cupo, 16, used part of her winnings to fly to Haiti and teach impoverished women to make Christmas ornaments of glass and copper wire that they can sell. It’s hard to call any trip to Haiti anything but a mission, and Althea’s started months earlier when she took a class in cabochon, jewelry made from glass beads. She used the cabochon skills to make jewelry that she intended to sell at the former Much Ministries store in Waynesville, where owners Kathy and Beaver Brooks raised money to send to Haiti.

To read the entire article, go to http://goo.gl/MhrJP

Real Leaders

Back in the summer, I began praying for one “servant leader” among the women in the Marketable Art Guild.  A young wife and mother, Mafi emerged .  She has been a friend to me and a respected leader among her peers (who happen to be a strongly opinionated group of women).  Recently, some money went missing that I had left in her care.  It was a fairly large sum of money in Haiti.

Mafi was deeply disturbed. She insisted on paying me back for it. I said, “No. You will not.”  I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that she did not steal it.  We talked for a while and she said, ever so humbly, “Mama Kati, in order for us to have a real friendship, a strong friendship, I have to pay this money to you.”  So, I conceded.  Wow. I was blown away. Integrity!  I’m so thankful that God has shown me who the real leader in our group would be.

A similar thing happened with Benson, the young man who leads a group of 10 in building the Journals.  I nearly over payed him by about 30 US dollars on the last order.  He stopped me and corrected my math.  Thank you God for bringing us these folks to work with!

The truth is that in our community stuff does get stolen.  Last week, an iPod went missing. It was so dis- heartening because we were fairly certain who took it.  But, as they were confronted, an unpleasant scene evolved, and it was just sad. I prayed that God would show us what to do.  I  ended up in Romans 12 — Never avenge yourselves.  Leave it all to God.  Feed those who steal from you and try to help them in other ways.   Wow!  That is so easy to read and so hard to live! But, it is the way of the kingdom.  The only way of life.  So we follow! And yes, we sent food.

Love your neighbor

Slowly we are focusing on “love your neighbor as your self,” but as you know poverty here can make it challenging.  However, love can overcome the obstacles.

Who do we invest in?

When we came to live and work in a nation with overwhelming needs, we asked God, “Who do we invest in?”  We have a constant flow of people asking and a myriad of others that don’t ask, but we can feel hunger all around.  How do we know who to help?  It seemed God said, “the ones who have been faithful with what they have already.” If we invest in them, the entire community is blessed. We have found that to be true. Likewise we aim to be faithful with every small thing God puts in our hands and to use every resource we have from a bag of shells given to us by a 10 year old child in Jubilee to a financial  gift sent electronically through PayPal.  We are everyday grateful for the privileged of living and working here in Gonaives, and we give thanks to God for the support we receive.

The Power of Knowledge

We have never been more aware of the difference knowledge can make.  In the last 10 weeks, we have literally seen lives saved as those with knowledge and training have come to share.  So much needless pain and suffering has been relieved! A huge “thank you” to Martha Hanna as she wraps up this week the Community Medical Classes, CNA training, and her classes at the Gonaives Nursing School. Please pray for Martha and the rest of the team here that are headed to the states for the holidays!