Streets: Christa

Christina, Tasha, me, Luciana, Mona

I was brought to tears the other night during worship, overwhelmed by how much I love these street kids. We open the Saturday Night Worship to the community, so that we can all worship our God together. It is one of my favorite times with the street kids, most who we have built relationships with during the week at our feeding programs.

Tasha & Luciana

There is a group of tween girls around the ages of 11 and 12 that we have been able to talk to consistently. They live in the tent city just around the corner from where I live. Ray and I got the privilege to go into the tent city with our nurse Paula, who was taking care of a few sick kids. There’s just really no words to describe what we saw, and because we are American, we choose to keep a low profile and not take pictures since we already stand out and are walking through their homes. So I will include some links to give you a visual, but we were invited into some tents by the kids and what we saw is heartbreaking. It’s exactly what we were afraid of.

Siniace, the edge of the tent city across from our home

Tent City Pictures:

Flag Over Tent City

Small Tent

To paint a picture, the distance between each tent is just enough to walk through. It is a small pathway, but its not even enough width for two people to walk side by side. Some tents are bigger than others, but there is a family of at least 4 or 5 in each one, most have more, such as a common family of 7. Lucley brought us into her tent, which consists of a tarp all the way around 4 sticks and another tarp across the top. Her door was made of tin and had a wooden stick on the inside to slide it closed to give them some sort of feeling secure, when really there is nothing safe about it.

Mona, Luciana, Tasha

Tasha is one of the girls I have gotten to know the most and her sister Jessica has been really sick, so Paula went to visit her and we went along. Her beautiful and young mother was at the door greeting us in her broken English with a glowing smile telling us to please come in and sit down, “chita, chita!!” As we sat down on cement blocks (holding at least 3 neighboring babies in our laps) and we all started to just drip in sweat, she told Evans, (one of our older orphanage boys who was translating), “I know its really hot in here and its hard for you to see this, but I can't thank you enough for coming here and making sure we are ok. It’s so good to have you here and meet you. Thank you for coming...."

At that point I was just trying to process the fact that in this little square of a tent there was one makeshift cot, one table with all their belongings and a sheet to separate the room and the sitting area. There are at least 4 people living in that tent, which probably means they all sleep in the dirt on the floor.

Luciana

I think back to when I was this age and it is probably the worst as a girl. I can’t imagine what it is like without people really investing in their lives as they are going through so many new things at this age. I pray for their purity and protection and that they would follow so close to God. In worship I had 11 year old Mona in my arms, we were standing up praising our God that is so good, and she has her arms wrapped around me like a hug, but her hands are lifted up to God behind me. It was so powerful to be the affection and comfort for her while worshiping together. I just pray that their hands stay lifted so high to the Lord who is reaching down into their lives and pulling them out of where they are. I can see that they are not rich in material things, but they are rich in ways we have never grasped.

Eddlie, Jeff, Me, Dupren, Rachel, Kellens, Peterson

There is also a pack of teenage boys that call themselves the street boys and have a secret handshake (that they so proudly have shared with us). A few of them are Sonson, Peterson, Jivenson, Jeff, Yvell, Kellens, Dupren, Edlie, Ledell and Jaytwoh, who we see everyday hanging out in front of our gate. My life just wouldn’t be the same with out them. They started this saying, “not today, cherie…” just to be funny, like when we say get over here and give me a big hug, of course their response is, “not today, cherie…” while all of them laugh, but really they cant wait to get a big hug from us each day. We were making a joke about how all Haitians love Sean Paul and Akon and somehow it came out Sean John (Puff Daddy’s clothing line)… which then it turned into, “not today, Sean John…” Please enjoy this video of Sonson and then Jivenson and Sonson rapping about who knows what…

We love these boys so much it’s hard to even begin how to describe them to you. But they have touched our hearts in ways no other kids can. They wait for us outside our house everyday, they call us by name and yell from the top of the street, “ME LOVE YOU SO MUCHHHHHH” in their Creole accents, and they walk us to work in the mornings telling us that they are our security guards and that they are here to protect us. As tough as they try to be, we know they are just dying for love. We are overjoyed to be a vessel for God’s love to them as we continue to teach them about Jesus and how He is our ultimate comforter. A few of them come to church with us every Sunday, and some are making jewelry with the pastor’s wife to make a little extra cash for their family to eat.

Jeff and his beautiful cousin

Jeff was one who stole our hearts back in November when he stood crying at the gate as we departed from Haiti in a big white truck. That image was forever burnt in my mind. He shared with me the other day that his dad was murdered and he now lives with his mom and 5 other brothers and sisters in one tent and they go two days without eating often, so he is thankful for the feeding program, but he still doesn’t know how to get food for his mom. Sonson’s dad was also murdered, but by his own brother, Sonson’s uncle, so his family is very torn and he is tossed around sometimes between aunts and other family. He also lost his older brother to what probably was another violent act. Peterson also lives with an aunt and his brothers and sisters are spread out among other family.

These boys roam the streets night and day because they don’t have money to barely eat so they definitely don’t have any to go to school, so they joined together and are the street boys. They desperately need prayer because these streets are rough. They think they are tough and they are all prone to get in fights growing up and seeing so much crime. We pray that the love of God transforms their minds and their past’s wont shape who they are, but Jesus will. I am sure their situations seem hopeless at times, but we pray that Jesus would be their hope in this desperate time. God loves each one of them so deeply and we just pray He leads us in ways of showing them just how full Gods love is for them. A few of them have now been sponsored to go to school, which is a huge blessing but a long road starting school in their early/mid teens.

Open the front gate... and this is what you find! Sonson, Peterson, Jivenson, Ledell

Jeff

Then there are the babies. I will have to write another post about his one, but all I can say is the babies who call out our names while RUNNING full force towards you just to leap into your arms… well…. It just melts your heart. It’s the best feeling in the world, really. They get smothered with kisses, and they know just what’s coming when they jump in these arms.

Nancy, Angline, Diana, Milanda, Ganiva, Guerson, Stevenson

“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” – James 2:5