Day 4: Grace Village Tour // Elderly Visits

Our morning started off with a tour of Grace Village.  Grace Village is a place created by the founders of Healing Haiti where a few children live, and hundreds of children get food and an education.  Some of the children who now live at Grace Village were once child slaves who are now being taught how to trust and love.  Before they came to Grace Village, many of those children were used to people stealing their blankets at night when they slept .  At Grace Village they are taught "what's theirs is theirs" and nobody steals.  They are taught to live like a family, so ultimately when they have a family of their own later in life, they have that life skill in place.

Also at Grace Village, they have an aquaponics system where they farm their own talapia and use hydroponics to grow their own vegetables, as the terrain is not conducive to growing plants.  They have two bread ovens, where they teach people in the community to make bread so that they can go and sell it in the community to support themselves.  They are now working on a commercial bakery to provide a needed service as well as many more jobs for the local people.  So much at Grace Village is about coming alongside the people of Haiti to help them learn how to help themselves and not just accept handouts.

 

In the afternoon we visited 3 women in the elderly program.  We washed their hands and feet and brought them a hot meal and cold water.  We poured our hearts into them through touch, praying for them, asking them about their experiences, and singing and dancing with the children that gathered.  We started with Marolen, who was frail and quiet.  Then Felicie, who was happy to see us and was so grateful for her house that was built by Healing Haiti, followed by Maricia, who was so joyous that she greeted all of us with hugs and hooted and hollered when we washed and dryed her feet!  Let's just say that her fingers and toes were painted by some unusual methods and persons, along with her grandchildren.  ;)

To end our day, we were given a tour and explanation of the earthquake that shattered this beautiful country when we visited the Mass Gravesite.  The multitude of souls that were lost sank into each and every one of us as we looked around and thought about what it must have been like to have lived through such a disaster...

Tracy, Cassie, and Michael