About a year ago the Lord enabled us to partner with some Brethren in Haiti and America to take in about twenty four orphan children from the alleyways of the Giardo Ravine neighborhood just outside Port Au Prince. We found a house, rented it, outfitted it, staffed it and set about caring for and educating these most needy children. In January we added to our numbers, taking in another sixteen children. We thought forty children was a full house.
Things are bad in the streets. There is little food. Half the people of Haiti are fifteen and under. Half the people of the country don't eat on any given day. The cost of food has risen fast and high. There is no overflow or extras. The orphan children are dying of malnutrition. The kids in the streets are the least and the last.
We were so blessed to be able to take some children out of the streets and watch them eat and grow. We have been praising God for His provision and we thought My Father's House Haiti was full.
The Worldwide economic downturn has been the cause of the failure of two (at least) orphan homes not far from our work. They have asked us to take their children. They have been asking for some time. Initially we declined, offering instead to help them feed the children while they continued to house and educate them, but they said they were closing their doors and the children are going back to the streets and alleyways of Port A Prince.
We have no choice. The Love of Christ constrains us. The Lord has set these children before us. They have nowhere to go but to the foodless streets or My Father's House Haiti. We can truly fill My Father's House and give these children a home, a roof, safety, food, education, shoes, medical care, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in loving action. We can and must love them.
As you read this we are taking in FIFTY additional orphan children! Praise God, what a privilege!
As you might guess, we have need of beds, mattresses, plates, cups, spoons, sheets, chairs, tables, everything it takes to meet the needs of this many more children who come to us with nothing but the clothes on their backs. We will need to increase our staff and to travel there more frequently.
What we need is your prayers. As the Lord prospers you, we also need you to stand with us financially. (It costs us about four dollars a day per child to provide a home and education.) The Haitians are doing the hands on care and feeding and educating and the-getting-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-calm-and-comfort-parenting.
We need to stand with them. Would you stand with us for these dear friends of Jesus?
Thank you.
Jason & Sharon Nightingale
Wordsower International
