What's in a Day

At this time of year the focus at the HOH is school. All our students are deep into their studies for the year.

Being able to attend school in Haiti is a tremendous privilege and our 57 students feel this keenly. They work hard to take advantage of this chance to learn and grow.

Due to the variety of ages and abilities of our students, they are not all able to attend the same school in our local community. Some go in the morning, some in the afternoon, some even have to attend weekend classes.

Our students attend 10 different schools (not counting the various universities and professional studies of the older ones). That means 10 different schedules, 10 different school administrators and teachers to deal with with as problems come up. On top of that each school has their own sets of uniforms for the boys, girls and various levels of classes.

Somehow, Linda manages to keep it all together. The first students heads off to school at 6:30 each morning. The next wave of departures is around 6:50, then again around 7:45. Around 1 in the afternoon is a big shift of the morning kids returning and the afternoon kids heading off. The last one to return home at night arrives between 7:30 or 8.

Add into this that everyone needs to eat in between their comings and goings and you basically need a spreadsheet to keep it all together. And yet she keeps it all in her head and runs it all with precision like a drill Sargent! It is really quite amazing to watch.

The afternoon and evenings are full of homework and studying. Because they have fewer actual hours in school, they all, from the youngest to the oldest, come home with tons of homework and lessons to memorize. While we do hire some tutors for certain kids, a lot of times the older ones help the younger ones in between their studying.

This routine, day after day, gets exhausting and you can imagine that a week like this where school is out for the National Carnival Holiday creates an air of relief and excitement. Everyone gets to take a deep breath, sleep in a bit and enjoy their days. Here are some pictures of how they are doing that at the HOH this week...

While she directs things and participates enthusiastically in the games, thankfully Linda doesn't have to do any of this work alone. We have an incredible group of young leaders at the HOH who help out with every aspect of making sure things run smoothly.

It is exciting to watch this group of young people grow and learn to lead as they help Linda out at the HOH. Not only does it help things run smoother now, but it will definitely help them as they grow up, move on and have a life and a future on their own. They are learning skills now that will help them throughout their lives.

And this group together decided that this week of holidays not just be about fun and games, but also about spending time studying God's word and praying together. Each morning starts with a prayer and devotional time, and here are some of the things they are praying about -- would you like to join us in prayer for them?

• One of our young adults who has lived with us for a long time since she was a little girl is slowly passing away. The doctors are no longer able to do anything but offer end of life care for her and it has been a long and painful road for everyone. Please pray for strength for this dear young lady and for wisdom and comfort for all involved in her care.

• The boat that usually brings over our supplies from Miami has not been able to make a regularly scheduled run due to paperwork. We really need the items that are on the boat and ask you to pray that the crew and owner would be able to figure out the problem and get the boat back on schedule.

• While the past few months have been calmer in the country of Haiti, violence has started up again this week. Crime has also really picked up. Food prices continue to rise in our corner of the country and life just keeps getting more difficult. I saw this week that Haiti is the 111th worse country out of 117 on the Global Hunger Index. I'm not sure all the implications of things like that, but we see it on the ground, things are rough and we have such need around us. Pray for God to speak to hearts to help us with the financial needs we have to be able to continue to help take care of some of these needs.

We are grateful for your support and partnership in this special ministry. Thank you for your part as we bring the Hope of Jesus to the kids in our corner of Haiti.