Donald the Blessing

In the tent cities there are so many children with sun-tented hair, wholly clothes, and hearts desiring to learn. As you continue to see the same children time and time again you realize that their situation looks close to bleak. Gospel Fire and True Love Live have been working together to do a summer camp every Saturday with games, teaching, and hope.  Yesterday as I was holding one of the cutest boys you would ever meet I heard a farting noise. That farting noise continued with a warm sensation down on my lap and then the sweet smell of baby poop all over me. In tent cities diapers are a luxury and expensive. I was told from some Haitians “when a baby poops on you it is considered a blessing”… Who would of thought? We took Donald “the little blessing”  to his mother because they insisted that I get my dress washed. As we talked with the mother, one of our team members Moises asked about Donald’s father.  We found out the Donald’s father died on January 12 along with 230,000 other Haitian people during the Earthquake.

“Tap Tap”

Traveling in Haiti is not as simple as the 5 freeway.

Update Video: July 23,2010

Down Came the Rain

What started out as new and exciting has become a part of our day to day life in Haiti.  It will be clear skies, and then out of nowhere the clouds will come rolling in and a torrential downpour will happen.  As we go through the frustrations of being poured on, we remember that our friends over in Camp Canaan are being flooded daily.  As we embark on hurricane season, we can only pray for those that have flimsy shelters and live in the mud.

Innocence in Corruption

This is one of the many little faces TrueLoveLive gets to spend time with every Saturday over at Camp Canaan.  He is so full of joy and our hearts break when we realize the corruption that he is being raised in.  At this point it seems as if there is no end in sight for these people, but God’s hand is strong.  We believe we were placed here for a reason.  We are working alongside Gospel Fire and the committee members in the Tent City to bring about a lasting change.  If you would like to check out an article on Camp Canaan please read here:

http://www.laprogressive.com/haiti-earthquake/haiti-camps/

You won’t believe what you read.

Connecting to Tent Cities

True Love Live and Gospel Fire are collaborating to bring hope in all different forms. Every Saturday we head out to a tent city named Canaan and put on a summer camp for the children.  These are the faces of the children we are growing to love more and more each week.  We are working to bring shelter, education, clean water, food, and the gospel to these people. This is the first step to establishing long term relationships.

Loving the Orphans

You never know where you might meet a new friend.  These girls have a special place in our hearts.  The older ones have been living at the All Girls Orphanage since the age of three.  They have taken on leadership positions with the younger ones, and when Americans like us come, they take time out of their busy days to make us feel at home.  Their love and patience allowed us to be able to look through a new lens in life.

On our way

True Love Live is on there way to Haiti.

BackPack Pack

Haiti February 2010

Before There Was True Love Live, There Was An Earthquake…

In February 2010, a group of American college students packed their bags and set forth for Haiti, only weeks after a devastating 7.0 earthquake rocked the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

This group of young adults desired to serve God by helping those in need, and experienced their LORD work in inexplicable ways.

The Team- Pastor Lindor & His Family

Tap-Tap This is a tax this is unique to Haiti.

Tent Cities

February Team

The Capital

Aid given to the people

Hot Meals

Feeding Hot Meals

Serving Food

Group Picture

Saying Goodbye

Group Picture

The Team at Pastor Lindor's House

Medical

Checking Blood Pressure

Medical

Medical

Medical

Medical

Passing Out Juice

Beautiful Mother & Child

Happy and Full

Pastor Lindor and Jonathan Shapiro

Liz and the Children

At Pastor Lindor's House with the Children

David, Liz, & Everest with the kids

KIDS

Re-Building the Wall

Brick by Brick

Fun Night at the Orphange

Dance Moves with the Kids at the Orphange

Hair by Marie

Sleeping in Tents outside of the Orphange

Dance Night

Rubble Everywhere

Each Face is Significant

View of the Street

Destruction

A Street View

Collapsed Buildings

A Church

This trip was only the beginning…

Behind this boy

This boy attends the school behind him where there are around 300 children in a make-shift tent.  We brought food and juice to them for one day.  We asked them what their needs were and they told us: benches for the children to sit on,  a couple chalk-boards or white-boards, a better tent to shade the school outside, pencils, markers, and paper.  Sadly we could not meet those needs instantly but we hope to eventually. TRUE LOVE desires to establish a longer relationship with these children.

shoes

Children are anywhere and everywhere.  Our team went to the airport and we had the opportunity to talk with some of them. We asked them what they want to be when they are older and one said, “a rapper like Kayne” and another said ” the president”.  We asked about school what they have been learning.  They told us that since the earthquake they couldn’t go.  One asked if he could have my sandals and so he got them. These faces are still in our minds.  These children need to be empowered. These kids need to be loved.

I want to be someone.

This is a boy who spends his time asking for money at the airport.  He knows a couple words in English and most of them consist of “give me money”.  These boys stay in the streets and beg just to survive.  For the short time we were with them we tried to show them true love. Each day is a battle and since the earthquake it has gotten worse.

They want to learn.

Everyday we talked with these girls, Julia (right) and her neighbor.  They told us of their desire to receive an education, however, many of the schools in Port-au-Prince have been demolished. This is the harsh reality for the Haitian youth.

A Tent City

This would be considered a nice tent city. The white tent on the right is the school for the children.This is where our team was able to give the children hot meals.

the children

Who will love the children?

Rough Roads

As you can see the roads are tough. The houses are made mostly out of concrete.  This is and was a huge problem to be able to bring help to those in need.  The hills around Port-au-Prince go for as far as the eye can see with houses that are demolished, yet one still sees hope and perseverance in the destruction.

Community. We need Help.

These signs are everywhere.

Collapsed

Destruction. There are buildings like this everywhere.  After arriving, one is in shock and then after a week the rubble begins to blend in with the rest of the landscape.  This is a sad reality.