Day 2

Day 2 - Tuesday, October 6

Our first stop this morning was Grace Village, a school and orphanage about a 45 minute drive north into the mountains. We were surprised with the beauty of not only the view of Titanyen, but the school and supporting structures as well. Titanyen translates to “less than nothing”, which we found to be far from accurate. The village is void of businesses at the moment, but progress is being made thanks to the expansion of Grace Village. They have a community church and a bakery that will be open soon and employ 50 families. The school has over 400 students and 39 resident children. We were impressed with the organization, leadership and care put into every aspect of the children’s schooling and socialization. They also focus on sustainability, and have a hydroponic garden. With 15 acres of land, it will be exciting to see what the future holds for the community.

From there, we headed to the Haitian Mass Grave, a memorial that marks where hundreds of thousands were buried following the earthquake. We listened to our Haitian guides’ personal stories about the earthquake and prayed over the victims. While there, we distributed FMSC Manna Packs to the local children and adults. One of the little boys looked up at us and asked, “Do you believe in Jesus?”. And one of us replied back, “yes, we do”. He lit up when we asked him the same question in return and he replied “yes!”. For us, his smile and response represent the resilience of the Haitian people - despite extreme poverty, they are joyful and take pride in their country.

Our final stop was Shalom Orphanage. Compared to Grace Village, Shalom was small and simple with only 10 live-in children, but the children were just as happy. We had the opportunity to play with the children - we blew up balloons, colored, and played soccer. The children really seemed to enjoy the interaction, the hugs, and taking the hats off of the guys’ heads!

-  Darcy and Elyse