Tomorrow, May 18th, is Flag Day. Flag Day is a national holiday here in Haiti. Below are some quick facts on the Haitian flag.
At school today we celebrated flag day with the students. The older classes started of the morning with some trivia about the flag. Grade 3 & 4 were very evenly matched! There was lot’s of cheering and yelling going on down there as the classes displayed their intelligence.
he community and judging by how much the students enjoyed it, I don’t think it will be our last. Roodvens (Grade 3 teacher) has been preparing the students for the parade for a couple of weeks. Throughout the last couple of weeks during recreation as well as Phys ed you could hear and see the students learning the chants, songs and routines that go along with the flag day celebrations. This morning the school headed around the block and down the hill waving their haitian flags and proudly singing about their flag, their independence, their country. Hopefully we’ll have a short video for you next week showing you their fine performance but for now pictures will have to do. |
| Practicing before we left the school yard |
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| Marching out into the community |
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| Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right |
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| Roodvens, proudly leading the parade |
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| L’Union Fait La Force! |
Father of all mercies
We ask that you would bless
the youngest and littlest of learners,
the most helpless and powerless of persons,
with Your infinite and loving mercy,
granting them the strength to learn, concentrate,
and act in love towards
their teachers and fellow students.
We also ask that You would watch over them,
at home and at school
and give them proper direction
so that they may learn
of Your wonderful virtues.
We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
David Bennett
A few weeks ago we posted about the Building Committee going out into the community and assessing families for a Building Project that we were hoping to start. Well the project has been started! We have received funding to build 50 homes for people in the Adoration community. This project is exciting, stressful, and needed.
The building committee, which consists of Abner, Reminais, Evenz, Asselhomme, Alix, Cadeau, Pastor Octavius, Cornelius and Randy, has been working for weeks already finalizing the list of beneficiaries, making the budget, looking at land titles, finding foreman, signing contracts, preparing the supplies list, and the list could go on and on.
But today was the first day of being out on the field with the beneficiaries digging in the dirt to start the foundation.
This project is a rehabilitation project to build houses for people currently living in tent cities or other unsustainable interim housing because their houses were destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. Each beneficiary of the project will be required to participate in a repayment plan where they will pay back a small percentage of the house in the next 5 years. They are also responsible for working alongside the construction crews with the building of their house, putting their own sweat and tears into their new home.
And the outcome of this project will be families will have safe, dry and warm housing. Families are included in the project and will have a sense of ownership over their house as they help with the building process, as well as, financially contribute to it. They will be loved and shown value through the project. And the committee will bring the families and their new homes before the Lord in prayer, asking that He would be the Rock on which the home is built.
Please join us in lifting up this project before the Lord. There are a lot of obstacles standing in front of the committee and a lot of things that still need to be figured out. Pray for wisdom, strength and perseverance for those hot sweaty days when the block truck loses his breaks and can’t make it to the house, those days when the shovels go missing because the little children around the corner stole them, those days when the supplies can’t get to the job site because there is no phone service and they can’t find the supervisor, those days when you just don’t know if the headache is worth it. Please pray.
The Special Education classes put on a special program last week Thursday. It was the first edition of ‘Haïtî, Couleur, Creole’. A program dedicated to recognizing the achievements of the special education class as well as the dedication and help of their parents. The whole school was invited to participate in the festivities and afterwards there were special treats and display tables of the students artwork. 
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| First Edition of ‘Haïti, Couleur, Creole’ |
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| Randy explaining what the word Haiti means to him |
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| The parents receiving their corsages |
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| Outstanding Achievement awarded to three different individuals. These mothers received the award for their child. |
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| Pastor Octavius hanging out with some of the students after the program |
On Monday the whole school participated in making their own gardens. The students of the school were asked to bring in a plastic bottle. With the help of the teachers they cut a hole in the side of the container and then had drainage holes drilled in the bottom. Each grade got to mix their soil with fertilizer. Each student then picked the type of seed they wanted to put in the container. The containers were hung on the wall were the students can keep an eye on them to see if they are growing or not.
Today was the first annual Geography Challenge at Adoration Christian Centre. The grades 4 – 6 gathered in the main hall where they were then asked a series of questions. There were 60 questions all together. Some questions dealt with the country of Haiti, pertaining to some of its fruits, sports, and geographical features. Other questions related to the world like the contitents, oceans and countries.
Here are some of the questions, see how you do:
1. How many continents are there?
2. What is the largest country in the world?
3. What country has the most people?
4. What is the name of the soccer stadium in Haiti?
5. What is the name of the imaginary line that divides the earth in 2 halves?
6. Name the largest lake in Haiti.
7. Name the ocean north of Hispanola.
8. Name the largest island in Haiti.
9. What is mostly grown in the mountainous regions?
10. What famous historical figure landed his boat at Mole St. Nicolas?
How did you do? Check the answers below.
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| Listening for the question. |
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Writing down the right answer, hopefuly  |
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| Making sure no one sees the answer. |
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| The teachers monitoring the students. |
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| Roodvens read the questions. |
9. coffee 4. Stade Sylvio Cator 7. Atlantic Ocean 5. Equator 2. Russia 10. Christopher Colombus 1. Seven 8. Gonaives 3. China 6. Lake Azuei
’Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.’ James 5: 13 – 16.
We are thankful that the mayor of Delmas has declared this week to be prayer week in Port au Prince. Throughout this week there will be prayer services held at the mayor’s office and in people’s churches. People are encouraged to spend time in prayer, dedicating issues to our God in prayer. People are praying for the government, for the health, for hunger, for faith, for clean drinking water, for stability in the country and many other issues. We at Adoration love this idea and are going to spend time in prayer with our staff and our students.
We would love it if you could join us this week and pray for the issues mentioned above but specifically for the three issues mention down below for Adoration. Please dedicate some specific time this week in your homes, at your work place, as you drive or wherever you are to pray with us.
‘Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – 18.
Adoration open its doors this morning and welcomed another medical team in. Sitting before them and waiting for the clinic to begin was about 150 people. These people came with all kinds of illnesses and are seeking some help from the doctors and nurses that have flown in from New Hampshire and Vermont.
Almost two weeks ago we had our second board meeting at Adoration Christian Centre. Around the table sat some eager people who were eager to know more about what Adoration was doing. Typical of Haitian meetings it started late and ended late. Throughout this time we got all the members on board and excited about the things that are happening at Adoration Christian Centre. Pastor Octavius opened the meeting with a time of prayer and Bible study and then went over our mission and vision statements. Randy and I led the team through the history of Adoration, what is happening currently and where we would like to see Adoration going. We went over all the current programs Adoration is running and the the suggested plans for next year. This meeting was an informative meeting, bringing them more up to speed on where Adoration Christian Centre is at, so that they can bring advice to help guide it. It was a blessing to have these people here and a blessing for this board meeting to happen.
Today the students all came back to school. This is the only day this week that they have to come back to school. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are all holidays. This week is offical kite flying week. A lot of children in Port au Prince are flying kites this week. Not only that but it is also Holy Friday and Holy Monday, know to us as Good Friday and Easter Monday. So we as a school decided to have the children and their parents come in to get their report cards in the middle of their breaks. We figured this gave the teachers enough time to mark their exams and get the report cards filled out.
So the day has arrived, the children are here, the parents are here. Who is going to get the highest marks? Who is going to get the best work ethic in each class? Who has not missed a day or been late even once? All these questions will be answered in a short period of time. The students are on the edge of their seats…
Never late, never absent! Only eight students got this award this time!
