We are forever mindful of our abundance of blessings. As we celebrated our third Christmas at Be Like Brit for our children and our staff and establish these traditions as the Be Like Brit family, we can't help but again be overwhelmed by the goodness of people. In a place where hard times, desperation, and poverty are ubiquitous, we are ever more grateful for the opportunity to be a force for good, and continue on our mission of bringing Faith, Hope, and Love to those less fortunate than us. This Christmas was no exception.
While we normally have Len and Bernie with us here in Haiti on Christmas week, this year was a bit different. They were unable to travel to Haiti this year, and while they were with us in spirit, their absence was tangible.
We ask all of our friends and family to pray for Len, as last week on Thursday, he underwent a Carotid artery exam and learned that he has significant blockage. He will be undergoing surgery next week on Wednesday, and while we are confident that all will be well, we need you to lift him up in thoughts and prayers now more than ever.As we work through challenges as a family, it is always refreshing to see the incredible resilience and spirit of our children and staff. With the help of our incredible Britsionary group, we were able to pull of a week we know our children and staff won't soon forget.
Sacrificing one's time and money to travel to Haiti in and of itself is impressive. To do so over the Christmas Holiday, to take time away from your own family and friends is even more so. We were blessed with a group of 13 who traveled to Haiti on December 19 with the sole purpose of helping us bring the children a fabulous holiday, as well as recognizing our staff in our annual Christmas Eve party and Christmas Concert. It is a chance for our 66 children to show their appreciation and thanks to the some 100 employees of Be Like Brit in Haiti, and we always make sure that the children are involved in the event. Alongside our Britsionarys, the children help plan and prepare a spectacular concert with song, dance, jokes, and more! The day ends with a meal which the children and Britsionary group help prepare for, serve, and clean up after. This year, we were blessed to welcome and serve some 330 guests! Without the sacrifices of our Britsionary group, we simply wouldn't be able to pull this off!
On the morning of Christmas Eve, our children awoke to a mound of gifts, all wrapped and labeled for each of them by our Britsionary group. The children always look forward to this gift first and foremost: a new Christmas/Sunday best outfit. Suits for boys, dresses for girls. I would dare say we have the best dressed children in Haiti. This is all because of our incredible sponsors and donors who give so graciously to this cause. Our children are proud to look their best, and our staff does the same when we gather for this event. Pride and confidence beams from our children and staff alike, and we have seen so much change in everyone at Be Like Brit over these past three Christmases. We are indeed much like your own families waking up on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, with excited and happy, giddy children all scrambling for the staircase to make their way down to find out what Père Noel brought them this year.
As one of our Guiding Principles at Be Like Brit is social responsibility, reciprocity, and community giving, a tradition of sorts has emerged, somewhat by accident. After our children opened up their gifts on Christmas of 2014, I looked around and realized that our children had everything they could possibly need, and more. I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to teach the children what the spirit of giving really is all about. As they began to settle in with their new clothes and new toys, bikes, scooters, remote-controlled toys, etc., I announced that everyone had to go get one of their toys, and that we would be making our way through the neighboring community to distribute gifts to the children nearby. It was important that we pay it forward, especially on this day. Many of the children cried, but not because they were parting with something they had received. Instead, they were crying tears of joy, feeling pride in the fact that they were able to bring a smile to a stranger in need; extending to others what they had so preciously received themselves.
This began our annual tradition of setting out on foot in the community on Christmas Day, bringing to others the same smiles we were so fortunate to wake up to and wake up with. It is by far one of the most moving days I get to experience in this place, and I am proud of our children for their selflessness, their compassion, and the joy they take from others as we make our way from house to house...
We faced several challenges this past week, and our Britsionary group was amazing at going with our motto of "It's Haiti", taking every unexpected twist and turn of the week in great stride. We have recently been experiencing trouble with our water pump for our well, and there were several mornings where we simply didn't have enough water to serve all of our needs. Ever resourceful, we managed to fill a truck with water and use that source for washing of clothes and laundry for several days, giving the pump the time to "catch up" to the demands on the building, with all that goes along with 66 children bathing, using the bathroom, and with preparing for a huge feast on the 24th. Our Britsionarys soon understood what it meant to take "camp showers" and I believe got a keen understanding of the preciousness of something like access to clean water. Thanks to our good friend Alan Roseberry, who happened to be visiting Haiti just a few days before Christmas, we were able to get a replacement pump sent down and were back up and running at full capacity on Christmas morning.
The political climate in Grand Goâve has been especially tense lately, as election results from back in October have yet to be certified and announced for our community. Rival sides have taken to protesting in the streets. Roadblocks have been popping up, and yet we are blessed with great contacts on the ground keeping us informed of when and where they may take place, allowing us to plan accordingly to keep our children and our guests out of the line of protestors. We opened our doors to many of our employees who felt unsafe traveling to and from home at night this past week, and had some laughs as we came up with places for everyone to sleep, clothes for everyone to wear, and more. Our plans were changed from time to time this past week, and we are so thankful that our Britsionary group took these changes in stride and with understanding. Our top priority for this week was making sure the children had a fabulous Christmas, and that our staff was shown the appreciation they deserve and have so overwhelmingly earned. Both of these goals were successfully met, and this Christmas is sure to be one for the memory books!
All but four of our Britsionarys on this trip were returning volunteers, having traveled to Haiti through our program to build a home for a neighbor in need. We thought it would be nice to reunite these volunteers with the families they helped out previously. Some of the Britsionarys reflected on the notion that they never thought they would see these families again. Instead, we enjoyed taking them out on a surprise visit to those for whom they had built homes for, and seeing them reconnect all over again was a precious moment we won't soon forget.
As we prepare for the coming of a New Year, writing contracts and restructuring staffing models, etc., we look forward to the challenges that will come in 2016. We look forward to the opportunity to rise up as a mighty force and take these challenges head on. We look forward to Continuing the Compassion of Britney Gengel through our Britsionary program and through the good work we do with our children day in and day out. We recognize our countless blessings, and we thank you for Helping us Help the Children of Haiti at Be Like Brit.
To you and yours, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!
