This week, as Jonathan mentioned in last week's blog, the construction of the home was being done for a family who has dealt with the loss of 10-month-old Liline. This family was unable to afford the expenses of a proper burial and a friend so graciously offered their land. Team Little Rat Skills worked each day to bring a sense of new hope to this family. Their hard work and compassion allowed them to provide for this family in a way that will bring them peace of mind and future joy. Being wrapped up with the necessities of 45, and now 48 (I'll touch on this later), children each day, I'm not always able to see what is going on at the work site and I rely on stories and pictures seen on Facebook, as much as the next follower might, to see the incredible work that has been accomplished each day. I was fortunate enough to attend the house blessing that was done at the end of the week.
As each week is an emotional one for many of our visitors, this week was especially so because of the story of Liline. No parent should ever have to bury their child, let alone twice as this family had previously buried their daughter and now she has been moved to be with her family at their new home. This week's house blessing also included a beautiful last rites ceremony done by Fr. John Madden of St. John's Catholic Church in Worcester, MA. Once our group prayed for Liline's eternal rest, her family was granted a gift they likely never imagined. Duval, Joselyn, and their 3-year-old daughter were given the gift of a set of keys to their new home. Here the group wished them many years of happiness and joy as they continue their lives with hope they never knew existed, as Duval mentioned in his thanks to the group. What an emotional moment for the group and the family both to endure!!!
This week's group also brought an excellent program to our children in the form of English literacy. The literacy group, headed by Nadine Ekstrom superintendent of the Berlin Boylston Regional School District, brought many activities for our children to experience than they otherwise would not have experienced. As I have mentioned before, schooling is very different in Haiti than it is in the U. S. and this literacy program brought a hands-on perspective. Our children were able to learn the letters and sounds of the English alphabet, an invaluable skill that will be of great use to them in the future. They also learned about music, friends, plants, and animals through stories and arts and crafts. All of our children were allowed the opportunity to trace their body on a large roll of paper and learn the English words for body parts. A keepsake for the kids in the form of an "All About Me" book that each child was able to create in English identified things such as their favorite food and summertime activity. A great thanks goes out to our literacy group for the invaluable work you have done with our children.
It's always nice to see old faces as well among groups that visit. This time we had 3 past Britsionarys and Fr. John Madden a member of our BLB Board who returned to visit. Keely and Nikki both brought others with them to experience the joy that Be Like Brit has to offer. Fr. John was here visiting with members of the Haitian Apostolate group from his parish, which helps to support the efforts of BLB. Thank you for continuing to spread the word about BLB and the work that we continue to do on a daily basis here in Haiti.
Another returning Britsionary, also a long-term Britsionary, is Brendan. He first came to BLB in February of 2013 with St. John's High School. He loved his visit so much that he wanted to spend time working with Gama making some manual labor part of his day-to-day experience. The children enjoy Brendan being here and I'm sure Gama will love his presence equally as much upon his return.
That being said, we look forward to Gama's return to us at the end of the week. We are very glad that he was able to enjoy some time off with his family. Jonathan left us this morning for a much-deserved month off! Jonathan has worked very hard to get us to where we are today and we wish him safe travels on his visit to his family. While he will surely be missed over the next month, we know that he will return to us rejuvenated and ready to jump back into the daily routine with our kids.
As mentioned before, we are now up to 48 children at BLB as we welcomed two new children to our family on Wednesday. Venitte (9) and Isselande (5) are sisters who were living with the sisters of Saint Anne in Port-au-Prince after the death of both of their parents. They have been adjusting quite well here. Within their first full day, they both went swimming for the first time and loved every second of it! Last night while I was sitting with the children watching a movie, I looked over at these girls to see how they were enjoying "The Little Mermaid". The smile on their faces and the joy that I could see was just another affirmation of why we do what is that we do day in and day out. While each day may present it's new challenges, we know that what we are doing matters.
We also welcomed Job (7) to join our family. Job has been around Be Like Brit since the construction stages. We are excited to be able to offer to him the great opportunities that all our children have for their future.
With Len here, there are always projects going on! Stay tuned to find out about some of the improvements that he has going.
As always thank you for your support and thank you for continuing the compassion of Britney Gengel by following us at Be Like Brit.
