Fast forward to FALL 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017 at 5:03PM WOW, how did THAT happen? Where has the time flown off to??
Ready for our 2.5 year FAST FORWARD?
October 2014 - Blog posts and email reports tapered off - with notice - due to Rebecca starting midwifery school studies full time.
February 2016 - Rebecca started clinical rotations.
August 2016 - Ted resigned at Operation Blessing.
December 2016 - Rebecca graduated with her MSN in Midwifery from Froniter Nursing University and became a board certified Nurse Midwife!!
September 2016 - New mission project for Ted: NouKod Foundation, Inc
December 2016 - NouKod officially registered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
February 2017 - Rebecca began providing home birth services for missionary families in Haiti.
July 2017 - New mission project for Rebecca: Nich La ("the nest") a midwifery-led, freestanding birth center in Port Au Prince, Haiti opened its doors and we celebrated our first birth onsite, August 1st, 2017.
Why are we bringing you up to date after all this time?
Well, during a recent trip to the US for our daughter Tania's wedding, including time in both Texas and California, we had several requests to start sending out ministry/project updates again. Realizing that our promise to do so once school ended for Rebecca had been a little overdue and neglected, we decided to carve out some time to surface, "breathe", reconnect and ultimately to share more about our current work here in Haiti.
Where are we NOW? -
Last year we started NouKod, a mission driven business that is currently a non-profit organization, about to break off into both a non-profit "foundation" and a for-profit IT company! Our vision and goal for NouKod is to help create IT jobs in Haiti, bringing in new industry and economic resources that will trickle down and help relieve the rampant issue of poverty in the country. Life in Haiti has shown us that job creation is one of the best ways to help lift the oppression of physical poverty in the country and to bring hope and healing to the next generation. While we don't have specific parameters for our employee base, it happens that most of our initial team are youth who graduated out of local orphanages and had not many prospects for employment ahead. NouKod is also committed to hiring as many women as it does men in this wide-open field of opportunity. Those with little experience can work their way up the skills ladder with ongoing training and new project opportunities. Some of our team have college diplomas and are anxious to finally have hands on experience locally and to step into the field of IT services and computer programming here in their home country. This is an opportunity that until now would have required someone to get a visa to the US or other developed nation. NouKod hopes to open wide the door of IT opportunity for young people in Haiti and allow them to work locally and with success, change their own communities
You can read more about Nich La at the website HERE. Nich La was born out of repeated requests by missionary and expat families for midwifery and women's health care in the comfort of a home-like setting. We just opened our doors a few months ago, but have already heard time and again, what a blessing it is that we are an available option for this population. At the same time, we are working to create a unique form of sustainability for maternity care, within Haiti. Any excess revenue taken in by Nich La after expenses are paid, will go to support Maison De Naissance (MN), our partner birth center down in the remote area of Torbeck. MN provides care for Haitian women in need regardless of their ability to pay. They have attended to over 5000 births in the past 13 years, had ZERO maternal deaths and <2% newborn deaths - an incredible feat for that region of the country. Nich La hopes to also be an incubator for Haitian nurse midwives to help support more midwifery-led birth centers being developed throughout the country.
Lastly...our family!
Tania Grace was married in September to her sweetheart, Michael Harris. So, we happily welcomed a new "son" to the family. They live in the Fort Worth, TX area with our 2 yo grandaughter, Alina. Who was also born since my last blog post!!
Ana and Oliver are now living near Ollie's dad, Ishai in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ana is studying for her MA in organizational development.
Tynan & Emma are settled in northern CA, where Emma is working at a local Sonic Drive-in and Tynan is working for NouKod from our stateside headquarters.
Olivia is living in Dallas, TX and working in a leadership role at CareCenter, a rehab program ministry.
Syndie is growing up SO FAST...too fast! She is thriving and healthy and as smiley as ever. We are beyond impressed with how incredibly well she is doing. However, she is still waiting for the day that she will get to visit the rest of her family and friends in the US. We are neck deep in her adoption paperwork process and have just changed gears to pursue adoption as Haitian residents. It will save us nearly $10K in adoption expenses. We recently received a $1500 grant from One17 Foundation, which will help us take the next few steps forward in the paperwork process. It was such an encouragement! If you would like to help with our adoption expense, you can donate HERE or via our NouKod PayPal site (tax deductible).
Now that we've brought you all up to date, keep an eye out for new posts and news on how our projects and adoption are going. WE would also LOVE to hear from you!!! Feel free to reach out via email, facebook or the like. Life is busy, but we truly miss keeping up with everyone personally.
For information on how you can HELP or walk alongside us further, please refer to our project/company websites or watch for our adoption journey updates!
