More NEW ministry developments…

Life has SO not been dull the past three months...

Quick Recap -

When Apparent Project decided to suddenly change course back in February, International Hope & Heritage immediately stepped up as our fiscal sponsor to receive all donations. What a blessing!

At the same time, Rebecca’s brother, Bob, began conversations with us and created a timeline for the first business as mission development project under our ministry org - Ten Million Toes. The first phase of a computer programming outsourcing business / training (& eventually post-orphanage transition program) will roll out July 1st!

Rebecca was asked recently to fill in at Midwives for Haiti for July & August in several capacities and started preparing to open a free-standing birthing center collaboratively with them and Hopital Albert Schweitzer later this year. She has just submitted her final application for an online midwifery school program this fall & already has a partial scholarship.

Our family size here IN Haiti has doubled at the moment!

Syndie joined us on March 30th & is pretty much as excited as we are about her adoption...now in progress!

Last week, OLIVIA joined us here again too, after 2 years away. She is enjoying being a big sister for the first time ever & some family “face time” while seeking God’s next steps. She plans to be here through September. 

AS IF THAT IS NOT ENOUGH EXCITEMENT…

God has been rolling out plans for us that we never even dreamed of!! (Imagine that)

A few weeks ago, Ted was approached by a friend of ours here and asked if he would be interested in taking over his own ministry position with an organization called Operation Blessing. After quite a lengthy time of prayer & discernment over this semi-change in direction, we decided that it was a perfect fit for Ted’s personal skill set & previous experience here in Haiti. 

As of TUESDAY this position offer became official - Ted will transition into the role of National Director - Haiti for OB this summer!

Read more about the organization:

 

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN for our ministry? 

Well we expect that nothing will change at all, with what we currently have in development. Ted will continue to oversee our highly qualified Haitian manager as the business unfolds. Rebecca will look after everything else...with some help! 

The BIGGEST difference with this organization for us is that they use their donations to provide ALL of our personal living expenses & housing! 

This is where we get REALLY excited...& yet somewhat fearful…

While we won’t need personal support financially in order to stay here anymore, we DO need a continuing ministry team to engage, to PRAY, to work alongside us in so MANY WAYS! 

So we admit, we’re a little worried that you might step back and let go or even leave the team… just when we need you the MOST. 

We have always said that anything above & beyond our personal needs that comes in each month will go to ministry supplies or projects. Now EVERYTHING will go to support the actual ministry work at hand!! 

We will continue to post specific items or needed resources monthly as they come up and report when they have been fulfilled. 

Syndie’s adoption is another way to continue to support us this year! You can designated that through our ministry fund at IHH or through our pureCharity adoption site:

WHAT WE NEED MOST:

Teammates to consider how they can engage more actively in ministry here!!!!!

There is a lengthy LIST of opportunities to come serve alongside us in the coming year OR to provide stateside support services as the organization grows. 

We are also looking for additional field staff to join us here. If this is something you would consider, please CONTACT US: rebecca@tenmilliontoes.org 

You can always reach us via Skype phone: 916.790.2319 - we’d LOVE to hear from you!

We cherish the constant support & encouragement that you are for us day in and day out... knowing that we aren’t ministering here on our own always keeps us going!

Ministry Projects: Maternity Care

While I wish that I had ALL of the details to share on this current project in development, what I DO have to share is quite exciting!

For several years I have been in communication off & on with Nadene Brunck, the founder of Midwives for Haiti. Initially it was for imformation I needed on a mock up midwifery care grant-writing project for a course I was taking at the time. Over the past year she has been a wise voice on my journey into maternity care here as well as my plans for midwifery school, which God willing I'll begin in the fall.

While I had already hoped to meet up with her while she was in Haiti this past month, the circumstances took a turn. We arrived in Hinche without the list of specific questions that I had in mind and instead just absorbed our experiences at the local hospital where MFH provides clinical experience to their students. We soaked up rural life in Haiti and we talked about all that we had on our hearts and then listened to Nadene and her co-workers do the same. It was more information than we could process in 2 days, but we've kept the line of communication open on how we might work together and bring more Haitian babies into this world safely and keep their moms healthy & alive to care for them.

Last week a great opportunity rose to the surface & Nadene & I began discussing my taking leadership of a project that her organization just can't get to at the moment. 

Opening & managing...A BIRTHING CENTER!!

Hopital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) is located up north in Deschapelles. It has been providing care and saving lives in the Artibonite Valley for nearly 60 years.

While it is a project still being "hatched", the idea is that our ministry will partner with HAS & Midwives for Haiti (MFH) to start a free-standing birthing center on their campus compound. While they do already provide maternity care, it is more than they can handle. They have been asking MFH to do open this center, as they would like to move all of the low risk births there for the skilled birth attendants to provide care & focus on hihg risk maternity cases in the hospital. They would also like to have a MFH training program at their location eventually.

While I DREAM of starting community birthing centers throughout the country, I couldn't ASK for a more nurturing situation to learn and grow and gain my first birthing center administrative experience in, while I attend school. 

The birthing center will be staffed by two nurses with obstetrical specialty that have recently graduated from MFH's World Health Organization approved skilled birth attendant training program. I will pitch in with supportive patient care when I am onsite & the rest of the time oversee the details of operation.

We are hoping to get things moving by summer, so watch for more news on this upcoming project & details on the many ways that you can help support it!

KNOWN Ministry/Project NEEDS:

I AM currently looking for MIDWIVES, L&D, Mother/Baby and NICU RN's who might be interested in working in Haiti either for a short -term trip, or partnering with us as long-term ministry field staff. 

I am ALSO looking for a clinical site in the U.S. to complete my CNM skills requirements in 2016. It does seem early, but the school recommends finding a clinical site and preceptor before you even begin!

Again, thank you for your interest & support of the work that God has laid out before us-

Rebecca 

Ministry Projects: Business Incubator #1

As most of our friends, family, ministry partners...& readers know, we are proponents of addressing the orphan population in Haiti in 3 ways: Prevention, STABILIZATION & Reunification. Well JOB CREATION is a big part of that! While there are plenty of places to get "trained" in job skills here in Haiti, it really doesn't matter if there isn't a JOB to be HAD. It's simple logic.

While we would typically like to be primarily creating jobs for moms & dads in impoverished situations to be able to provide for their children, our first business as ministry project is an outstanding opportunity that ends up being a little different than that. 

You may not know, but both Ted & my brother, Bob both have backgrounds in IT. IN fact they worked together many years ago in Sacramento in UNIX system administration. Ted went on to specialize in IT security and upper management in several well known companies. Bob became a developer/programmer and now owns his own business solutions firm. While Ted & I have had several brainstorming sessions on business development that included the area of computer programming we had never discussed it with Bob or pursued it here while doing business research & development up until now. When our situation changed last month, Bob contacted us with this message: "I recently had thoughts of whether starting a training/outsourced software development office in Haiti might be useful...I've been thinking about this for a couple weeks and haven't figured how it might all work but your email made it seem like a good time to start talking about the possibilities..." 

The POSSIBILITIES???!!!

Ted has just spent the last month looking at those & has found incredible resources at every turn. He has interviewed more than a handful of individuals with those skills, in fact one just returned to Haiti after completing his Master's Degree in the US on a Fulbright Scholarship in Computer Science. When they stumbled into each other at the local technology school, this young man shared with us later that he was at his low of discouragement that he had this degree & no jobs to be found after several weeks back home. The school is FULL of hopeful youth, who have very little likelihood of making a decent living in their chosen profession after graduation.

So, we are working together with Bob & his company FastFoundry to develop a small nucleus of programmers that will hopefully be the beginning of a larger company before long and eventually give birth to an entirely new industry here for Haiti.

How does that apply to ORPHANS? It's a very good question & the answer is multifold:

1 - It changes the local economy! More workers with living wages means more consumers for the small businesses where at-risk parents are usually trying to earn an income. 

2 - This will be developed as a Haitian "social enterprise". None of us are trying to gain anything from it, so all profits will be funneled into other ministry opportunities such as businesses that DO create jobs for at-risk families or maybe even a form of long term sustainability for maternity care.

3 - Part of the business model will include extensive training. We intend to develop a transition program component that will allow prospective youth that are aging out of their orphanages to go through a program that will prepare them for a job in this field. 

4 - It allows us to go through the steps to creating/incubating our first business as ministry here in Haiti and to learn the ropes while working in an arena where Ted already has experience & connections. 

We will update this post or add new ones as things continue to unfold.

WAYS to partner on this MINISTRY/PROJECT:

- Provide a laptop ($600 each x 4)

- Provide a monitor ($200 each x 4)

- Provide basic office furniture for an initial employee ($250 each x 4)

- Cover initial start up monthly expenses (x 3 months) 

- Initial internet set up expense ($250)

- Donate computer equipment (Mac, MacBook, iPods, iPads) for app development projects

- Donate solar panels for steady power source

- Design & programming professionals to assist with training 

- Business ethics & leadership training/seminars

- Long term ministry teammates (Haiti based) for youth transition program &/or business management development.

PLEASE contact us directly to discuss project partnership, ministry opportunities further or to arrange for actual item donations: tenmilliontoes@gmail.com

Project financial DONATIONS can be made to International Hope & Heritage (IHH) with "Haiti IT Project" in the comments section. 

Thank you for all of the ways that you walk this road with us -

Rebecca

Sharing Haiti...

This past weekend was busy with both work & play.

Friday night one of our ministry team families, Denise & Jerry Fudge and their youngest daughter, Audrey from Rockwall, TX came down to visit. While they were worried about coming at an inopportune time, with our recent upheaval of ministry plans, we felt like it was perfect & just what we needed right now. Their visit was an encouragement and reminder of the fact that while it may feel like it, once in a while, we are not here ALONE! God has put together a team that are walking this journey beside us from many parts of the US... & the world! The past 3 days we got to literally have them walk beside us here in Haiti & it was a refreshing change. It also helped in very tangible ways...they brought some portable closets & a shoe rack that were in great need, in this new house, helped put them together, delivered a few other necessities & treats, talked with and helped us continue to process our future plans, affirmed their commitment to our family & ministry, laughed, played games, ate, saw sights with us... I really can’t tell you how much their 3 day visit meant in the middle of our recent stress.

It was great sharing some of our favorite places & a beach sunset with these friends!

Saturday, I (Rebecca) was also invited to a maternity care/birthing center development forum hosted at the hotel Montana by Midwives for Haiti. It was a very interesting group of people working across Haiti from Jacmel to Cap Haitian to the island of La Gonave. Some came to share their experiences & others came to ask questions & absorb ideas. It was personally enriching to be surrounded by a room full of people carrying the same mission at heart..to see Haitian moms & babies to have safe deliveries! While it goes even one step further in the deepest place of my desire & calling...preventing more orphans, it was great to know that I’m not alone either. It was also a new experience to have so many in the same arena sharing resources, advice, encouragement & collaboration. This isn’t very common here in Haiti though it's much needed. It’s so much more effective to work together toward our shared vision!

The coming days & weeks will continue to show us where and what God has in store next, but it was crucial to see His hand at work in more than one way this weekend as we shared our calling, our life here & our vision with a few who are in it with us in very different ways!

a new year & a note...

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:18-19 (niv)

To start, a side note on the verses above...I just want to be clear that in my mind it is not meant to infer that HAITI is a wilderness or a wasteland as some might say. Haiti is a land of infinite possibilities and amazing resources, not the least being it’s beautiful, resilient, hard working and often faith-filled people. The wilderness and wasteland I would refer to is my life, our lives…, and how God is using His work to redeem them. He is changing us at the very core and slowly creating beauty, love, patience and kindness out of selfishness, pride, greed and cultural blindness. It is a lifelong process to be sure, but He has been running us through a new training course and the lessons are fresh and sometimes painful. We do our best to keep up with the learning curve that He has us on!

I have no doubt that 2014 holds even more in that realm, but wanted to share on everyone’s behalf how our year is shaping up so far...

Right now we are feeling VERY blessed to have had time together here in California with family & friends. MAINLY with each other!! Ana & Oliver were here for a week and we got to lavish love & share fun memories with them that are rare and treasured. ALL of us but Olivia, spent Christmas together and the days surrounding it. Keep Olivia in your prayers as she continues to work through her healing process in a sequestered program in Texas. It has allowed no contact with her since August, but we pray is making an indelible change for the good in her life.

What is coming up for the rest of us?

Ana & Ollie head back to Germany on January 5th. They will find out within the coming year where they move to next and are hoping to be based back in the US one day soon.

Ted leaves for Haiti on January 6th for 2+ weeks, his return depends on his increasing responsibilities there and the move to our new living quarters near Apparent Project.

Tania Grace has decided to return to Texas where she she feels more “at home” right now and will be looking into pursuing a CNA position there instead.

Tynan & Emma are both starting new jobs here in California in the next week. We are working hard to form a “base” here for them to explore their futures from, within a network of support. Pray for all of us during this transition as Haiti remains more like HOME for them, separation still seems a little daunting, and they aren’t sure yet how much they will be able to come & go.

I (Rebecca) have 3.5 weeks left of my nursing contract here and am torn between taking a REAL break for a week or so, visiting others before returning, or just heading straight HOME after being gone for the better part of 6 months! I am BEYOND grateful for the additional support that has been coming in to stabilize our focus on ministry. As this refresher comes to an end, it looks like my work will be FULL TIME for Apparent Project, back in Haiti for 2014. (BIG smile!)

Apparent Project remains dedicated to sharing Christ’s love in tangible ways and fulfilling God’s commands in the area of orphan care by keeping families together. Our focus remains on strengthening at-risk and impoverished children and their parents through job creation, small business development, training & mentoring. We hope to expand the reach and impact of our work to the areas of prevention and restoration as we move forward. Providing services such as good maternity care, safe deliveries, and family stabilization are all on our planning and development list for the coming year.

Prayer and support are not only vital to our work in Haiti but also to us as average, everyday people. We all need relationships that connect us to our daily journey through life and we don’t know where we’d be without the love, support and anchoring that you provide...even when it’s from a distance. The ministry that we do in Haiti truly isn’t possible for us without the foundation of our faith, family and friends!

May God bless YOUR coming year in as many ways as you have blessed us -

Rebecca {for us all}