random June news...

Tynan & I (Rebecca) finally received physical DIPLOPMA's signifying our graduations from LeTourneau University in May and bringing an end to our studies for a while...well at least mine! We even took a few courses together, such as CS Lewis, the man & his works and Non-verbal communication. FUN times!

Tynan received his Associate in Interdisciplinary Studies degree.

Mine is a Bachelor of Human Services.

It's always nice to have a little hard work pay off with tangible results...!

Father's Day was generally a quiet one here, since Haitian Father's Day isn't until the end of the month and most Haitians tell us they don't really ccelebrate it much here...poor dad's.

Ted did enjoy a promised gift of more planters for his ever expanding patio garden, and dined al fresco with two of his kiddos over a home cooked dinner of lemon noodles, Haitian fried chicken, veggies & and a 7 layer oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chip dessert!

This month Emma also started the final leg of her high school education, including a Senior Practicum that she is very excited about! She is going to be slowly taking over full household management over the next three months. Not only is she getting credit, enjoying the challenge, and learning a LOT, but it has been a ministry that helps lighten the load for the rest of us as we focus on our new tasks.

Look at her latest creations:

YUM!!!!! Nice "working" breakfast for Ted & I this morning...

as if creating goodies to nourish us isn't enough...she designed this for her online art course as well:

Last Friday Tynan & I rolled out a new event at the Apparent Project boutique, cafe & book nook with the first ever STORYTIME! It was a great turn out, allowed moms to enjoy the cafe and a browse of the artisan's work, while the kids were absorbed by several "animal" stories. This week it will be Dr. Seuss!

 If you're in Port Au Prince on a Friday morning this summer drop by the Apparent Project and join us at 10 am...with (or even without) your kids!  @ Rue Cassagnol Prolongee #16, Delmas 75  

Last news worthy event up to date was a very special birthday party for one of our favorite people...

Little Miss Phoebe Kate turned FOUR!

Phoebe & her mommy, our dear friend Jessica Williamson, lived with us for most of last year before moving up the hill to Thomassin. We still miss having a little one in the house, but they are like family now, so it was an honor to enjoy another birthday with our little unofficial "niece". Looking forward to many many more!

So....that's a random summer news from Haiti wrap!

RR - paint & more paint...

Today our reno reality was quite nice! Our fixer errands took us up the hill into Petionville to an actual Sherwin Williams store. Here we get to pick more color options than they have at MSC, it's great paint & we enjoyed a few minutes of air conditioning. The Haiti twist...it is impossible to get paint here the same day. So we put our order in & will have to drive back up again tomorrow to pick it up.

It's been worth it, we threw in a quick stop at Maison Handel to look at a bed for Emma, picked up a couple more padlocks to replace the ones we had to cut off, bought a really nice bushel of "fig" (bananas) on the street and stopped to grab a few groceries on our way back home.

60 sec 1.10 from Ted Barlow on Vimeo.

@ the artisan village

Today's 60 seconds follws us to the metal work artisan village. "tink, tink, tink..." It is one of our favorite places to go! The creations that they make out of old oil drums are phenomenal. Today we were purchasing items to be sold in the gift shop that Tynan is maintaining at the WO guest house. All of the profits are used to help move families in our partner church communities, out of tents and into homes. 

Orphan Prevention

As our programs have succeeded in stabilizing over 240 children in the past 2 years post-quake, we've finally been able to turn our eyes toward the future here. World Orphans bases their orphan care on a holistic model, looking at every aspect of the situation at hand. It is a priority to seek to address the three C's - Church, Child, and Community in all of our projects and partnerships.

Here in Haiti with the home-based programs providing very effective care, Ted & Ron have begun to assist church partners in looking at some ideas for sustainability. One of the Haitian churches worked with their American partner to build a chicken house this summer. It will enable them to raise & sell chickens at market value, making a profit that will further the OVC (orphaned & vulnerable children) program that they are serving the community with. The first set of chicks will arrive shortly & be ready for market by the holidays!

Sustainability projects address one facet of orphan prevention. Poverty is a big one here, so we are continually working to research and develop appropriate ways to help the churches & caregiver families to find jobs and gain the skills needed to further stabilize and meet their spiritual, emotional & physical needs.

Last month, Jessica & I began the journey toward further orphan prevention from a medical standpoint. The first phase of our research & development is seeking practical ways to meet the great need for maternity & HIV care in these communities. Maternal & infant death rates are extremely high here and HIV is a silent killer that leaves orphaned and sometimes HIV+ children without families.

Putting our nursing insight to work, we held forums in 9 of our church communities. We sat down face-to-face with the women at each location to open up conversations, gather information, and answer questions regarding these two major topics. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of the needs and experiences of the women in regards to pregnancy, childbirth and HIV. 

We were blessed by their openness to share personal stories with us and to speak about the struggles and the needs of women in their communities. The response that echoed on as we moved from church to church was "Maternity care is absolutely our GREATEST need for women right now."  We listened intently and prayed with them over the situation, asking God to provide these resources, and as sisters in Christ, committed ourselves to seeking His guidance and being His servants.

Though I don't know exactly where our work in this area will lead quite yet, we were able to offer a very basic first step to each of these communities. At the end of this month, a midwife from Arizona is traveling down to provide Safe Birth training to 5 women in each church. While it will be more theory than hands on & entail no practical experience, it is a very important first step in providing related resources. Our hope it that it will allow and encourage the women with a vision for developing their own church-based maternity care programs.  Please pray with us over the next two weeks leading up to it - that God will raise up godly women who are willing meet these needs in their community as His servants and that they will become tangible examples of Christ's love.