Over the past four years an amazing partnership has emerged between C3 Missions and El Shaddai Ministries in Haiti. Through numerous God Things, Mike and Beth Fox visited Haiti in the fall of 2004. They met with brothers, Louis and Dony St. Germain, to talk about building an orphan home. At that time there were 9 boys in one home at a place called Cambry. What has transpired in the last four years is nothing short of miraculous. By the end of 2008 over 1,000 orphan children will now have a home, be clothed and fed and will be attending school. This past week I had the privilege to visit six of the churches where fourteen orphan homes are located.
We first visited that initial location at Cambry. As we toured the entire campus (church, school, medical clinic, bakery, and homes), Dony St. Germain (on the right) shared the vision of El Shaddai and their holistic ministry approach. They have their 4 E's...
Evangelism
Education,
Empathy
Economic Development (or Empowerment)
This is more than a memorable slogan. They are truly living this out. They don't build any orphan homes where there is not a church. They have schools located on each property or very near each orphan home that is not only for the orphans at that location, but also for the community (ex: at the Camby location, there are 200 orphans and 500 students at that school). At each location they are working at developing businesses and mircrocredit opportunities to create job opportunities (currently Haiti has a 70% unemployment rate). That is the strategic transformational planning stuff that gets me fired up.
Now for the heart stuff. On this trip I got to take along my sons Jake and Mitch. At Cambry and later at Cayes, I watched as these special young men (okay I'm partial) went from clearly uncomfortable interacting with these kids to playing soccer
and having these wonderful children climbing all over them. A young boy named Jeffty captured Jake's heart and clearly gave more than he received. On Sunday after we attended church, Jeffty pushed his way through three kids to get to Jake and jumped into his arms. At Cayes, a little boy named Devon grabbed hold of Mitch
and the two were inseparable. Even though they couldn't communicate, Mitch found a way to teach Devon how to beat box. Now that was hilarious to hear and see. Oh yeah, three little ones became my peeps for the weekend... Bobyson, Vivian and Ogli. I hope they remember me (Pappy Troy)....I won't forget them.

