What you can do to help.

I think the title of this blog is pretty self-explanatory. There are a few things you can do help with the work that is going on in Haiti, and this is going to be a short list of them. If you’re interested in helping in some way, but want to look past what I put in this post, please feel free to discuss it with me! So let’s get started.

1. This is less about ministry and more about a personal request from Pastor Martin, but we believe it is for a good cause. Pastor Martin has three young children, and one of them is just reaching school age. He does not want to send him to just any school, though. Pastor Martin wants his children to go to private school so they can get the best education available to them because he knows that one day his children will be taking over for him, or doing something outside the village maybe, which will require an above average education. His youngest son will be starting school this coming September, and the cost will be $270 for the entire year. Pastor Martin would like to be able to stay focused on the projects going on with his church/orphanage, so he is looking for someone who can sponsor his boy, at least for the first year.

2. The school run by Pastor Martin has seven or eight teachers that do not always get paid because as a mission with free classes for the orphans and other children in the area, he depends upon money from supporters for their wages. Other schools could pay them on a more regular basis, but he has managed to keep them around, promising them that they will begin to be paid a fair salary soon enough. This fair salary he seeks to pay the teachers is $100 per month per teacher. It seems like so little, yet to them it would make all the difference. For $800 a month, he could keep his entire staff of teachers employed with regular pay.

3. As stated in my last blog, Pastor Martin has some major projects to get through. First, he has begun construction on a new church building. His old church building was some wooden poles with palm fronds for walls. This was fine in normal circumstances, but did not provide shelter from hurricanes or other storms very well. There is one small concrete building next to it that villagers cram into during serious storms, but there is not enough room for everyone in it. Besides that, the church building was too small to hold church in, so this one will be large enough for everyone to get into. Also, Pastor Martin wants a free clinic to go with his church, orphanage, and school. There is nothing like that in the area at this time, and there is most definitely need for such a thing.

4. Saving the best for last: Pray. Please pray for Pastor Martin and his mission, as well as for everyone involved on the States side. There are a few of us who have a relationship with Pastor Martin, but none of us are in great shape financially. Our main involvement for right now will be to draw attention to the needs and pray for God’s provision. I will hopefully be meeting with a gentlemen this weekend who has an organization and does a lot of work in Haiti who will potentially be a huge contact for us. Please pray with me for discernment and direction as we talk about what we can do together.

Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions about any of this, feel free to leave a comment, message me on Facebook, email me at claytonfordrogers@live.com, call, text, whatever works for you. My phone number should be on my Facebook page. God bless!

They Call Me “Tibab”

 

I’m still in Haiti as I write this, and I’m glad I decided to bring my laptop with me so I could get this down while it is still fresh. Even though this is now my third time here, I am just beginning to understand what is happening in this area. Neply, the village where Pastor Martin lives and where we spend the nights and some days, now has at least three missions, all of which seem to be building up their facilities and showing no signs of work elsewhere. Madam Tibab (Leslie) and I were fortunate enough to spend a few short minutes speaking with the coordinator of the newest one, My Life Speaks. which was started by a couple in America who have a child of their own who is blind and has a severe case of cerebral palsy. They have been told over and over that the child would only live so much longer, yet it has now been fourteen years and their child still lives. Though this child cannot speak like most of us, his life has spoken volumes, thus the name of the organization. You should check them out at www.myLIFEspeaks.com. I will too as soon as I have internet access again. We had a chance to speak a little about what the goals were of this branch of the organization, and I like where they plan to go with this.

Anyway, the reason Madam Tibab and I wanted to speak to this coordinator was to explore the possibilities for ourselves. Pastor Martin has a church and orphans that he takes care of in Fauche, a little less than an hour’s drive from Neply, and he has plenty of vision to go with it. As I understand it, there are no other missions at this village, but the need is great. We are in the process of building a new church building. The building we are replacing is too small for the congregation, no matter how tightly they pack in, and was not much more than some tree branches holding up a roof and palm fronds for walls. This was a fine building as far as they were concerned, and there were no complaints about it from those who attend this church, but this was not ideal for hurricane seasons. There is one small brick building on the church’s property, where the residents gather when a hurricane comes through, but they do not all fit; not even all of the orphans. Because of this, Pastor Martin also plans on building a school building and a clinic, both of which would provide their services for free, while at the same time being a place of sanctuary for the community during severe weather.

All this is to say that Madam Tibab and I are now trying to figure out where we fit in this vision. We know we do somehow, but not in what capacity. One idea that we have considered is to keep doing what we have started, spending time here each year while raising as much money as we can for the needs here. This would enable us to be more involved in whatever ministries we have back home. Another is to start a sort of continuing education program for pastors and potential church leaders in the area, while still raising money and interest in Pastor Martin’s vision. This would possibly allow us to have ministries back home, but would require a larger amount of support. We have also kicked around the idea of just living In Haiti and helping with the services Pastor Martin wishes to provide.

These are the basics of a few of the ideas we’ve passed around, just to give you a glimpse of what we have been thinking about during our stay. I hope you will continue to pray for us as we figure this out, and please keep an eye out for blog posts to follow, detailing needs that we have been made aware of.

By the way, Tibab means “beard” in Haitian Creole. :)