Graduation

Today was an exciting day for both Kenol and I. This morning was the second graduation from the Leadership Training and Bible Classes Kenol teaches on Saturday mornings. There were 48 graduates, eight of which were girls from the Orphanage. There were so many proud momma moments today, as I watched them walk down the aisle in their cap and gown and go up to receive their certificates. These kids are amazing!

I was also the Maren (Godmother) of the graduation, which is a Haitian tradition. This means I had to sit up at the front in a special chair with the Paren (Godfather) and the pastors, which wasn't so bad, as Kenol was one of them. I did however have to make a speech which is always a little nerve wrecking! Especially when it is done in Creole. I have to tell you though, one of my favourite moments of the morning was when I took the microphone, looked out into the audience and said, "Bonjou Medanm e Mesye." There was a quiet gasp and then giggling throughout the audience, they were not expecting this white girl to speak creole so clearly!

Kenol loves teaching these classes, I think it's his favourite part of the job. Teaching is his passion and being able to offer these essential courses for free, not just to our church, but to all the churches in our community, is pretty amazing. Today there were three pastors from churches in the area at the graduation celebrating with those in their congregation who were graduating. It's exciting to see the churches working together in this way. Kenol had those pastors come up and present certificates to those from their congregation.

The girls were so proud of themselves. They kept saying, "You and Pastor Kenol were so proud of us today, we could see it! Did you cry??" They tease us whities for crying all the time...I did tear up as they walked in, but I denied it! What a great day.

Peace, love and new leaders!

Rachel




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Baby Sized Miracle

Image
Today I witnessed a beautiful miracle. I saw God's love poured out in a lovingly selfless act. Today I saw the hands and feet of Jesus at work. Today in Leveque something amazing happened. It started with something terribly sad. A newborn baby was dropped into a latrine and left to die. Something I cannot fathom and which shatters my heart. I cannot even begin to understand what went through this mother's mind as she let go of her baby and watched him fall into the dark pit. Thankfully God has a wonderful plan for this little life and his sweet cry was loud enough to be heard by a good samaritan passing by, who quickly called Pastor Williamson, the deaf pastor from Leveque. A group of people worked together to smash the cement cover off the latrine carefully so the baby would not be injured. Then they somehow used some metal bars and a net or basket of some sort to lift the baby out of the pit. Miraculously he only had a few scraps on him. The community came together to care
Read more

How to Be More Effective in Cross Cultural Ministry

There is a sad truth I would like to share with you. All too often people with great intentions do harm in Jesus' name in cross cultural ministry. In my ten years on the mission field I have seen a lot of amazing things happen but I've also seen a lot of hurt caused by well meaning ministry workers. I have compiled this short list of things I have learned, and that I think you should know to help you be more effective in cross cultural missions. 1. Always remember that YOU are the foreigner. This is not your country, you are a guest and should act like one. 2. The people you are serving know SO much more than you ever will about their country, culture and needs. 3. Your way isn't the only way, or necessarily the right way. 4. You better work your butt off to learn the language, and quickly. If you have been living or serving in a foreign land for a year and still can't communicate more than basic greetings to those you came to serve you need to make some chang
Read more

Gross, gross, gross!!

I can handle mice. I can handle rats. I can handle lizards. I can handle cockroaches. I can handle snakes. I can handle tarantulas. I can handle flying green leaf shaped bugs that smell funny. I can handle a lot more than your average woman, with two minor exceptions: Dead things and Haitian frogs. I can kill a mouse, a cockroach, a snake or a tarantula without fear, but once it's dead I'm not going near it! A lizard on my bedroom wall doesn't faze me, but a dead one in the closet makes me run for the door. Strange I know...but dead things just freak me out! Haitian frogs on the other hand have me running around screaming like a scared little girl. I specify Haitian frogs because Canadian frogs have never really bothered me, except that one time in grade 8 when Ben Lanteigne kicked a frog and it came flying right for my face! Haitian frogs are a whole other ball game. They are the kind of frogs you would see in the Toronto zoo. They always look wet and slimy and ha
Read more