Blessing & Suffering

This past week we had a team of 20 people on a short term team come and stay with us. One night as we were going around and each sharing a part of our day, the members of the team each took turns sharing their hearts and most started with "I was so blessed by....". They all spoke of wonderful God moments that each had on the trip. As I listened and thought about what to share the only moment that sat in my mind and would not be forgotten happened earlier that day as I spoke with a woman about vitamins and nutrition.

This woman came to us with a 4 month old baby that is pictured above. The baby was more the size of a 1-2 month old. The woman had not been feeding her because the doctor told her not to breastfeed since she was anemic & did not have enough iron to do so, the mother also had no money to buy food for her or the baby; so they had simply not been eating. We fed the baby formula we had on hand and gave the mother some to take with her. We gave medicine to the mom because she had a bad case of scabies. We fed the mom and gave her some clothes for her and the baby. We also gave her some vitamins with iron for herself. As I was speaking (along with the translator)explaining to her how to make the formula and how she needed to take the vitamins, the woman said to me, "What good does that do me? I never have any food to eat." What do I say to that? I told her that we would be able to help some but not all the time. We did send some food home with her but what about later?

My heart broke as I realized that I had no long term answers for this woman and there are thousands more like her that don't even get what I gave her. It is hard to wrap my mind around all the suffering that the Lord allows me to see. Yet as I shared this on the roof with the team that night, there were no responses. None of us had answers and no one said "Amen" because a great blessing had been shared with everyone. Later as I thought back on what I had shared along with everyone else's blessings that had happened, the Lord showed me it was indeed a blessing. The blessing for me in this, is that the Lord shared with me a fraction of the suffering that he sees everyday. In the midst of suffering there is blessing because it draws me to the heart of God. There isn't anywhere else I would rather be.

Cody

Food and Toys

We are running on a seven day cycle for supplying food to the refugees so here you can a typical day in which we are distributing food


Toys request is usually very often from the refugees kids and they love to play with Sir Ken so we usually have toys and sports material distribution in the camp.


We have also hired a female staff at Dader Refugees Camp so that we can get request from the female members of the refugees Camp through cultural sensitive way. We will tell you more about our female staff and her activities in coming posts.
Waheed Alam

New Adventures (Haiti through Kendra's eyes)

Even though I have been to Haiti before, many of the experiences I have encountered here are new for me; for instance, the feeding program. I had never done that before and had only stepped foot in Jubilee once last year. The feeding program is… an adventure every single time. First, when we are driving through Jubilee all of the kids there wave and scream “Blanc! Blanc!” (“Whites! Whites!”), some of them even run after the truck. By the time we reach the building where the program is held we have a crowd surrounding us. Then we unload the food and prepare to start. All of the children crowd the door; sometimes, in order to get the little ones in first, Woobens (who is a Haitian who lives with Emory and Mary, and is a big help) must beat them back with his belt. I was shocked the first time I saw this, but it is the only way he knows that they will listen. Please pray that another way is found.

A new adventure Brad and I are embarking upon is the language. We are trying to learn Creole while we are here. Woobens is a very good teacher. I catch on very quickly but Brad has more difficulty. We have learned to count to 10 and all the pronouns. We are working on the verbs. Creole is much simpler than English so it is easier than you probably imagine. I can already communicate a little, but I’m not even close to Dad’s level yet.

Another new adventure is the English class that Dad, Kara, and I help with. Dad helps a small group, Kara and I get another. Everyone wants to talk with the white girls. Kara is very shy and has had a hard time at every class. In Haiti there is zero personal space… if you sit next to someone, you sit NEXT to someone. K-k has a problem with people who “get all up in her face”. I have tried to explain the zero personal space concept but she just isn’t comfortable.

We are all adjusting to these “new adventures” but there are always more to be had, so please continue to pray. Your prayers are very appreciated. <3>

Much Love,

Kendra <3

Pictures with Personality

This little girl has spunk!

Look at the cutie pie in the left corner!

Kim's gonna kill us for this one!

Playing a-coonie-coonie-i-kye-oonie.

I saved the best for last! Makes ya wonder what she's saying.

More Families want to come to Dadar Camp

As each new family group settles in we provide them with all the basic necessity as shown in the video. New families arriving daily and we are approaching 200 now and there are many more families wanting to come here but we have to get each new place prepared for them,

One of the biggest jobs we have here is trying to provide a toilet facilities to the refugees.
Before we came to Dadar none of the toilets worked. So we had to dig all new septic tanks and replace all the toilets, which we are having a hard time to keeping up with the needs of the new families arriving. As you can see from the pictures a lot of work is going into providing what is needed.

Ken Smith

rice & beans

A couple of days ago we were about to eat lunch before going to the feeding program. Our host let us know we could just eat some of the rice and beans the kids in the program eat. Cody had already fixed Ramen noodles but my kids are pretty big eaters so they wanted more. I told them I didn't want them to eat the rice and beans because I didn't want to send any children away hungry because we had eaten "their" food. Later as i thought about this I realized my children would eat their fill either way. So whose food is it? I could give away all the food in the pantry and we would still send kids away hungry. How much do I consume? When I eat my fill (plus), is it not the same as eating "their" food? This is not to say that because I'm not starving that I am somehow sinning. I do feel though, now to a greater extent that what i keep has a direct correlation to the need I see. Each day I continue to look for the Holy Spirit's equilibrium in my service to Him. thanks for your love and support. brian

Life in Haiti

As I reflect on the past week we have spent here in Haiti, so much of it seems as if I have been living in a fog. I have spent much of the week here at the house where we are staying. I have been organizing all of the medical supplies that were here and combining them with all that we brought with us. I have also been trying to make this as much of a home for our family as I can. Trying to strike a balance between living in the culture we are now in and the culture we are used to. The culture shock our kids have experienced is something that Brian and I have gotten used to over the years, so we are taking things slow for them. This fog that I have been living in, I tend to experience when here at the house; it only lifts as I step outside our yard which is enclosed by a security wall with razor wire. The security wall and razor wire is a necessity for our safety yet it closes us off to the real Haiti. The real Haiti that lifts me out of the fog and allows me to see more of Jesus is out in the streets. It is the little girl that I met that is 3 years old and probably weighs no more than 20 pounds. She doesn’t stand or walk yet, only crawls. She has red tips on her hair and is skin and bones with a small protruding belly and a vacant stare. She is very malnourished. Her name is Amania. She is one we are trying to help, but there are many more.

We continue to feed the children in the feeding program. A new building is being constructed for the program and this week we were able to have the concrete floor poured in it. I have also been making rounds to several houses and taking care of the sick. We will be very busy this coming week with medical clinics. Kim Gould, a nurse practitioner we work with, is coming in today to stay for a week. Please pray for us as we conduct these clinics and checkups on the children. It can be chaotic and overwhelming at times to see all the need and know that you can’t help everyone.

Cody

Pouring the concrete floor

Our kids playing with those in Jubilee

Amania, 3 yrs. old

Necessary supplies to the IDPs

We are having a flood of refugees (IDPs) come to our camp in Dadar. This is showing you some of the supply we are buying for them along with food and water. Also we are hiring as many as we can to help us cleanup the buildings that are in serious disrepair. Some are helping dig our septic tank for toilets

The crisis here is getting worse not better, what is presented in the media is not accurate.
They are saying that things are good in Swat and that the refugees can return. But no one is returning. Many have told us they want to stay in Dadar for one year.
The Taliban has said that if the IDPs who fled the area return they will kill them.

So the need for resources to handle the situation is very big and will take a long time and we are the only NGO working in the area.
This is the front line in the war on terror.

Ken Smith

Toys Bring Happiness !!!!

This is one of our happiest day here. As most of you know working with displaced people who have lost everything and seeing their pain can bring you to tears often.
So being able to give toys to the children and seeing the happiness in the children and their parents was a great moment. They have had nothing to play with for over two months.

The makeup of the refugees here is a 2 to 1 ratio children to adults so we will be needing to spend more money on additional toys, there are several families moving out today. So if you would like to help in this regard check the website with ways you can help.

When they first came here they looked dirty and bewildered, but now they are clean and content

Water of Life

I will ask you a question. Who is the source of living water?

Approximately 2000 foot of line one and quarter inch in diameter to a ten thousand gallon concrete tank, basically unused for the last thirty years. This will be our source of water for our all of refugees at Dadar Camp.

We still have to build a little house with concrete floor for the pump and engine.We are doing that today

After being sick eight days I am beginning to gain my strength back.
Please pray that I would be completely restored to complete health also please pray for Arsalan, Waheeds younger brother who most of you know has been having problem with seizers and late to night we will be taking him to the hospital in Abbottabad. He has had some new episodes that have been troubling.
Ken and Waheed

Continuing work with Refugees

This is a few of the 32 children living at Dadar Camp. As you will see in the next few pictures they have very few belongings where they are living as shown below.

The children had no toys so we have purchased Soccer balls, Cricket bats and balls along with some other sorted toys for the girls and little boys.

Because the amount of the refugees that will be moving to the camp we are surveying where to place a pump near the mountain stream to pump water up to our camp which is about a thousand foot away. We also are using generators to supply electricity because it is such a lengthy process to get the authority here to provide these necessary services.

With in the next few days we should have water pumping to a seven thousand gallon concrete water tank that has been basically unused for the last forty years.

IDPs Dadar Camp Vidio