It’s nearly 1 am and I’m in the air somewhere off the east coast. To pass the time I started looking through the massive amount of pictures Billy took of our activities these past three days. So much happened, but my mind and heart are still stuck on today. I do my best to make a surprise visit to Madam Tabita and her orphanage each trip to Haiti. We were on the way to the airport and had time to stop by. I really love seeing the kids and they love our visits. I’m not very exciting personally, but I know they love the candies I always keep in my pocket. I smiled to see Shelove, a little girl that required 3 visits before she let me hold her, touching the pocket where she knows the candy is stored. I try to love on them, if only for a few moments, as each visit seems to deepen our bond.
As I walked towards the house they all came running. As they hugged me, I noticed two new faces that stayed back a bit, not sure about the is new stranger with odd skin. The first, a beautiful little girl with beads in her braids, warmed up quickly. She had distinctly different facial features. . I guessed she was not from the north. When Haiti was a French slave colony, Africans were taken from different tribes and taken to different areas in Haiti. Through 300 years and a revolution, many descendants still live in the same areas as they were brought to. The boy, two years old, eyed me untrustingly. It may take a couple visits before he is my friend.
We found Tabita near her business. She operates a small pharmacy and now sells bottled drinks and purified water with the system we installed. She manages her land and animals to help provide for the children. She cares for about 30 children full time and has a community school for about 150 children. She is an amazing servant of God. It is a great honor that IOCH can support her kingdom building work. With Ginel translating, I asked about the two new beautiful children I just met. My heart still hurts from the stories she shared.
Madam Tabita said of the girl, “she is from Port au Prince” (the south). Ginel who is also from Port au Prince, and has shared conversations about facial differences previously with me, looked at each other and simultaneously exclaimed “I thought so!” It was a funny moment. She continued, “gangs came into their area, killing people, and everybody had to run for their lives. She was separated from her parents and 3 siblings.” Her uncle saw her and fled with her over the mountains to the north. He heard about the orphanage and dropped her off into Tabita’s care. After some time, the parents were found and called Tabita. With hope I said, “oh, so they will come get her?” Haiti is never simple, “No” came her answer. “The parents are now homeless, destitute and have no way of caring for her. She will stay for now.”
The little boys story was more heartbreaking. The details were a little fuzzy as they always are, but this is what I understood . His mother was a prostitute in the Limbe area. She got pregnant. After giving birth she threatened to expose the father, possibly to find support for the child. The man responded by having her killed. There were no relatives willing to care for the baby and someone told them about Tabita….and just like that, she had two more children looking to her to meet all their needs.
I see Madam Tabita as the George Mueller of Haiti. She lives and serves by faith. In the past 20 years she has been the mother to nearly 200 children, raising some of them into adulthood . Some have stayed to work with her. IOCH supports her teachers, installed electricity, built a swing and we try to give her rice each month. As we talked, she sweated in the heat. I gave her a portable fan from my bag and some toys and crayons for the kids. She said something softly and shyly to my translator as I turned to go….Ginel said “she doesn’t want to ask but the depot is empty and there is nothing to feed the kids in the coming days.” I usually keep just enough cash to buy a goat sandwich at the airport on the way out, but this time I had a little extra and gave it to her, happy she asked.
Thank you to each of you who pray for and support IOCH. The sacrifices we make on this side are multiplied many times over by servants of God in Haiti that IOCH is partnered with. Whenever I am tired and discouraged, I think about heros like Madam Tabita and I am inspired to keep going.
God bless,
-IOCH Founder David Garman
“UNITING THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO WORK FOR A BETTER HAITI”