Of Mentors and Plans

The dates are set for next trip to Haiti. Guest house reservations have been made and tickets soon to be purchased. A lot of excitement and a fair amount of nervousness.

The plan is to spend the first week in Port-au-Prince, working with the children of the orphanage and looking for individuals that could act as mentors for the older children.  The second week, I am planning to travel with the Pastor that managers the orphanage about 3 hours north to visit the the Mompremiers at the United Christians International mission. This is a mission I visited two years ago where they have built a university and through the Grace of God  have been transforming a community away from Vodou. My hope is that some partnership may emerge between the mission in Port-au-Prince and the Mompremiers, but if nothing else I am hoping it is an opportunity to learn and share ideas.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am looking to help start a mentorship program for the older children living in the orphanage. The purpose of this mentorship program is to help the older children learn "life skills" to help prepare them for living on their own. Currently these children do not have the skills to live independently outside the orphanage and they are not allowed to live in the orphanage, by law, once they have reached the age of majority. The Paster with which I work is looking into how they might be housed in a different location when they reach the age of majority, but these children really need to be trained and prepared to live independently.

I am estimating that the salary of the mentor is about $150 USD / month and it would be wonderful to support one for the girls and one for the boys, which means we need to be able to fund $300 USD / month. I would like to keep this program going for at least a year, at which point we can evaluate it and see if it should continue.

To do this I am looking to find individuals to pledge a portion of the cost for a year. I was originally asking people to pledge $20 / month for a year or $240 / year. The thought was that with 15 individuals pledging $20 / month we could cover the costs and $20 / month sounded like something most could afford. Unfortunately, not many (2) people have responded. So please continue to pray about this and see if this is something which you might be able to do. You can either donate monthly or in a lump some. I have started a "Square" page to allow people to donate on line at https://squareup.com/store/source-de-lumiere. Please consider and donate and please tell your friends.

2016 Estimated Trip Expenses

In the spirit of openness I have included a link to my estimated expenses for this trip. If you are able to help support me in this trip, I would be greatly appreciative. The total cost of the trip is about $3000 and so far I have had 2 people donate. Donations to help support the trip can be made through "Square" at https://squareup.com/store/source-de-lumiere.

I am currently not a 501(c)3 charity, so donations are not tax deductible. If you know a lawyer that is willing to work on the cheap we can talk about changing that.

Life Skill Mentors

Plans are moving forward with this year's trip to Haiti. It looks like the dates are just about finalized and I should be able to meet up with another group while in Port-au-Prince so I may not be entirely on my own.

I have been thinking that it would be nice to contribute something materially toward independent living training for the older children while I am in country. My hope is to be able to identify one or two individuals who will be able to be mentors to the older children and help train them. This is where I need help, as while I can identify individuals, I need money to pay them. Based on what we pay drivers and translators while in country and what an individual was being paid for teaching English lessons to the children, I am thinking that it will cost about $150USD per mentor, per month plus a small additional amount for training expenses.

So, I am looking for 15 individuals that are willing to commit to a $20USD donation a month for 12 months, for a total donation of $240USD to support two mentors one for the boys and one for the girls. If you can donate all at once, that would be wonderful, but if you would need to do it as monthly payments that would be fine as well. If you are willing to help fund life skills mentors for the older children please contact me.

My plan is to require that the mentors fill out a weekly update on their work so that we can follow progress and they will have to provide receipts or documentation to justify expenses such as tap-tap (public transportation) charges if they teach the children how to use public transportation and food supplies as they teach them how to shop and cook.

So please, prayerfully consider committing to a year of supporting a mentor for $20USD a month for year. The older children are quickly approaching the age where they law requires them to leave the group home (orphanage) and they need training on how to do the tasks that we do every day as independently living adults.

Additionally, I continue to seek support to help fund my trip this years. To be honest, I would rather have people help to support the mentors, but if you feel called to help support my trip that would be appreciated as well.

Bondye Beni Ou.