Southtown News

On July 3 the first of 2 teams made up mainly of people from Suburban Lutheran Churches left for the tiny island country of Haiti. Haiti is only 90 minutes from our U S border and now considered the poorest country in the WORLD. 8 million people live in Haiti with an average income of about $400.00 per year. The island has been stripped of most of its natural resources and has suffered through dozens of corrupt dictatorships. Public education is not free in Haiti so most children do not attend school for very long nor do they eat every day but generally 3-4 times a week. It is estimated that there are as many as 300,000 children in Haiti that have been abandoned or sold into slavery. These children are as young as 3 and 4 years of age. Pastor Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti has made a commitment to get 50 of these children off the streets and into a safe loving home.

The 8 men on Team 1, from Christ Lutheran Church, Orland Park, spent their days building a school/orphanage for the Pastor they have been supporting for the last 3 years. Pastor Isaac of Jeremie, Haiti has 22 orphaned/abandoned children living in his home with his wife and his own 4 children. The 2 women from team 1 spent their days helping with the children, visiting other orphanages, medical clinics and neighboring villages to see where the need for future assistance is the greatest.

As Team 1 left on July 12 Team 2 from Fellowship Of Faith Lutheran Church, McHenry and Living Christ Lutheran Church, Arlington Heights arrived to take over where team 1 left off. The construction continued while a soccer clinic and art classes were added to the daily routine of the orphaned children. Vacation Bible School was also opened to the community which drew an unexpected 500 curious children. At the end of the VBS we passed out granola bars to each child and watched them carry them home to share with hungry siblings.

As we left Haiti on July 19 the walls were up and the roof and doors were yet to be finished on the first building which will eventually be a school but will serve as a home for the 22 children and their caretakers for now. After enough funds have been raised we will build a second building that will be the orphanage and the first building will serve as a school with a feeding program for those that cannot afford public school.

This project has definitely been a group effort.

We have had small and large donations from small businesses and churches of other denominations. Sunday school collections and school aluminum can collections have all contributed to this project and we are grateful for every penny that has been contributed.

Sue Gross