Gressier, Haiti

Today is the third anniversary of the 2010 earthquake that destroyed most of the southeastern part of Haiti. 357, 785 people still live in tent cities in Port au Prince. There are still homes to be built and lives to be restored.

 I thought traveling to Cap Haitien would be a dream come true. To live life with some of the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. And, don't get me wrong, it definitely was. But God has called me to go farther. God has graciously provided me with the opportunity to travel to a village not far from Port au Prince called Gressier. I will be working at a mission called Christianville. And my heart is overjoyed.

This experience will be much different from my prior experience as I will be going with a mission team. Our task will be to paint the school located in the mission and possibly travel to a mountain church in Bel Air. Bel Air is part of Port au Prince's slum and it was one of the most heavily damaged areas after the earthquake. Rebuilding a church in this area is significant, even more significant is rebuilding one up in the mountains of this area. Culturally, construction is looked down upon in terms of position. And supplies are costly to be able to rebuild. When you take into account that this is also in a mountain where people are poor and isolated, it means that much more to see a "blanc" helping. I am praying that I will be of use in some way in the clinic because I do have some prior experience filling prescriptions and reading French scripts. I also pray that we will be able to talk with the people in the villages, especially children.

 During this experience I will NOT be at a school everyday, I will NOT be teaching, and I will only be there for seven incredibly short days. I will be serving through my hands and feet. I am an unsure of how specifically Christ will use me, but I am filled with certainty that He will. Through this experience I will be able to live next to people who's homes were destroyed, who know people who were injured or killed, and to spread God's pure hope and light to the darkest corners of souls. I will be able to tell children that "Bondye renmen ou" as I sing and play and brush dirt off of their faces.

 I know this will all happen, because I am confident that God will provide the means for me to travel to Haiti. I am about $1,000 short for my trip, but God knows where the money will come from. I am confident even that He will provide more money than I actually need. So I am planning on once again taking a suit case filled with school supplies down. Christianville runs a school sponsorship program for students. Through this sponsorship program students are able to receive school supplies and their tuition is paid for. But there is still always a great need. What if for one month, instead of the students getting new pencils and paper and erasers.. they were able to receive a vaccination against a preventable disease like Hepatitis? Or they were able to receive the means to drink clean water preventing water born diseases like Typhoid or Cholera or gastrointestinal parasites that can be cured with one simple Albendazole? Imagine what that will look like?

 In America flu season this year is very serious. Children are getting very sick with fevers. But we have prescriptions that are cheap and vaccinations to prevent it entirely. Imagine living in a place where every single day there is a risk of Malaria from the bugs around you, Cholera from the water you drink, Hepatitis from the streets you walk. None of these things exist in America, we can't comprehend it. But we do understand what children who are sick with influenza looks like. Imagine what it would look like if money was spent instead on preventing these 100% preventable diseases rather than school supplies because they have already been donated.

 I'm dreaming big for 168 hours.

ChipIn

Hands.

I've made 53 scarves, which equals over $350 towards my trip to Haiti. Which equals 27% towards my total goal. Over 1/4 of the way there!!

And I have to say, I never imagined that I would have to figure out PayPal and shipping to finish scarf orders. I've shipped as far as West Coast CANADA!!

There is still time to order a scarf, but it won't be ready until after Christmas.

If you'd like to contribute to my trip without purchasing a scarf, you can do so by sending a check to either me or Church of the Cross with my name in the memo and a hand written note that also denotes it for my Haiti trip fund. For Church of the Cross's address, you can refer to one previous post.

Thank you all for your generosity and your decision to help me in my second (annual?) trip to Haiti! I am so thrilled to see what God has in store for me to learn as I travel outside of Port au Prince.

I hate talking about money.

But this is what I have to do.

For this trip to Haiti, it will cost me about $1,400. Unlike most college students, I do not have that much money laying around to freely spend. So for this trip, I am asking for sponsorship. If you feel led to contribute to my trip, you can do that in two ways, sending a check to me, or by sending a check to

Church of the Cross
5901 Millfair Road

Fairview, PA  16415

If you choose to send a check to Church of the Cross, please write in the memo my name (Katie Jobczynski) and send a note along with the check that it is for my account. 

On this trip I will be doing manual labor.. me right, crazy!? We will be painting the school, and possibly going up to a mountain church to help with construction. And getting to talk to the children!

So I'm brushing up on my Creole and searching for new skirts.

So there I did it. I talked about money. Now it's up to God.

"God's will, God's bill."

What I've been up to....

Lately... I've been doing a lot of crocheting.

So far this year, I have received orders for 37 scarves!

This is so awesome because all the money that I receive making the scarves is going towards my second trip to Haiti.

Hence the lots of crocheting. I am working hard to get orders filled as soon as I can because many of them are Christmas presents. If you would like to order, please let me know how many and the colors as soon as you can!

Otherwise, I've been finishing up my Fall Term as a Junior. It's so crazy to think that I am more than halfway finished with my college career. This just means that I need to start looking for a grad school.

Also, I've been doing a lot of babysitting my four babes: Jessie, Jordan, Nina, and Marzy. (And other families as well.)

And I'm still co leading a small group of anywhere from 3 to 15 high school girls.

It's no wonder I am constantly crawling to bed.

2013

I recently (like an hour and a half ago) committed to going to Gressier, Haiti from February 22nd to March 1st in 2013 with Mercyhurst Service Learning.

This was a difficult decision for me to make based on my time spent in Cap Haitien.

I would love to go back to Cap Haitien, but I felt God pulling my heart closer and closer to going to the southern part of Haiti. I believe that He is wanting me to take a step out of my comfort zone to go to a part of the country that I have never been to before and to make me meet new people by going with Mercyhurst students and members of Church of the Cross here in Erie.

I don't have much information at this point, other than the cost and the dates. I am extremely excited that I will be going on my first official mission trip.

I would like to thank anyone who has purchased a scarf from me, the profits from the scarves will be put towards the cost of this trip. If you would like to purchase a scarf, please let me know!

I am asking for praying for those who are considering going. I will be updating this blog regularly when I find out more information.

Of Late

My bed is littered with things that I hope to get done. It's 9:04 PM and my cat is helping me type. I have notes to write for a class, a blanket I've been crocheting, and notes on a very important talk that I am going to give.

Exciting things have happened since school has started. A story was written on my trip to Haiti for Mercyhurst's website. The day that the story went up was the first day of classes, but with it entailed some very exciting emails. One of them I will tell you about.

This Friday, I will be speaking to a class of freshmen about my trip to Haiti to enrich their understanding of a book that they read for class. The book is "Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat. The story takes place outside of Port au Prince, but the professor has asked me to come and speak on my experience in Haiti. I asked the professor to have the students generate questions that they would like me to answer. This is mostly because it is incredibly difficult for me to speak about Haiti because everything about it is a big blur of experiences. I received the list of questions today, and I am SO EXCITED to speak to them.

The questions range from obvious --- What is Haiti like? What kinds of food did you eat? How did you communicate? Is there still effects from the earthquake? --- to more in depth --- What are schools like for children? What are women's roles in society? What do Haitians do for fun?

I am praising God for this wonderful opportunity to speak on one of my passions and to spread knowledge about a country that few American college students know much about. My prayer is that I will not bore the students and that maybe their heart will be stirred to serve Haiti as well.