http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/ - Founded in 2006 by Paster Fran Leeman, Lead pastor of LifeSpring Community Church in Plainfield, IL, New Life for Haiti assists the people of the Grande Anse River area of Haiti. In this recap of their February 6-13, 2014 mission trip to Haiti, New Life For Haiti met with sponsored children, brought benches for their church, and worked to provide clean drinking water to the people of the area. New Life for Haiti has built several schools, helped farmers with seed, and rebuilt homes after the 2010 earthquake. New Life For Haiti is an approved 501c4 charity.

1. Marnie Van Wyk
New Life for Haiti
Child Sponsorship Mission Trip
February 6-13, 2014

2. The Nation of Haiti
• Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
• The average family living in the Grand Anse River Valley and in the mountains
of Mon Milet lives on less than $1/day.
• Most children eat just once a day.
• Only 20% of the children can afford to attend school.

3. New Life for Haiti
• Founded in 2006 by Pastor Fran Leeman (Lead pastor of LifeSpring
Community Church in Plainfield)
• Work in a remote and very poor river valley at the end of Haiti's southern
peninsula
• Headquarter efforts in the village of Marfranc, right along the Grande
Anse River.
• First couple years spent building relationships with people in the river
villages and building a house for our staff and teams
• NLH has built several schools, helped farmers with seed after terrible
hurricane floods, and rebuilt many homes after the 2010 earthquake
• Started child sponsorship program in 2008, through which children receive
an education, food, vitamins, clothing, books and school supplies
• Currently sponsor 200 children
• New Life for Haiti is an approved 501c3 charity

4. My decision to go to Haiti
• Helping children in other parts of the world has been on my
heart since the winter of 1998, when my husband and I spent
two weeks in Russia with Josh McDowell ministries.
• I have prayed since 2006 that the Lord would know and honor my
heart’s desire to go to Haiti.
• The part that was missing was a journey the Lord took me
through (this past year especially) in relation to GRATITUDE. I
couldn’t possibly have absorbed and learned and given
everything I did from this trip had I not taken that journey first. If
I had not done so, the distractions of physical discomfort and
guilt would have probably been too much for me to bear all of
the sadness.
• Looking back, I know that the Lord was waiting until I was ready
for this experience.
• “Give thanks, and you always find out that we’re one of the ones
who GET TO GIVE. Give thanks and we find out that there is
always more than enough to give. Give thanks and you always
get the miracle – the miracle of more God. And He is always
enough.”
• “God’s people are God’s plan for ending poverty – and He
doesn’t have another plan.”

5. Arrived in Port au Prince, Haiti on
February 6, 2014
• Capital city of Haiti, extremely
depressed economy and very
dirty, high crime rate
• Completely lacking infrastructure,
virtually no paved roads, traffic
free-for-all

6. Friday, February 7 – Flew to Jeremie, Haiti from Port au
Prince via MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship)

7. Flew over Gulf of Gonave to Jeremie,
on the northwestern coast of Haiti
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

8. Haiti is very beautiful… from the sky!
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

9. Jeremie to
Marfranc
Drove from Jeremie to Marfranc, in the
Grand Anse river valley over extremely
bumpy, rocky, and in places, washed out
roads, dodging many people and animals
such as donkeys, goats, cows, pigs and
chickens. People in Haiti carry large
packages, baskets, sacks, or even
furniture on their heads to get from place
to place. The country has had a drought
for the last four months, with virtually no
rain, so everything was extremely dusty.
Nothing but a four-wheel drive vehicle
can handle Haitian “roads”, and those
break down frequently. Almost every
Haitian vehicle is a pick up truck with the
exception of tap-taps. All vehicles have
roll bars, bars for standing passengers to
hold on to, and front smash guards.
Haitian roads through towns are very
narrow – only about 6-8 feet wide. Haiti
is in a constant state of demolition and
construction, especially since the
earthquake in 2010.

10. Marfranc,
Haiti
Our team stayed at the New Life for
Haiti staff and teams house in
Marfranc. The house is named Kay Bo
Rivye, or “House by the River” in
Haitian Creole.

11. Kay Bo Rivye
New Life for Haiti employs a staff of
five Haitian people. Vilex is our full-
time employee. He is the son of Pastor
Plaisir, who is the pastor of the Baptist
church in Marfranc, part of the MBESH
group of churches. Other part-time
employees include Jacque-Lyn, who
does construction for NLH, Dis (the
gardener), Benit (cook/housekeeper),
and Madame Moussan (head
cook/housekeeper). New Life for Haiti
built Jacque-Lyn and Vilex apartments,
on the roof of Kay Bo Rivye. They live
there, along with Malis, the Rhodesian
Ridgeback guard dog and Bouqinet,
Vilex’s Haitian mutt. These dogs are
an exception in Haiti, where dogs are
generally considered filthy pest
animals and are usually left to live
outside off the land and fend for
themselves.
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

12. Friday, February
7th
Our team of five was immediately
following a larger team of eleven. One
of the previous team’s jobs had been
to build and varnish 35 school
benches/tables for the school in
Marfranc. On Friday, our team
delivered the benches to the school.
We attempted to drive to Chameau,
far up into the mountains, but were
unable to do so, due to a road
blockage. The road was blocked by
angry Haitian workers who were
protesting not being paid for work
they had done. Rather than try to
negotiate through the road block, we
chose to turn around, come back to
Kay Bo Rivye, and work on cutting the
fabric for over the uniforms for the
over 200 children who are sponsored
by New Life for Haiti for the 2014-15
school year.
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

13. Friday, February
7th, continued
All four of the team members that
were with me on this trip had already
been to Haiti before, so some of
Saturday was also spent showing me
around the Marfranc area, including a
new suspension bridge that the World
Health Federation built recently. WHF
is the only other known organization
working in this very remote part of
Haiti. There are no known maps of the
mountain villages surrounding Grand
Anse river valley area, so one of Vilex’s
tasks has been to work on making a
map.
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

14. Saturday,
February 8th
On Saturday our team of five, along
with Vilex, hiked way up into the
mountains to the village of Plik. First,
we had to cross the Grand Anse River
IN the truck. This was very exciting,
and I was thankful that the river was
as low as it was, since the truck has
gotten stuck IN the river before! Plik is
the most poverty stricken area that
New Life for Haiti currently serves, and
it was an eye-opening experience.
New Life for Haiti built the school in
Plik last spring, and a team of
teenagers from our church (LifeSpring
Community Church in Plainfield)
painted the school this past June. We
now sponsor about 30 children, and
are hoping to sponsor more soon. The
next few slides contain pictures taken
in and around the village of Plik.

15. Plik, Haiti
The people in Plik are fortunate in only
one way. There is a natural spring
there. Unfortunately, there is a lack of
education about care and use of the
spring. Currently the site of the spring
is being used to wash peoples’ clothes,
bodies and dishes. It is also a place for
animals to cool off and get water. A
troubling discovery we made when we
went to Plik this first time was that the
people were using the area directly
uphill from the spring for bathroom
purposes. Each time it rains, the rain
is washing all of that into the spring.
Many, many people in Plik have died
due to cholera, a disease caused by
parasites in drinking water. Therefore,
a decision was made by our team to
contact an engineer from Unicef to see
help in capping off the well and
educating the people on proper use.

16. Plik, Haiti
Pastor Suaver is the pastor and school
director in Plik. He is an
entrepreneurial man, running a bakery
and advocating for the people of Plik.
He has the only source of solar
powered electricity in Plik. Although
Pastor Suaver is very poor himself, he
hospitably offered us coconut milk and
coconut to eat and had a constant
smile on his face.
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

17. The children
of Plik
Most of the children in the green
gingham uniforms are sponsored by
individual sponsor families in
conjunction with New Life for Haiti. In
Haiti, there is no free public education.
In towns along the one road in
northwestern Haiti, there are what are
called National Schools, and several
private parochial schools. However,
any child who cannot afford the
tuition, supplies, and uniforms is not
allowed to attend school. There are
no schools in most of the mountain
villages; many pastors are also trying
to teach children, as education is their
only hope for a better life.

18. Sunday,
February 9th
On Sunday we had the privilege of
worshipping with our sister church in
Marfranc, where Pastor Plaisir is pastor. I
did not understand very much, but the
worship was beautiful and Wesley, the
brother of Jacque-Lyn, sang, “Hallelujah”
in English, just for us. He had learned the
song from some of our previous team
members. Fortunately, smiles around the
world are a multi-lingual way of
communicating! I was able to meet our
sponsored child, Blandine, as well as
Merline, who made her debut this past
October via Skype at our New Life for
Haiti annual fundraising gala. Many
children wanted to hug us and have their
pictures taken, which is a novelty in Haiti.
No one there has a camera, and most
people do not even own a mirror, so they
have no idea what they look like! People
only come to church if they have church
clothes to wear, which is sad because
some people do not.

19. Monday,
February 10th
On Monday, February 10th, the team
had the tasks of photographing our
40 sponsored children at the school
in Moron (pronounced with two long
o’s), as well as feeding all of the 250
children there who attend that school
(both those sponsored by NLH and
those not). New Life for Haiti began
the feeding program this year, and we
are currently feeding the children at
each school once a week. Rice and
beans are prepared by women paid
by NLH to cook, the children bring
their own bowls, and lunch is served
after school gets out at 12:30. The
children then go back to class for
about an hour after the meal. It was
difficult, but we had to turn away
several hungry people who wandered
in off the street. It was a little
chaotic, as free food is something
these kids aren’t used to!

20. Monday, February
10th, afternoon
On Monday afternoon our team once
again attempted to drive to Chameau, far
up in the mountains. We did not drive on
a road, but on a foot path instead.
Normally Chameau is only accessible on
foot via hiking in. However, since there
has been so little rain this year, the foot
path was actually driveable. Since the
temperatures were in the mid-90’s and
very humid the week of February 6-13,
the team was thankful to be able to
drive! The drive to Chameau was
breathtakingly beautiful, as was the view
from the home and church of Pastor
Estache and his beautiful family. We have
ten children currently sponsored by New
Life for Haiti in Chameau, and are hoping
to add more this year. My friend Erin was
able to read the Dr. Seuss book, Go Dog
Go, which she had translated into Creole,
to the kids there. Since Chameau is such
a remote village, the people have to walk
two hours up and down the mountain for
water twice a day.

21. Tuesday,
February 11th
On Tuesday, February 11th, we went back
to the school in Marfranc and photographed
130 children. It was feeding day at the
school, so we also fed over 650 children a
meal! I was happy to see Blandine again. I
also was able to meet Widline, who was in a
very serious accident in which she broke her
hip last year. We are currently helping her
get the medical help she needs in Port au
Prince and building her family a new home.
Currently 8 people live in a 10X10 grass hut.
The children in Marfranc are the most
well-off, by Haitian standards, which means
many of them have more than one pair of
shoes and clothes, and usually eat at least
once per day. It is the one of two schools in
the NLH network that has a secondary
school, so some of the children are learning
English. I was able to sit with a young man
named Kentworth and he read Go, Dog, Go
to me. He was very proud of his English
reading. Only a few of these kids will go on
to college; the only colleges are in Port au
Prince, so they will have to travel 9 hours by
tap-tap to get there.

22. Feeding the
Marfranc children
Many of the children in Marfranc shared
spoons or did not have spoons at all.
Some of them were so obviously hungry
that they shoveled the food in with their
hands. In one of these pictures you can
see a table some of the men on our team
made for the ladies who cook, so they
would no longer cook on the ground.
Classrooms in Haiti are very small, with
about 50 or so children packed onto
wooden benches. They are expected to
sit still and be quiet, while a teacher uses
only a blackboard and chalk to teach.
Temperatures in the classrooms the day
we were there were over 95 degrees, but
the children sat still and quiet. The
classes are divided by grade, with some
multi-level classrooms (such as 1st and 2nd
grade combined.) Children are not
allowed to progress to the next grade
unless they pass a test administered at
the national level. Many children walk an
hour or two to school each day, and back
home again in the afternoon.

23. Wednesday,
February 12th
On Wednesday our team decided to
hike back up to Plik in the mountains
with two goals. First, we would escort
the engineer from Unicef back to the
spring to see if Unicef would be willing
to help cap the spring. Second, we
would meet the pastor and children
from the village of Plen Marie, which is
even further up into the mountains.
New Life for Haiti built the school in
Plen Marie this past fall. Both the
pastor and the school director hiked
two hours down the mountain to Plik
to meet us. The children were
delightful, and had never seen a teddy
bear before, nor any “blancs” for that
matter (white people). They were full
of smiles and happiness to receive the
gifts we had brought for them,
including simple handkerchief purses
and bags the previous team had made.

24. Wednesday, February
12th, continued…
That day on the hike we also
encountered more kids in the
mountains living in extreme poverty.
We were happy that we had brought
shoes and granola bars for them, and
they were very grateful for those gifts.
The engineer from Unicef, who had
never been that far up into the
mountains, was obviously moved by
the plight of the people in that area.
We were excited when he agreed that
Unicef and New Life for Haiti should
work together to cap the spring to
help the people there, as well as
provide education on community
sanitation and safety. It was a sad day
for me, and I brushed away a lot of
tears seeing how people were living in
that area. I was reminded yet again
how much abundance we have in the
U.S. and why Jesus called us to serve
“the least of these”.

25. Market Day in
Marfranc
Late Wednesday afternoon, Erin and I
ventured into town to the weekly market
in Marfranc. This was really an education
about commerce in Haiti. At the market
we saw everything from live animals, to a
cock fighting ring, to freshly slaughtered
meat, to a knife sharpening station
powered by a bicycle tire. It was quite a
spectacle for the people to see two
“blancs” walking through the market.
One of the men from the team the
previous week had a Polaroid and had
handed out pictures to the people who
he met. It took Erin and I several
attempts in broken Creole to explain to
the people why we couldn’t also give
them polaroid pictures! On the way
home we walked through the cemetery,
where we met two young boys anxious to
talk about our pastor, Pastor Fran
Leeman, who founded New Life for Haiti,
about seven years ago.
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/

26. Other things I learned
about Haiti and its
people…
Every day life is incredibly difficult in
all of Haiti, let alone the remote
western peninsula. There is no
running water, no electricity, very
limited cell service (only AT&T), and
virtually no infrastructure. The
standard of living seems equivalent to
what life might have been like in
Pioneer days of America, with people
growing and gathering food, washing
clothing in the river, and cooking over
open fires. The only toy I saw while in
Haiti is pictured here, which was made
by the NLH gardener, Dis, for his son.
Daily children begged at the gate of
Kay Bo Rivye, who could smell the food
our cooks were preparing. There are
almost no stores in this area, so
weekly markets are set up to allow
people to trade, buy and sell animals,
foods and goods.

27. What I learned about
God and faith
while in Haiti…
Even though life is extremely difficult,
and the situation is bleak, God is still
alive and working in Haiti! I saw Him
everywhere, from the majestic “Mon
Milet” (dangerous mountain), to the
sunrises and sunsets over the Grand
Anse River, in the smiles of the Haitian
people, and in their nightly worship
songs that rang out through the
steamy black nights in the valley. His
presence shone through the kindness
of the people and their welcoming
attitudes toward us, some of whom
had never seen a “blanc”. There are
millions of opportunities to minister to
the people of Haiti, which makes it a
culture very open to the love and
message of Jesus Christ. Through the
love of Christian brothers and sisters
to each other, the love of Christ is
being spread all through the western
peninsula and mountains of Haiti.

28. Thursday, February
13th… AKA “Longest
day of my life”…
On Thursday, February 13th, over the
course of 15 hours, we traveled first by
truck from Marfranc to Jeremie, then
by 6 seater plane from Jeremie to Port
au Prince. We then sat 5 hours in the
Port au Prince airport before flying on
a large jet to Miami, Florida. After
proceeding through first customs, then
immigration, we finally boarded a
plane from Miami to Chicago, where
we touched down at Ohare airport,
just before midnight. In one day I said
good-bye to my new Haitian friends,
experienced a 100 degree
temperature change, and left one
beautiful terrible place behind, only to
encounter another with problems that
sometimes seem far worse than those
of Haiti. I can only hope to return to
the mystical and captivating island of
Haiti again, for the children and the
people there have captured my heart!
http://www.newlifeforhaiti.org/