Five adults and three teenagers from Cook County traveled to Haiti in March to work at Fountain of Christ School. Above : Marin Hay makes a connection with one of the smallest students. Right: It was the job of the visiting Americans to greet the children as they arrived in the morning. Pastor Dale McIntire gets an enthusiastic welcome.
Bam! Bam! Bam! The sound of a young fist on the sheet steel gate echoes through the expectant courtyard like the first notes of a timpani in an empty concert hall. It is 7:00 a.m. This new sound joins the roosters and the guinea fowl that have been announcing the new day since 4:30 a.m. The smell of vigorously boiled American coffee rises slowly from the kitchen downstairs in the mission house. In moments the click of the padlock and grating sound of the unoiled hinges will join the chorus as Pauley opens the gate and the first students arrive for another day of learning, fun, and nutrition at Fountain of Christ School near Pignon, Haiti.
For nine days in March, the morning sounds at Fountain of Christ School had a different timbre as eight Americans from Grand Marais joined with founder/director Cookie Reimer to welcome the children each morning.
Tentative efforts by Jim Mattson, John Hill, Gloria Johnson, Valita Bockovich, Marin Hay, Natassja Sheils, Jack Viren, and Pastor Dale McIntire combined with equally tentative efforts on the part of Fountain’s children as they shared greetings on the first morning. “Bonswa!” said Jack Viren, trying out Haitian Creole for the first time.
“Hello,” said one of the children, adding, “What is your name?” in English.
They had both exhausted their bilingual abilities for the day, but there were still days to come and communication would improve as the group spent time offering the children the single most important gift they had traveled to Haiti to convey: love!
Well supplied Americans might think that the poorest nation in the world needs other things more than love. Food comes to mind. Education. Opportunity. Through child sponsorships of $30 per month, Fountain of Christ School offers all these things to the 272 children that attend.
But the people at Fountain of Christ School, and the American teams that join them from time to time, realize there is a greater need in Haiti and they offer what is needed abundantly and without reservation.
Everyone needs to know God loves them and has not abandoned them. Children have an especially critical need to know they are loved unconditionally. Haitian mothers and fathers often cannot guarantee even life essentials like food, water, clothing, and housing to their children. They may not even be able to protect them from the deadly ravages of childhood diseases.
In many cases there is an emotional and spiritual disconnect between adults and children in Haiti because the children’s lives are so fragile, and it can sometimes be difficult to love unconditionally what you may lose mercilessly.
That’s why the simple message of love, offered through patience, presence and persistence matters so much. More than anything else these eight residents of Grand Marais, five adults and three teenagers, made the greatest and best effort any of us can make for another. They made the effort to love, without condition, without expectation of return. They simply went to be to a few of the world’s children what Jesus came to be to all the world’s children: an incarnation of God’s deep and abiding love for each of us.
At Fountain of Christ, 150 children of the 272 are currently sponsored. Other support is provided by private donations. Fountain of Christ welcomes individuals interested in sponsoring a child to contact them for details. More information on the ministry and children of Fountain of Christ School, as well as projected plans for a children’s home for distressed and displaced children, can be obtained through their website at www.fountainofchrist.org.
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