Winter
We returned to Ouanaminthe in the winter of 2000. Colleen Ward,
our nurse who had spent so much time with a young girl with the
infected legs (read about this in Haiti Missions 1999), called me
aside one day at the school. At first I didn’t recognize who
was standing next to her, but it was this same little lady, and
her legs were both completely healed. What would most certainly
have ended in death had by God’s grace been turned around
completely! A seed was planted that day for Aslan to one day have
a clinic to treat the many friends we were making in Ouanaminthe.
Summer
 Our
2000 summer trip was in some ways the best we had taken up to this
time. One of our Aslan staff started a basketball teaching clinic
on the basket/volleyball court we had paid for. Although soccer
(football) is wildly popular in Haiti and volleyball is also a favorite
sport, basketball has only caught on over the past few years. Having
our staff explain the real rules of basketball was very helpful
and also very comical. Until this point, rules for the game in Ouanaminthe
were pretty much made up as they went along. By the time we left,
our players were beginning to understand that you can’t “walk”
with the ball, double-dribble, etc. They still weren’t quite
clear on the “fouling,” as some of our American players
were regularly knocked down – all in good fun, of course!
 The
highlight of this trip was our witnessing the baptism of almost
100 people in the Massacre River that separates Haiti from the Dominican
Republic. Our nurse, Colleen, was among those baptized, and we rejoiced
with her in this very special event in her life.
From the site of the baptism we proceeded on to the village of
Capotitle, about 10 miles south of Ouanaminthe. In Capotitle we
distributed eyeglasses and clothing. Our greatest adventure came
that evening when all 14 of our team slept on mattresses on the
concrete floor of a large room. The pastor we were with was very
concerned for our safety, so he insisted we close all the doors
and windows. It was absolutely sweltering heat, and the temperature
in the room had to be at least 90 degrees. During the night, we
opened everything up and we were so thankful as we began to feel
a slight breeze. We invited three of our Haitian friends to sleep
on the floor with us. They had come along for the ride, but they
had no money for food and would have slept on the hard metal floor
of the truck had we not insisted. As always, we learned another
valuable lesson. In Haiti, there is little to share. Although Haitians
are wonderfully generous, the abject and extreme poverty often causes
each person to be forced into looking out for “himself”
just to survive. The pastor had allowed these young men to join
us, help load and unload bags and be of great service to us throughout
the day. However, this did not win them the right to eat or have
a soft bed to sleep on. Our kindness to the three astounded them.
For one night they went to bed with a full stomach and slept on
a soft mattress. It was quite a humbling experience, and our friendship
with these young men deepened greatly through it!
Back in Ouanaminthe, we met Hugues Bastion, a wonderful Haitian
American. He came to America at the age of 13, and he eventually
went on to do well in school and graduate from college with his
degree in civil engineering. Just as he was set to find a nice paying
American job and settle down, God called Hugues to return to his
homeland and begin building a school. And what a school it has become!
From its humble beginnings, Institution Universe is now one of the
most beautiful and highly respected schools in all of Haiti. The
student body of over 1,000 students goes from kindergarten through
high school. God’s blessing is most assuredly upon Hugues
and his ministry in Ouanaminthe. He is a great inspiration to Aslan
as to what we hope to one day see in our work in Haiti!
On our return trip to Port-au-Prince, a truck drove
us back to Cap-Haitien where we boarded a 20-seat propeller plane
for a quick 30-minute ride across the mountains. We spent a day
at New Missions in Haiti, a wonderful ministry in Leogane (south
of Port-au-Prince) where Colleen had lived and worked for 5 months.
George and Jeanne DeTellis founded the mission almost 20 years ago,
and it has grown to serve over 5,000 students and 18 churches. The
wonderful Royal Caribbean Bible Institute has also grown out of
New Missions and graduates from this school are changing the face
of the nation.
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