SUMMER NEWS Summer was a special time with the kids at Travay Bondye! We had our annual VBS team visit the first week of August and the kids enjoyed participating in the three-day program. Around 600 kids were in attendance and many accepted Christ! The team also took the kids to the beach and created a library full of puzzles, games and books for checking out. The kids have enjoyed this new program! Many soccer tournaments, trips to church and tutoring also filled the days. Several Travay kids decided to be baptized and took baptism classes to prepare!

TNT On September 1, our three oldest boys made the transition from Travay Bondye to our TNT program (Teens in Transition). They join the 10 boys who transitioned last year. This home is a stepping stone to independence and we are prayerful that all these boys will make an impact in their country. TNT focuses on: continued education/schooling, trade skills, spiritual discipleship and financial literacy. We are pleased to partner with HandUp Global Goods on the TNT home.

Some of our oldest children who now live on their own now have started reaching out to kids on the street. They call themselves Be The Change and want to reach kids who are like they used to be. They provide advice, mentorship, group meetings and we just helped 5 enroll in school! YAY!

HAITI LIFE While the kids enjoyed a lovely summer break, the country of Haiti had some rough moments. Political instability coupled with extreme poverty led to rioting and dangerous streets. The airports were closed for a time and safety was a major concern. While Travay Bondye did not experience any repercussions, this is a reminder of why we work in Haiti. A nation with roughly 80% unemployment and most people living on less than $2 per day combined with corruption at every turn makes life for the average Haitian extremely difficult. Please remember to pray for our friends in Haiti! They need a revival in the country that only God can provide!

COLLECTIONS Now that summer has ended, all 66 kids are back to school! Due to riots and airline embargoes we could not complete our annual backpack and shoe drive. If you are still interested in helping with supplies or shoes, we are doing a collection through October 30 to supplement what was purchased and have a goal to get every child a second pair of shoes.We also are starting to plan for Christmas, if you want to participate in either collection, please contact [email protected]

It’s that time again!  We are in full swing preparing for our annual Christmas program.  It is an exciting time of the year and the kids look forward to the Christmas week all year!  Parties, delicious meals, beach trip, games, gifts and the Christmas story… what’s not to like?  We will be doing collections for Travay Bondye, Maison, TNT and for children living on the streets.  It’s a great way to get involved with Grangou and to touch a child in need!  Email: [email protected]  Shipments can be sent to:  701 Winding Bend Circle, Highland Village, TX 75077

SUGGESTED COLLECTION ITEMS:

• Small Baby Dolls
• Small Toys (i.e. yo-yos, marbles, tops, playing cards)
• Hair Bows/Barrettes
• Sunglasses
• Deflated Soccer Balls/Bouncy Balls/Frisbees
• Toy Cars/Trucks
• Hard Candy, Treats (i.e. candy canes, granola bar, no chocolate)
• New T-shirt or Underwear
• Flip flops, Athletic Slides or Crocs
• Jump Rope
• Notepad/Stickers/Markers
• Hygiene items (i.e. lip balm, toothbrush, bar soap – no liquids)
• Small Blankets

 

 

 

 

Naming your organization after a word in a foreign language is a bit of a gamble.  Mispronunciations, questions, “huh?” are typical responses from most people. I’m not mad – I get it.  It’s a tough word!

But, it is a word that is meaningful to me.  It takes me back to the very first time I traveled to Haiti.  I didn’t speak any Creole and I hadn’t been on a mission trip.  Suddenly I was in a remote village passing food and visiting homes – trying to process everything I was seeing.  Really desperate conditions, extreme poverty, sickness.  It was on that village tour that a little girl followed me around for about an hour saying the same thing repeatedly.  I couldn’t really make it out but she said it enough times that I caught grangou.  I didn’t know what it meant so I just smiled and went on with the visit.  At the end of the day I asked a translator what she way saying.  He said Grangou means hungry, she was telling you that she’s hungry.  Stop.

That was the first time I ever had heard a person who was actually hungry, try to tell me so.  I thought about the fact that people on my trip were praying in this village and sharing the gospel but that we were trying to fill empty bellies with words.  It broke my heart.  These people perhaps needed the gospel, but they also needed food.  They needed the very basics first.  How could we ignore their physical need, expecting they would listen while they were literally starving?   It struck me that we are called to minister to people however they need to be ministered to, not how we want to do it or how we think it should be done.  Sharing a meal with a hungry child can be just as impactful as preaching a message.  We need to meet people where they are.

So flash forward and my husband and I were walking the loop where we lived a few months later trying to think of the name of our new organization we were starting.  And my husband says, “What about Grangou?  What about that little girl?”  And I was like “done”!  So, we settled on Grangou immediately with absolutely no further thought and the rest is history.

Grangou is the Haitian Creole word for hungry and the name of our ministry dedicated to raising awareness about the extreme difficulties of life in Haiti as well as feeding the hearts, minds and bodies of Haitians in need. Our desire is to reach a nation hungry for hope and change; one child at a time.

It is pronounced gron-goo btw.

This picture is from that first trip.  This is that little girl.  We did everything they say you aren’t supposed to do on mission trips on that trip.  Every single thing.  But it changed my life and now the lives of many, many children for eternity.  God uses open hearts for His work.  More on that later!