Jobs Available

Here is an email I received that I thought I would pass along.

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I do the hiring for RJ's here in Portage and am collecting apps for part-time waitstaff and host/hostesses. I thought of MOPS bcs the hours are pretty good mom hours- pt evenings w/ the possibility of Sun a.m.s. or just occasional catering events.
Tx
Amy C

FRC

Here is an email I received and I thought I would pass along the information to all of you!

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I wanted to let Portage MOPS know about a free training opporunity. On April 20 from 5-8pm, I will be facilitating Stewards of Children, which teaches adults how to recognize, prevent, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. It will be held at the Family Resource Center in Portage. Registration is required at 608-742-8482. If you would like a flyer with more information, please let me know. Thanks! Jess Ritschke

Fundraiser Date Change

Please re-mark your calendars for we are now going to be having our Silent Auction/Dinner on May 22nd!

Mom's Night Out

Hey Everyone,

Tonight is our Mom's Night Out at La Tolteca...hope to see everyone there. I can't wait for those yummy chips and what I call "white sauce".

Fundraiser!!!

Hey Everyone!

Our next MOPS Fundraiser will be on May 15th from 5:00pm - 8pm. It will involve a Silent Auction and a Spaghetti Supper. The Spaghetti Supper will cost $5 a person with kids under 5 eat free! The Silent Auction will be a variety of large and small packages. There will also be $1 tables that involve games for kids!

We are needing everyone's help for this event. Please begin brainstorming now on how you can participate (ie. donations, collecting donation, helping in the kitchen, clean-up, set-up, financial, etc.) If you have any further questions you can contact Shelly, Sarah K, Ann or Lori.

Updates from Haiti

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are doing well. I slept last night. :) I decided either my friend the rooster a.k.a "chicken soup" or myself was getting a tylenol pm. Yesterday I did a "teacher inservice" for the teachers at the school. I did the American/Haitian version of the above the line/below the line program. The principal said some of the concepts might seem foreign, since corporal punishment is not banned here. But I did my best to explain that the word discipline comes from the word "disciple" which means "to teach", not punish.

After that we loaded up some of the donations and took them to earthquake victims in Port au Prince. There is a community a little north of about 60 people that we gave some of them to. Most of them lost their homes and are now sleeping under tents. Carolyn and Gary (the leaders of our mission house) are helping to rebuild a new church where the people will be able to sleep when the rainy season starts in 2 months. The rain comes down sideways here. The church will have a concrete floor, but no mattresses. At first, the pastor (Pastor Cesar) told us we could pass out the donations we had, but it got too chaotic. I was glad when we stopped. I felt like some "rich white woman" giving out the basic things that we all take for granted. We left them in the Pastor's home for him to give out at a later time. I met one family with a new little baby girl. She was so beautiful. I got a picture of her which I will share later. I got to tickle her a little bit and she cooed and smiled. I got to the car and broke down for the first time. There is so much poverty here.

We went into Port au Prince city. About 700,000 people are living in tents there. There are tent cities everywhere. I will load pictures onto Facebook tonight. It takes a long time here, so please bear with me. We also went to one of the mass grave sites where 50,000 people are buried. It is a field with many white crosses.

What is so wonderful and amazing is the spirit of the people. All are friendly and welcoming. The children are absolutely wonderful. They love to have their pictures taken, which is why you see so many. The adults really do not like to have their picture taken. It is only polite to ask before taking their picture.

That is all I have time for now. I will post more pictures tonight. Thank you for all of your wonderful comments on Facebook. I enjoy reading them. I apologize that I do not have time to reply, but know how much they are appreciated. Please forward this email to anyone I may have accidentally left off of the list today.

Love and miss you all. God Bless and keep you. Bon Di Ay Le Bon--God is good. Please keep our Haitian zanmis (friends) in prayer.

Niki

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Hello Everyone,

We took some time off today in honor of Doug’s birthday and went to the market today. There were people everywhere! Olivier and Junior needed some shoes. If you can imagine going to St. Vincent De Paul and multiply that by 1000 in terms of space and looks, that’s what the market is like. Nothing is organized or labeled, you just look through piles and piles of stuff until you find what you need.

I felt a little like Queen Elizabeth on parade as people stared and yelled, “Blanc, Blanc,” which means “whites, whites.” Dan (the principal at the school) said that it was very uncommon for people in St. Marc to see 6 white people all in one place. Everyone is friendly though, if you give them a smile. We let Nancy do all the purchasing as it is done by bartering. She said that typically people will want 3 times as much if you are white, but she knows what most things should be priced at and speaks fluent Creole. I enjoyed listening to her. If they tried to charge too much, Nancy would walk away until the price was fair—my dad would love it here. :)

Then we went to a place called Epidore. It is the Haitian equivalent of a McDonalds. We had pizza for Doug’s birthday. It was delicious. I knew enough Creole to order some drinks but that’s about it. Nancy said that once a Haitian friend of hers, trying to make her feel welcome, made her a “pizza” of ketchup, cheese whiz and spam.

Last night we ate goat for dinner. I was a little nervous at first, but it actually tasted good. I just tried to put it out of my head that it was goat. Otherwise, we eat a lot of rice and beans, vegetables and something somewhat like sweet potatoes (patat).

For those of you that gave us monetary donations, we put the money towards buying food for the people in Port au Prince that I told you about in my Haiti #3 letter. Pastor Gary knows where to get rice, etc. at a fair price for them. It was the equivalent of about $3,500 Haitian dollars. One large bag of rice costs about 500 Haitian dollars and will feed the people for several weeks. It will be a big blessing for the people in that community, so thank you for your generosity.

I didn’t realize yesterday when we were in Port that they still do not have any electricity there, which is why we had to leave the city before dusk. Port is not safe in the dark. Pastor Gary is a crazy driver. I told them that my driver’s education husband would freak if they saw how people drive here. There were many cars on the roads with no lights at all and it was completely dark. There are no curbs, no street lights of any kind, and no signs. If a bigger vehicle comes up behind you, it honks and you better just get out of the way. I am the only one in the vehicle that wears a seatbelt. You would be proud of me David. :)

The clothes from school went to Olivier and Junior. They were very happy and smiling to have new clothes as Olivier came here with nothing. It is raining again today, which is Carolyn and Gary said is unusual for this time of year. The rainy season usually starts in April. I hope it stops soon, as I am not able to email or upload pictures until we have a connection again. Please send this on as needed.

Love you, miss you and God bless, Niki

PS. Just got satellite up, so will try to send photos of Port soon.

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Bonswa Moi Zanmis (Good evening my friends),

It's late Sunday night, and I was finally able to upload more pictures, but I am still about 2 days behind. It rained all afternoon and night yesterday, so during those times there is no internet. I usually type a letter ahead of time, and then try to upload it when the opportunity arises. But at least I am grateful to have a roof over my head. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be living in a tent with no electricity during those rainy nights.

We went to a Creole church service this morning out in the country. It was wonderful. Many, many people came to worship in an open air church. Haitian people that come to church absolutely dress to the 9’s for church service. Olivier and Junior wore dress shirts purchased from the market, but were worried because they weren’t ironed. Nancy said even though people are very poor, they are worried about what they look like in front of other Haitian people. You are not even allowed to enter the church unless you are dressed a certain way. I wore the one and only dress I brought. Most women wear skirts here everyday.

Also, most older women still cover their heads in church. Keven, a teacher from the school, came along with us to interpret. Pastor Gary did the sermon. I didn’t understand much of the rest of the service, except for a few Creole words now and again. I loved the singing though. People down here really know how to worship. It was a little like southern gospel, with the loud singing and clapping. I taped about 45 seconds of the men’s choir on my camera, which I will try to upload on Facebook when I get home. It was really awesome.

Afterwards, we gave out more of the donations we brought from everyone in Portage. A huge military duffel bag full. Pastor Alfonz and his congregation were grateful. They made us feel very welcome at church.

After a 2.5 hour church service, it was time to head back to St. Marc. I always smile to myself as we pass through the countryside. Children literally run to the edge of the dirt road to see us “blancs” (whites). I usually just smile and say “bonjou”. The kids are friendly and wave back.

I love to take pictures of the kids and show then show them their image on the screen. Nancy told me that many families do not have mirrors, so the kids get the biggest kick out of their own reflection. If you ask one child if they want a photo, 10 kids will jump in before you can hit the shutter. :)

Coming back we saw lots of women doing laundry in the river. They wash everything by hand at least 2 times, followed by powdered bleach. I only know this because I asked Keven how the women get everything to be white when it gets washed in a river.

A little 4 year-old may be coming to the orphanage here on Tuesday. He is from Port. He lost his parents and his arm in the earthquake. Please pray for him as well as the many other children who have been through so much.

I am really going to miss it here, except for my around-the-clock rooster friend a.k.a “chicken soup”. I can recognize his crow now, but I can’t seem to find him. Nancy said when the stray dogs get really bad, they feed them peanut butter mixed with benedryl. That made me laugh. I can totally see why.

I can’t believe tomorrow is my last full day. I’m looking forward to being with the kids, and will write my last letter late tomorrow night. Please forward this on as needed. I am horrible about getting everybody's addresses on here, so please don't take it personally if I have forgotten.

See you all soon and “Bon di ay bini ou” (not sure if the spelling is right, but it means “May God Bless You” en Kreyol.

Niki

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Hello Everyone from Haiti,

The week has gone quickly and I can't believe we leave tomorrow. It was hard to say goodbye to the kids and know was for the last time. The girls I taught today reminded me of Taya. There was Ann, Paola, Fiona, Angee, Noella, and a few other girls. Kids are universal, no matter what the poverty level. Lynn brought art supplies from the US, and we taught all the kids how to make friendship bracelets for the first 1/2 hour. They have no art program here, so the kids really enjoyed it. They go to school from 8:30-1:30, as it gets quite hot in the afternoon. A little girl named Fiona asked if she could braid my hair after school--haitian style. It was quite interesting. :)

Here's a little history on the school if you are interested: El Shaddai Learning Center started in 2001 by Carolyn and Pastor Gary. They are originally from Virginia. Carolyn started it in her kitchen with 2 kindergarten kids who spoke English. Later that year, 3 more kids came and Carolyn added a creole interpreter. In 2002, they were up to 21 students. In 2003, there was a war, so the school closed in December because of too much shooting. It resumed in the fall of 2004, and since that time it's enrollment has steadily increased. The school has about 8 teachers and an enrollment of 73 students, but about 15 students have not returned since January 12th. Most of those 15 are accounted for, a few are not.

The students work at their own pace using a curriculum called ACE, which stands for Accelerated Christian Education. This is because the students are all at such different levels. You might have a 22 year old working on what we would consider 7th or 8th grade material. Or, if I child comes to the school and cannot speak English, they must complete the "preschool" first. Hence, Junior (11) and Olivier (8) who live with us, are at the little kids school until they can become fluent. Sometimes the kids will have to drop out of school for a year or more. This depends on each student's family situation. Then, if they return, they pick up where they left off. These students are very fortunate. Most Haitian schools have 80 students per classroom and the teachers do not come on regular basis because they get paid so poorly. I think Nancy said they make about $1/day. If student's at El Shaddai learn nothing else, they learn English, and an English/Creole interpreter/driver can make about $50 US dollars a day.

One boy named Kesmee, who graduated from El Shaddai last year, is now working in the US. He has no arms, but is doing well. Carolyn said that when Kesmee was young his family practiced voodoo and he fell into a fire which burned his arms. By the time his father took him to a doctor (vs. other healing methods) both arms needed to be amputated. Apparently voodoo practices are still common here, but Christianity is as well.

Tomorrow we are delivering the rice to the people just outside of Port au Prince, and then on to the airport. I will upload the my other pictures when we get back to the US, so please check Facebook Thursday or Friday if you are interested. It just takes too long to upload here. Please forward this email on as needed. Thanks to all of you who have sent emails or posts on Facebook. :) I look forward to that each day.

As I sign off from Haiti for the last time I'd like to leave you with a few final words that I found while traveling:

"Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy. Else we may find ourselves treading on people's dreams. More serious still, may we forget that God was here before our arrival."---Max Warren, Protestant Missoner

"There are no heroes of action,
only heroes of renunciation and suffering.
There is no reward for the work,
except for the privilege of doing it."--- Albert Schweitzer

Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti, especially the children. It will be many years before Port au Prince will be even close to what it was. The government here works through bribery, so the people do not have a "welfare" type system to help them. We were told just a few days ago customs decided to add a new "tax" to any relief items coming into the country. We are thankful that ours got through.

Also, there were only a few institutions of higher learning before the quake. Those that existed were in Port. All of them are gone now due to the earthquake, so even people who tried to escape poverty cannot finish their education. We are so very fortunate in the US and we don't even realize it. I hope I will remember to be thankful for every clean glass of water, every hot shower, washing my clothes in my washing machine (vs. a bowl or the river) and my garbage man who comes every Monday from now on.........................

May God Bless each of you, see you soon.

Niki