We're Giving Them Life

    Sunday evening at Pastor Abraham's house is always, always Haitian hot-chocolate night!  At the end of a weekend it is always nice to sit over a cup of the chocolaty, spicey mixture and a piece of cheese and bread.  It is a time to chat and reflect on what has been going on and where we are as a ministry.  

     This past Sunday while sitting and chatting Abraham was sharing about some of the children's services paperwork he has been doing for the homes and the kids, he began to talk about the way we want the kids treated in the community.  We want them to be treated as kids, just like all other kids, with love.  They don't need the label "orphans" or to be treated differenty, they just need to be loved, just like all other kids.  It is love that will ultimitley give them life.

     We talked together about a girl who recently had to move from our home to another due to a certain behavior that couldn't be handled in a home our size.  It was sad hearing Abraham talk about all of the ways that he tried to love her, the staff tried to show her love and the effort that we all put in to helping her.  In the end, it didn't work out for her.  We can't save everybody...actually, we can't save anybody, that's not our job.  

     Our job is actually really simple.  We are to love kids.  We have kids who were restevek's (child slaves), kids without living parents, kids with a disabled living parent and a few with a living parent who left them.  It doesn't matter how they came to us, it just matters that they came.  They are here now, now we are responsible.

      Abraham reminisced with us about how far some of the kids have come in their time with us.  They were so different from when they first came.  Abraham shared that he is pretty sure some of them wouldn't be anywhere at all, or would be in terrible places, if they weren't with us.  Loving them is our job, the result of that love is giving them life; physical life, spiritual life, emotional life. 

     Sometimes we think that our job has to be complicated and we have to do all sorts of things to help the kids.  No we don't, it is actually really easy.  We have to do our job and love them and let God do His job and save them.  Love looks a lot of different ways, but it is still love.  When we give them love, we give them life. 

     

Reichard Family To Serve in Haiti

          Freedom Global Outreach is thrilled to announce that the Reichard family will be moving to Jacmel, Haiti in the summer of 2015 to work as our first full-time missionaries! The Reichard’s are co-founders of FGO, along with the Lock’s from Canada, and will be great representatives of our values and mission in Haiti. They have been with us from the beginning and have deep connections to Haiti and to the kids and communities that we support.
          Julie is a Registered Nurse and will be overseeing our exciting new project, Heaven’s Angels Pediatric Clinic, which is currently being built in Jacmel. Julie and her staff will oversee the medical care for over 1,300 students of Vie De France Primary School and several hundred other kids in the community. She will also be responsible for overseeing visiting nurses, physicians and lay people who come to assist in the clinic.
          Matt has an extensive ministry background and education and will be the director of all of our on the ground ministry. He will work with Julie on the administrative aspects of the clinic, including connecting children and their families with other community resources when needed. He will oversee all visitors to FGO in Haiti, ministry budgets in Haiti and work hand in hand with our Haitian leaders on the mission of our orphanages, which is to develop individualized goals and plans for the kid’s long-term education and careers.
          Logan, Austin and Madison will also have a role to play in ministry. While they navigate the huge change from living in Pennsylvania to living in Jacmel, and the change to home/cyber school, they will work alongside of their parents in sharing love and life with the children in our ministry and the surrounding communities.
          Please join us in welcoming the Reichard’s into this amazing new journey of their life. Pray for them as they begin the process of closing down their lives at home and preparing for their move to Haiti. Keep an eye out on this space and others for information on how you can help be a part of their journey and our mission.

Freedom Global Outreach