The Life and Times of the Mangine Five

Hello friends.

Miss me?

I missed you. I am finally on the upswing of this sickness thing and I am writing from my breezy and not-too-hot kitchen here in Jacmel. It's open to the outside with just bars as "walls" ON half of it (see pic, because it's hard to explain),

so it gets a good breeze, the bedrooms in the house-- not so much. I am finding that Haiti isn't actually as hot as I thought it was not that my fever is gone. Don't get me wrong... it's not like I am COLD... well, actually one night I had the chills so bad that I had to wrap up in blankets.

So what did I have?
That's an EXCELLENT question. According to the Haitian doctor I went to, I had malaria and some sort of gut infection. According to an American doctor who read the results, she said he didn't even test for malaria, and said he was probably just assuming I had it. So I finished the malaria meds today and am on Cipro and it seems that I am in the short rows now. I don't feel 100% yet, but after feeling anywhere from about 1%-16% for the past week, I am going to take my current percentage of somewhere in the high 80s%.

One of the big bummers about being sick when you're moving is that, well, one week later things still look like this:

And it's funny because Nahomi has no patience for it. Today when I was out of bed for the first time really moving around the first thing she said was, "Mesi Jezi, Mama Gwenn leve!" (Thank you Jesus, Gwenn is up!) Then she asked me if I was ready to inventory the supplies for the orphanage. (sheets, toothbrushes, etc..) I told her no.

I have no idea where my camera is in all this mess, but I am sure I will find it soon and have some life-altering pics for you.

The upside of being sicker than I've ever been-- I'm down 15lbs. Yikes. It wasn't worth it. I am going to have to re-think my idea of bottling giardia as a weight-loss product as an orphanage fundraiser.

Hello family and friends,

I am writing to you tonight from stormy Port Au Prince. I think the rainy season is here to stay in Haiti. It’s been raining every afternoon, storming actually. This is a blessing for many here in Haiti as they rely on collected rainwater to survive. It is a difficulty for many here in Haiti because it is greatly deforested. Even a little bit of rain sometimes produces great flooding and landslides. This leads to problems and makes roads at times nearly impossible, if not impossible, to pass.

This is our last night in Port Au Prince. Tomorrow we finish language school and move back to Jacmel. I am excited about this move for many reasons.

First, I am excited because it means we’re finished with language school! Mesi Jezi! (Thank you Jesus.) Language school has been a good experience for us, and we have learned a lot. We are both able to speak and understand Kreyol with some proficiency, but we both still need a lot of practice. Language school (and trying to live in a country where very few people speak English) has been exhausting. We’ve been in classes for 3.5 hours per day 5 days a week. Add an hour or two of homework everyday, and we practically had a full-time job just with language school. But, as life goes, ESPECIALLY in Haiti, language school became one of the MANY, MANY things that have been occupying our days.

Second, we’re excited to return to Jacmel to get settled into a home where we will stay (and NOT move out of) for the next 6 months. Since the last update, we were able to find a small home in downtown Jacmel that serves our purposes well. It is small, (2 small bedrooms, 1 bathroom), but it has a small, efficiency-type house in the compound where Naomi will be living, and where we will have access to a lot of storage. One of the unique things about this house is that we have an actual YARD, which is unheard of a city in Haiti—particularly in a downtown area. From our patio in the yard, we can just see the waterfront Port in old Jacmel. It’s very beautiful. We are happy, and very glad to be moving into one place semi-permanently. We will be looking for a larger home to rent starting in December when we will begin accepting children.

Third, we are excited to get back to Jacmel as we’ve been feeling a bit disconnected from our team. Although we have made some new friends in Port Au Prince and many of our team members have come visited us in Port Au Prince, it’s not the same as having them as our neighbors. And at this time especially, we’re feeling like we need to be pouring ourselves into community. We’re starting to feel a little homesick and honestly, a bit overwhelmed at the pace of life here in Haiti.

Let me explain that last statement a little more, because it’s not something I FULLY appreciated until living here. It’s hard to say this without sounding like I am complaining, but please know I am not. Life is just more difficult in Haiti. Everything, even simple things, aren’t simple in Haiti. For example, we need to remember to go get diesel and drinking water every day or so. If we forget and it gets too late—we’re just out of luck. No drinking water or fuel for the generator (we haven’t had reliable city power here in Port lately.) That’s not a huge job, but it takes probably (start to finish) a good 35 minutes. Because of the lack of reliable power for refrigeration, we have to shop for very little (perishable) foods at once. That takes time, and I am still at the point with language where I need Naomi with me to go to the market. That takes at least an hour and a half to accomplish several days a week.

Last week, tired of spending countless hours hand washing our clothes, we hired someone to come wash our laundry for us. Now, that seems like it made our lives easier. And in many ways it did. But then we didn’t have any water at our house. So we had to tote her (and all our laundry) over to team housing so she could have access to water. When she was done (literally, 10 hours later), we had to go pick her up (along with all our wet laundry) and bring it home to hang on our lines. The clothes took a day and a half to dry. It’s these kind of things that we’re adjusting too. Life is much more MANUAL here. We’re having to learn how to make do. For instance, the other day we really needed a plug to be able to plug in our generator in Jacmel and the hardware store was closed for the day. So we had a choice to make. Do we wait until tomorrow (and have no fans) or do we try to work something out? Nick chose to “work it out” and ended up using a printer cord, which he cut and spliced to the generator to make it work.

Finally, we’re really glad to be returning to Jacmel, because that is HOME for us. That is where we will be working together with our team to build Haitian families, and give life and hope. We’re excited about moving closer to the time when our family will expand. We’re looking forward to the time when we will be able to parent motherless and fatherless children. We’ve already had a few people express interest in placing children with us. (Which, incidentally, will not happen until December.)

We have had several answered prayers over the past few weeks:
• We were able to secure (and move into) a home in Jacmel that is within our budget.
• There was a team last week and this week that helped get our home cleaned up and repaired (as it is an older home.)
• We’ve (almost!) finished language school. God has given us grace as we’ve started to be able to understand and use the language.
• Our hearts have bonded with our helper (and future HCH Mangine head nanny) Naomi. We’ve had a few small miscommunication due to language, but for the most part, she understands us and we understand her. She has been very helpful in encouraging our kids to speak Creole. It’s getting nearly as likely that a Creole sentence will pop out of Nia’s mouth as it is likely that an English sentence will!
• God has provided safety and happiness for our family during our stay in Port Au Prince. Even in the midst of a few political scuffles in the city here and there (as tend to happen) we’ve personally witnessed NO violence or danger. God is our protector.
• Woody is home in Jacmel, and is doing very well. He’s able to walk short distances by himself with krutches.

We also have several requests as we move ahead with this next chapter in Jacmel!:
• Please pray for a safe and quick move tomorrow, with good weather and no problems or danger. (And no carsickness!)
• Please pray for our final transition. Our souls are weary from all the moving. Please pray that we’d allow our hearts to open to our new home and neighbors.
• Please pray that we’d continue to learn Kreyol quickly and come to understand the culture here increasingly everyday!
• Please pray for the Pye family.
o Yesterday they marked the one-year anniversary of the death of their precious son, Jabez
Please pray that God is near to their hearts as they are processing this difficult milestone.
o Danny will leave Haiti tomorrow for 5 weeks in the US to represent HCH at the “Summer in
the Son” conference. Leann will have the opportunity to join him for two weeks in the
middle of his trip.
• This length of time out of the country leaves some gaps in the ministry. Please pray for
our family as we try to stand in the gap, with Nick serving as Interim Leader.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We are going to do a more thorough financial accounting for you in July to let you know where we are financially. But just as a preview, know that things are going well for the most part. We’re currently receiving about 80% of our budgeted expenses in donations each month. That is a very good number, but we know for longevity, we need that to be closer to 100%. Please pray that God would provide that need, and I humbly ask you to consider joining with us in this way. For more info, email me at gwenn@haitianchildrenshome.org.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

With grateful hearts,
The Mangine Five
Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico + Josiah