Hello friends and family—
We have some great news to share! Today we are accepting our first HCH kid into our home. Our family is so excited. Her name is Fritzie and she’s 13 years old.
This wasn’t something we were originally planning until December of this year, but some extenuating circumstances arose, and we felt like this was the best scenario. Here’s a little of her story:
Fritzie is the youngest of 5 children. Her mother left the family a long time ago and her father is not mentally stable. He tried to support her for a while, but she found herself living on the streets about two years ago. She was taken in by a local orphanage at that point, but recently that orphanage closed down, leaving 16 children without provision. It was a very sad situation. Most of the children were able to be taken in by family members, but not Fritzie. Some of the orphanage staff members agreed to take her in temporarily, but as their date to leave the country drew near, there was no good situation for Fritzie.
There were three things that exacerbated this situation in our minds.
First, Fritzie has problems with her vision. She recently had a large cataract removed from her left eye that had rendered her blind in that eye. She is now able to see out of that eye, but it is still very crossed. She needs to have an additional surgery to fix it. In Haiti, children who are different in anyway are often teased mercilessly, even by adults. Having any sort of “disability” makes it very difficult for them, and we knew that the likelihood of her being accepted anywhere else with her eye situation was slim.
Second, Fritzie is 13, actually almost 14. A sensitive age for ANY young girl, we know that in Haiti, if she was sent back to her birthfather, she would again end up on the street, which is terribly dangerous for a girl of this age. Her options would be to become a restavek (slave) in someone’s home (where she would likely be beaten/raped), or turn to prostitution , which is very prevalent here in Haiti. As you could imagine, neither option seemed good to us.
Finally, Fritzie is nearly 14 and only in 3rd grade. She’s had to work the majority of her life, and there was no option for her schooling in her family of origin. She attended school while in the orphanage, but she still has a lot of catching up to do.
After considering all these factors, we spent a lot of time talking and praying about the situation and felt like it was the best option to take her into our home a little bit early. We think it will be a good “phasing in” process for our family, and for Nahomie. Also, Fritzie comes from a background of always having to work, even while in the orphanage. We think that the next three months before we take in other children will be good for her to learn how to be a child. To be in a situation where she doesn’t have to lug water for hours, or doesn’t have to supervise other children, where she doesn’t have to prepare the meals or do the laundry for her family. Yes, of course she will have regular chores like all our kids have. But she will be free to play, and go to school and learn how it’s supposed to be when you’re a child.
We’ve been busy getting all the plans in place to make this happen tomorrow. We got her bed, and picked out sheets and towels and clothes. We visited with her yesterday afternoon for a few hours, showed her around and talked a little bit about what to expect. My kids (especially Nia) couldn’t be MORE excited.
We’ve set her up with a private teacher for her first year of school. It’s more costly to do it this way, but we have hired an EXCELLENT teacher, and believe he can catch her up at least 2-3 years over the next year. We believe this will be best for Fritzie. It will help her self esteem to advance a few grades at her age, and we are also happy that it will allow her more time each day with our family during this big life change.
There are many other things happening within our family and HCH/Joy in Hope right now, but I thought it would be best to just focus on Fritzie today. So, as you pray for our family during the next couple of weeks, please pray for this transition.
· Please pray for Fritzie’s heart to be gently eased into our family. In addition to this being a hard age for girls, Fritzie has been through trauma and loss that we cannot even begin to imagine. Please pray that we could be patient and show her unconditional love. Please pray that over time, she’d come to see us as family.
· Please pray for Nia, Nico and Josiah during this time of transition- learning to share their parents and their “stuff” with Fritzie.
· Please pray for Nick and I. Pray that our marriage would stay strong during the first of many times of adjustment and “flux” for our family as it grows. Pray that we’d have the wisdom to be intentional about spending time together in God’s word and in prayer.
· Please pray for Nahomie, as she begins to work in the job she was hired to do—head nanny. We’ve been working with her to get systems in place—meal planning, preparing clothing, bedding, supplies, etc.
· Please pray for the language barrier. We feel like we are all doing well with Kreyol, but it takes everything to a new level to have a child who speaks a different language. Please pray we can understand and be understood.
A couple of people have contacted us about child sponsorship recently. We are in the process of getting Fritzie input into the system and I will make and “announcement” when all that is up and running.
Thank you for your prayers and support. It’s MORE THAN exciting to us to see our family making this transition. We’re happy. We’re excited. (In fact, I had trouble sleeping last night I was so excited.) We’re nervous. And we are always mindful that we are here, getting to do this because of you, living lives of generosity.
With a very, very grateful heart,
Gwenn, for the entire Mangine clan---
Nick, Gwenn, Nia, Nico, Josiah, Nahomie AND FRITZIE!
Contact info:
Nick: nick@haitianchildrenshome.org
Gwenn: gwenn@haitianchildrenshome.org
Our blog (updated several times a week): www. mangine.org
Josiah, Nico, Nia and Fritzie
