Mark and Melissa Kauk serve in Haiti full-time, working with Many Hands’ Love in Action programs. Mark serves as the U.S. Lead for Leadership and Melissa as the U.S. Lead for the First 1,000 Days Program. You can read their previous updates here.

Melissa:

Hello from Haiti- We are so thankful to be back. We have been gone four months yet we have adjusted well in the short week we have been here! We moved back into our 3 room apartment with ease, with only one spider to greet us, but no mice have been found, but we did find some of their remains! 🙁

Our diligence to study Kreyòl while at home has paid off and better communication is already apparent, though with much more to learn! We can report that Haiti is about the same, yet safe enough to return to Pignon. The situation in Port au Prince and other major cities is still not good. Here in Pignon, there has been a slow return of missionaries and teams coming back which is a really positive sign. Our community remains without incidents, for that we are grateful.

A few changes have occurred on our campus; a new kitchen for the school, new storage for charcoal was built, and a new 2-vehicle parking structure is now outside our kitchen window! Everything is green here, except the grass is brown, but you can tell we are in the ‘dry’ season. We are anticipating mangos season in about a month!

It has been a joy to greet MH workers and friends in the community. A sweet  surprise for me was that each center made me a welcome back poster, with glitter :), that the staff and mamas signed….so grateful for the team I work with here! The 48 staff and many of the MH workers continue to walk out serving like Jesus every day.

Gal 6:9 ”Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if  we do not give up.” 

Matt 25:40 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters  of mine, you did for me.”

Mark:

God’s hand has clearly been seen in leading Many Hands to the Me Bèl Me zone to establish a 4th Love in Action Center. The process began with assessment visits to homes in the zone to gather information about the demographics of the area. The land was procured and a well was drilled. Monthly community meetings are now being held. Although this initial process is repeated for each new center, each zone’s needs are unique and the staff is eager to gather information about the physical and spiritual needs of the community and to see where God is leading!

The gazebo is the first structure at the center that is constructed and we were able to attend the 4th monthly community meeting which explained more about the First 1000 Days program or Premye Mil Jou (PMJ) for mothers and babies. Yes! There are about 70 people packed in and around the gazebo!

Kethlin (the Haitian manager of the First 1,000 Days program) and Liz (Community Advocate) used an amazing teaching analogy to explain the basis of the program. Step by step, they compared the materials for the concrete foundation of a house (gravel, sand, cement, water) to the needs of the mothers and babies (physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual).

What a blessing to see the beginning of God working in a new zone. Soon work will begin on a new equipping center, for the nutrition and education program of the First 1,000 Days program.