April 2012 Postings

04.12.12 - wane.com news - Former child slave shares story;
Bill Nathan raises awareness about growing problem.. FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) When Bill Nathan’s mother suddenly died when he was 6, he had hopes of being adopted into a loving family. Instead the Haitian child was adopted into slavery. “Slavery still exists and now days we have 27 million living in slavery throughout the world and mostly are children,” said Nathan. Thursday, he was at The University of St. Francis sharing his story and his music. He told the crowd he endured years of abuse and was forced to wait on his new family. He slept in an outbuilding with no bedding and ate scraps of food off the table. He said one of his worst memories is walking miles with 5 gallon buckets to get water. “She (his adopted parent) would spit on the ground and she would say I expect you to come back before the spit dries. So I have to run and get the water and if not she would beat me up,” said Nathan. But even through the abuse, he kept his love for music. “Every time I went to the water fountain and put it upside down and played on the bottom of the bucket,” he said. At age 11, his mistreatment drew the attention of Sister Caroline in the city of Hinche, and he was sent to St. Joseph's Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince, where he was educated and became a leader. He now directs the home and another home to 16 former street children. Nathan is now a professional drummer who performs at churches and universities in the United States. He performed for Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in Toronto, and spent six weeks in Bahia, Brazil teaching dance and drumming at a school of the arts for Brazilian street children. The experience led to an opportunity to go to Africa to study drumming under the drum masters of The Gambia and Senegal. In 2008 he performed at Duke University as part of a fundraising carnival to benefit a Durham center for disadvantaged children. He has also served as a voice for the slave children of Haiti at the Telluride Film Festival. Nathan will also be a featured musician for the fourth annual Formula for Life, a 5k walk-run and silent auction which took place at USF on Sunday, April 15, and raised funds to provide food for a Haitian orphanage for the next year.


04.08.12 - renee d. - Walnes and our mural;
Walnes has been in the Atlanta, GA area painting a huge mural to help promote our SJF Warrior's Brew coffee project. Walnes proved himself to be not only a gifted painter but also a passionate and effective ambassador for SJF.  Below is a recent email I received from our Pastor lauding Walnes not only as a talented painter, but also for his quality of character. Walnes arrived home this afternoon ---all smiles. At prayer this evening he spoke of always doing your best for God and for the SJ Family. He told our guys how stressed he was to do this mural, but he knew it was something God was calling him to do. He told how he always paints in water colors and this mural was in acrylics. He also spoke of how large and overwhelming the wall space was. Then he spoke of how much larger than the wall his faith in God is. He told of praying and asking God to join him in painting the mural and to bless the work for God's glory. Walnes spoke of starting the painting early every morning and often working until 11:00 at night. Walnes told our guys to remember that when God calls them to do something that seems beyond their ability, that they need to accept and embrace the call --- then call on Jesus for the strength and grace to accomplish the task at hand, remembering that with God all things are possible. In addition to gifted painter and amazing ambassador I think we can add that Walnes is also a powerful mentor to the youth of St. Joseph's.

Read and rejoice with us:  I need to say to you that Walnes is an amazing ambassador for the Saint Joseph's family and is a product of your longtime investment in him. We will deeply miss having him among us.  He has truly endeared himself to the people of Epiphany with his smile, work ethic, his team play, his faith, his talent, his humor, and his humility. Not only has he spent untold hours in our coffee cafe creating his project, he has played the drum for us during worship, and had the leading role as a dancing Jesus in our Palm Sunday passion narrative. It was apropos that our very first worship service in our new (but not quite finished) worship space featured Walnes and our relationship with you. You know that I have watched Walnes grow and mature for over ten years. It has been a great blessing to me to be in this fine young man's life, and his being here has been a fabulous gift to our congregation. I know that he is anxious to return home, and we send him with our love and best wishes for you all and for your own celebration of the empty tomb! Thank you for sharing him with us.

04.08.12 - renee d. - Easter 2012;
Photos from the Easter celebrations at two of the three St. Joseph Family homes today. Starting the day with a sunrise service on the new roof at St. Joseph's Home for Boys was both beautiful and sacred. Next it was Wings of Hope for the traditional child-led service and decorating of the cross with flowers. Then on to the Wings egg hunt, or rather three egg  hunts — one for the wheelchair kids, one for the walkers and one for the employees. We don't have pictures of the celebration at Trinity House, but know it was spirit-filled and family-centered. The St. Joseph Family wishes a very blessed celebration of resurrection to ALL!  Pictures from the St. Joseph's and Wings of Hope have been posted to the St. Joseph Family, Haiti Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com




04.05.12 - rick b. - Easter 2012;
Walnes has been in the Atlanta, GA area painting a huge mural to help promote our SJF Warrior's Brew coffee project. Walnes proved himself to be not only a gifted painter but also a passionate and effective ambassador for SJF.  Below is a recent email I received from our Pastor lauding Walnes not only as a talented painter, but also for his quality of character. Walnes arrived home this afternoon ---all smiles. At prayer this evening he spoke of always doing your best for God and for the SJ Family. He told our guys how stressed he was to do this mural, but he knew it was something God was calling him to do. He told how he always paints in water colors and this mural was in acrylics. He also spoke of how large and overwhelming the wall space was. Then he spoke of how much larger than the wall his faith in God is. He told of praying and asking God to join him in painting the mural and to bless the work for God's glory. Walnes spoke of starting the painting early every morning and often working until 11:00 at night. Walnes told our guys to remember that when God calls them to do something that seems beyond their ability, that they need to accept and embrace the call --- then call on Jesus for the strength and grace to accomplish the task at hand, remembering that with God all things are possible. In addition to gifted painter and amazing ambassador I think we can add that Walnes is also a powerful mentor to the youth of St. Joseph's.

Read and rejoice with us:  I need to say to you that Walnes is an amazing ambassador for the Saint Joseph's family and is a product of your longtime investment in him. We will deeply miss having him among us.  He has truly endeared himself to the people of Epiphany with his smile, work ethic, his team play, his faith, his talent, his humor, and his humility. Not only has he spent untold hours in our coffee cafe creating his project, he has played the drum for us during worship, and had the leading role as a dancing Jesus in our Palm Sunday passion narrative. It was apropos that our very first worship service in our new (but not quite finished) worship space featured Walnes and our relationship with you. You know that I have watched Walnes grow and mature for over ten years. It has been a great blessing to me to be in this fine young man's life, and his being here has been a fabulous gift to our congregation. I know that he is anxious to return home, and we send him with our love and best wishes for you all and for your own celebration of the empty tomb! Thank you for sharing him with us.


04.04.12 - renee d. - holy thursday at wings of hope;
The Holy Thursday foot washing tradition continues at Wings of Hope, with the children and staff serving each other in this show of friendship and love. Pictures of this week's activities are posted on the St. Joseph Family, Haiti Facebook page. Here is the address for the updated pictures from Holy Thursday.



04.04.12 - renee d. - holy week at wings of hope;
Holy Week activities are underway at Wings of Hope. On Tuesday the Wings kids learned about the traditions of the Jewish faith with a Seder meal, knowing that is something Jesus and his disciples would have shared. Pictures of this week's activities will be posted on the St. Joseph Family, Haiti Facebook page. Here are the pictures from the Seder meal yesterday:

http://www.facebook.com


04.02.12 - renee d. - greetings from gesner & friends;
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. Be like Gesner and all the kids at Wings of Hope who are on the autism spectrum — embrace life and live it to its fullest! Possibilities, Not Disabilities! Thank you for your support and friendship to the children of Wings of Hope and the entire St. Joseph Family.

03.28.12 - renee d. - trinity house and LST;
I had the opportunity to head to Jacmel yesterday for a day trip to do some work. There are so many exciting developments happening there. Pictures of the progress and the life at Trinity House and Lekòl Sen Trinite have been posted to the St. Joseph Family, Haiti Facebook page. Enjoy and thank you for your support!

 03.23.12 - renee d. - wear your heart on your sleeve;
Are you ready to show off some St. Joseph Family pride? We just created a marketplace on Cafe Press to market St. Joseph Family merchandise — shirts, sweatshirts, bags, cups, water bottles, hats, and a bunch of other things. The cool thing about Cafe Press is that they print to order, so there are no start-up or inventory costs, and we will receive a commission on every product ordered. They do all the work, we do the promotion, and everybody wins.
We have started out with a few designs on a selection of products, and will keep adding more. To see what we have for sale and buy some treats for yourself, your family and your friends, go to:

http://www.cafepress.com/

Please promote this opportunity with your friends and family. The more shirts, hats, bags, water bottles, etc., that are out there, the more opportunities our friends and supporters will have to share the story of the SJF.


03.28.12 - geoffrey h. - march 2012 earthquake;
For Haitians in and around Port-au-Prince, last night's moderate 4.6 earthquake was an all too familiar feeling and an eerie reminder of the terror of Jan 12th, 2010 and its aftermath. Since the majority of Haitians do not live or work in earthquake-resistant dwellings, even a slight shaking must be a terrifying. That is why Hearts with Haiti and the St. Joseph Family have made rebuilding earthquake-resistant facilities such a priority. These buildings are not cheap and don't go up in a day, but they will stand the test of time, come rain or shine. We owe it to our partners to bring about a stronger future by building strong structures. Anything else is too much of a risk in an earthquake-prone country.