| How's Myriam Doing? |
Monday, February 15, 2010
Many of you have asked questions regarding how Myriam is handling the quake situation and just how she came to be with us in the 1st place. Her high school newspaper just ran an article on her and they asked several questions for that article. We have posted them for those of you who may be interested. We think you will see that, while things have been challenging, she is doing well as God continues to clearly reveal to all of us, just why he has blessed her to be able to come here. If you would like to read the article in its entirety you can do so by clicking on the following link:
1) How did you hear from Myriam's family?
>>> Myriam's older brother, Elie, called us the night of the quake. The phone in their home did not work, but he went to an Internet store and was able to make a call. The call got disconnected after about 3 or 4 minutes as we heard aftershocks in the background, but it was long enough for him to confirm that her mother and family at her home in St Marc were fine.
Unfortunately, we did not hear from her father, Pastor Pierre until the following Friday, Jan 15. He was on the island of La Gonave in the village of Boucan LaMarre, where our mission (school & church) is located. Pastor Pierre often travels into Port Au Prince (PAP) for supplies, but we were so grateful to hear that he was not in PAP that day.
2) How long did you have to wait to hear from them after the earthquake?
>>> See answer to #1 above.
3) How did you and Myriam cope with the news before you heard from her family?
>>> We heard about it on the evening news, but Myriam rarely listens to the news. They didn't have many details on the initial news reports, since they didn't have many reporters in Haiti. We did not mention it to her until after we heard from her family that night.
4) How did Myriam come to live with you? What prompted her move?
>>> I am the President of a mission organization called Remember The Poor International, Inc. (RTPI) and Pastor Pierre is our head Pastor / Administrator of our school in remote Haiti. We have worked with Pastor Pierre for many years and he and his wife, Carmelle, has stayed at our home many times during their trips to the US. Having worked so closely over the years, we know and trust each other intimately. The RTPI school is in remote Haiti (Boucan LaMarre village on island of La Gonave) but Myriam's family live in St. Marc Haiti (on the mainland). Myriam attended an English-speaking school taught by missionaries at the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) campus in St Marc. In Dec 2008, we got a VISA for Myriam & her brother Elie (18) to come to the USA to meet many of the donors who had sponsored their education for many years in Haiti (probably from 3rd grade or so). That was the 1st time she had ever visited the US. Although Myriam completed the 9th grade in her YWAM school, her family was notified during the summer break in July 2009, that her YWAM school would be closing due to lack of resources. Even if the YWAM school had remained open, they had no plans for a 10th grade. All the high schools in Haiti teach in French, but Myriam was in the odd position of knowing English, but not French, making it all but impossible to move to 10th grade in French. No schools teach in English in Haiti (unless they are affiliated with missions). Since we had earlier secured her VISA in Dec 2008, God placed it on my wife & my hearts to open our home (with the support of our church and mission organization, RTPI) to allow her to continue her education here in Tampa. Otherwise, her education would have certainly ceased at 9th grade, which is much farther than the average Haitian child gets anyway.
5) How did your church come to support her education?
>>> See answers above.
6) Do you know how the family is doing now? Are they receiving any relief?
>>> Yes, we communicate with her family at least once a week, if we can. Sometimes I talk to Pastor Pierre multiple times about RTPI business. Other times, it's difficult to communicate due to horrible communication channels. Her family is receiving no relief from the Red Cross, government, UN aid, etc. that you see on TV. The only relief they receive is from our RTPI organization as we expanded our mission to help more people affected by the quake. Her family in St Marc is affected due to higher prices and lack of resources redirected to the PAP surrounding areas.
Our main concern with regard to relief is the people in the village where Myriam's father works as a Pastor and Administrator of the RTPI school. This village is so remote and off the beaten path that no one dime of relief nor a grain of rice has yet to make it up into the mountains where we are located. Our RTPI mission is normally setup to educate & feed roughly 350-400 kids one meal / day. For many of the kids, this is the only meal they receive. After the earthquake, due to the devastation to our remote village, due to the lack of relief efforts, we've found ourselves trying to feed the village of close to 7,000 people. Last week we were able to buy several thousand pounds of rice and distributed it to 415 families, while many families have 9 or 10 people. There are over 250 people sleeping on our church / school campus because their homes have been destroyed. We're trying to help however we can, but we are not set up to sustain this type of relief. We're trying to re-open our school on Mon 2/15, but challenges remain.
7) What part of Haiti do they live in?
>>> Her family lives in St Marc on the mainland about 60 miles north from PAP. Her father works and spends most of his time at our mission in Boucan LaMarre village on the island of La Gonave about 35 miles across the water from PAP.
8) Is Myriam going back to visit her family in the near future?
>>> Yes, our plan is for her to spend the summer there. Hopefully the quake doesn't prevent that, because she needs to spend some time with her family.
9) How is she adjusting to life in America?
>>> We pray a lot. Anyone who knows Myriam will quickly see that she's extremely introverted with very limited experiences with this culture. She is the exact opposite of what you would pick as the perfect exchange student, who's normally outgoing and fits in with ease. Her YWAM school had about 20-25 people total, where Gaither has over 2,000. Different food, study habits, lack of brothers/sisters, staying with new family, FCAT preparation :-) etc., and now the quake has made it very challenging. For instance, even though her immediate family is safe, she's constantly hearing about things like her principal / teacher (from YWAM school last year) lost his wife in PAP in the quake, etc. After having said all that, we believe Myriam is doing an OUTSTANDING job of staying focused on her education and taking advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime. She even made the honor roll for the 1st 9-week period. It would be hard for us to be more impressed with how this young lady has conducted herself. We are so happy to be a part of what God is doing in her life and how He's using us to provide this opportunity to one who otherwise would not have it.