Hello World

All of my last few posts start the same.  It’s been awhile…. Haha!

So what’s been going on since I’ve been hiding here in Haiti?  Well, just like you already know, I’m back in Port-au-Prince as the In-Country Director for Fondasyon Jean-Robert Cadet.  The activities with the foundation are off to a good start for this school year.  Our kids are back in school and we have 3 motivated new advocates (three new staff that I am VERY satisfied with and excited about) as well as the old, sitting with them regularly to capture their stories and give them moral, emotional, and psychological support.

Our work has only just begun.  We have two huge projects for the year, one that is still in the idea/planning/dreaming phase, and another that is just emerging from the idea phase into reality.  We are looking to see how we can create a “restavek-free zone” by educating and training the neighbors of most of these kids.  We’ve found that a large number of people are against the system already, yet feel powerless to speak against it.  There are many cultural reasons for this, some of which are unique to the urban centers like Port-au-Prince, but our hope is to create space for people to speak what is really on their minds.  We believe that we can serve as catalysts for a movement that many would have started already if they could just find their voice.

We are still waiting to launch this project in full, but a recent tragedy in the area where we plan to work has pushed us into action.  On Monday a restavek girl (less than 10 years old) was beaten so severely that she could barely stand.  According to the neighbors, this was not the first time that they had heard the girl crying out.  By chance, this was the first time that the girl managed to escape into the arms of a waiting neighbor during the beating.  The police were called, the perpetrator was taken to jail, the girl was taken to the hospital, and the next day, the girl was on her way home to her mother.  What’s amazing to us is how quickly a hundred other “heroes” emerged when one neighbor stood up to say “enough.”  It seems that, in the case of the restavek system, the tipping point = 1.  We are moving quickly to back up this community that has voiced its desire to end such mistreatment.

As for the rest of my stuff… I still haven’t mentioned what I’m doing (publicly) but I’m 4/5ths of a businessman by now.  I’ve made some large investments in equipment, thought through my business strategies, and just as I begin my official proposal, an NGO likes my idea so much that they just might fund me so that I can start bigger.  I’ve already been lined up for free business consultation (which is very helpful in Haiti, the 128th easiest country to start a business in… that’s out of 130), and its possible that a pretty well-known development NGO (which I will not name until its confirmed) may decide to accompany my project over the next few years with funds, ideas, and guidance.  More details to come…

Under my third hat is Children’s ministry.  I’m never satisfied with the amount of attention that I am able to give to this domain.  If I could, I would concentrate all of my time here, but I guess that’s not where I’ve been called to at the moment.  To accomplish the vision that God has given for us, God sent us another wave of children’s ministers, enough to double our staff.  I’m just getting to know them.  It may be awhile before I know each one, but each one brings new gifts, talents, and ideas to our team.  In two weeks I will have a chance to sit down with many of them in our staff retreat at the beach to see what God has put on their hearts and minds.

The work that I do directly is still bringing forth a lot of fruit.  I have a growing group of children that are excited to read God’s Word, pray, and worship together.  They are sharp too.  I learn from them every week.  I’ve found that very few of these kids have ever had anyone tell them, in any practical way, what is possible for them with God.  They’ve never had anyone sit down with them and show them how to study the word of God.  Every time I show a new kid how to do this, every time I encourage them in the possibilities of God, they are filled with joy.  Today, I had a new girl who was so excited and eager to dive in that she cried with tears of joy and anticipation.  She begged me to show her how she can start a REAL relationship with God.  That’s why I love to work with these kids.  They know what they really want.  They aren’t big into faking it for the rest of their lives…  Their minds are still fresh and they desire to see the manifestation of the full truth.  They actually believe that what they read is possible.  Many exciting things to come.

One more thing… Our church is on its way to having a roof! Pretty huh?  When it’s finished, its supposed to hold about 7,000 people…  All this has been paid for by the pennies of our faithful congregation over a period of 5 years.  We’ve only just begun… the roof will be the biggest challenge yet… then the tile… then the pews… then the chairs in the middle… then the music equipment.  God has been faithful.  So have the people.  We’re going all the way!

Perfect! It all worked out as expected…

As I planned many months ago, and as you probably already know, I am in the United States preparing for my next adventure.  What might surprise you is that my next adventure will look a lot like my last adventure.  If you are wondering how working to liberate restavek children in Haiti will compare to the academic rigor of a seminary education at Oral Roberts University, you are simply missing out on a few minor details.  Minor detail number one: I deferred my enrollment at the last minute.  Minor detail number two: I am returning to Haiti to work full-time for another 6-months to a year.

I know, i know… You’re thinking “You are soooo random.  When did all of this happen?”  First off, I’m not random… I am actually very, very calculated.  Perhaps my life calculator has more cool buttons than yours.  To you, this may seem very sudden, but i’ve actually been contemplating this decision since as far back as February (if you are still skeptical, I have journal entries to prove it).  Back then it was barely more than a “feeling,” just a thought in the back of my mind that kept telling me to “expect a longer stay.”  In my heart I felt that unexplainable “knowing;” I knew that something was on its way.  I knew that I was a part of a movement that would pick up speed quickly and somehow I knew that it would take me with it…  It was more than a sense of urgency.  I knew that my own destiny is wrapped up in it.  (Now that I say that, I can probably say that this started as far back as October with a word from Pastor Laffoon).

This may all sound weird to some of you, but I’m very accustomed to this feeling… this urge… this wordless “voice” guiding, pushing, and pulling me.  This voice is the main function on my life’s “calculator.”  In fact, nothing in my life ever equates without it.  With it, everything always runs smoother than a dream.  Over the months I have consulted friends and mentors about what I was feeling.  I discussed it with Joycelyne.  I shared it with my dad… but I mostly contemplated it on my own.  Then as the days went by in Haiti, I watched as everything else that I had ever intuitively “known” for the past four years rolled out before my eyes.  Just about everything that God has spoken to me since the beginning of college has been occurring all at once, and it is all so unbelievably connected.

Every day, especially in the months of June and July, I became more and more aware of the need to stay.  Not just for the Restavek Foundation, but for all of the other work that I have going on in Haiti.  The church is at a unique point.  My ministry toward a small group of children has reached a critical point and is ready to be transformed and expanded.  Even the business that I am starting (which I have yet to write about) requires my presence.  I realized that there was no way that grad school in this kyros moment was the best idea.  I would be leaving an opportunity that I would never see again.

At the time that the feeling became its heaviest, Dad began to say exactly what I was thinking: “Junior, I think that you’re leaving right when you should be arriving.”  He said it several times during the two weeks before I was offered a new position with the JRC Restavek Foundation.  For that reason and so much more, from the moment that I was asked, I knew the decision that I need to make, but I prayed a day or two on it.  I asked for council.  The result of both was the same thing that I “knew” all along.  I needed to stay in Haiti.

So, that’s the “new” adventure.  I will be staying in Haiti doing what I have been doing all along in all domains, but on a different scale.  As the new In-Country Direct for the JRC Restavek Foundation, I will be working on a new project to eliminate slavery in the very area in which I live and work, Petite Place Cazeau.  We will be working to see children uplifted and esteemed, seen as the valuable treasure that they are.  This goal is unbelievably connected to the work that I am now doing with the children in my church (who also, consequently, live in the area).  The work in my church is guided by a vision that was shaped by a series of prophetic experiences that lasted from August of 2006, until May of 2007, and an unforgettable dream that I was given on May 25, 2007.  The vision was formed over a period of 9-months… (Only a few of you know why this is so hilariously ironic and why it is important, but I wouldn’t mind explaining it to curious people who ask).  I don’t even have time to discus my new creole-speaking Puerto Rican Jewish friend, whom I met days before my return to the States.  After feeling an urgent compulsion from God, he is moving from Puerto Rico into Petite Place Cazeau to start a children’s ministry.  He stumbled right into our service on a Sunday morning…  Everything is coming together.  Even my Haitian-American co-worker is deferring a second year to stay on board.

God is working on something big here…  Yes… My life is very calculated.  I’m not always the one pushing the buttons, but believe me, it is so much more fun that way.  If I can give a word of advice to any of my Christian brothers and sisters that are struggling with a decision, I’d say don’t allow what you’ve heard from God in the past block out what God is trying to say to you today.  Chances are that your future is not as linear as your thinking.  Expect the unexpected.  Let go and take a ride!

Watching Lives Change

Imagine receiving your first hug as a teenager.  This comes after spending all of your life belonging to another.  Not as a child or a friend to be loved, but as an object, an appliance; like an old vacuum you are loaned to your neighbor.  You have no belongings, no time for yourself, no time to play, no one to love you… you live in a house but everyday it is made clear that you are not at home.  No one knows or cares if you have feelings, they disregard your desires, they trample on your rights, and they use every ounce of your strength, and give you nothing but food scraps to replenish it.  In their minds and in your own you are no more human than the stray dog that begs for scraps at the door.  You’ve come to believe that your life does not matter.

Now imagine one year later, sleeping in a bed for the first time.  Imagine waking to find that, for the first time in your life, the sun has risen before you and you don’t have a long list of chores awaiting you… so you go out and relax with your “family.”  Imagine going to church for the first time in life and the pastor is preaching directly to you saying “Yesterday is gone, and everything is about to change.  God is going to do something with your life.  Even the misery will turn out for your good.”  Watching everyone around you closely, you do what they do.  You lift up your hands and you say amen, but not just to copy them, but because you have already seen the first-fruits of the pastor’s words.  For once you are surrounded by people who love you, and for the first time you start to feel it.  They show it.  They hug you, the smile with you, they joke with you, they eat at the same table with you, they share their belongings with you, they provide for you… you have a place at home with two strangers that you now call “Mami” and “Papi,” and they deserve the title because of the love that they show.  You share a room with a “sister” that you had never known, and she loans you her mother’s sunglasses so that you can be styling at church.  For the first time, you no longer belong to the home… the home belongs to you.  You no longer belong to a family, you have a family of your own.  In this you see for the first time that you actually do matter.

If that were you, your cheeks would hurt too after smiling and laughing non-stop for days…  It’s a wonder to behold.  Its a privilege to take part in.  I really love my job.  I get to sit in the front row and watch lives transform.

www.restavekfreedom.org

Mountain Climbing with JRC – A Miraculous Journey

Wow… I thank God that my life is not boring.  If it were any less interesting, I may have had a bit more time to tell you more about it…. oh well.  As usual, again there is much to tell, but I’ll choose one thing from two weeks ago…

On the week of July 5th, Jean-Robert and I set out to visit a child that we returned home in the area of Jacmel last year.  She was a restavek for about a year and suffered unbelievable physical, emotional, and psychological abuse.  Her Gran Moun (owner) was a former neighbor of her family that had moved to Port-au-Prince.  This woman convinced the little girl’s mother that she would take care of her, put her through school, and make sure that her life was rosy, but every single promise was a lie.  This woman put the little girl through so much hell that she ran away.  She was found by the police, who took her to social affairs, who dropped her off at a girls shelter that we work with, and Jean-Robert took the 9-hour trek (one way) over the mountains, swam a river in the rain season, and walked for miles to her house, just to see her happily home with her mother again.  Then he took the long way back home in the middle of the night.  (For the record: There is not a man on earth with more compassion than Jean-Robert.  I thought that I loved people until he introduced me to a new standard).

We had not seen the girl for more than a year because she lived so far away.  We went to visit her because she was due a visit, but also because we were hoping that she would be the perfect candidate for the story that CNN was working on two weekends ago.  If you have seen the report (and if you watch tonight) you will notice that this “perfect” story was not chosen (mainly because we were crunched for time and could not go that far out of the traveling alone), but our trip made for an interesting experience, nonetheless.

We made our first attempt to Jacmel on Tuesday, July 7th.  (Yes, I said first attempt.  There were three attempts total).  We needed a big SUV to make it up the mountains, but we only needed the car for one day.  Big cars are on high demand in Haiti, so the smaller, local rental companies are often reluctant to rent out a big car for one day, fearful of missing a longer contract… so they charge you big bucks for it.  Everyone was asking more than we could afford to pay.  Everyone but this one man, whom we had rented from many times before.  It was a pick-up truck.  The car had its flaws, but  to me, it seemed healthy enough to make the trip (I had never been up those treacherous mountains, so I relied more on JR’s judgment).  We had already spent too much time shuffling around to get a car, so we were in a rush to get up the mountains.  We took off quickly after a cursory check up of the car.

We spent a good two hours or so in stop and go traffic, so there was no way for us to know the first problem that we uncovered until it was too late.  Once we started getting out past Mariani and Gressier we noticed that the car began to shake as we went above a certain speed.  We contacted the renter to let him know the problem.  He through out some sort of wild explanation and asked us what we wanted to do.  But we were already so far out that if we waited or went back, the trip would have been canceled.  In hindsight, that should have been our choice.  We continued on cautiously.  Not less than an hour later, our front tire went flat.  We got out quickly to change the tire only to realize that our trusty spare was also flat and balding.  Not only that, the jack that was in the car was no good… it didn’t even have its proper handle.  Someone had really neglected the regular check-ups on this car.  This was my first experience with renting in Haiti, and these are things that you don’t think of in the U.S., but I should have known better here.

Thank God we went flat near some sort of stone/gravel mining operation, and one of the men who worked there went downtown to find someone who helped us fix our spare.  It took a long time, but he did it.  By then, it was too late to go up the mountain, so we headed home.  We got a refund later that week and the man who rented the car to us may be in trouble with his job for being so negligent.  I felt really bad that day because Joycelyne decided to take a break from her studies to go with us.  It was her first road trip in Haiti and all she got out of it was fatigue, hunger, and “tet chaje” (a headache).  I’m sorry Sweetie…  Maybe in December.

We tried to rent a car the next day.  We ran into the same problem as before… no one wanted to rent it to us for such a short amount of time.  We decided to go ahead and get it for three days (the usual minimum), but when we decided to do that, we lost that contract to someone who wanted it for five.  It was like losing an ebay auction at the last minute…  There were no more of the super-big cars that we needed…  Nothing was in our favor that Wednesday, so Jean-Robert went home and I went on to try to pick up a package at the airport for my new business (there will be more on that headache soon).

Early on Thursday, we went in and got a Nissan Patrol for 7-days (since our director was coming in the next day), and took off.  That transaction went much smoother.  We checked everything on that car.  I flipped things over, punched the tires, took pictures… everything.  It was in great shape.  We went on up to the mountains without a problem… except for the fact that it was a LOOONG bumpy trip, and we left at an hour in which all roadside food was cold. (Bumpy is an understatement… perhaps “jerky” or “jarring” would be more appropriate).  We arrived seven hours after our departure.  It took us a while to find the family, but when we did, they were very happy to see us.  (Well, at least they were happy to see Jean-Robert… they didn’t know me yet).

We made a very short visit, talked to everyone, ate some grilled corn, passion-fruit, and drank some coconuts and headed home.  By then it was already past 5pm.  We had a seven hour drive to make home… so we thought.  A few hours into our trip jerky trip up and down the rocky hills, a miracle happened…  We suddenly arrived on the main road.  Jean-Robert and I just looked at each other.  How did we skip two hours of hill-climbing?  I thought that I had fallen asleep, but Jean-Robert’s confusion justified my own.  We proceeded up the winding roads to Port-au-Prince, still wondering about all of the things that we didn’t pass to get to the main road.  It is possible that we got lost, but usually when you get lost you don’t gain two hours.  Also, these mountain roads have very few turning options and very few entrances and exits.  I don’t know how we happened to find the “right one.”

As we drove into Gressier the car started to shake the same way that the pick-up did.  It was late, it was dark, and we had no tools… We had no choice but to continue.  We moved on through Carrefour and just as we pass a police checkpoint, we lose our steering.  Thankfully, we lost it on a straight away, and the car practically “parked” itself out of harms way.  So get this… we are in front of a police checkpoint, so danger is minimal.  We ask the police officer what they can do for us and they offer to take us to a hotel.  Then, when the realize that we had a rental car, they told us that we couldn’t leave it there or we would only find half of it in the morning.  By “chance” the police officer knew a mechanic in the area, and in that moment (11pm) the mechanic was sitting near the street with some friends joking around (Port-au-prince is usually dead asleep by 10).  In no time, the mechanic got under the car, replaced a bolt that got lost in the steering system with a random piece of iron, and we were on our way home.  Even after the quick fix we arrived two hours early…

The next day, Jean-Robert and I awoke to the reality that we could have died several times the night before.  If we hadn’t found the “shortcut” and continued on the rocky mountains, the bolt may have dislodged faster.  Then, if we had lost steering while navigating the treacherous curves, we could have driven right off of the edge and into the sea.  If our car had lost steering a mile before the police checkpoint, we would have been in danger and we would have had no way home.  There would have been no one there to protect us, we would have never found a mechanic, and by that time, a hotel (if we could have ever found one) was out of the question.  The whole experience was Miraculous.

I don’t know about you… but I don’t believe in chance.  I’m starting to get used to this “my life is in His hands” thing.  It makes me feel invincible.

Jean-Robert Cadet Restavek Foundation Featured on CNN

Dear Reader,

We are thrilled to announce that we have a new website (www.restavekfreedom.org) and that the foundation will be on national news Monday, July 13th and Tuesday, July 14th.

Please tune into CNN on Monday and Tuesday night to see the Restavek Foundation featured on Anderson Cooper 360°. (If you miss either, the program will re-air on Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th, times TBD.) Our founder, Jean-Robert Cadet will be interviewed by CNN chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, as part of Anderson Cooper’s historic series of interviews with President Barack Obama.

Here is an excerpt of CNN’s official press release:

As President Barack Obama makes a historic visit to Africa, CNN’s Anderson Cooper sits down with the President for an extensive interview and joins him exclusively as he visits Cape Coast Castle, Ghana, the site of an overcrowded dungeon where slaves were held before they were shipped west. Interview topics will include domestic and international issues as well as the President’s own close connection with Africa and the significance of his trip for African-Americans today. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join Cooper from Haiti, where he will report on the slave trade that continues to thrive in that country. The interview will air on Monday, July 13th and Tuesday, July 14th. Anderson Cooper 360° airs weeknights at 10pm ET on CNN.

Please share this with your friends and thank you for your support!

The Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation
www.restavekfreedom.org

Pastor Needs Permit to Hold PRIVATE Bible Study?

More article commentary in a similar line as the previous one…

“A San Diego pastor is fighting a citation from the San Diego County that requires him to obtain a permit to host weekly Bible studies at his home.

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been hosting a Bible Study fellowship at their home every Tuesday for the past five years. The meeting, averaging 15 people each week, is usually comprised of dinner, fellowship and Bible study.

The meetings have gone without government interference until recently. Jones told KGTV, an ABC News affiliate in San Diego, that the visitor to a neighbor’s house alerted the County after a Bible study member hit the visitor’s car while leaving.”

I don’t think I need to say much about that one… but I will.  You would think that the citation would be about the visitor’s car, but the group itself is under attack.  Strange… Be careful brothers, Big Brother is watching you… now more than ever.  And if you’re reading this and you don’t really give a squat about the Jones’s Bible Study, then watch out because your book club is next… or your knitting circle… or your regular Sunday Sports gathering or even next year’s Super Bowl Party.  And if you say that obtaining a permit is no big deal, then you must not be a part of a group that invisible hands have been trying to control for the last couple of decades.

I’ve heard of another country that does this… It’s one that is known for overt violations of human rights.  Its a country where you can’t gather privately without attracting suspicion and where you can only believe what the state wants you to believe.  It’s a place where you can only attend “state-sanctioned” churches (or might I say state-sanctioned Bible Study groups?) that don’t threaten this oppressive state’s agenda by truly empowering people with a message and turning their loyalty to someone/something higher than the state.  If you don’t know, I’m talking about the Communist Republic of China… and everybody knows how much Americans hate Communists.  How about comparing some recent U.S. policies to theirs.  Maybe you should check to see if your congressmen has “red” hands.

If you have ever read the U.S. Constitution (even if you got bored and stopped after the first page), you would know that there is something very wrong about this law and this citation.  Something strange is going on and it has been coming on for a long time… yet this is only the beginning.  Listen closely… and let your voice be heard.

Can I Join PETA Too?

I’ve been reading the news a lot, and since I haven’t posted in a long time, I have been holding back a lot of commentary on some articles.  It has been weeks since I have wanted to say something about this one and I didn’t want to let it pass…

“Under an anti-discrimination directive passed by the European Union Parliament in April, Christian churches, schools, and social services in Europe cannot limit their membership to those who share their beliefs. The directive, which the parliament passed by a 360-277 vote, must be passed unanimously by member states for it to become law…”

I read this and cringed at the thought of how blatent attacks on Christianity have become.  When you have an organization or an institution, it only makes sense for the man or woman at your front desk to represent the image that you want to portray.  That goes for any company.  The guy at Abercrombie pops his collar.  The girl at Hot Topic can’t count her piercings.  But it may not be long before a church may be forced to put an atheist at their front desk.  I don’t think I should have to ask you if that makes any sense.  It’s the dumbest, and one of the most blatent attacks on all that is sacred so far.

But I guess if this law passes, I may have the chance to move to Europe and work for P.E.T.A.  I would make sure that the pictures on my desk include me and my family at our most recent family barbecue.  And of course I would eat meet during lunch breaks… with my co-workers.  Just can’t live without it.  I know that my co-workers would be preaching up a storm against it, but it would be good for them to expand their horizons… right?  After that I’m gonna join the KKK.  They need a little bit of color in their organization.

By now, I’m sure you know that I’m kidding.  Anyone who’s ever eaten with me knows how much I love the taste of animals.  That’s why I have no interest in working for PETA.  (A friend of mine from Felicity used to joke about being an advocate for the “People for the Eating of Tasty Animals”–PETA.  I’m right there with him).  And of course I have no interest in joining the KKK, unless I could somehow cause it to collapse from the inside.  Kinda makes you wonder about the people who want to force themselves into religious institutions…

You’ve got to admit it (although stating it may sound “dangerous”)…  sometimes discrimination (not racism or subgroup persecution) can be a good thing…  Sometimes discrimination is necessary in order to hold on to integrity.  Universities choose the best and the brightest in order to be the most prestigious, militaries choose the fittest in order to be the most effective, and organizations with a cause choose those who agree with them and are passionate about their agenda in order to propagate their message through the union of voices.  Anything else would be institutional suicide.  I don’t think that anyone can disagree with that…