New Year, New Responsibilities
The first week of January, I spent three days in Haiti participating in leadership training with both the American GlobalFingerprints (GF) staff and the Haitian GF staff. We spent time talking about culture. Not in the sense of geographical culture, but organizational culture. We talked about how what we value within our organization culture directly affects our actions. We did some evaluations to determine where the differences are between our Haitian staff and our American staff. At our next round of training in July, we will talk about what the "best" culture is for GF and how we will all need to adjust to get there. It was a fascinating training and we all learned a lot.
During this time, the Haitian staff stayed with us at the guest house in Gressier, Haiti. We used this time to treat them to some food experiences they may not normally get in Port-au-Prince. There is a couple from Brazil on the long-term staff in Haiti. For lunch one day, they hosted a Brazilian Barbecue. It was fantastic! I was tasked with bringing some "American junk food". While this goes against everything I practice in my own home, it was fun to watch them try gummy bears, sour-patch kids, etc. The final, totally unfamiliar, treat was S'Mores. Once we finally explained what the name meant, we set up a great fire pit, roasted marshmallows and enjoyed watching the Haitians devour them... they all wanted s'more.
Making S'Mores
Brazilian Barbecue
The biggest lasagna I've ever seen... served with a HUGE side of rice.
The Gressier guest house AKA The Haitian Queen
The goal of this trip was for our American team to do some annual goal setting and planning. Our staff is currently short two key positions: an administrator and a U.S. based Director of the Program. Because of this, there are some very important duties that were not currently being done. We spent some time as a staff reassigning some of those crucial duties. As a result, I will now be responsible for the area of communication. I will need to be sure something is posted to the GF blog regularly, send out sponsor updates (like the Christmas card in December), and other various communication pieces. I'm thankful for these additional responsibilities because it gives me some things to do on a regular basis while I'm waiting for more of the music program to take off.
The beautiful mountain top view. This view over look the Haiti Health Ministries Clinic and a little further out, in the trees, the Haitian Queen.
A beautiful hibiscus flower growing at the Haitian Queen.
Music In Haiti
Part of our culture discussion focused on a chain of communication. Within the Haitian staff, there is definitely an order of operations. Ideas are communicated and executed through this chain. The idea of the Professional School (within which the music program would exist) has been communicated, and approved, but not given permission to start yet. Their hope is to start all parts of the school (music, sports, English, computer) all at the same time. While they have the computers, and they have me lined up with the music side of things, they are not ready to pull the trigger. This puts me in a weird position. I am ready to go, we've got a plan, I've got a budget, but they're not quite ready yet. I'm working to find ways to bring music down within their parameters, but it's slow.
The first part of my plan is to purchase some recorders, trumpets, trombones and method books. I've only got $2,000.00 to spend so there won't be very many of those things, which is fine. I will bring those instruments down with me in July. I'm hoping to find a hand full of musicians who would be willing to make a short trip with me (July 20-23) to help me deliver these instruments and give some basic instruction to some of the kids and to the staff down there.
My hope is that this will "wet their appetite" and they will be interested and willing to move forward with the music portion of their professional school. I am trusting God to provide the team, the equipment, safe delivery and open minds (on the part of the Haitians).
If you're interested in being on this team, let me know!!!
Thank you so much for being a part of my journey!
God Bless,
Lynn
Praises
- Safe travel and productive meeting times in Haiti in January.
- Our basement is finished enough for the kids to have moved down to their new rooms. It's still got some work to be done, but it's getting so close!
- Our family has stayed healthy through this terrible cold and flu season!
Prayer Requests
- God would raise up a team of musicians to accompany me in July.
- God would supply the instruments and materials I would like to bring down in July.
- Continued good health for my family and I.
- God would raise up the people we need to fill the two positions we have available on the U.S. based GF team.
