Orphanage
Centre for Children International Lifeline Haiti Orphanage Beginning
Back from a Christian college in the USA to Haiti, her native home, Nicole Dieudonne felt so sad when looking at the people in Dargout (a poor village located in Croix-des-Bouquets). She asked God how she could meet their needs. After much prayer she decided to gather the children and their mothers under a big tree which was near her home as she had no building to take them to.
As time has passed, Haiti as well as Nicole's ministry has changed. She established the Centre for Children International Lifeline Orphanage. Nicole gives oversight to the Lifeline Orphanage, which is home to 70 children. The orphanage provides a Christ centered environment with a Christian elementary school program for the orphans and the children from the community. The orphange also has a small clinic providing medical needs to the community. Also provided to the Dargout community is water.
Haiti Lifeline Ministries Involvement
Our involvement in Haiti began back in 1998 after we briefly met a Haitian lady that had come to Kansas for a short visit. John and I were both moved when she shared her testimony and the work that God was calling her too. The ladies name is Nicole Dieudonne, a native Haitian who after receiving an education in the U.S., felt called to go back to her homeland to help her people. Nicole lives and works in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets with her husband, Daniel, who is the Pastor of the Bethel Church of God.
Nicole wanted to help her people and was trying to reestablish a feeding program and Christian Orphanage that was all but destroyed during the political upheaval in Haiti during the late 1980’s and the early years of the nineties. She was nearly ready to give up and was asking God to send her some help. At about this same time there were two people in Kansas, USA that had just gone through a time of recommitment to God. This point in their lives had brought them to ask of the Lord,” if there is something that you would like us to do for you, make it known to us”.
In November of 1998, hurricane Mitch cut a swath through the West Indies and across the Gulf of Mexico. Nicole was overwhelmed with so much need around her. She had a Kansas address, from earlier correspondence that year, and she sent a letter asking Elaine and I if we would consider coming to Haiti. Elaine and I both knew immediately that this was a “God Thing”. God had answered our prayer of inquiry with a “Yes I do have something that I would like for you To Do for me”. In March of 1999 we were off to Haiti, only knowing that the Lord was going ahead of us.
When we arrived at the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti we spotted a sign with our names on it. We acknowledged that we were those people. Of course, we were not hard to spot.
We had been forewarned of the headache and frustration of going through the airport at Port-au-Prince. A young man motioned for us to follow him. He asked for our passports and our baggage claim tickets. This was certainly an act of faith on our part, but we soon realized that the Lord was just making the path straight ahead of us. We moved effortlessly through the mayhem and out to where Daniel and Nicole where waiting for us. As we shared the evening meal together that day, Daniel and Nicole told us how they had been praying that God would send someone to help with the work. We were touched by the testimony that they shared and knew that we were not in Haiti by mere chance.
After experiencing life in Haiti for two weeks, Nicole asked us if we would consider representing the work at Centre for Children International Lifeline in the U.S. There wasn’t any fight left in us as we agreed to do this.
Eight years later, the Lord has blessed his work at Lifeline. The orphanage is home to 70 children. It provides for their spiritual and physical needs. It has become a place of hope for these children. Each year work teams have gone to Lifeline and provided loving support for the kids as well as doing various projects at the orphanage and in outlying areas of Haiti.
Haiti has many problems. Life is very hard in this land. It suffers from spiritual, political, and economic poverty. As others and we go to Haiti, comments are often made about the smiles that are offered us from the faces of suffering human beings. Only then does it really begin to register how much it means to them that someone is willing to walk along side them in there need. As the kid’s get older they are more open to share there feelings with us and it becomes harder to leave each year. As we share our lives with other people, whether it is in Buhler, Kansas U.S.A. or Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, God’s love is overpowering. Regardless of ones circumstances, ultimately, our only hope in this fallen world is Jesus. It is to him that we give all praise, honor, and thanksgiving
Abner's Story
Found in a sugarcane field next to his mother who had been murdered, Abner was starving, filthy and beside himself with fear, confusion and sadness. For this tiny child there was no way to understand what had happened to his world, his mother.
But God saw this little one and prepared the way for him to be fed, protected, loved and healed.
When Abner was brought to Nicole Dieudonne he was barely hanging on to life. Now almost a year later Abner is a healthy, happy boy with an infectious laugh and grin. He plays with his friends at the orphanage and is fed 2 meals a day.
There is a future now for Abner and for the many other children who have found shelter and love at Centre Children International Life Line d'Haiti. Many are being adopted making room for other homeless, starving and many times abused children.