english camp!

Hi everybody! This blog is specifically intended for those of you who want to know more about what I'm doing this summer and the ways that God is working in my life and the lives of the children I get to hang out with every day. For those of you who don't know, my name is Sarah Pease and I just finished my first year of college at Northeastern University in Boston. Most of my friends are getting internships or working for the summer, but right now and for the next 2 months I am living and working in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.


I'm here along with several other people to help run a 6-week English Camp. For those of you who have been to a Vacation Bible School, it's very similar. Kids come 5 days a week from 830-2 and go to 4 different classes - science, English, Bible, and P.E. - as well as being fed breakfast and lunch and participating in various crafts and activities. There are over 280 kids who enter through our gate every morning. It's crazy, hectic, stressful work, but it's also some of the most rewarding work I've ever done.


We just started week 2 of camp, and there's starting to be a rhythm and flow to the way that things work. I teach P.E. to boys and girls ages 4-9. They're crazy, rambunctious and overly active. I'm exhausted at the end of each and every day but I wouldn't have it any other way. We play many of the same games that kids in gym class in America play - tag, relay races, sharks and minnows, duck duck goose, and more.\


The family that I'm staying with also runs an orphanage, and after camp each day we walk the 3 camp-aged children back to the children's home, where they live with around 10 other kids as well. These babies are so happy and joyous and playing with them after camp each day is one of my favorite things to do. Each one of them has a special place in my heart and almost every child has a heartbreaking story, as every child being adopted does.


Alexander is one of my favorites. He is 3 years old and has such a ready, easy smile. He's quick to laugh and is bright and intelligent. When Maranatha accepted Alexander, they did so after telling the people who brought him that they were sure he would die that night. Alexander had never walked, having spent his whole life strapped to his grandmother's back. In addition, his hair was orange, which indicates severe malnutrition. However, not only did Alexander survive the night, he grew stronger and happier with each passing day. Every time I see Alexander, I am reminded of how he is a living miracle.


Schneider is another 3 year old boy with a remarkable story. He was brought to us by Alex, the night guard who works at the house. Alex knew his mother, and knew that whenever there wasn't enough food, Schneider was the first to go hungry, and he also knew that Schneider's mom frequently abused Schneider. Maranatha was reluctant to take him, but Alex convinced them and now Schneider is a playful, happy child who loves to play on the trampoline at the orphanage.


It's these children, and these stories, that inspire me every day. Sometimes I'll get tired, or sick, and wonder why I gave up the comforts and pleasures of my life in America to live in the poorest country in the western hemisphere for my entire summer. But whenever I hold Alexander, or Schneider falls asleep on my lap, I'm reminded of why it's so important that I'm here. I'm here to love these children, with all my heart, and show them the kind of unconditional love that God shows us.


It's the incomparable joy and loving spirit of every single one of my children, whether they go to camp or live in the orphanage, that remind me just how blessed I am. And when they come running to me, begging for me to hold them or play with them, I realize that there is no place on earth I would rather be than with these children.