back to school

Yesterday these two beauty birds headed back to school with thousands of kids across Haiti, September 3rd being the government mandated first day of school.  Lots of kids aren't quite ready yet (translates: everything isn't yet paid for) and will start next week or the next, maybe, and the harsh reality is that lots of other families never will be "ready"...lots of kids will not go to school this year, lots of kids never will. Not only is there no such thing as public, free education, but by the time you add up tuition, uniforms and books, it IS expensive!  The girls' books alone this year cost almost $150 dollars, which is a LOT for a country where the GDP is less than $800.  

I've said it a million times and I'll say it again, I don't know HOW how people do it, and I understand why so many people can't...though I do not truly understand in the deepest sense of the word understand, because our $150 was spent in one single day at one bookstore, the $100 for uniforms and shoes was forked over this summer without great pain, the $35 for backpacks, new ones, was in my wallet, the $15/month/child tuition will be paid on time, and not by sacrificing any meals.

It's with great sacrifice and pride that children in Haiti go to school, and so I never take for granted sending Lily and Sofie, and I am always so aware and burdened for the many children sitting at home, and the many many parents who work, hard, to send their precious children, and sometimes can't.

We pray, and He knows, and that challenging time of the year in Haiti of having so many asking for so much help, and knowing the true need, persists.     

It took some of our students 30 years to get through high school, working some years for the money and going to school with it others. It's taken some of our students 10 years to get through our program, working some years for the money and for their children's tuition and coming to classes other years. It took some of our students 30 years to get though high school because they couldn't go the same years siblings could, and everyone took turns.  

It makes every student we have a true testimony of great perseverance and the sacrifice of many and of God's great faithfulness, each of them graduates of high school, no matter what it cost or how long it took.  It's part of why we work so hard to keep tuition so low, because man alive.  

When Matt and I first joined the Emmaus team, we had one female student.  After she graduated, we had none for quite a while...Money is tight, education is expensive, and there was often the misconception that if women were mostly just ministering to other women and children, good Biblical training wasn't necessary.  Cringe.  

This is one of the cultural mindsets Emmaus has worked hard and long to change, and I personally just love-love sitting in the back of chapel and counting up the godly women God's brought us, many already in full-time ministry, sitting in the pews, some mothers, all sisters, and the richness they bring to our community, to our classes, to the church and to Haiti.  I'm so thankful they are being equipped for their ministries WELL, and I love watching them in their element, radiating the Gospel.  Here's 9 of them...

It's our scholarship fund that keeps tuition low for all our students, making good Biblical training and good housing and good food available.  It's our scholarship fund that makes it possible for the women of Emmaus to be here, it's our scholarship fund that means students like Jopnel can be in full-time ministry and full-time students at the same time.  

If you can give a scholarship here in any amount, once or recurring, online or by check, without being greatly missed or through great sacrifice--please prayerfully do.  We are doing all that we can this new school year, and we so humbly need your help.

Thank you!