**We have recently made this hope a reality thanks to some amazing people who raised funds and came and served for a week, but before we we share the update, we thought we'd share her story with you all. Hopefully you'll take a few moments and read her story so that you will be familiar with her and her family so that you will understand the magnitude of what was just done for them. This lady is so special to us and we thank you all for konbit-ing with us, for her. So read below and watch for an update coming soon!
MEET
JEANETTE FELIX.
This woman has a joy unshakeable despite life circumstances and the weight she carries daily. Jeanette has been a part of our life since the Coleman family moved to Haiti in 2015. She was referred to the Coleman's when they were looking for someone to cook for their family and she has been a huge blessing since. When we share about Jeanette though, we have to share about her 9 year old son.
THIS IS HER SON, ANDERSON.
Anderson is all boy and a ball of energy...that is, when he's healthy. But soon after Anderson turned five, he became sick and his health has been an uphill battle since. For years Anderson would get sick and his whole body would swell up. He'd have an immense amount of pain in his abdominal and would be rushed to a hospital in Port-au-Prince where he'd spend weeks trying to recover. The doctors and nurses would slowly nurse him back to health but nobody had answers as to what he had. There were many nights Jeanette was fearful for her sons life and understandably so. Since Jeanette came to work with us, we've had two scares concerning his life already.
This past time he got sick, a local organization that runs the school he attends set out to get answers. We were prepared to start the passport and medical visa process to get him to States to get answers after a team of doctors visiting Haiti checked him out. After extensive testing and praying, it was determined that Anderson has Nephrotic Syndrome and will live with this the rest of his life barring a Divine intervention. Praise God he ended up not having to go to the States as he can be treated in Haiti. However, good healthcare is hard to find in this country.
So Anderson, for the rest of his life, will be on this roller coaster of health and his mother will be sitting right beside him through it all.
Praying, believing and trusting God
through it all.
As if caring for Anderson isn't enough, Jeanette also cares for her ridiculously sweet, elderly mother and her blind brother, Lukner Jean, in a small 3 roomed thatched and wooden house with cheap tin covering it.
Every time it rains, we are instantly concerned with Jeanette and her family. She says that every time it rains, they have to put all their beds up on blocks because water and mud run straight through her house and under their beds.
They set up buckets all over their house to catch the water that is not just dripping, but pouring into their house. There is one place where they have a mattress that has a corner that doesn't get wet and that is where Anderson sleeps. The rest of them don't sleep and if they do sleep, they do so sitting up in chair as water flows around them. Most Haitians, like Jeanette, cook with charcoal and when it rains, it gets wet and that means that cooking a meal for her family isn't possible. When we say the struggle is real, we have no idea what we're saying. But Jeanette does.
As the sole provider for her family, you can imagine how tough it is to make it through the day but she would never tell you that she is struggling. To her, this is how life is and God has provided for her and her family so she just keeps on keeping on in confidence that God will never leave or forsake her.
But we want to do something more for her.
See the land below?
This is Jeanette's land.
And this is where we believe God is calling us to invest in a Konbit.
Jeanette has had plans for that plot of land next to her house for longer than we've known her. This woman has hand dug and flattened the land in hopes of beginning to build a better house one block at a time as she has the means from her job cooking for the Coleman family.
Jeanette is a woman of great faith, exudes joy, works hard for her family, can cook some of the best food you've ever had and she's a dear friend to not only us, but to many others in her community. We love this lady and we want to help her continue to care for those she loves. We want to return the blessing she has been.
We want to build a house for Jeanette, Anderson, her mother Jean,
and her brother Lukner Jean, and WE NEED YOU!
**And praise God He provided through faithful people from Celebration First Assembly of God in Iowa. Jeanette now has a house built on this land.
Stay tuned for another update coming your way real soon about the latest "Konbit Komplete."