sweat under the hot Haitian sun doing construction work for Kids Alive
International.
Kids Alive International
(KAI) encourages church youth groups to join them on mission trips to
some of the most impoverished countries where the message of God’s love
is desperately needed.
The youth group with Wheaton Bible Church did just that. They went down
to Haiti and started building KAI’s very first residential children’s
home in that area.
Residential children’s homes are used by KAI to house a “family unit”
consisting of several children and a set of their own Christian house
parents. In this way, needy orphans live in the context of family,
learning from their “parents” that they are indeed loved by the God who
created them and that we are called to love them in the same way.
Children who live in KAI’s residential homes are cared for all the way
through young adulthood. Several residential homes with KAI often are
grouped together to form a community. The orphans are always brought up
learning about the good news of Christ and the direct ministry of their
house parents warms them with God’s love.
Orphaned kids in Haiti are at high risk to trafficking and poverty.
According to KAI’s Web site, as many as 2,000 children are trafficked to
the Dominican Republic each year. The earthquake in 2010 only added to
the already more than 300,000 orphans.
Thankfully, Haitian orphans find hope through the loving arms of staff
with KAI, which has been involved in Haiti since 2002, providing schooling
and orphanages. Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of orphans they
help has tripled.
KAI is currently finishing up the work started by the high schoolers on
their first residential children’s home for Haiti. Soon they are
planning on bringing in one of their “family units” from the rented
space they are currently living in.
After the first residential house is finished, they plan to
begin construction for the second residential house in a few weeks. A
service team from Summit Church will be traveling down there to help
them for the start of that project.
These residential homes are able to be built quickly due to special wall
construction. Two panels of wire mesh with a panel of foam in between
receive a layer of plaster over top to make a wall.
Electrical work and plumbing will be done to the first residential home
before plastering the house. They hope to finish these last steps
shortly.
Please pray that construction would be completed soon for both
residential homes. Pray that the kids living in these homes would come
to know Christ through their house parents’ living testimony.
