In March of 2014, Pastor Joassaint heard about two abandoned children living in the mountains above Williamson. The father of these abandoned children had died in a landslide and their mother was unable to care for them. They were begging for food in the village just to stay alive. Pastor Joassaint brought this news to the leadership of WWV. He tearfully shared his desire to help these children. As God would ordain it, a church from Andover, Minnesota had a team in Williamson that week working with World Wide Village. When hearing the news, the team felt God’s call to personally help these children. Pastor Joassaint opened up a place for them to live. With the financial help of the WWV team, the room was prepared for them to live and necessities were purchased.
When Pastor Joassaint brought Gary & Gyseline down from the mountains, they were malnourished, naked, very dirty and so afraid. There were attempts to calm them down with hugs and stuffed animals, but they cried even more. Eventually the suckers helped, but the children were so overwhelmed. The look in their eyes was devastating.
The WWV team was there to meet them and gave the children some clothing and shoes that were brought down by one of the families from the team. After the initial shock, it was such a blessing to see the items being used as these children began a new life in Williamson, especially since it was the first time that little Gary had ever worn shoes! Since then, Pastor Joassaint has taken in six more abandoned children. It’s a hard truth to face, but in Haiti, children are abandoned because their families cannot care for them. Thanks to the compassion of Pastor Joassaint, WWV and the team from Minnesota these children are safe. They are being fed, cared for and loved.
Another WWV team from Grace went back to Haiti that summer and built bunk beds for the children, giving the children the first bed they had ever slept in. Despite all of their hardships, the children are now thriving. All eight of the children attend school in Williamson, thanks to the WWV student sponsorship program. The teams that have gone back to Haiti since March of 2014 are amazed at how happy and well adjusted the children are thanks to the loving care of Pastor Joassaint, the church from Andover and World Wide Village.
