This week has flown by with lots of good things continuing to develop and progress being made.

Last week, I was made aware that there is a young Haitian girl who is living with one of our missionary families who serves with us at SI. Previously in a tough and abusive situation, the family has taken in Katte, a beautiful 20-year-old girl, as one of their own. She cooks and cleans in exchange for her room and board.

She loves music, her friends and dreams of having a family of her own one day. She loves lots of sugar with her tea. Her heart’s desire is to become a teacher. She loves young children. Her parents are originally from Haiti, but she was born and raised in the DR, being fluent in both Spanish and Creole.

She recently had gone through an extensive (and expensive) process to obtain all the necessary paperwork she needed to apply to a local college. The school’s administration had confirmed all of the documents she would need and told her she had a future in education through their program. After all this scrambling to retrieve all the necessary documents and paying the expensive fees, she went to deliver them to the school, and they told her they “have no space for her”. Later on, we found out it’s because she is Haitian and the school refuses the acceptance of Haitians in any of their academic programs.

Katte was heartbroken and spent many days in tears over relinquishing the prospect of a future pursuing what she felt her heart had desired. Feeling stuck and without much hope of ever being able to pursue anything, she suffered with a bit of depression, really only coming out of her room to cook and clean and then retreating to sleep away her heartbreak.

Upon discussing this situation with the family, we agreed that it might be a good idea if Katte spent some time with me in the community and potentially was able to work alongside me as I continue to develop a ministry site dedicated towards supporting women in similar situations.

On Monday, I picked her up and we chatted for a while over tea and cookies. I asked of her dreams, her desires and her passions. She’s so sweet, gentle mannered and I see so much potential in her. She is full of ambition and dreams yet lacks the hope that she’ll ever see anything ever come to fruition due to her situation. She was raised going to church (her Mom is a Christian, her father is not) but didn’t truly come to know Christ until she was an early teen and now loves the Lord deeply. She is active and involved in the local church and desires to be part of something more.

I expressed my desires for her and shared my vision for ministry in the community and we both agreed that this could be an excellent partnership! She is relational, very intuitive and aware of others. And the best part is, she speaks Creole! One of my biggest concerns for this ministry project has been the language barrier that is often presented when working with Haitians who oftentimes don’t speak any (or very little) Spanish. Having someone who can translate my pitiful Spanish to Creole is HUGE.

We spent a couple of afternoons this week continuing to know each other, spending time in the community, visiting the houses of women and spreading our vision to each woman we encounter. We hope to begin a women’s group that will provide space for women to create something (probably a small craft project) while we teach a bible study and continue to invest and build relationships with women. This is so exciting to finally feel like we’re gaining some momentum in this area!

A local church, whom we partner with, rents a large room above the local bar (classy, I know) to host their Sunday evening church services. After sharing my vision with the pastor, he has eagerly agreed for us to use this space in the afternoon in the middle of the week so that we can host our bible study. Having a space to meet that’s close to where the women live is also HUGE.

We are still continuing to connect and establish presence in the community (which will take time, patience and consistency) before truly “launching” our women’s group but all of this week’s development has me fueled as I anticipate what doors the Lord is going to next open!