Together At Last
It’s been five years since the quake orphaned Glory Glory’s 52 children. Pastor Sam and our team have stayed the course.
Decisions had to be made for the care of the children. Initially, 25 children lived in the back of a church, and the remaining children lived with families from the church. Pastor Sam developed the vision. The children named their new home Glory Glory, for they were thankful they would have a home. Plans were made. Donations made. Land was purchased. More donations. Buildings built. More plans implemented.
The first group of 25 children from Port-Salut moved into the first of the children’s dorms in September 2013. These children and the care-givers developed a close bond as they took the exciting step of moving into their new home… Glory Glory orphanage, where they developed confidence that they would be feed, educated, and developed into potential future leaders in Haiti. In this process the children forged important relationships with each other and the caregivers, lifetime bonds of survival to success in moving forward into a new future.
In September 2014, the remaining 27 children moved into the second phase of the children’s dorms. These children had been living in different homes of church families. Relationships for them once again changed as they left their foster families of the last four years, and moved into their new home with new children, new family, a new life.
Pastor Samuel adeptly recognized the need to quickly integrate the children into the existing Glory Glory family system. The original 25 boys and girls dorm assignments were changed. Children from the original 25 were assigned dorms with children from the second 27, allowing the new boys and girls to develop relationships with the “older” children. This gave opportunity for the newer children to more quickly make friends, and feel a part of the existing community. In addition, their new brothers and sisters could “show them the ropes” on how the community works.
Like any family unit, this process takes time. Pastor Samuel and our team help the children continually adjust to their new lives. Finally together at last, the Glory Glory family is moving forward. The children have a loving home with brothers and sisters, friends and caregivers that are family, volunteers that love them, staff that will nurture and educate them. Now the children will be secure in the knowledge that they have their basic needs met, food, shelter, clothing. They will be educated, loved, and learn to become self-reliant. They will excel at becoming the much needed future leaders of Haiti.