“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:12-14
The past Saturday’s were a time that I wrote a prayer and this year, I will either highlight a memory from a particular Haitian school or give you a short update on Haitian news.
Petit Amis; I have heard this pronounced by a North American ‘Pet-it-Amos’ and that would be incorrect. I have seen this School name spelled three different ways and had Haitian friends give me three different translations but they all pronounced it ‘Pet-ee Ah-me’ and while a few translated it to mean ‘boyfriend’ I prefer the translation that feeding program director LeFleur told me ‘little-friend’.
When my mom passed away, I started the ‘Brinkmeyer Memorial Fund’ with Trinity HOPE and my family, a few close friends and a Bible study group in Nebraska began to sponsor Petit Amis Lutheran School in Petionville. This school was only about 10 minutes from where I lived and worked when I lived in Haiti. I have visited there a few times.
Petionville is a suburb of Port-au-Prince, located to the South on Mont Kadeneau with an elevation of 7,036’. This mountain is part of the Massif de la Selle range. The attached photo was taken the last time that I visited Petit Amis and the man in the right of the photo is LeFleur, who was with me on that visit and served as a translator. He is also a Feeding Program Director. At the time, I was interviewing a few students and you can tell it was hot in the principal’s office at 10 in the morning; sweat on my brow and my tee shirt was in the process of turning two shades of brown. How hot was it? I don’t recall. People frequently ask me what the weather is like in Haiti today, and the forecast for Petionville today is a high of 89 with a low of 69, with a slight breeze from the south.
If you have seen photos of houses seemingly stacked on the mountainside of Petionville…that is what Petit Amis looks like, three levels up from the bottom. To get there is a three block walk down a steep hill. Getting down there is easier than getting out.
One last bit of information about Petit Amis. After the earthquake in 2010 there was a significant increase in attendance in Haitian schools and the amount of funds needed for this school exceeded the amount coming from the ‘Brinkmeyer Memorial Fund’ and Trinity HOPE moved our group to being a Partial sponsor with ‘Honor of Great & Grandchildren of Joyce Reitmeier’. Today, our two groups are feeding the 207 young missionaries attending this Lutheran school in Petionville. If you, your family or group would be interested in being a school sponsor, please go to the Trinity HOPE website and see the list of OUR SCHOOLS and find out how to join us.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay