It’s just
before five am in the northwest zone of Haiti, and for the most part the campus
of northwest Haiti Christian mission is dark and quiet. For the most part. As
you walk down the hill towards the back of campus, you can start hearing voices
raised in praise and worship, praying to God for their family and friends. The
voices you are hearing belong to the amazing group of ladies that work all day
preparing food for all of the people in our programs. Each and every day, these
six ladies work tirelessly to produce three meals for all of the children and
adults across all of our programs. Six amazing ladies cooking around 1300 meals
a day. Six Haitian ladies and one blan
working to feeding the masses. And that blan would be me.
Several weeks ago, the mission started a new
plan to produce food for all of our programs. In the past we have had multiple
kitchens running at one time, one kitchen for each program, which creates a
nightmare as far as keeping all the different kitchens staffed and supplied.
The new idea has been to create one central kitchen. One
place to staff and supply, and one place to cook food for all the programs that
we provide for every day. This has been a massive undertaking, not only
creating a new kitchen space from what was once an empty storage area, but
working to get six independent cooks to work together towards one common goal.
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the last few weeks, many things have gone
wrong, but I have also stood amazed at how the group has pulled together and
has gotten food out, making sure no one goes hungry. Below is just a brief idea
of what our “average” day looks like:
Each and
every morning the ladies and I gather in the new central kitchen to cook meals
for all of our programs that we feed every day. Every weekday morning, we have
2 hours to produce food for about 700 people, including the kids in our
orphanage, our Gran Moun, my kids in the Miriam Center and the over 400 kids who
attend our school across the street. Working in the utter darkness of pre-dawn
Haiti, using cellphone light and candles, these amazing ladies perform an
intricate ballet, cleaning pots and pans, gathering food for the morning and
preparing to cook.
Soon
the crackle of fire can be heard as they light the many charcoal fires for all
the pots they need, the fires do add some light, but also add a ton of extra
heat (have I mentioned that its already been in the 80’s here?) but the ladies
persevere. Soon heavy pots are put on to boil, and amidst the clattering of
pots and pans and the other sounds of cooking there is interspersed prayers,
singing and laughing. But at all times they know the clock is ticking. There
are kids who need breakfast before school, kids who need to eat so they can
take morning medicine. Whatever challenges or problems occur, we adapt and
overcome and continue on. We have hungry people that we need to feed, and they
don’t care much for excuses. As the cooking continues, I do what I can to help.
Cleaning pots and pans, stoking fires, lifting pots in and out of the fire,
whatever I can do to help.
As seven
o’clock nears, the finishing touches are put on the food, then when it meets
with the approval of the cooks, one of the yard workers and myself grab the
heavy (did I mention these huge, hand forged pots weigh around 20 pounds
empty?), piping hot pots and start transporting them throughout the campus, to all of the different programs. Back and
forth, up and down the hill, we care until all of the pots are to their homes,
and as the hungry people start eating, we head back to the kitchen, where the
ladies are taking a couple minutes break in order to eat breakfast, then right
back to work cleaning and starting to cook lunch. About this time I start the
small generator which provides power to our two steam kettles (a new addition
to the mission) so we can start cooking the rice and beans which are pretty
standard for lunch here. The new 60 gallon kettles are really nice, allowing us to cook
in huge portions enough food for all the programs for lunch. (The ladies are a
little skeptical of the new pots and what they can do, but they are starting to
come around. One of my plans for the near future is to work with the pots, and
hopefully show the ladies some new ideas of things we can use them for,
hopefully to make their life a little easier.)
Lunch is a
little easier; we only have to serve around 400 meals by noon. As noon
approaches, I’m once more transporting mass quantities of food, either by pot
or 5 gallon bucket (depending on what’s for lunch) throughout the campus. As
the last of the food goes out, the ladies return to cleaning, and then usually
have an hour or two to rest before starting to cook for supper at 6. I have to
admit, once lunch is served to all of the programs, I usually sneak off and eat
lunch with my missionary friends upstairs.
As the
afternoon wears on, we’re once more cooking, making the last push to get supper
out to the 200 permanent residents. As the last bucket is delivered, the ladies
clean up the kitchen, gather their belongings and start walking home. Of course
the really sad part is that all of these ladies have families, so I’m sure they
have to start cooking again once they get home.
My time in
the kitchen has been very rewarding; I am learning a lot of secrets to Haitian
cooking. I now feel fairly confident about my ability to make Haitian Spaghetti
(Imagine spaghetti noodles tossed in a thin sauce of tomato paste, cooked with
garlic, dried fish and shredded hot dogs, and topped with onions). I have
mixed and shaped dough to make dumplings, have boiled a heap of bean and made
Pate (deep fried dough, filled with shredded fish or chicken and vegetables.
Think of it like a Haitian “Hot Pocket”).
I am quite the oddity down in the kitchen, not only because I am the
lone blan, but as a man it’s pretty unheard of to be cooking. Then again, I’ve
never been one for following traditions J
As the central kitchen matures, I am already
planning for ways to make the kitchen run smoother, and make my cooks lives a
little easier. I’m already looking to hire two new cooks, to allow us to give
each of the ladies some days off during the week. I’m working on upgrading the
supplies and cooking tools they have, even little things like hot pads to use
when moving hot pots, instead of using folded cardboard, can make a world of
difference. I’m already looking into
improving our nutrition across the board, to make sure all of our residents are
eating well and getting all the nutrition that they need.
One of the things that I’m very excited about
is the possibility of adding some supplements, such as the Moringa leaf (a
super, vitamin packed leaf that grows here in Haiti, and when dried and added
to food provides an amazing amount of vitamins and minerals) to the meals.
Anything we can do to make pour food the most nutritious it can be, while
keeping in mind the bottom line. It’s very unfortunate, but a fact of life that
we have a lot of people in our programs, and very limited funding to feed them.
However, I am convicted by Jesus’ commandment to Peter in John 21:17:
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “do you love me?” He said “Lord, you know all things;
you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”
Now, I don’t
want you to think I have missed the point of this passage, I know Jesus wasn’t
just talking about providing food, it’s more about loving and tending to all of
God’s children, providing for their needs, and being an living example of
Christ’s love to all. But, the children downstairs in the Miriam Center are my
kids, the Gran Moun are my grandparents, and despite how much I may not want to
admit it, I even care for the kids in the orphanage (most of them, anyway).
These people are my family, and I will do whatever I can, whatever it takes to
make sure they are taken care of.
Would you do
any less for your family?
