Doris has asked that I write the newsletters from here on the “front lines,” so here goes! For those who do not know already, we are the Drowley's: Ken, Marla, Samantha (Sam) and Maxwell (Max). We arrived at EGO on August 17, 2012. After fourteen months, we are still just getting our feet wet. It has been an amazing year! Our daughter, Sam, graduated with honors from high school in May and is now back in Jackson, MI, attending Spring Arbor University, so she is no longer here with us.
Don & Doris have been busy visiting family and friends, plus seeking medical attention and relaxing back in the states. Please continue to pray for them that they are encouraged and rejuvenated.
Summer has faded away and school has begun (for us here in Haiti – October 1st). Also, work teams are beginning to come again. We did not have any teams for September and October, so much of the work turned into routine maintenance and housekeeping. As far as projects go, the boy’s bathroom is almost finished. We have a team coming from Michigan the first week in November and we are hoping to finish this project. Next we will be adding on a bathroom to the baby dorm. If any of your organizations want to tackle this project, either financially or physically, please feel free to contact Gwen and we will give you the specifics.
The first Saturday of each month we celebrate birthdays for that month, and October had eight children with birthdays. It was quite the celebration with cupcakes, candy and games!
The hens are still laying about 40 eggs per day and we have broilers getting bigger every day. The cooks cannot wait to butcher them. With the high prices of food in Haiti right now, many people arrive at the gate each day looking for help with food or school. It is a difficult challenge to decide who needs the help. We are ever grateful for Madam Suze and her knowledge of the community. She is a great help as an administrator of the orphanage. We’re also thankful for the recent container of food paks sent by Lowell Yoder. These help us out so much!
We are growing here at EGO. The Haitian government that regulates orphanages has passed many new laws regarding how things are run and how adoptions are handled. We now have a crèche at EGO called Victory Glenn Creche. Most of you know it as the “baby dorm”. This is so we can continue to receive babies who are orphaned, abandoned, or in need. Since starting to accept babies again in January 2013, we are now up ten new faces.We also can no longer keep the children here at EGO once they reach the age of 18. Therefore, we must come up with some sort of transition housing and schooling for them so they can complete their education. The main objective is to get them reunited with their relatives, but in many cases this is not possible. Families live too far away from universities, professional schools, or have no room to take the children. It has been an interesting situation for us to deal with this summer. Please continue to pray for this transition.
With school starting, we are also having an outbreak of the flu. It even hit our house and we were down for about four-five days this past week. Many of the little children are battling the high fever and all are coughing and having runny noses. If any of you are like us, it is awful being sick. But these little guys are like the energizer bunny and they just keep going and going and going. It is amazing their energy level even when they do not feel good. Many of you have been praying along with us regarding a 40 foot container that was to be shipped over 14 months ago. It finally arrived at the end of September and brought with it the many tools and equipment needed for starting our woodworking and mechanical classes. Ken was able to start the woodworking portion by building benches/school desks for the school. Wishing we could attach about one hundred pictures of all the things that happened this month, but since we cannot, we will just let you plan a trip to EGO so you can see it all for yourselves!
the Drowley's
Editor’s Note: As you read “between the lines” above, you can see that there are so many areas in which you can be a huge help and blessing to EGO! We love to have teams visit EGO to help with work projects. We also are always so grateful for your financial gifts, either for general purposes or toward one of our ongoing “special projects”. Check out our updated website at www.ebenezerglennorphanage.com for more information on both! You can also contact me at 616-550-3469, by email at ego2haiti@gmail.com, or by “snail-mail” at 1726 Gun Club Rd, Caro MI 48723. Thank you!
