Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Outside the Bowl, Haiti and the Stones

0 comments Posted by Brandon at 6:09 PM


Outside The Bowl (Outsidethebowl.org)
Simply stated, the purpose of Outside the Bowl (OTB) is feeding people in parts of the world where extreme hunger is a significant problem, especially with children. In order to achieve this purpose OTB will be engaged in the creation of self sustaining food production facilities or Food Centers. The purpose of these Food Centers is to provide large quantities of prepared meals to the poor and underprivileged in the community in which each facility is located.1
Currently, Outside the Bowl is partnering with North West Haiti Christian Mission (www.nwhcm.org) in the Port-de-Paix area of Haiti to refurbish an existing structure (a former orphanage) into a food production facility. 
Haiti
The Republic of Haiti was established following a successful slave revolt in 1804, from France, making it, at the time, the second sovereign nation in the western hemisphere following the United States.  90-95% of Haitians are of predominately African decent3.  Haiti has been plagued with political violence for most of its history.  This lends it to be the poorest nation in the western Hemisphere.
            80% of Haiti’s population lives on less that $2 a day, 50% on less than a dollar.   Haiti ranks 203 out of 228 countries in GDP per capita at $1,300 a year.  Comparatively, GDP per capita in the US is $46,4002 (10th in the index, $127 a day).
            The two official languages of Haiti are French and Creole.  French is spoken by most educated Haitians and is spoken in schools and throughout the government.   Creole is spoken by the entire population.  Haitian Creole is French based and contains influences from tribal African languages and Spanish.  Of persons 15 and older 53% can read and write3. 
            80% of Haitians claim to be Catholic, 16% claim to be Protestant but over half the population practices Haitian Vodou3.  Haitian Vodou is polytheistic with Roman Catholic and African influences.  Veneration of the dead (ancestral worship) is practiced as part of Vodou3.  In simple terms, “Haiti is 80% Catholic, 20% Protestant and 100% Vodou.”
            Port-de-Paix is a city in Northern Haiti with a population of 250,000.  It is a large exporter of bananas and Coffee3.  OTB’s primary partner organization, North West Haiti Christian Mission, operates primary schools, orphanages, medical clinics and many other programs in the area. 
Stones
We are partnering with OTB to be the representatives for the Food Distribution Center in Port-de-Paix Haiti.  Our primary job will be to identify and asses potential partner organizations that are interested in using the food prepared at the food center to augment their current ministry.  

1Outside the Bowl Business Plan, 2CIA world fact book- Haiti, 3Wikipedia-Haiti
 

The Background

0 comments Posted by Jessica at 5:59 PM


Restless. That's the best adjective to describe how Brandon and I have felt for the last year. When we purchased our home in Fallbrook in October 08, we thought we would be settling down for a few years. But God had something else in mind.

Let me give you some background. Going to a Christian school all my life, we had missionaries come speak pretty often. After squirming through their boring lectures, strange stories, and looking at the funny way they dressed, I told God, "never! Never will I do that, so don't even ask me!!" So, fast-forward to a few years after Brandon and I were married. He casually mentions he thinks we will do mission work one day, not knowing the way I feel about it. In fact, when we quit our jobs to travel for 6 months, he was convinced it would happen sooner than later. I wrote his feelings off, a bit nervous though that God might be calling him to it and not me. However, my passions radically changed the past year and half due to prayer. I prayed two things consistently:
1. That His will would be done in my life-not just what I wanted. And, if my will didn't line up with his, that He would change my desires.
2. That He would break my heart for what breaks His. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, Brandon was praying the exact same second prayer too!!
Turns out, God answers prayer big time. So what do you do with two hearts that are breaking for the poor, oppressed, and down trodden? We weren't thinking anything drastic-we just wanted to know what was going on in the world out there. It was a fascination similar to reading novels. You like to see how the story plays out in a characters life from the comfort of your couch with a bowl of ice cream. So we decided to take a class at North Coast Church called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement . At this point, Brandon and I had switched roles. He was just liking the idea of getting a tractor, some farm animals, and a huge storage shed for the backyard-and I was itching to go. On the way to the first Perspectives class I asked Brandon, "What would it take for us to go be missionaries?" He replied simply "If someone asked me directly". That night as we were chatting with other students in the class we met a guy named Steve. He introduced himself and asked us some questions about who we are and why we were taking the class. Then he said, with out missing a beat, "I work with an organization in China called Bring me Hope. What do you guys think about coming to China and working with the kids?" We said we would pray about it. Once we got in the car, I exploded with excitement. I told Bran, can't you see God directly answered you! He knew you needed someone to ask you directly, and He brought Steve along to do the job! The Lord was moving....

So through that class we met with several amazing organizations, and continued to pray for guidance. We asked for wisdom and discernment as to where He wanted us to go. He answered our prayers, but it took us a while to realize what the answer was. It wasn't a specific place in the world, but rather He wanted obedience. He was working on our hearts, teaching us what it means to wait upon the Lord, and trust in Him. Something that to us sounded easy, until we were asked to live it out. While we thought we were ready to leave, how could we go with a house? So, in an act of obedience, we put our house up for sale. Mind you, we are in one of the worst housing crisis' of the century, and God sold our house in THREE days!!  

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