Vanessa Carpenter agreed to go on a mission trip to Haiti with a friend in 2001. Her first question was, "Where's that?" She'd heard of the unrest, danger, and violence of Haiti in the news, but felt no connection to it. Since that first trip Vanessa has made 48 trips to the tiny country to develop and oversee the work of Three Angels Children's Relief, a nonprofit orphanage, school, and humanitarian work located near Port-au-Prince.
A Ravaged Nation
Located in the Caribbean Sea, Haiti is vulnerable to natural disasters that claim thousands of deaths. Vanessa has been there with the children during hurricanes, floods, droughts, severe storms, and mudslides. Sanitation is poor, small children stand in line to dip contaminated well water for their families, and homeless families sleep in ditches or makeshift shacks.
Most people live in poverty and die before age 50. Families are overwhelmed with lack of money, food, employment, housing, and a way to care for their children. "It's a sad reality that some of our children were found discarded, left to die among the trash of the streets," Vanessa says. Vanessa Carpenter and her husband Tom knew that something needed to be done to help, and they found a way their family could do it.
The Carpenters started Three Angels Children's Relief in 2001 and opened Angel House orphanage in 2003 to help children like little Carolyn. She was literally picked up by a man who had passed by her for several days as she lay on a pile of garbage in the street, covered by flies, barely holding on to life. In many parts of Haiti, the few doctors, hospitals, and health care facilities are available only to the wealthy.
Three Angels Children's Relief takes in the children who are left to die. Isaac caught a tissue-destroying virus at the age of four. His legs and fingers were amputated. Baby Marie, another child found on the street, was diagnosed with a hole between her esophagus and lung, a short arm, club hand, scoliosis, and other medical problems.
The Carpenters work to obtain medical visas, provide transportation, and enlist the help of medical doctors, foster families, and therapists in the United States who donate time and money to help Haitian babies and families who can never repay them.
Bernay, a tiny Haitian baby, flew with Vanessa to the United States for repair of his cleft palate. He's a fortunate baby; many others with handicaps are abandoned. "Children born with handicaps are considered possessed. There's a lot of voodoo in Haiti . . . some people consider you evil if you help these people," says Vanessa.
Voodoo is an officially recognized religion in Haiti. Lynne Warberg, who documented Haitian voodoo for 10 years, says, "One common saying is that Haitians are 70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant, and 100 percent voodoo." Three Angels Children's Relief works in this setting to save children's lives, support Haitian families, educate the children, and introduce people to God.
A Selfless Family
Tom and Vanessa Carpenter live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with their large family. They've been married for 25 years and are celebrating that milestone with a trip to Haiti for the opening of the new school sponsored by Three Angels. Tom and Vanessa have a family of 12, including biological and adopted children, and have foster parented 161 different children. Vanessa travels to Haiti every two months, working there for two or three weeks at a time. Tom then juggles his job, supervises homework, arranges outside help for the children for after school hours, and handles all the things Vanessa would normally do. This is a family ministry, not just hers.
It began with the decision to use all their savings to rent a facility in Haiti, hire nannies, and buy supplies. The Carpenters enlist other Christians in helping with the family, buying school supplies for the impoverished children who attend the new school, and providing monetary support to pay for the Haitian Christian nannies who care for the children in the orphanage.
Vanessa knows what it means to trust God. When she leaves for Haiti, she crams her well-worn suitcases with supplies to leave there, and returns with little more than the clothes she wears. She lives a life of contrasts. In the United States her family lives with everything they need. In Haiti, the families live with almost nothing. "In Haiti, all we have is God's hope," she says. The world of the Carpenter children isn't filled with the latest video games, or private lessons, or trips to amusement parks. Instead, Tom and Vanessa teach them what it means to go where God leads, to live a life of passion, and to make a difference to families and children facing staggering poverty and despair in Haiti.
For additional information about this ministry log on to: www.threeangels.org.
Anita Smelser and Ruth Herron are freelance writers in Salem, Virginia.
OUTLOOK is a forum for responsible Christian writers. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Standard Publishing or THE LOOKOUT.
OTHER COLUMNS:
November 15, 2009 - Bringing Christ to French Guiana
November 1, 2009 - Walking the edge
October 18, 2009 - Watch what you say
October 4, 2009 - Proposing a new proverb
September 20, 2009 - Fear and trembling
September 6, 2009 - Elwyn
August 23, 2009 - Where did the Bible go?
August 9, 2009 - The public school: a local mission field
July 26, 2009 - Astonishing the judges
July 12, 2009 - Letting the past go
June 28, 2009 - Line up
June 14, 2009 - The path to spiritual growth
May 31, 2009 - A tribute to one of my heroes
May 17, 2009 - Silent soldier
April 19, 2009 - Operation Resensitization
April 5, 2009 - The temptations of ministers
March 8, 2009 - Conversation over shoes
February 22, 2009 - By their plurals you shall know them
February 8, 2009 - What is missing from your retirement plans?
January 25, 2009 - Turn the page
December 28, 2008 - Abba, Father
December 14, 2008 - Elementary truths
November 30, 2008 - The illusion
October 19, 2008 - Acting like a toddler
October 5, 2008 - Don’t miss this
September 21, 2008 - Foolish schemes
September 7, 2008 - God’s hand is everywhere
August 24, 2008 - The dance
August 10, 2008 - Strange land
July 27, 2008 - God’s amazing grace
July 13, 2008 - A best seller
June 29, 2008 - My grandfather’s clock and worship
June 1, 2008 - Reclaiming the name
May 4, 2008 - God is not our fairy godmother
April 6, 2008 - Success: what is it and who can measure up?
March 9, 2008 - Need to know
February 10, 2008 - The top three myths of singleness
January 13, 2008 - By invitation only
December 5, 2007 - Yes, Abbie, there is a Jesus
November 18, 2007 - 10 Ways to be a good Christmas customer
October 21, 2007 - The dividing line
September 23, 2007 - What do you fear?
September 9, 2007 - A life well lived
August 26, 2007 - To murmur, or not to murmur
July 29, 2007 - The cross and the Christian
July 15, 2007 - Turning the other cheek: still a valuable biblical principle
July 1, 2007 - Why the tie?
June 3, 2007 - The death of a son
May 6, 2007 - A prayer for the dying
April 8, 2007 - The omnipresent God
March 11, 2007 - Do the Amish have superheroes?
February 11, 2007 - What’s your black history?
January 14, 2007 - The split branch
December 31, 2006 - The house of regret
December 10, 2006 - The redemption of the innkeeper
November 26, 2006 - Too many choices
November 12, 2006 - Break the bashing habit: Learning to love the unsaved like Christ does: November 12, 2006
October 15, 2006 - Be ‘salt and light’ this Christmas!: October 15, 2006
September 17, 2006 - Who is a legalist?: September 17, 2006 Issue 38
July 23, 2006 - God speaks through our brokenness: July 23, 2006 Issue 38
June 25, 2006 - 'What I am looking for in my church leaders'6/25/06; Issue 26
May 28, 2006 - Walking in humility5/28/06; Issue 22
April 30, 2006 - If necessary, use words4/30/06; Issue 18
April 2, 2006 - God's correction about correcting4/2/06; Issue 14
February 5, 2006 - A mom, a mini-van, and a rapper's chant2/5/06; Issue 6
January 8, 2006 - Life for Jackie; January 8, 2006
December 11, 2005 - Christmas in China; December 11, 2005
November 13, 2005 - Alternate Christmas Giving
October 16, 2005 - Leaving regrets behind
September 18, 2005 - What kind of relationship?
