Last year if you remember we built a house for Joseph NO-LEGS. He was a
handicapped 49-year-old man who lost his legs to Diabetes. His wife died in 2010
after the earthquake. In 2011 both his wife and daughter died. He was living in a
house that was in terrible repair. So with your help, we redid his whole house from
the bottom up. We even installed solar panels on his house so he started a small
business charging cell phones for people who do not have electricity.
Julio, a Blind 25-year-old has been working for Friar Suppliers for 5 years. He is a
translator in both our Medical Clinic and our Food Distribution room. He is a really
nice young man. He has been blind since birth. His parents left him by the side of
the road. He was brought to an orphanage until he was 11 years old. He then
ventured out on his own and tried to live by himself but he had one problem after
another. One afternoon in 2015 I met Julio. I asked him if he would like to be one of
our translators. I started asking him about being Blind in Haiti. He was explaining
that people push him and beat him up. He said that he would beg for food and some
days no one would help him. He explained that he didn’t have a friend in the world. He explained how lonely he was. He said every day is lonelier than the day before. He didn’t have a place to live so people would let him sleep outside their house. I told him I would try and help him out. The next day at our daily message I ask my 120 workers if they could do me a favor. I introduced Julio – this was his first day working for me- I told them his
history and asked if someone would be willing to be his friend. Julio almost died of
embarrassment! That day no one said anything about being his friend! A couple of
days later a young man who was Julio’s age asked if he could talk to me after work
that night. He said his name was Charles Vilsaint and that he knew Julio and said he liked him and said he would like to be his friend. The next day I had Julio stay for dinner and also Charles Vilsaint. Julio was really mad at me for interfering in his life and I told him TOUGH! So I introduced Charles to Julio and they seem to hit it off. I had told Charles that he was going to have to PUSH himself on Julio. They talked for about an hour in Creole. It really sounded like the conversation was going well. Both Julio and Charles were laughing! I had them brought home by motorcycle because it was dark and they didn’t live close to where we were working. The next morning I saw Julio and Charles walking together to work! I was
overjoyed! It had worked! Fast-forward 4 years and these 2 are really good friends even when I'm not in Haiti. They hang out daily. Charles cooks for Julio. They don’t live together but they live only about 5 minutes away from each other.
In early May I was praying about Julio and I wanted to improve his life. I started
texting Charles Vilsaint about possibly moving in with Julio. He explained that he
was living with his 12-year-old sister in a rented house. So I said how about I build
you a 3-bedroom house. One bedroom for Julio, one for him, and one bedroom for
his sister. The house would have a kitchen, bedroom, and a sitting room with solar
panels just like I had built for Joseph NO LEGS. He said he would have to think
about it. About a week later he replied that as long as it had a separate room for his
sister he would really like that a lot. This would be a little different than Joseph No
Legs because Joseph owned the land that we built his house on where Julio or
Charles does not own the land. I explained that I or WE (Friar Suppliers) would
buy a piece of property but that he would not own the property the Little Brothers
of St Therese would own the property but he could live there for the rest of their
life. I didn’t want them to be able to sell the property. They agreed with me.
On Mothers Day I had arranged with Ferdinand one of my main translators to have
a phone conversation with Ferdinand, Charles Vilsaint, and Julio. We talked for
about 45 minutes about what my proposal was. It was a rough conversation
because even though they speak good English their ability to understand me lacks
sometimes. So when that was happening Ferdinand would jump in on the
conversation and translate it into Creole. The next day Ferdinand notified me that
both Julio and Charles Vilsaint now totally understand exactly what we want to do.
They just wanted to know WHY do I want to build them a house. I explained that it
was bad enough that he was Blind but that the house they were living in was not fit
for a human according to me. (Next month I'll have a picture of where they were
living, the pictures had not been sent to me yet). I told them because of your
handicap that I felt that you already were living in HELL and that I wanted to
make your lives easier. I already send food each month for Julio and Charles
Vilsaint thanks to all of you Friar Suppliers. I also will send twin sheets, pillows, pots, pans, and cooking utensils. I'm sure the stuff he has is garbage. Our local
Salvation Army has good CHEAP stuff. This month you will notice a NEW LIST of
Haiti needs. I do update the list because our needs change.
This past 6 months we added 2 floors to a building we built last year. We added 4
bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. So we added 16 more beds. Last year we maxed out
the number of beds that we have with the Little Brothers. This was our largest group ever with 55 missionaries coming. Only 2 nurses came this time when
usually we have 7 so I know next year will be more. That’s why you will see twin
sheets, full sheets, and queen sheets. A minimum of 16 pillows preferably NEW. We
also like to have a light blanket to put on the bed as in the middle of the night it
does cool down to the 60’s,
The cost of this project is a little more than building the house for Joseph No
Legs because we have to buy the land. Total should not exceed $25,000 but for a 3-
bedroom house with the land I don’t think that is bad. I currently have $4,200
towards this project. Could you please pray about making this a reality? By putting
solar in his house he can earn a small amount of money by charging people's cell
phones. Most people bring their phones and pay to have them charged. Also if you
have any ideas for me I'm always interested. Just call or email me.
Julio and his current home
Comments