HAITI UPDATE: 2/14/10

If you’ve followed this blog, you’ve heard about James from time to time. James doesn’t know how old he is. He looks like he’s 4. A dentist looked at his choppers and said he’s probably 7. He acts like he’s 17.
After getting his head smashed by a block and undergoing surgery, James had a gash running from just next to his right eye alll the way up into his head. Shortly after the quake and his surgery, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative delivered to us a groggy, bandagd Li’l James. We had sparingly little biographical info on James, though we did have a few leads.
James has miraculously healed, and become the Mayor of the Transition Village. He’s a great character. Funny. Joyful. Mischievous. Bright. Sweet. He has stolen the heart of every person who’s come to visit, and the entire staff at the OTV. To be honest, we’ve become emotionally attached to this little guy.
From the beginning, however, our first priority for the children entrusted to us has been to safely return them to family, if safe and at all possible. Even when re-unification is hard on us.
Our initial efforts at tracking James’ folks – if alive – proved fruitless. Last Friday, we decided to ramp up our efforts under the direction of Moise and I. This morning, a group of 10 people from the OTV took little James and hit the streets in the area where James was found.
On the way our driver called a friend, who met us on a street in the area. Then another joined us who knew the area. We drove deep into neighborhood where we believed James lived. At the top of a one-way we got out and started asking around. James was holding on to me with anticipation because he now remembers this is close to his home. A 10 yr old girl sees James, listens to us, and says that she knows someone who may know something about James’ family. We wind around and find a cousin. He points us further into the neighborhood. Moise follows a lead and disappears. Then he pops back to the rest of us with 3 ladies and a HUGE smile on his face. Who are the 3? James’ aunt, grandma, and mother! Can you believe it?! James beamed. The smile on his face was priceless. By the grace of God, a family was re-united one full month after the quake! By then, a crowd had gathered staring at the scene in utter disbelief. Moise prayed over the crowd to give thanksgiving. It felt so so good!
Today is day 3 of 3 of prayer and fasting. I don’t know all of the prayers the Lord has answered. We do know He’s answered many and many more answered prayers will come. And we credit Him with this victory for little James and his family.
We lost a precious little part of our village today. And the Kingdom gained a great big W.
Look, there’s a lot of tough stuff going on here in Haiti. But there are victories. They are daily. They are huge. And they inspire!
Count this as a Big One. Thanks for not quitting on James and his family. Au revoir, James. May God richly bless your life, little man.