Haiti Lesson #16....God Provides Exactly What We Need

And my God will supply all your needs according to 

His riches in glory in Christ Jesus Philippians 4:19

Each day, the students had recess and the 4th graders played kick ball. The class is divided up into two teams and the game lasts a week and then the teams are changed. Each day the teacher, Mme Ryan announces the line up, who is up to kick first and what the score is so far for the week. These are some seriously competitive 4th graders!!!! They had so much fun for 20 minutes. They knocked almonds out of the trees for snacks. Almond trees have a fruit that is edible with a hard pit on the inside that must be cracked open to get to the almond. The kids would eat the outside and never did get to the nut. The fruit reminded me of peaches with the big pit on the inside. I am told they are bitter. From what I have learned, these trees originated in north Africa and made their way to Haiti with the Europeans. I am not exactly sure why I remember these tidbits but.....it is completely possible that God sent me to Haiti to learn about almonds. Almonds are not the only thing the kids ate during recess....

Michel

Lourdes under the almond trees

Mme Ryan

Lyse

Berlenda

On my first trip to the playground for kick ball, one of the girls (Marsha) approached me and asked me if I wanted some leaves. I asked "what would I do with them?" She very seriously said... "Eat them?" I asked her "Are they good?" and she looked at me like I was a little crazy and said"No...but they have vitamins in them" Then she showed me how they eat them. I honestly thought she was trying to trick me into eating those leaves.

Marsha

I pondered that all day. I wonder what she thought when my first concern over this "food" she was offering me was good? We have so many choices here in the US and we have so much that our "food" concerns are usually about taste and not what we need. In Haiti, they focus on the important things from food like actual nutrition. They approach food from the realization of hunger.  

I have no idea what kind of tree those leaves were from. I do not know if they had vitamins in them or not. I did try some and I can clearly state that they tasted terrible but God was providing His people with what they needed and they were not complaining about the taste. We are not good at noticing the very basics that God provides for us every single day. We would learn gratitude if we had to go without. The Haitian people are grateful for food because they truly have gone without.