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nieces of itslate founder Fr. BernardReiser. Here's what theyhad to say during their firsttrip to Haiti in May 2012:

~ Ann Brau

Our firstday! Wespentmost of ittraveling,so wedidn’t get

a chance to seemuch of Haitiexcept for whenwe were comingin for our landingand on our shortdrive on our “taptap” from theairport to thehouse. As wewere landing, Iwas struck byhow beautiful thecity looked fromthe air. Largelysurrounded bymountains, it washard to believe

there could be so muchpoverty in such a beautifulsetting. But reality set inafter we left the airport andsaw villages of tin shanties,dirt roads covered withlitter, and signs of poverty

in every direction welooked. The Haitianpeople we have met so farare friendly andaccommodating, and weare blessed to be stayingin a guesthouse with

Fr. Reiser’s Nieces take to the streets of Haiti

Ann Brau

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delicious food and airconditioned bedrooms..

~ Ann

How can I begin todescribe a day likeyesterday? A daysurrounded by a city madeup of dirt-packed roads,garbage everywhere,children with visible signsof malnutrition andphysical impairments thathad never received medicalcare, people of all agesliving in tin shanties withdirt floors, leaking roofs,

no windows, no beds, nofurniture and no sign offood to be eaten, many of

them living 6-8people in these darkone-room shacks,elderly people sittinginside dark homes oroutside in the hotsun with nobody tolook after them,small childrencarrying buckets ofwater weighing morethan themselvesfrom our watertrucks to their“homes,” countlesschildren with noclothes at all,children playing insewage-infested

waters and walkingbarefoot over filth andgarbage, small babies left

Amongst it all, there was a presence of God

5The little red truck that could..... save more more lives every day.

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crying and alone in darknesswhile their mothers were outgetting water for their families,no bathrooms or running water,no hope for the future.

And yet, children running fromall directions to greet us,children with huge smiles ontheir dirty faces begging forhugs, wanting to be held,tugging us from all sides, nakedchildren

finding joy in sitting under thewater trucks drinking the waterdribbling down the back of thetruck or trying to catch it in

small buckets, children wanting to tell us their names, ask us our names, play gameswith us, babies that were happily willing to be scooped up in our arms and stay forendless periods of time, children climbing into the newly-fetched buckets of water withdelighted grins on their faces as they splash in the cold water, children joyfully followingus through the garbage-filledstreets, alleys and beaches gladlyposing for pictures as weexamined their lives and theirhomes, children who foundhappiness in a street, city, countrythat has so little to offer and solittle hope for the future.

And amongst it all, there was apresence of God…

It can’t be described. I couldn’tbear to be there, yet I couldn’tbear to leave—all in the samebreath. Words can never dojustice to the experience. Not evenpictures can explain it. Yet I sharea few with you.

Blessings,Ann

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~ Joyce

We were asked yesterday to choose one word to describe ourday.

The first word that came to my mind was grit, probably becauseI was so dirty when asked to think of a word! I had grit on myhands from turning cartwheels with the kids, grit between myfingersfrom

holding naked children, grit onmy shorts from holding childrenwho ran through garbage andsewage with no shoes, grit on myface from dirt blowing fromunpaved roads, grit in my nosefrom breathing smells that comefrom no access to sewagesystems.

Not to mention the grit that ittakes the people of Cite Soleil tosurvive from day to day.

It’s one thing to imagine what itwould be like to live without water, but quite another thing to carry 50 pound buckets of

water through narrowalleyways to shanties to lift thatburden from a skinny child,pregnant woman, or elderlywoman, and then turn aroundand do it all again and again.

But then another word cameto my mind as I was reflectingon the Gospel of John 15:“This is my onecommandment, that you loveone another as I have lovedyou…. You did not choose mebut I chose you.”

This is my one commandment, that you love one another

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This is the first time in my 42 years on earth that I have felt like I could quite literally bethe hands of Christ in this world. “For I was thirsty and you gave me water to drink.” Itwas so simple and pureand good and true. So Ichanged my word of theday to HANDS.

God used my hands to givewater to the thirsty. Howincredible is that? Godused my hands to holdbabies needing love. Godused my hands to play withchildren looking forvalidation. God used myhands to lift heavy bucketsonto women’s heads sothey could cook, drink,bathe and feed their families. God used my hands to hold a water hose and fillbuckets.

God used my hands to move buckets into place and out of the way. God used myhands to show his love. It’s easy to smile in Cite Soleil because all the children aresmiling at you. In fact, I couldn’t stop smiling for the first half of the day. And then wewalked back to the furthest recesses of the slums. Back to where the sewage and muckstagnates. Back where people perch on outhouse structures over the ocean to go to the

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bathroom and where other children swimnearby because they have nowhere elseto swim. Back where people have tostruggle more than their neighbors just tocarry a bucket of clean water.

Where sharp corroded sheet metal andrusty nails poke out around every corner.

Back where pigs root, and chickenssquawk, and the barefoot kids wincebecause the ground is so treacherouswith sharp shells and garbage.

And I couldn’t smile anymore. My facewouldn’t move. But all the kids aroundme were still smiling.

As Fr. Reiser said, I can’t walk away from misery and do nothing.

Peace, Joyce

~ Ann

Change… Tonight I was recallingan event that happened yesterday.I paused and had to be sure—was itonly YESTERDAY that we did ourwater truck delivery?

How could only one day havepassed and yet I have changed somuch? Who could have told meeven one day ago that today I’d berubbing lotion over the bodies ofsick and dying women of all agesranging from younger than my owndaughters to women older than myself and be completely comfortable with it?

I can’t walk away from misery and do nothing.

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And how could I have known I would have the opportunity to visit a school that mybeloved late uncle helped to fund and see 625 smiling faces of children, being taught in

classroom settings that areprimitive compared to what weare accustomed to at home andthey were thrilled to meet us?

I visited a medical clinic so farbehind United States standardsthat there was no comparison, butyet I found myself truly impressedwith what they DO with what littlethey have. And finally, that Iwould go to an orphanage filledwith so many sick and dyingbabies, hold them in my arms andfeed them and love them andsomehow be able to walk away

broken-hearted at the end of the day only comforted by the fact that I WILL be back tosee them again?Everything about today was so detached from my “real” world but yetso completely comfortable for me to do in the world I live in here in Haiti.

I think our Lordis allowing me toexperience thisknowing that Iwill go home a“changed”person. Mypicture of whatFather Reiser sawhere in Haiti,what moved him,and whatinspired him towant to helpthese people is so much more clear to me. The importance of what we are doing atReiser Relief has deepened.

My interest in continuing Father’s mission has turned into a passion to continue. WeARE needed here in Haiti.

Blessings, Ann

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~ Joyce

My word for today is RESILIENCY Myword for today is RESILIENCY.Today we drove to Reiser Heights; aschool that Reiser Relief supports. Itis in the mountains above Port-au-Prince, so I was able to take in thebeautiful Haitian countryside andeven catch a couple of ‘cool’breezes.

On our way to Reiser Heights (we

rode in the back of a pick up part of our waythere…brought me back to my farm days!), Inoticed a woman with one leg begging forhelp frompassing drivers.And I wasstruck that this

was the first ‘beggar’ I have seen in Haiti. I truly seemore beggars in downtown Minneapolis than in Port-au-Prince and Cite Soleil. The Haitians have anincredible resiliency that I am coming to admire. If abuilding is too structurally damaged to use, they pitch atent along side it and set up shop or housing on thesame land.

If they need to make money, they find something,ANYTHING, to sell or peddle. If they need topitch a pile of rocks into a dump truck and theydon’t have a bobcat, they use a shovel. If theydon’t have electrical lines to their home, theystring their own. If they don’t have tillable landon which to grow crops, they grow them onhillsides, in pots and in crevices. If they can’tafford a butcher, they butcher on their own right

Reiser Heights School

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in the street. If there is no seaton the bus, they hang off theback. If they don’t have achainsaw, they use and ax. Ifthey don’t have an ax they use amachete. They don’t wait for ahand out or assistance or aid orthe Red Cross, they just makedo.

The kids at the school today had

no electricity, no flushing toilets,no iPads, cell phones, whiteboards, and sometimes nopaper or pencils. But they areresilient. They learn and makedo with what they have. Wepassed out candy and stickers,and the kids were so cute,sticking them to their hands,foreheads, tummies and noses.

There is something soincredibly refreshing inthis resiliency. I live in aworld filled withregulations, protectiveservices, social services,insurance, lawsuits,ordinances, judgments,laws and programs. Notthat any of this is bad; itmakes us safer. But doesit make us too safe?Does it make usdependent? Does itmake us reliant? I’ll say

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this, it sure was fun to ride in the back of a pickup truck again, just like I used to do as akid with the bull calves on our way to the Sales Barn.

I read a beautiful devotion in a book todaycalled “God is No Stranger.”“Father,

They say I am poor.Thank you, Father.May Ialso be poor in spirit, that I may inherit thekingdom of God.”

What kind of world would we live in if we allthanked God for everything that we view as amisfortune? Peace, Joyce

God was everywhere ~Ann

Similar to questioning as a little girl why SantaClaus didn’t bring Christmas presents to poorpeople, I’ve always questioned why God could

allow for there to be poor people in theworld. Today, as we were driving up toReiser Heights, a school founded by FatherReiser, I finally realized that God had notforgotten the people of Haiti. As weclimbed higher and higher into the hills ofHaiti, God was everywhere.

He was in the clouds that formed aroundthe tops of the mountains, He was in the

lush green treesand plants thatadorned theroadsides as wedrove higherand higher, Hewas in thevalleys linedwith cropsmeticulouslytended by hand,

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by Haitian hands, and when we finally arrived at Reiser Heights, He was in the eyes ofthe children that greeted us. Sometimes it takes things less than perfect for us to be ableto see what is truly good. And today, God looked down on the world and saw that allwas good. Blessings, Ann

~ Joyce

My word of the day is MINISTRY. We started our day at asunrise worship service in a tent that is almost beyonddescription. The Haitians are so unabashed in worshipand so filled with the Holy Spirit. It set the tone for abeautiful day. After breakfast we traveled to Titanyen, avillage outside of Port-au-Prince where Grace Village islocated. On theway there westopped at a

school with dirt floors, no bathrooms, noplayground, no food, and hundreds of children.There are so many opportunities to make such ahuge difference in Haiti.

We also stopped at a mass grave where tens ofthousands of Haitians were buried, unidentified,after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

One of our Haitian guides and translators,Wilson, shared the story of how he lost 55classmates in the earthquake. He had stepped

out of his school to buy abottle of water, and was acrossthe street to witness thecollapse of his three-storyschool that killed all of thestudents in his class.

He also lost his father in theearthquake. The next wordsout of his mouth afterdescribing his losses were, “Igive thanks to God.” What an

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incredible example of faith. God calls him to great things.

In Titanyen I had the opportunity to servethe elderly through what I will callguerilla health care and meals onwheels. Guerilla health care involves 3untrained women (me, my sister Ann,and our teammate Shelley), attemptingto minister to the needs of the forgottenelderly with Neosporin, powder, basins,peaches, Spam, straws, water,washcloths, clean sheets, clothing, andwet wipes. Shelley gave sponge bathswhile Ann and I applied powder and

distributed food and water in their shanties. Myheart was broken wide open when weministered to Antonia. A paraplegic, Antoniasuffers from bedsores and a fungal infection onher feet, and was on a flea-infested blanket ona filthy mattress soaked with her feces andurine. If a dog were found in such conditions inthe United States, the owners would be chargedwith animal cruelty. I couldn’t stop crying. Wedid what we could to clean her up, applyointment, change her bedding, pray with herand give her nourishment. But it was clear that what she truly needs is 24-hour care in

an elder care facility. This is not an optionfor Antonia…

After guerilla healthcare I set off on a 4-wheeler with our Haitian guide andtranslator Andrenoi. At age 29, Andrenoiis compassionate beyond his years andministers to the elderly.

Six days each week Andrenoi delivers hotmeals in Tupperware containers to 10suffering elderly in Titanyen. He will soonexpand his ministry to 20 elderly.

Serve the elderly through what I will call guerilla health care

Andrenoi

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Andrenoi supports his parents, brothers and sisters on his salary from Healing Haiti, andfeels so blessed to have the opportunity to do what he does. Half way through ourmeals on wheels deliveries

Andrenoi asked me, “What isyour ministry?” I have neverbeen asked that questionbefore and wasn’t sure how toanswer. I told him aboutReiser Relief and Fr. Reiser andthe ministries we support.

But, after all that I have seenthis week, I can honestly saythat the ministry closest to myheart is the elderly.

People like Antonia are belovedchildren of God, and as suchdeserve to live their final daysin dignity and love.

Thank you, Andreoi, forrevealing my ministry to me. Thank you, Haiti, for opening my eyes and heart to God’swill. Peace, Joyce

~ Ann

Today was our day of endings. First of all, it was our last full day in Haiti—our last dayto take in a few more pieces of this beautiful, complicated country.

We started with a 6 a.m. tent servicethat was anything but an ending. Itwas an inspiring start to our dayinside a huge white tent filled withpeople of all ages singing andpraising the Lord. Haitian people arefilled with the love of God, andwatching them praise His name is ajoyful thing to behold.

Nov 9th 2012 - It is with a heavy heart that we tellyou our dear friend Antonia has been calledHome. Please pray for Antonia, her family andfriends, and those from Reiser Relief and HealingHaiti that loved and cared for her. We rejoice thatGod has accepted her with open arms, and thatshe is finally free from suffering! Amen.

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Thankfully, the tent service gave us thestrength to witnesssome of the things weexperienced the restof the day.

Our first stop was atRedemptor School,another very poorHaitian school with somany needs but yet,like the other schoolswe have seen, it’sfilled with the smilingfaces of Haitian

children who seem to find the beauty in everyday despite a poverty-filled existence. We thenvisited the mass graves in Haiti made after the2010 earthquake.

It was painful to look out at the crosses andmemorials scattered over the mass grave and

think of the horrificway these thousandsof peoples lives hadended in theearthquake and evenmore painful as welistened to the storiesof some of theHaitian men with uswho shared theirstories about lovedones lost in theearthquake.

From there, we went to . It wassuch a contrast in comparison to what we’dseen so much of what we’d seen during the week—a beautiful complex of brightlycolored buildings and so much more building still taking place.

Besides the 43 smiling orphans we met who were so lucky to have been placed in sucha love-filled environment, there is a feeding center and plans for elder care, a church,medical clinic and much more. Good things ARE happening in Haiti.

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women & children carryeverything on their heads

from water to eggs

Ann and Joyce with ElderMoreland, principal at TerrePromise School

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Reiser Relief Inc has assisted in funding for the purchase of 16 lacers of land and fundsfor a feeding a center and currently working on funding for a future eldercare facility.Grace Village is owned and operated by Healing Haiti.

- Forty of the orphans Healing Haiticares for moved into Grace Village just before Christmas 2011! The children werethrilled to settle into their beautiful and comfortable new home. The children were sograteful for the support of so many and the goodness of God that have made GraceVillage a reality. Many of these children have lost their families to extreme poverty,hurricanes, cholera or AIDS. Through HealingHaiti and it's donors, God provides for needsof the 56 children now living at Grace Villageby furnishing clean water, food, school andmedical care. We are so honored to be able tobe the hands and feet of Christ to thesechildren and they are such a joy to us

Most of these orphan children will never beadopted and so we have committed to equipping them to live a God centered life... onewith significance. By caring for their spiritual needs, their personal needs, educatingthem and eventually teaching them a skill or trade, they will be able to be self sufficientand provide for not only themselves but their future family. Our goal is to raise up the

next generation of Haitians leadersthat will help build a better future forall.

Construction of Phase I of GraceVillage in Titanyen, Haiti is complete!The two dormitories, cisterns andFeeding Center now are home to 58children with the ability to feed anadditional 75-125 street childreneach day.

We have finished some aspects ofPhase II as well. The Host MissionaryHome is complete and theMedical/Dental Clinic is scheduled to

be finished at the beginning of 2013. The Integrated Aquaponic Tiiapia Farm incomplete and operating. It provides a constant source of protein and fresh vegetablesfor the children to eat. The temporary buildings for Grace Academy are complete andschool started on October 1st for 305 children!

Phase II will also include additional housing for children and orphaned elderly.

Feeding Center

Feeding Center

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But, sadly, the next part ofour day was back to allabout endings. We madevisits to sick, elderly peopleliving in one-room hutswho were sleeping onfilthy, flea-infestedmattresses on the dirtfloors (if they were luckyenough to have a mattressat all), with soiled clothes,painful bedsores, little orno food and water, andlittle or no loving care.

What we were able to doto help these elderlypeople in their final stagesof life were so small, yetthey were better than thealternative of nothing atall. In the United States,we rightfully put so muchemphasis on dying withdignity, and to many poorelderly people in Haiti,there is no dignity at all in dying--only loneliness, hunger, thirst, filth, and pain. It wassuch a tragic thing to view on our last day in Haiti.

Yet, maybe God had that in hisplan for us, because now, besidesleaving Haiti with a passion tohelp the children of Haiti, we areleaving with a passion to help theelderly.

I have truly been blessed to havethe opportunity to see, hear, andtouch Haiti, and I am filled with asense of urgency to come backhere. There is so much left to do,and so many hands are neededto complete God’s work. I thank

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Father Reiser for “giving me the nudge” to go to Haiti, and I thank the people of Haitifor being so willing to share a piece of each of their liveswith me.

My deepest gratitude and love to every person I have met onthis trip, and my sincere thanks to those who have supportedour mission and continue to do so.

I will end my Haiti blog with a quote from Mother Teresa:“Ifwe want the poor to see Christ in us, we must first see Christin the poor.”

Blessings, Ann

-To provide relief, hope and dignity to the poor, elderly and homeless people of Haiti.

-To provide relief from malnutrition and water born illness by providing food and cleanwater to women, children and elderly living in slums and impoverished situations.

-To provide hope for the poorest children and orphans by funding education andhousing.

-To strive, by the Grace and Greatness of God, to be the hands and feet of Christ inserving the most vulnerable Haitians.

Reiser Relief Inc. PO Box 48096 Coon Rapids, MN 55448 (763)280-3433

http://reiserrelief.org