|
Haiti 1 - 2020
I can honestly say that our Haiti 1 mission trip in February 2020 was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had in my life. How could it not be? It was a trip to a tropical island with 23 of my closest friends to do three of the things I love to do the most; talk about Jesus, love on orphans, and enjoy the beach. Well, there was also lots and lots and lots of work. The team was made up of an incredible mixture of these amazing college students, a bunch of my closest friends with their lovely daughters, and some of our other wonderful girlfriends. Our team was lead by my beautiful daughter Hannah and of course the incredible Matt Perry from Schools for Haiti.
We had originally planned to set up the sewing school and empty the bus when we got to Montrouis, but God had other ideas. We found out a week before we left that the sewing school would not be ready for set up, and the bus wasn't out of customs yet anyway. Thank the Lord we have an incredible team that flowed with last-minute changes. God knew that in the summer of 2020 Haiti was going to experience a serious shortage of food due to Coronavirus and riots the previous fall. His plan was for us to plant gardens to ensure that the children we care for in Haiti would have fresh vegetables and fruit when the need arose. So, our primary goal for the Haiti 1 trip became planting gardens. Thanks to the funding of my amazing Mother and Father in law, Marge and Jim McFadden, we were able to build gardening boxes and plant two very large gardens, one at Makencia's orphanage and one at the Grace School for Schools for Haiti. I love how Fish Company is not only about providing fish but teaching people to fish as well. The principal at Grace School changed the curriculum for the students mid-term to include lessons in planting and gardening so that these children could take their knowledge about gardening home and share it with their families.
This trip was so much more than just planting gardens and teaching a generation of children a new skill, though. On this trip, we threw a big birthday party for the children at Makencia's providing them with presents, games, toys, cake and even a pinata. We visited 3 different schools and hosted a VBS at each one, we took part in street evangelism and passed out bags of groceries to people in need, and we put on the first-ever women's conference in Montrouis.
We crammed so much into this week-long trip and I love that I was with a team of people that are as adventurous as we are. We ended up taking a hike up an aqueduct to the top of a mountain, a boat ride to an island off the coast, we went snorkeling in the middle of the Haitian bay, we prayed over 5 voodoo compounds and over the voodoo mambas as well, we loved on numerous orphans, laid hands on women in need, provided medical care to the people in the village, we worshiped on the beach each night and shared Jesus with anyone who would listen.
I loved this trip because we were forced to follow Holy Spirits lead, our agenda became His agenda and everything worked out according to His plan, not ours, and isn't that just the way it's supposed to be?
Haiti 2 - March 2020
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14.
God wants to heal the land of Haiti and He wants to use his body of believers to do it. We were so blessed in 2020 not just to go to Haiti once, but to go twice. It was our plan to empty our bus and set up our new sewing school on our Haiti 1 mission trip in February, but that was not God's plan.....and I am so glad His plan unseated ours. We took a team of just 5 of us on the Haiti 2 trip and it was everything you dream a mission trip should be. We worked hard, played hard, ministered to the people, loved on the children and worshiped our Savior.
It may have seemed to the outside world like odd timing, but God's timing is never off. The corona virus was just taking hold. As a matter of fact, I didn't know how serious it was until they took our temperature for a med check before they allowed us to enter the Country. But, once we got there, we didn't look back. We had a months work of worth to accomplish in less than a week.
We were so happy to be able to bless the people of Montrouis with not only the bus, but all the wonderful donations on the bus, including more than 30 bins of fabric, 8 sewing machines, 20 bins of sewing notions, tables, chairs and just about anything else you could imagine you might need to stock the shelves of the sewing school. We were blessed to be able to pray with Pastor Simeon and Madam Brunet as they launched their sewing school that will change so many lives of the young women in the village.
What a blessing it was to deliver all the clothes, diapers, food, furniture and various other donated items to our orphanage in Montrouis. The sweetest thing was watching the children play on the two story play house that was donated by the Phoenix family. Dady Jeanvier, who is the husband of Makencia, the woman who runs the orphanage, told us that this was a great gift to these children and that they would cherish it forever. He told us that not even the richest families in Haiti would have something like that for their kids to play with. For an orphan child to have a gift so grand was something that these kids would never forget.
While we were so blessed to be able to accomplish so much on this trip work wise, probably some of the sweetest moments were spent during our worship time on the beach at night. The 5 of us pulled our chairs down to the waters edge and worshiped the God of all creation as the stars danced in the sky above the softly crashing waves. These moments were such a gift from God, like the perfect calm before the storm. It was like God was giving us a moment to catch our breath and put on our armor before we headed back to the chaos we found in America.
Fish Company’s Adventures in 2019
2018 was an adventure for Fish Co that included some changes. Julie has gone back to school; Hannah has stepped into a more active role on our Board; and we have formed new partnerships with some local and global ministries. One thing that hasn’t changed is our passion and commitment to help women and orphans around the world.
For the past 6 years, with your help, we have completed 10 orphanages in 7 countries, and funded 2 others. We have been able to provide support to orphanages and hope centers across the globe through the provision of wells, school supplies, toys, blankets, and clothing. We have supported widows in Costa Rica and Guatemala through the purchase of fairtrade products; children in many countries through the support of Operation Christmas Child; and local orphanages and foster care families through volunteer help, gifts and financial aid.
While the main focus of Fish Co. is orphaned children, for the past 12 months we have been feeling a pull towards the support of widows and young women in need as well.
There are more than 153 million orphans across the globe. Many of those children have lost both parents, but many of them are called single parent orphans. These are kids who may have lost their father, and whose mother has no way to raise or support them. So, in an effort to ensure any quality of life, or even life at all, their mothers are forced to give these kids up to orphanages, knowing they would be cared and provided for in ways she never could.
While we are committed to caring for orphans, we feel that if we can find ways to support women, and provide them options, we will be fulfilling James 1:27 and Luke 1:45. That being said, Fish Company is so excited to introduce to you our She did…. Initiative. She did is an initiative that provides support, encouragement and empowerment to young girls and women in an effort to help them live out God’s calling on their lives.
We are hitting the ground running in 2019 with a vision/mission trip to Haiti in February in hopes to move forward with our plans to build the first ever Fish Company sewing school. This school will provide education, opportunity, and empowerment to women and young girls by teaching them a valuable skill that can be used to support themselves and their children. On this trip we will be confirming construction location, education plans, and partnerships, as well as providing another local sewing ministry with much needed sewing supplies. We also will be visiting local orphanages in search of opportunities to serve. Please, please prayerfully consider supporting us in this effort by helping us fund our trip. You may donate now by clicking the donate now button on our website at www.fishcompany.org or the donate now button on facebook at our FishcoTampa page. You may also send donations directly to us at 10407 Lake Grove Drive., Odessa, Florida 33556. Please join us in fulfilling James 1:27 and help us be Jesus to the world.
Blessings, Cindy McFadden
Valentine’s Day Loaves and Fish
On this Valentine’s Day 2017 I am reminded of God’s infinite love for us and I am so amazed that He allows us to be a small part of His big plan. It was about 3 and 1/2 years ago that we sent our first delivery of Mkate dolls with Olivia Kamm, a missionary from Idlewild Church in Tampa, Florida, to the orphans of the Twanza Little School in Zambia. There are more than 1,000,000 orphans in this country that is roughly the size of Texas with approximately the same population. This gives Zambia one of the highest per capita orphan rates in the world. According to Zambian orphan facts, in 1 out of every 4 households, a child acts as the primary caregiver, due to the death or abandonment of the parents. There is so much need…..but God….. I am so thankful that we are a part of helping orphans in Africa and that we can look at those staggering orphan facts and say “but God”. God has a plan and that plan includes each of us. His word is clear as He calls on us to be a part of His big picture.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
On this day of love, ask yourself how you can be a part of something bigger than you, a part of making a difference in this world? God has given each one of us fish to share. Your fish may be donating money to build a home for orphans in Africa, or helping to build a Hope Center in Guatemala, speaking as an advocate for children in need, or giving fabrics and craft supplies to a ministry, going on a mission trip or sharing God’s word through the purchase of Bibles for a church in China. The point is, we all have something to give, it may be money, talent, time or your prayers, but you definitely have something to give. What are you going to do with your fish? At Fish Company we like to say we just bring what we have to God and let Him do the miracle. Let Him feed 5,000 with your loaves and fish.
Making a Difference One Change at a Time.
| In 2016 hurricane Matthew slammed into the southwestern coast of Haiti bringing widespread damage. Matthew was a late season category 5 hurricane that seemed to pop up out of nowhere, but there were signs. We saw it. Across the ocean, Americans sitting in their air-conditioned living rooms, sipping their ice teas, watching their wide screened tv’s, had a ringside seat to the destruction this storm brought. Thanks to CNN, The Weather Channel, or any number of the hundreds of cable channels we flip through on any given night we saw it all. This storm left devastation everywhere; more than 350,000 in need of immediate aid, thousands homeless and hundreds dead. |
Change of View Change of Heart
As I walked down the jetway that connected our plane to Haiti I was filled with excitement. We were finally here. I was getting ready to step into my “what’s next”. The actual planning of this trip only took about 2 and 1/2 weeks, but in reality, it has been years in the making. I may not have known that God was taking me to this small island nation located in the middle of the Caribbean located somewhere between North and South America in February 2019, until February of 2019, but He knew. He has known all along that one day my next step would be planting seeds for change in the rich, fertile soil of the tropical island of Haiti.
Raise A Hallelujah
Raise a Hallelujah has become my new mantra, and is the theme for our upcoming mission trip to Haiti in 2020, not just because of the catchy tune, or the battle like tempo, but because the words ring so true in my ears. “I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies. I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief. I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody. I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me.” I truly believe that and I believe that our heavenly father inhabits our praises. I want to live with God inhabiting my praises. I want Him so close I can touch Him.
Hope For Haiti – A New Well
I recently was asked in an interview, what I could do with $1,000. My answer was “What can’t I do with $1,000?” This week thanks to your support, we are wiring $3,000 to a partner in Haiti who will give it to another non-profit there, Schools for Haiti, who will dig a well at an orphanage for disabled children that we have taken under our wing. Next week, another non-profit, One Ball, One Village, will stop by and put a complete water filtration system on that newly dug well. In 7 days the lives of 24 children, as well as the family who cares for them will forever be changed.