help our children be un-STUCK

Monday, August 31, 2015

frentz neptune, human extraordinaire!



if you see my facebook posts, then you know that a significant bit of the work i do with the haiti foundation against poverty is to raise funds for sponsorship of children at our les bours school of hope in port au prince, haiti. sponsorship of these children is vital. in les bours there are few options for children to receive education, proper health care, and nutrition. there is a bleak future predicted for many who don't have the opportunity to obtain an education. there just simply aren't doors for them to open. there aren't choices for them to make that will allow for hope - except school. frentz neptune, our favorite resident renaissance man at hfap, is a perfect example of the result of loving sponsorship and the impact it can make on a single child. frentz was sponsored and has grown into an incredibly talented and resourceful man who we credit with keeping the functions of hfap, and our crèche, hope house, as well as our staff and a significant amount of our daily functions going. simply said, we would not be who and what we are without frentz.

long before our founder mallery opened the les bours school of hope, she traveled to haiti and found a land that became home. she fell in love with haiti and in return gave her heart to the country and her people. she held and cared for babies at the sister's infant malnutrition mission founded by mother teresa. she sat and prayed over the ailing children and watched as flies landed on their tender faces and as she soothed their fears and wiped their tears, one of the prayers she said was that someone would come to the malnutrition center and build screens to prohibit the insects that exacerbated the health concerns of the children. little did she know that her prayer would be answered by the man who would become her future husband. frentz was a student of the school run by the mission and works still today to return the blessings he received through his sponsored education. after a skilled builder who visited haiti on a mission taught frentz to make screens, he knew that his calling for this new taught task was to make screens for sister's to help protect the children. frentz gave back, and mallery's prayer was answered. 


frentz is a man of strong faith and he is using the opportunities given to him to help as many people as he possibly can. he is a good man and he seeks opportunities for others to create a future for themselves as well. there are many wonderful stories that can be shared about frentz. he is one of the hardest working people i have ever met. and he happens to possibly be my daughter's favorite human, which places his rank pretty high in our family. frentz was born in the same city as my son parker, jeremie. it is by all accounts a lovely city located on the southwestern tip of haiti. he was raised in port au prince, not far from where my boys and v were living before we brought the boys home and moved v to hope house. as frentz grew, he came to find that his education was not easy to obtain - and as he would share, he knew that he owed a debt of success to those who believed in him and supported him. he took school and the education he received seriously and knows that without the love and compassion of a couple that sponsored him, that he wouldn't be the man he is today. 

frentz has a special way with people that few have. his personality is admirable and his ability to ascertain the truth is as well. he is a commendable man and serves as a beautiful example of a leader and a strong but tender man for all of the children he is helping raise. he is well respected by his staff and is a wonderful husband, father, son, and friend.

in a given day i have witnessed frentz begin by greeting a group of the children at hope house and instantly reminding them that they are a group of super heroes. they all love him and enjoy the time he happily spends with them. each of the children has an individual relationship and respect for him, and i stand in awe of how he has accomplished the balance of guiding and disciplining the children while they also do not fear but respect and love him. he moves through his day orchestrating and maintaining the hfap haiti headquarters as well as what i would refer to as juggling a random series of duties that is as impressive as a unicycler carrying an elephant spinning a plate on a stick. the sheer number of items on his proverbial daily to do list is dizzying, and yet he dutifully handles each task with professionalism and patience. from dozens of phone calls with lawyers to help facilitate the adoption process for our adoptive and biological families, networking with haitian nationals and ex-pats to continually keep our facilities running, answering questions for adoptive families, developing business plans, running errands, fixing things, having play time with his son jayvan, paying forward favors for other ex-pats in our community, attending to the needs of our mission teams, negotiating improvements for our school in les bours, planning the future, designing products for our ladies program, making more phone calls to facilitate the future for all of the children in his care, playing with the children again, answering more questions, running more errands, and somewhere in the middle of all of it eating lunch and then starting the process all over again in the afternoon. in short, frentz is working all of the time.  on top of all that he manages, frentz is also an extremely talented photographer. he is passionate about his work behind the camera and captures the subjects of his work in a beautifully inspired way. it is quite a treat to see him work creatively. 

frentz has a wide network of friends. recently we were on our way back to port from montruis for a quick respite trip to the beach when the front left tire split on one of our suv's. within minutes frentz had a proverbial escort brigade that showed up. considering that we were at least 45 minutes from the compound, but luckily not far from our school, it was a refreshing scene to look around and find friendly faces hopping off of moto's and support police staff showing up to make sure that our small band of relative foreigners would remain safe while we fixed the tire. but not only is frentz's networking so amazing that we had help while we were on the side of the road, we also received an escort back to the neighborhood. this was an example to me of what a great person frentz is. he made a phone call and a small force showed up to insure our safety. it was a small slice of awesome indeed.

one of my favorite memories since joining the hfap family by moving v to hope house was the day i received an update photo of v in frentz's arms. the one you see above. it was immediately obvious to me that she was happy. relaxed. leaning back on his shoulder with a big smile on her face. and he glanced at her with a deep and true love that confirmed everything i already knew...that v was in the most loving place possible outside of my arms. i was so comforted to see her being resuscitated. she was just starting to thrive. not just sustained. a small but vivid burst of life was sparking in her in ways that i hadn't seen in so long. and it was simply beautiful to see how loved she was - summed up in one wonderful photo of a fleeting moment in life captured for me to cherish. this is the best part of his day, i'm sure. the part where he sees the proof of his hard work. where he can share a few quiet moments with the children he helped rescue. the children he keeps healthy. the children he knows will have a future because of his sacrifices. 



working with special people like mallery and frentz fills my heart. i'm proud to call them my friends and i'm elated that i can work to support them.  i'm incapable of fully expressing how thankful i am for this dream team couple and for the work they do. i'm thankful that frentz is the answer to mallery's prayers, and together they are working every single day to change the future for so many in haiti and make our dreams of bringing home our daughter come true.

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