After several people expressed the difficulties of coming to Haiti for a bootcamp my husband and I felt that this is definitely a need and something God wants me to do in this season however, my biggest fear was that three days of intense creole lessons wouldn’t be enough to help launch or boost folks on their journey to learning creole. We just had our first US bootcamp in Oregon last month and the feedback was amazing. People are continuing to learn with the videos and by communicating with friends in Haiti, proving that the bootcamp did provide that necessary boost. Many took time off from work, drove over two hours to a small town, and sacrificed to make it work. I love how important this is to you all and many of you know how important this is to me. For those living in Haiti, the final bootcamp will be in Carrefour, Haiti hosted by Crystal Funk of Hearts United with Haiti.

My biggest struggle has been the messages of, “I don’t want to miss this opportunity but I can’t make it because we’re on vacation that weekend” or “Can you do a bootcamp for just our family?” So,  I will also do my best to schedule “en route” bootcamps when I travel by car. For example, on my way to Minnesota this month I can stop by Iowa to visit with families and small teams to do a small bootcamp as we’re also doing in Kansas City and Springfield next week on the way to and from the larger bootcamps in Tulsa and Owasso Oklahoma.

I know I keep saying this but it’s not lost on me the sacrifice that you are all making by taking the time to commit to learning a language that will allow you to understand and love a people that God has placed in your hearts. And lately I am so impressed with how adopting families are connecting with the beauty of incorporating creole as a part of their entire family’s culture. It’s not about being fluent but mostly about being intentional.

I am also sorry that my daughter, Emily, is not available to teach the children at all of the bootcamps. I know that many of you and now your children have taken lessons from her over the past six years, as she began teaching creole before me. She is now a junior in college and has committed to doing the bootcamps during fall and winter recess. The schedule below is of the upcoming bootcamps and indicates the ones Emily will be teaching at. For more details email me at haitiangloria@yahoo.com.

1- Kansas City, August 11th-13th

2- Tulsa, Oklahoma August 14th-16th

3- Owasso, Oklahoma August 17th-19th

4- Springfield, Missouri August 20th-21st

5- Willernie, Minnesota August 24th-26th

6- Dallas, Texas August 31st-September 2nd

7- D.C./Haymarket September 7th-9th

8- Mowrystown, Ohio September 14th-16th

9- Michigan, September 28th-30th

10- Colorado, October 12th-14th

11- Indianapolis, Indiana November 17th-19th

12- Nashville, Tennessee December 7th-9th

13- Phoenix, Arizona December 14th-16th, with Emily Michael teaching the children for free with her Children Can Learn Creole with Emily program that is being released this week!

14- Weatherford, Texas January 4th-6th, with Emily Michael teaching the children for free with her Children Can Learn Creole with Emily program that is being released this week!

15- Wilmington, North Carolina February 8th-10th

16- Carrefour, Haiti March 5th-11th

17- Alberta/Edmonton, Canada October 19th-21st, with Emily Michael teaching the children for free with her Children Can Learn Creole with Emily program that is being released this week!
Possible upcoming bootcamps: Toronto & British Columbia, Canada, San Antonio & Houston, Texas, Seattle Washington, and Wisconsin. While there is interest in these locations we need coordinators and to assess interest.

* If your organization would like to host a bootcamp, in any country, just shoot me a message so we can see if that’s possible. I am not scheduling any creole bootcamps after the one in Carrefour as I don’t know if I’m supposed to go past these commitments.