Please enjoy the following three-part story about Kiki's passing. Parts two and three will be posted soon. We are doing great down here and blessed by God in so many ways!
PART ONE: About Kiki and the time before and after his death
As most of you are aware, Mission Haiti's most important contact and “right-hand man” in Haiti, Kiki, passed away on Thursday, August 25th. This blog post and the next two will share the story of Kiki's passing. Included will be the time before his death, the time before his funeral, his funeral itself, and finally the adventure that occurred and is occurring afterward. Before sharing all of those events, however, let me tell you a little bit about who Kiki was.
Kiki is actually his nickname as you might have guessed. His real name was Alexis Jean Kuislin. In Haiti they say the family (or last) name first, so in the US we would have called him Jean Kuislin Alexis. He was born on March 25, 1966, making him forty-five years old when he died.
Kiki grew up a humble country boy in rural southern Haiti, living in a few different small communities as his father was transferred to various posts as a pastor. He had a sister (who lives in the US now) and a few brothers. His father wasn't paid much for leading the church and even had to spend his days working in the fields for farmers. His mother made the bulk of their income buying and selling goods in the market. His parents were strong Christians and made sure their kids got a good education. He always thought about being a pastor when he grew up, but was never able to in a traditional sense of the word. However, as this story will surely illustrate, he did the work of a pastor in his daily life for so many people, encouraging, teaching, serving, and shepherding.
As a young man Kiki moved to Port-au-Prince and tried to make it in the big city as so many people here attempt to do each year. I only know small tidbits of how he rose to the top, but by the time he died he was quite wealthy by Haitian standards and was the point person not only for our small ministry but for a large orphanage in Port and several adoption agencies in the US, France, Canada, and Belgium. One time I called him for help on something and he said, “I'll call you right back...I'm just about to step into a meeting with the US ambassador.” He was very intelligent, and his mastery of French, Creole, and English was something to behold.
Kiki got involved with Mission Haiti and Mike and Pam way back around the beginning, over sixteen years ago. He was helping some other ministry and became close friends with Pam, helping her on her trips out to the country-side. Going out to Ti-Rivier was sort of a vacation for him, despite the fact that Pam kept him busy most of the time. I guess it was a way for him to spend a few moments with people like the simple folks he must have grown up with. He was well-respected and loved by all in our village. He was always willing to stop and talk with anyone, young and old.
Kiki was always doing the things for Mission Haiti that Americans would normally have no idea how to accomplish. He took care of filing the various paperwork with government agencies, he pushed our shipments through customs, he did our visas, he took care of our money in the bank here, and the list goes on and on. Of course Kiki will be missed as an amazing friend and irreplaceable asset for ministry. Those are the most important aspects of losing him, but the prospect of finding a suitable replacement who can be trusted to handle the ministry's business in Haiti is pretty overwhelming to think about as well.
About Kiki's personal life...he was once married to an American woman and lived for a year or so in Chicago, and they had a daughter who is thirteen now. One time at his house in Port-au-Prince I was looking around the office upstairs and stopped in my tracks at his desk. The wall was absolutely covered with snapshots of his daughter and little notes she had written. It was obvious she meant the world to him. Maybe part of his affection for children, which he always poured out on the kids in our orphanage, was an expression of the love he was never able to give his own daughter due to their separation by distance. At the time of his death he had not married again.
The week leading up to Kiki's death was a tragedy in itself. He had meetings in the US with an adoption agency, and he wasn't feeling well. He was experiencing chest pain and other pains all over his body. He was permitted to travel back to Haiti, though looking back things might have turned out differently if he just stayed there in the hospital for awhile. When he arrived in Haiti things didn't improve. He continued to feel sick, but also tried to work during the day. Then one day he was driving an American client, a woman, through Port-au-Prince. They got stopped by a man with a gun, who demanded money. Kiki gave the man his backpack with money inside. The man left and they were fine, but getting mugged jacked Kiki's stress level up even higher. He undoubtedly experienced flashbacks to the time a few years ago when he was actually kidnapped and held for ransom for several days.
After that Kiki went to see a doctor in Port and received medication that didn't really help. He talked to Pam the night before he passed away and asked for prayer. One thing Pam had called him about was trying to find an affordable refrigerator for our family (He really would do anything to help!). The next morning Pam got word that Kiki had died. She called Ronal, another man who works for us, and asked him to go over and confirm that the reports were true. They were.
Mike and Pam flew into Haiti on Sunday, the 29th, one day before us. They met with friends and family, and then on Monday they picked us up at the airport and we all headed out to Ti-Rivier. The funeral was planned for Saturday, Sept. 3, and during the week we had several memorable meetings with the Youth Group. The group members were very sad, of course, because Kiki was their hero and a great example of how a humble country kid could grow up and do great things. Many of them shared about how important he was in their personal journey of faith.
We also spent two nights searching the Scriptures, talking about death and resurrection according to the Bible, and even praying that God would work a miracle and bring Kiki back to life. In the end we all learned a lot about how God is in control and has a plan for us, no matter how long our life is, and though we miss Kiki terribly, we also have a sense of joy knowing he is rejoicing with God in Heaven. His loud laugh can probably still be heard above the din even among the multitudes there, no doubt.
Thank the Lord today for the friends who share your adventure!
-The Grimm Family Adventurers
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