Even to Your Old Age: The Story of LIFE 46:4

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." — Isaiah 46:4

Every Wednesday in Neply, a room fills with laughter, bingo cards, and coloring pages. It is one of the most joy filled mornings of the week at myLIFEspeaks, and every single person in that room is old enough to be someone's grandmother or grandfather.

We call it LIFE 46:4.

Why the Name

In Haiti, growing old often means growing invisible. There are no nursing homes here and no assisted living communities down the street. If a family member cannot care for an elderly parent or grandparent, that person can quietly fall through the cracks, their voice treated as if it no longer carries weight.

We named this program after Isaiah 46:4 because it says the opposite. Age is not the end of being carried, it is a continuation of it. God does not set us down when our hair turns gray. That is the promise we want every member of this program to feel every Wednesday, and every day in between.

From 15 to Over 60

LIFE 46:4 started in 2015 with a small, faithful group of ten to fifteen elderly men and women who gathered to color and play bingo together. Word spread. Today, the program has grown to more than sixty members, and our space is not big enough to hold everyone who wants to come. We keep a waiting list. People ask to be part of this community even when there is not room, and some have told our staff, plainly, "just let me be part of the program, you don't even have to give me food." In a country where a meal is rarely turned down, that tells you something about what this program actually offers people. It is not the food. It is belonging.

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"Just let me be part of the program, you don't even have to give me food."

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What a Wednesday Looks Like

Members gather for devotional and prayer time, hear the Gospel, and are reminded that their story with God is not finished. From there, the morning is full: bingo, coloring, crafts, and time spent practicing letters and numbers, many for the first time in their lives. Only a little more than half of adults in Haiti can read, and for a number of our members, this is the first classroom they have ever had.

Our Public Health team joins in too, checking blood pressure and vitals, and each month every member goes home with a sack of rice, a sack of beans, and a container of oil. It is one of our favorite examples of two departments, Community Development and Public Health, working side by side to care for the whole person.

Love That Doesn't Stop When the Doors Close

Not everyone can make it on Wednesdays. Illness and distance keep some members at home, so our team goes to them, helping with chores, sitting with them, simply being present.

As one of our staff put it in a recent report, the hardest part of this work in the hot season is watching members' blood pressure climb with the heat, and the prayer request is always the same: that God would help these members live long, healthy lives.

More Than a Program

Our elderly members are not just cared for here, they are leaders, teachers, and some of the wisest voices we have the privilege of learning from every week. They have taught our team what it looks like to be sustained. In return, we get to remind them, every Wednesday, that they are still carried.

LIFE 46:4 is one of the ways myLIFEspeaks walks alongside families in Haiti, at every stage of life. Click Here to learn more about our ministry in Haiti.