Outside the Bowl's kitchens employ in-country nationals who are passionate about taking an active role in caring for their communities and sharing God's love.  This blog series will introduce them to you and bring you their stories.  We are truly a global team and we look forward to helping you get to know these amazing team members who make our work possible.
Introducing: Pey from Port au Prince, Haiti.

Written by Lori Tugwell

I was first introduced to Pey in the summer of 2011.  It was a hot evening in Port au Prince, Haiti and a friend and I were taking Pey to his home.  We drove through dirt roads full of pot holes and stray dogs and finally pulled up to a jagged metal door.  His eldest son opened the door with a wide smile - happy to see his Papa.  Pey was a leader in this large tent city and his home with dirt floors, a tin roof, and sweltering temperatures was a shelter for his wife and four children, with one on the way.  It struck me how he was proud to introduce us to his family and welcome us to his corner of the world. 

In 2013, Outside the Bowl started renovating a building that would become the Port au Prince super kitchen and Pey was part of the construction team.  He quickly proved himself to be an extremely hard worker. After the construction was finished, we decided that Pey would make a great kitchen employee and we offered him the job.  While signing his contract for employment with Outside the Bowl, he couldn't have been happier.  Through tears, he shared that it would be his first consistent employment.  Pey was 33. 

Since those early days, he has always been the first one at work each morning and the last to leave.  Pey serves in many capacities: helping with heavier work in the kitchen, providing security and even doing some maintenance work.  He is no stranger to keeping people safe.  His years in the tent city afforded him countless opportunities to defend orphans and widows and protect the oppressed and downtrodden. 

Pey is thrilled that working at the kitchen has given him the means to provide a modest 2 bedroom apartment for his family. Ask him and he'll tell you his greatest joy is that all 5 of his children are being educated.  In his words he says, "Outside the Bowl has changed my life and the life of my family.  I know I am serving God in my work and I give Him the glory for what He has done."  Pey always has an encouraging word and a song in his heart (which he often sings aloud while working!).  He is truly a joy to have in the super kitchen.  When Pey is not at work, and sometimes when he is, he can be found doing what God created him to do - being a Father to the many fatherless children in Port au Prince.  Pey wants to share his life motto with you in Haitian Kreyol: "Viktwa a Viktwa!"  Translated Victory to Victory - in Jesus - this is Pey's prayer for all those who support God's work through Outside the Bowl, Haiti.  

Help staff members like Pey reach other communities around the world by supporting the building of our seventh kitchen in Jalisco, Mexico.  All contributions, large and small, make a difference.