Ok, this is my attempt to help in ANY way that I can. I know you have all heard a lot about what happened in Haiti and what is happening. I am going to share from a personal side of things. I have been to Haiti twice. Both times were trips that I took in High school and both times, Haiti changed my life.
I have traveled quite a bit in my life, this country is BY FAR my favorite one. I have plans to go back someday when I can actually impact the country in a way that is needed. Both trips to Haiti were for medical and evangelical purposes. A team of students and adults went to conduct medical clinics in small towns around the country. The first trip we traveled 7 hours up a mountain and the second trip we went on a boat to a small island off the coast. In our medical clinics we took vitals, spoke with patients about their ailments, prayed for them and made sure that they got their worm pill. It was the the best we could do. We brought along glasses and did vision tests with some patients who claimed they had trouble seeing. It was a pretty basic operation, with pepto bismal and Tylenol being our major drug therapies.
That being said. These clinics changed my life. The people of Haiti are an amazing people. We would open the clinic in the morning, to stories of people that had walked for days and days to come see us. They had traveled mountain roads with only the sandals they had on their feet. Some were really sick. There were people of all ages and I will never forget the beautiful baby girl...who peed all over my dress! These people are fighters. They are thankful for small things. They are thankful for things that I expect, things I have never known a day without.
On one of the trips, we brought supplies to a town to help build a church. We (the Americans) were really excited to help get the process started and thought we really had something to offer. The Haitians were the fastest, hardest working people I had ever seen. They had a legitimate shelter built within 2 days. We mostly were just in the way.
We always brought our own food on these trips and had to eat our meals with the doors to our compound closed as there were quite a few children who would beg for food. One of the guys with our team gave in one day and gave a little boy his small cup of chili beans. Two days later, as were were walking around the community visiting with families, we found that little boy, hovered over a fire, heating those beans to feed his family. This is heartbreaking. This is something, most people I know, have never known or could even imagine.
We know Haiti is poor, we know they are struggling and some of us want to help. I am going to find a way to help as best as I can with this situation and just wanted to do my part to inform people of organizations I know about that are down there. Feed my starving children ( www.fmsc.org ) is an organization that brings food to Haiti, year round. I know they are already down there bringing food and can always use help either financially or by the giving of your time to help with packing events. Also, the American Red cross (www.redcross.org) is always a safe bet to donate to and if you text "haiti" to 90999, they will donate $10 and charge it to your phone bill (if you haven't heard).
Thank you for reading this. I love the people of Haiti and am praying for them daily. It is a country that has endured a lot but the people are AMAZING. Please enjoy the pictures as they are constant reminders to me of the land that I love!
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