Haiti- Part (one)

Leaving the house was the hardest part. I cried a lot and my heart ached. I was so ready to go, but leaving my husband and my boys and knowing it would be a week before I saw them again was tough.

Once I got on the plane my mind and heart focused on what was ahead and I was ready.

I flew all night long, all morning long and after a layover in Miami, met up with the rest of our team and flew to Haiti. I was traveling for 24 hours straight and was tired. I hardly noticed though, the adrenaline and excitement of what was to come was enough to drive me.

Over the course of the next week or so I am going to share with you about some specific stories that really hit home for me, but today I just want to share with you my feelings.

I have had a hard time trying to figure out how to process it all for the blog. I had 26 people in my home last week to hear about Haiti and that came easy to me, putting it on the blog is harder. I wish I could sit with each of you and share my experience and express with my face and my hands what it was like.

The bottom line is, there is just something about that place. I loved it and I cannot wait to go back.

You read this post so you know why we will return someday, but I want to go back before then and work at some of these places I mentioned. Support them how they need it and take part in their lives even more.

It is hard to see some of what we saw. It's hard to imagine what daily life is really like when you only visit it for a few days and only meet certain people.

I can tell you this. There is a whole lot of hope there. They are smart people and they are gifted.
They need a chance. They don't want handouts, they need opportunities.

Things that places like The Apparent Project, Heartline and Three Angels Relief provide.

And in turn what Trades of Hope provides.

It was evident that the organizations and governments aiding these beautiful people need to pull back from the aid standpoint and help move this country into a sustainable living process. They just need help on their feet and then let them take the wheel.

Did you know that the majority of the main "tent cities" have all but been evacuated? They go to their homes now at night, but return every day for the aid that is passed out.
We need to help them sustain themselves and not continue giving handouts. They really don't just want that.

I am so thankful that I am a part of something that is making waves of change for generations to come, and not just a band-aid.


It is a beautiful country full of beautiful people who have an incredible amount of possibility.


In my next post I will share with you about a man named Michele-Brutel, who is sending his daughter to school because of the money he makes selling tin art, including our beautiful Freed to Fly cross.