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This summer, World Wide Village will host a week long summer camp for children in our Haitian communities. Join us as we teach them about stories of the Bible, make arts and crafts, play and learn their native language, Creole.
Haitian businessman, Harold Charles, was 1 of 13 children born in extreme poverty. He grew up determined to help his family and ended up fulfilling a dream and owning an airline. Watch his inspiring and heartfelt story about his success and achievement.
In celebrating Haitian Heritage Month, World Wide Village would like to highlight Pascale Delaunay, a Cisco engineer and Haitian Olympic Athlete, who wants to use her accomplishments to inspire young Haitian girls to expand their dreams past their current situation and, more importantly, show them that their dreams are attainable. In this video, Pascal shares her inspiration for Haiti and World Wide Village.
The month of May is Haitian Heritage Month – a celebration of Haitian history, culture, and pride! Join us as we honor the Haitian heritage all month!
To honor the Haitian tradition of celebrating Haitian Heritage Month, May 1st is Labor and Agriculture Day. Agriculture continued to be the mainstay of the economy of Haiti in the late 1980s; it employed approximately 66 percent of the labor force and accounted for about 35 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and for 24 percent of exports in 1987. The role of agriculture in the economy has declined severely since the 1950′s, when the sector employed 80 percent of the labor force, represented 50 percent of GDP, and contributed 90 percent of exports. As Haiti entered the 1990s, however, the main challenge to agriculture was not economic, but ecological. Due to its location in the Caribbean basin, Haiti’s agricultural sector is exposed to hurricanes and tropical storms. As a result, extreme deforestation, soil erosion, droughts, flooding, and the ravages of other natural disasters have all led to a critical environmental situation1.
World Wide Village supports the development of community garden projects that focus on sustainability through education, locally-sourced materials, idea sharing, community cooperation, and continued support. Through education and training in agriculture, local communities are assisted in constructing sustainable gardens that will help Haitian families produce sufficient food for balanced diets as well as serve as a viable source of income.
One of our highlighted projects is the Luly Community Garden, which enables 26 selected co-op members and their families to enhance their diets for better health and to become more self-sufficient. Crops grown in the garden will be small and large varieties of tomatoes, peppers, millet, carrot, eggplant, cucumber, and peanuts.
Clairline tending to Luly Community Garden
To learn more about our sustainable garden projects and how you can help visit http://www.worldwidevillage.org/current-projects/sustainable-agriculture/.
1. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/httoc.html
Learn about Haiti, the Haitian people, challenges they face and the progress that is being made. Understand the work that God is calling His people to do in service to the people of Haiti. Find out how you can be personally involved in sharing the love Jesus Christ with the Haitian people.
6-8 pm (5:30pm registration)
2707 Dubuque St. NE North Liberty, IA 52317
Come and enjoy Haitian authentic cuisine and hear from Randy Mortensen, President of World Wide Village, and several members of Grace Community Church!
There is no admission charge if you RSVP before May 12th. After May 12th admission is $5/person.
Free childcare and dinner for ages 12 and under! So if you’re in the area, come join us! Please RSVP to khelm@worldwidevillage.org or 651.777.6908 with the number of adults attending the dinner and the number/ages of children needing childcare.
By Kimberly Curry
(A “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest entry.)
I was in Haiti for the second time along with others from back home, including my three daughters. If I’d been asked years ago if we would ever go to Haiti together, I would have said,” That’s never going to happen.” There was a point in my life where I had no desire whatsoever to work there, but after my “baptism” in the sewage canal in Port au Prince (a long story), I was already plotting and planning how I was going to get back there and when and what I could offer the folks in service.
The Mountains to Mountains team came to Haiti in two groups: one that went to Mizak to conduct eyeglass clinics and ours. Our group was going to work with Real Hope for Haiti in Cazale. The work that is going on there is truly the work of the Lord. They are touching the poor, the sick and the dying, the least, the lost, and the lonely.
We were met by folks from Real Hope at the airport and taken up the mountain. There were eight of us: a nurse practitioner, an RN, a nursing student, two older teenagers, a preschool teacher, a construction worker, and me (a teacher). Those who were medically trained worked in the clinic: doing consults, taking vitals, changing dressings, and teaching the nurses about eye trauma and eye diseases. The teenagers counted pills, made bleach bags and cut gauze, sorted and organized boxes from the shipping container and held and played with the children in the ICU. The construction worker helped up on the land helping to prepare for the new cholera hospital, loaded and unloaded goods and assembled cots for the current cholera house. The preschool teacher did assessments on the ICU children, provided physical therapy and taught the nannies developmental milestones. I “attempted” to teach basic eye care and eye safety to the ever-enthusiastic clinic patien ts who had no choice but to listen to the “blanc” teacher ramble on and on through an interpreter.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE “TOUCHED BY HAITI” STORY CONTEST
There are not enough words, no matter how hard you try, to explain things to others who haven’t been there, you just can’t, but once you’ve been there, you understand. For example, how your sweat sweats in Haiti. Spandex under your skirt is not a new trend, but a preventative measure. Dental floss doubles as string for pull-toys. Traffic patterns and laws are optional. Stomping the tile floor as you’re going to the bathroom at night to scare away the fattened rats is a defensive move. Drinking lukewarm water from your water bottle is something to be thankful for because you have a drink. You talk yourself into believing that cold coffee from instant coffee mix really tastes ok. You even start thinking the livestock your driver swerves to miss in the road or the chickens who wander through the courtyard are normal. Seeing a goat head and its various body parts laid out on a table in the market or chicken pieces dotted with flies on a metal wash pan for sale is just what is.In Haiti, if the driver says, “I’ll be there at 8:30,” and doesn’t show until 9:15, you just figure, that’s Haiti. You don’t get mad, you just wait.
You can’t believe how mean you were to the men at the airport who want to help you with your bags because if you let one help, a swarm of others descends upon you expecting to help and also be paid. Clothes don’t match and riding on someone’s lap is not against anyone’s rules anywhere and necessary if you want to take your whole group anywhere. Sharing water bottles, deodorant or your lap on a tap-tap is what you do.
There are many things I have experienced in my life (that I’d never even thought of) due to my trips to Haiti. Giving a presentation to clinic patients on eye care through an interpreter is one such experience. We hired an interpreter the nurse had met in Port au Prince when she worked at the Cholera Hospital through Samaritan’s Purse to interpret for us. He was wonderful and very astute at sizing up my presentations. After the fourth presentation where there were few questions and little interest, he remarked in his Haitian Creole, “That sucked, huh?”
In my groups there were pregnant women, new mothers, babies, small children, teenagers, the elderly, those who walked miles without shoes, those partially dressed, all intermingled together. Tickets are given out early to those who line up before daybreak. I eventually thought nothing of the four breast-feeding mothers as I tried to discuss the importance of preventing cataracts to the crowd of more than forty packed together on the painted green benches. Some brought their lunches in metal pails while others had nothing more than a limonade bottle of water to hold them until they finished their visit which might not be until 5:00 depending upon the number of tickets given out. Small children were dressed in their best (even if it was a velvet dress with pantyhose in the middle of July) and the elderly women wore wide-brimmed hats and their nicest dresses. Some wore t-shirts sent over by the U.S. while others had clothes pinned together and obviously too small. Some asked questions as if I really was an eye doctor (a disclaimer the interpreter shared at the beginning) and obviously I disappointed them when I had no answer. However throughout th presentation, they mostly just nodded their heads, politely smiled and pretended to understand this white woman who was desperately trying to fulfill a need. I knew I didn’t make a big difference in them, but all my experiences there have made a big difference in me. It’s a great experience. It’s Haiti.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE “TOUCHED BY HAITI” STORY CONTEST
The “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest Deadline is Approaching
Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. The resurrection is the ultimate story of new life and revival. It is reflected in a world made new each spring. It’s a story that touches our hearts and fills us with hope, love and joy.
Easter Sunday is also the deadline for submissions to the WWV “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest. This is the time for you to share your stories about love, hope, revival, tears, and laughter in Haiti.
If you were “Touched By Haiti”, and want to continue to help and support Haiti, it’s time to share your stories. Sharing your personal stories is one of the most powerful ways to inspire others to support the miraculous revival taking place in Haiti. If you’ve been to Haiti, supported someone who went, sponsored a student there, or been a supporter of WWV, you have a story to share.
You don’t need to be a great writer, photographer, or storyteller. All you need is to be willing to share what touched, moved, or inspired you about your experience. Tell a story from the heart about a child who befriended you, or lifted your spirit. Tell us about a moment you saw God working in Haiti, or inside you. Tell us about a moment that got all of your mission teammates laughing like idiots.
If you haven’t been to Haiti, that’s okay. Write a story about why you decided to sponsor a student in Haiti, or about what it felt like to get a letter from the child you sponsor. Share what it was that moved you to support somebody raising funds for a mission trip. Or how God moved you to donate to support WWV’s mission.
You all have stories to share, and you could win a weeklong mission trip to Haiti with WWV worth $1050 (airfare not included), for sharing it. But World Wide Village must receive your stories no later than Sunday, March 31st.
Don’t wait, just sit down and write your story, share you photo story, assemble a video, or record your story. Whatever works for you, just do it and send it to us today.
by John Hagerman
As a nonprofit who hosts about 400 mission team members in Haiti each year we’re often asked about whether taking a short-term mission is really the best way to help the people of Haiti. We understand the concern and constantly seek to make the return on investment powerful for the people we serve in Haiti. Before we take a group to Haiti we ask:
When the priorities of the community are ignored it fosters a loss of dignity and damages the long-term relationships that are a requirement of being effective partners. Are the projects we will be working on something the Haitians can do for themselves?
We strive to never do for others what they can do for themselves (teach a man to fish). Are we supporting local workers and the local economy?
One-way giving fosters dependence .We limit one-way giving to emergencies and try to always buy or hire locally.
So what have we learned?
The number one priority for the communities we serve is education.
The literacy rate in Haiti is below 50% – without education it’s impossible to build a strong future. Number two is permanent, safe housing.
350,000 people still live in temporary shelters as a result of the 2010 earthquake.
You can’t build a strong future without a solid foundation. Number three is jobs.
The inability to provide food, shelter and clothing for a family destroys dignity and hope.
The lack of skills and training translates into permanent poverty.
How are mission teams a part of the answers to these questions?
We constantly seek to set up projects and opportunities for mission team members to transfer their skills and knowledge to local Haitians and provide a foundation for communities to grow out of poverty. Such as:
- Teacher training
- Pastor training
- Family development
- Teaching construction techniques
- Economic development training
We ask people to come to Haiti with us not to “do” but to “learn.”
If they can return home with a better understanding of what the needs and challenges facing the people of Haiti, and an awakened spirit, they become long-term advocates for building a brighter future for Haiti.
Too often times the focus is on providing cheap mission travel to people, which can mean mission teams can become an economic burden on the communities they visit.
About 50% of the cost of a mission trip with WWV goes towards paying for materials and supplies needed on mission projects during a teams time in Haiti. What isn’t used during the trip support programs when there are no mission teams present.
The bottom line is that taking a mission trip to Haiti with World Wide Village is about more than feeling good or seeking a spiritual awakening. It is about providing concrete, needed and sustainable support for local communities in ways that can actually build a brighter future for generations of Haitians to come.
Oh, and no matter how hard we work to make our mission teams create long-term positive good for the people of Haiti, mission team members constantly tell us how powerfully transformative the experience was to them personally. Imagine that.
You know you want to help. Isn’t it time you finally took a mission trip to Haiti? The change for Haiti, and you, starts the moment you contact us…do it today.
by David Masek
(This is David’s second entry into the WWV- “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest — everyone is encouraged to submit multiple stories, who knows which one will touch someobody’s heart, or win a trip to Haiti!”)
Most of the year I live in relative comfort here in Lincoln Nebraska. I have a nice home, a steady job that pays me well, and that provides for health insurance and other benefits — things I often tend to take for granted. I assume that they will always be there, but will they? What is it like to live day to day without these assumed comforts?
In the last six years I’ve traveled to Haiti five times and I keep getting drawn back to a country and a people who force me for a time to live outside my comfort zone.
In April 2011, my wife & I were part of a medical team that held five clinics in four locations. The location for two clinics was a Baptist church in a remote town in the Haitian hills. So remote was it that what we would call roads did not exist in the area, They had no power, no running water. The church building had large holes in the roof and dirt for a floor. We moved the rustic wooden pews to set up our clinic and prepared to see several hundred patients. Later in the day we closed the clinic and rearranged the pews for church service which was had a Baptist revival meeting going well past dark. Once the revival meeting was over, we again moved the pews so we could set up a makeshift tent camp and attempted to get some sleep, even though we had a group of roosters that insisted on crowing all night. In the morning we tore down the camp and set up for another clinic.
Driving back down the hill sides we were thankful that it had not rained as we would have been driving in deep mud and would face streams too swollen to drive through. There was nowhere to turn around and we didn’t want to drown there.
During previous trips to Haiti, I’ve spent time in orphanages for the handicapped, a “children’s hospital” overfilled with abandoned children and a hospital for the dying. In doing so I learned some things about myself.
I also learned to find comfort outside of my comfort zone. How, you ask? Go to Haiti with me & you will learn.
Easter Sunday is coming fast and it marks the submission deadline for the WWV “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest – your chance to win a weeklong mission trip to Haiti for simply sharing a story with us. The trip is worth $1050 (airfare not included)!
– If you’ve been to Haiti you have lots of stories to tell – share one, or more, and you might win a return trip.
– If you’ve supported someone who went to Haiti, tell us what that was like and you might be able to go to Haiti yourself.
– If you’ve sponsored a student, what has that connection meant to you? Tell us and you might win the opportunity to meet the student you sponsor.
– If you’ve been a supporter of World Wide Village, how has that experience touched you? Tell us about it and you might get to go to Haiti this year.
Your personal stories, stories about who or what touched your heart is what the “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest is all about. It could be a meeting, a moment, an image, or feeling your heart touched by God – it could be a story about anything related to Haiti or World Wide Village that touched, moved or inspired you.
If it touched you, it can inspire someone else, and that’s what the Story Contest is all about. But you have to submit your story!!!
Don’t wait; click here to learn more about the WWV “Touched By Haiti” Story Contest and how to enter. Take a few minutes and do it right now, before it’s too late!