Our Community in Haiti: Building Relationships
Denbow and Artex Barn Solutions are together making a difference in a small community in Haiti - Mategouasse. The project is one of many in the area being run by the phenomenal organization Food For The Hungry Canada.
The two businesses together are funding the cost of a new primary school building, while the local people and team are fully responsible for the construction. It provides the community with work as well as ownership and will have an impact on this community for years to come. Building an elementary school will provide quality education for the local kids.
Last year three Denbow team members joined 3 staff from Artex to go visit this amazing community in Haiti on a one week trip. Michelle McEachern, Denbow’s Vice President says “We did not know what to expect. What were we to do? What would we see? Where would we stay? What would we eat?
What we experienced is really hard to share quickly and efficiently. But here it is:
“It was a whirlwind trip. Flying out Friday night from Seattle and landing in Haiti the next afternoon to a crazy busy airport. We were picked up by the local Food for the Hungry (FH) Haiti team. We drove through Port-Au-Prince in some Land Cruisers for a few hours, just drinking in so many things so different from home. We arrived at our place of stay and were surprised by the nice place we would call home for nearly a week.
From there, we were introduced to the remainder of the FH team who all spoke English very well. We spent some time talking about what the week would entail and making plans for a sightseeing trip the next day followed by an evening game of soccer with the locals with the new soccer balls we brought.
For the week we travelled daily into the region surrounding our school site. At the time, there was no school building yet. We spent much time visiting people, walking with children following eager for our hello’s and picture taking. We climbed hills, saw successful water, farming and agriculture projects, visited our sponsored children and gave them gifts. We watched a ‘Savings and Loans’ meeting in which adults are learning how to save and start businesses. At the youth club we watched them learn a new word, “integrity” and how to apply it in their daily lives.
Each evening we wound down from the day’s events. Kicking a ball around in the courtyard, reading or chatting. We did have a little Wifi. But only if you breathed just right. LOL. We all learned a lot. About this country and a little about the people we travelled with.
We did head back into Port-Au-Prince 1 day earlier than our flight and did spend some time touring as well to top the week off learning just a little more about this challenged country.“
So, what is next? We are heading back to Haiti on Friday, January 5 to visit our community of Mategouasse!
On this visit we will get to see the school building project which is well underway – currently awaiting the roof. Michelle, Joyce and Willetta from Denbow will join Dan and Sarah from Artex. Our businesses are funding the building of this new primary school, while other teams are sponsoring different areas such as water treatment and agriculture. We hope to be able to witness the difference all these projects are making for the local people. Together, we will walk with this community in their journey ‘from stuck to thriving'.
While in Haiti we will meet amazing people. It’s our goal to share their stories so that you can experience some of our community along with us.
Interested in helping this community along with us? We would LOVE that! You could sponsor a child at $38.00 per month. To learn more, watch this video about child sponsorship, or see the kids in Haiti awaiting a sponsor: http://www.fhcanada.org/Sponsorship/#/filters/country=Haiti
We're looking forward to updating you along our journey next week.
