“I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?” - Mother Theresa
We're off on another adventure in a few short days... This time we're headed to Haiti to make some smiles healthier! It's a little closer than Cambodia, but has it's own challenges, for sure!
We'll be heading to two main places to provide dental care to the locals. We'll be going to one location in Port of Prince and another clinic setup with Respire Haiti. We'll be working alongside Megan Boudreaux, who has a deep passion for Haiti. Check out a little of what has sparked her passion for Haiti:
When I first visited Haiti I was so naive about many things…one of them being slaves in Haiti. A Haitian friend and I were having a discussion about child slaves, and I asked, “How do you know which child is a slave?” And he answered, “You just know.” It wasn’t even 3 minutes later as we were driving along in the car that I saw her…she was so tiny she looked like she would break in half…the little girl had a women’s skirt on as a “dress” type of outfit…she was barefoot, dirty and carrying two heavy water jugs in each hand…she paused on the side of the rocky road as her eyes followed the car…My Haitian friend took one glance at her and said, “See her there? She’s one.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. As we drove by her I felt like her eyes were SCREAMING out for help! She couldn’t have been more than 7…Can you imagine that? Working ALL day long, then getting the leftover scraps for dinner, getting beaten and sometimes raped…And only being a CHILD…
There are hundreds of thousands of these child slaves or Restaveks in Haiti…an estimated 300,000-500,000 of them, but sadly after living here in Gressier, Haiti for more than 6 months I believe that number is much higher as the line is SO blurred between slavery and “paying your way” in a household.
I’m not sure people realize how incredibly disgusting this is.
Haiti is only a ONE hour and 36 MINUTE flight from Miami. That means that you are in a country with over 300,000 CHILD SLAVES but in an hour and a half you are back in a country where we don’t even realize what’s going on with our next door neighbor.
How can YOU help?
- READ Megan's book, Miracle on Voodoo Mountain with an open heart. Be open to how you can get involved based on what you read.
- School can change a child's life! You can sponsor a child for school for a year, which helps ensure that they don't get drawn into childhood slavery. Check out Believe In Haiti (founded by Whitney and Justin Henwood of Parker, Colorado) for a practical way to help.
- Support Plan International - Haiti financially with their efforts in Haiti.
- Support Megan's ministry: Respire Haiti.
We leave on April 16, so stay tuned for some fun pics and stories!
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