A little history...

As we prepare to take our fifth trip with Avondale students, I think it's a good idea to share a bit of how we got here.  It all started with Avondale kids rallying together to help the people of Haiti after the terrible earthquake in January of 2010.  After surpassing a goal of raising $10,000 in 10 days, our community raised over $14,000.  I took my first trip to Haiti in August of 2010, with a burden on my heart for the people of Haiti and a couple questions I was wrestling with. 1st, where should we invest the money raised after the earthquake? 2nd, was it possible to bring public school students down to serve in Haiti.  My daughter's heart drove that 2nd question as I sought to create opportunities for her and students like her to give of themselves, experience first hand the reality that the communities we live in aren't normal relative to the rest of the world, and serve a people whose lives had been devastated by the earthquake. The question of where to use the money was something we wrestled with, knowing the realities of corruption in Haiti and in so many places after natural disasters.  We wanted to make sure it had a significant impact and hoped and prayed that we could create a sustainable relationship with the destination of those funds.

I was blessed to get connected with Mission of Hope Haiti (MOH), an organization which does thing the right way, has incredible vision for the future of Haiti, and a plan to accomplish their goals.  I came back from that trip convinced that MOH was the organization we needed to connect with.  Their home building project in Leveque would give us an opportunity to impact Haitian lives and was so well designed to create a better future for the people in the community.  It was a vision to take people out of tents, give them their own homes, give them trees and plants to grow so they could feed their families, soccer fields for the kids, and the opportunity to change lives and create a truly planned community.

I sat in the Miami airport after my first trip, with an incredible burden on my heart, a conviction that MOH was the organization to partner with, and a determined belief that our first student trip would be over Thanksgiving of 2010.  It was a crazy idea and there were so many obstacles that needed to be overcome, yet after a great deal of planning and prayer, the doors opened, obstacles fell by the wayside and within about a week of spreading an idea to some students at Avondale, we had our first team of fourteen planning to travel to Haiti!

We went with selfless hearts and a conviction that we would serve as we were asked, while still hoping we would have an opportunity to serve in Leveque and be part of the home building project, where we had committed our funds to build three homes.  We served, swung machetes, cleared land, amidst enormous thorns poking through our shoes, and dug for the foundation of the first six homes in that community.  While we melted a bit under the Haitian sun, my heart melted as I watched our kids humbly serve, work with incredible determination, and connect in amazing ways with the Haitian people.  They embraced every opportunity they were given, loved on Haitian children, and gave a community hope. We were fortunate to be part of laying the foundation for that community! It's been truly amazing to see the growth of that community since our first trip in 2010, reflect upon being a small part of a much bigger picture, and help change lives.  While we spent a significant amount of time serving in Leveque, we also visited Haitian orphanages.  Our hearts broke as we held those precious children, loved them, and wished in so many ways we could do something to change their plight and their future.  The faces and hearts of those beautiful children were etched on our hearts, as we had to say good bye, set them down, and walk away.  Leaving is one of the most painful parts of any of our trips, because our hearts are always touched by the smiles, hearts, and faith of the Haitian people.  We always leave wishing we could do more and struggling with hearts that want to have a greater impact. 

Todd