Posts Tagged ‘Haiti’

Two weeks ago, our web designer/photographer/digital guru turned friend, and I did a photo shoot of recent Thompson Remodeling projects.  We went from project to project, we stopped for $4/cup coffee, and midday we stopped for lunch.  I had a great time connecting with clients, and found great satisfaction that our team makes old houses dramatically new.  Never once did I fear for my life.

Put that up against the experience my friends in Haiti had yesterday trying to drive across town to take one woman’s picture.  I will repost much of Mallery’s story down the left column of this post:

Yesterday morning I had an appointment with Rosemane, a woman in our Gift of Hope program. We were meeting her near Cite Soleil to take a picture of her with her children for her journals. For the past week my allergies have been making me miserable. Sore throat, congestion, coughing, headaches, the whole nine yards. I decided it was best for me to drink and rest, and sent Charly and Jean to take Rosemane’s picture.

Upon meeting Rosemane and her children out on a main road, Charly took several pictures of them trying to get all of the children looking at one time. …Always a difficult task! Especially when there are ten of them! Charly and Jean made their way back to the truck and got in. As they were turning the truck around, three men with machine guns came up to their windows. They yelled that if either of them made a move, they would shoot. They made Jean park the truck and all three climbed in our backseat. With guns to Jean and Charly’s heads, they ordered them to drive down a small corridor so no one could see. Once they were out of sight of the other traffic, they told Jean to park the truck. They pulled Jean and Charly into the street. With two guns to his head, Charly’s pockets were searched. They took everything he had on him. His wallet, money, and phone. They only gave him back his ID card.

Jean was standing on the other side of the truck with a gun to his head. The leader was yelling for all of his money. He said, “If we do not find any money on you, we will shoot you.” He emptied his pockets and the truck. They took his money, phones, necklace, and my camera. Once our truck was emptied and the boys had nothing left they yelled, “Go, go go!”

Jean and Charly jumped in the truck and got out of there as fast as they could. Neither one of them thought they would be alive to get back inside the truck again. They couldn’t call us because their phones were stolen, but they came racing back to HOPE House, still in shock.

I cannot even begin to say how thankful I am that God spared their lives yesterday. We nearly lost our driver and translator, but God intervened. They work for Him.

…

We can pray for safety and protection. Those are good things to pray for. But the best thing to pray for, is God’s will. Above all else, God’s will.

Haiti may or may not be “safe”. But if it is where God calls you to live, or visit, you are in the best place in the whole world!

Wherever you are today, are you living God’s will for your life? http://haitifoundationagainstpoverty.blogspot.com/2011/10/god-is-god-god-is-good.html

This story is an example of why I created the 1% Project.  It is to remind myself that what happens somewhere else in the  world matters to me.  I will open myself to forming relationships in difficult parts of the world.  It is also to teach my children that the world has 7 billion people that God loves as much as Reagan, Knox, and Adelyn.  I know Charly and Jean.  When I first arrived at the airport in Port-Au-Prince I found myself chasing porters who were “running away” with my 200# of supplies I brought to Haiti.  I was scared until I saw Jean, wearing a Celebration Cinemas (movie theater in Grand Rapids) polo shirt.  Instantly, I chilled out and actually felt safe when I shook his hand.  [Amazing how learning someone's name [in any situation] does so much.] To think of him and Charly at gunpoint is insanity, yet being robbed at gunpoint entered their photo day in the same amount of time it took us to stop for coffee on our photo day.

Join me in supporting HFAP.  How about $20 to get a foothold into what is happening in Haiti?  Try out your first donation here.  Then visit: www.haitipoverty.org

With $3500 more in donations we will achieve the 1% Project – raising $10,000 together to make an active difference in the lives of people I am impassioned to see receive basic, life-giving necessities.

Some of you have already joined me in The 1% Project.  We are almost 40% of the way to our goal of raising $10,000 to impact a few hundred lives in Haiti.  Last Saturday, Jivenson, one of the little boys at the orphanage, the age of our son Knox, died.  Over about 6 weeks his body shut down and this little chubby guy we met in February had his body waste away, his hair fall out, and his internal organs shut down.  When I read the news to Kristin, she and I sat together crying silently in a crowd of people – it was a weird.  I share The 1% Project with you because I believe that one person’s volunteer experience can impact a whole community.  When death enters the pursuits of our life, the value of those pursuits is tested.  Honoring the struggle with a $50, $100 or $500 donation will make a direct impact in Haiti 7 days from now. That is a good thing!

Date night with my wife is sometimes a $100 investment – childcare, dinner, movie – and we do this because it’s important to our relationship.  I want you to date your significant other and I promise you that if you open yourself to joining me in The 1% Project the good you do will make a real impact.  I will help you stay connected to what that $100 is doing in the lives of a few hundred Haitians.  This week a medical team from Grand Rapids saw 1500 people in their clinics in Haiti.  Read about it here:

Clinic Week

You can read more about Jivenson here:

We Love You Jivenson

The 1% Project

Background

One month ago today I left Port-au-Prince.  Today Kristin and I had lunch with a client / friend who encouraged me to go on the trip and I shared with her my top 3 takeaways from the trip (at bottom).

I also shared that I saw devastation (earthquake, poverty) beyond my frame of reference, experienced a deep emotional connection to the people I met, but as for how the trip changed me, as of this afternoon I still didn’t have a solid answer.  Just a few minutes ago I figured out how to make this trip real and lasting to me.  I decided to create The 1% Project.

What does HFAP Do?

Currently they have a medical team providing free clinics in Port-au-Prince.  They run a schoolfor 160 kids K-5.  The youngest kids at the school smiled and played with us.  As Kristin moved from classroom to classroom the older the elementary aged kids got, the less they smiled.  Life is hard there.  HFAP cares for 5-8 kids at a time in their orphanage.  This weekend 4 women graduated from their entrepreneurship program and the women have earned seed money to start micro-businesses.

Why I Give to HFAP

I stood shoulder to shoulder with Haitians helping Haitians.  My hand literally reached out and handed sandwiches to Haitian children the same ages as my children, your children, your grandchildren.  I trust the leadership of Haiti Foundation Against Poverty.  I vetted this organization, wrote my own checks, helped them build a building, and walked the four corners of this organization.  My promise to you; HFAP is good and ready for the throughput of your investment into direct ground-level aid.

Why The 1% Project

My business is built on clients trusting us with very personal projects.  Clients invest tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to trust our firm to make a fantastic plan for their home, come make a mess of things, and recreate their home to better fit their lives.  Nowadays, it’s a small $1M business whose relationships, I believe, will generate $10,000 for Haiti Foundation Against Poverty in 2011.  Beyond my clients I have a network of phenomenal professionals & friends.  You who read this are The 1% Project – $10,000 in direct aid to be raised by partnering with you. Currently we’ve raised about $4,000.

What I have heard from casual conversations is that many of us want to give, but it feels like everyone always wants something.  It is a struggle to know how to make an immediate impact on human suffering.  Sometimes it’s just easier to numb out and just live our lives.

Kimberle

Be a 1% Project Partner

I’m asking you to quantify my relationship with you and to quantify your relationship to Haiti.  You didn’t ask for this, no one likes a guilt trip, and some among us will say it over reaches relational norms, and you bet it does!  But let’s try this together anyway.

I am inviting you to take our dollars to the streets of Port-au-Prince. The international aid community has to struggle with the institutional corruption of the Haitian government.  NGOs are doing fabulous work, but they also are targets, and the need is too great to wait.

The Final Pitch

Nika

If you want to see the good of humanity amidst the devastation of an earthquake, join The 1% Project.  If you are able, you will enjoy giving.  Show yourself the power of reaching out to help the widow and the orphan.  For me, the act of opening myself to experience the pain of people I’ve looked in the eye and worked alongside is what now compels me in this project.  Please show me that a volunteer trip can ripple beyond the volunteers.  Show me that what happens in Haiti matters in your household, and I will show you that what you do in your household matters in Haiti.

Next Actions

1) Write a check – big or small

Haiti Foundation Against Poverty

PO Box 120105
Grand Rapids, MI 49528
(616) 608-6606
Email: haitipoverty@gmail.com

2) Give online: http://haitipoverty.org/

3) Visit the Blog: http://haitifoundationagainstpoverty.blogspot.com/ (This is what spoke to Kristin and started us on this journey.)

4) Google: Haiti Foundation Against Poverty

5) Like them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/haitifoundation

6) Read about them in The Grand Rapids Press: LINK HERE

7) Pass the link to this information on via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Tell me what you’ve done so that I may celebrate with you and thank you.

Haiti Takeaways for Ben:

1. Solidarity – I witnessed that humans loved by God as much as I am struggle to eat even once a day.  They struggle for clean (cholera-free) water, a roof that is not tarpaulin, and the hope of education.
2. Corruption – Government in its most basic roles must be trustworthy.  Haiti’s government is corrupt and non-functional.
3. The Power of One – I saw the power of individuals, really a small band of Haitians & Americans, who touch hundreds of lives every day with food, water, education, jobs.  There is hope & progress made by individuals taking action to impact the world.