Working with Others

In my time working in Haiti over the past few years, I have had the privilege of working with numerous organizations.  From each of them I have learned much and gained insight into how and why they serve and how those reasons influence my own serving.  Today's privilege was working with a group from Soles4Souls.  This connection was set up by one of our Council members, and I have been e-mailing back and forth for months with one of Soles4Souls staff members about getting the kids's shoe sizes and their needs so that stateside staff members and MANY volunteers could organize shoe donations and/or purchase the shoes that our children needed.

Christina

Jacky

Well, today all that planning and e-mailing came to fruition.  A huge bus rolled into our compound this afternoon, and group of the 19 calmest, most giving people I have met descended.  We had a simple lunch upstairs before they set up, and they had distribution down to a science.  We brought kids in in small groups, they measured the feet, and then they found shoes in the kids's sizes.  Because we had sent a list of our kids, their gender, and shoe sizes to Soles4Souls back in June, many of the kids already had shoes picked out for them with their names on them.  If shoes didn't fit (some of the kids had already grown since we measured back in early June!), a group member climbed into the back of the bus, dug around in big boxes/bins of shoes, and pretty much always came up with what the child needed!  Every child who needed new school shoes, received a pair, and many of them also received a "fun" pair of shoes.  The other children all received a pair of new shoes, and I'm talking cool new shoes--the kind you would pick out for your own child or grandchild or niece or nephew.

Lovely getting her shoes

Shoes galore!

When they left, they kept thanking me for letting them come.  Thanking me?  I couldn't thank them enough for the gift they had given our children.  Please check out their website to learn more about them; they are worth knowing--soles4souls.org.

Soles4Souls is just the most recent in a long list of organizations that I have had the privilege of working with over the years.  I would love to give detailed accounts of all of them, but I will simply list their web addresses and share a bit of their connection with Notre Maison:

Haiti Mission Project--I first came to Haiti with them in 2009.  They have partnered with Notre Maison for the last decade.

Healing Haiti--They often bring groups in to play with our kids and provide other needed items such as lotion, diapers, and wipes.  They were also instrumental in keeping our water therapy program going for over a year.

Rays of Hope--They regularly bring groups to stay at the guesthouse onsite with their group members often interacting with the kids.

American World Adoption--They have provided needed food over the years and work with orphanage director Gertrude on many of our adoptions.

Reese's Rainbow--A number of our children our listed on their site that raises funds to help defray the costs of adoption.

Healing Hands for Haiti--This organization regularly sends teams of physical/occupational therapists to evaluate our children, to provide training for our staff, and to provide much-needed wheelchairs and other therapy equipment.