From dream to reality

On Tuesday the 25th of August I landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was so great to see all of my old friends and kids I was raised with. Moreover, it was great to see the country! It is not getting any better on the poverty side! More people than ever are on the streets of Port-Au-Prince. I was amazed to see that so many new roads have been built. On the political side or should I say on the security side it has improved a lot. The police is getting more effective thanks to their training by foreign agency such as the UN. I did not hear not even one gunshot during my two week stay in the country and not even heard or read about any kidnapping. I am not saying that it is 100% safe 'cause there is no such place on the planet but I think that it is pretty safe to travel to Haiti as always one should use their good sense.

If you have been following my blog you will know by now that I have been teasing you about the dream/goal well it finally came to reality. My bags were filled with with pencils, pens, erasers, pencils sharpeners and rulers that I have been able to buy and most of them were donated by good people from neighbor to friends, former co-workers, siblings, in-laws and local churches ( I thank you all guys).

We had enough funds to buy copybooks and more pencils and school kit in Haiti which was a blessing. With your donations and the help of a dynamic team we had in Haiti, we were able to provide school supplies to about 650 kids who would have not been able to afford such. The kids and parents were grateful to us but unfortunately we had to turn away some people since we did not have enough More people showed up even after the distribution we are praying to be able to do a bigger distribution next time!

We had school supplies distribution in 3 different sites

The first one was in Lompre, Trouin a remote village around O treacherous! When we finally made it 3 hours and a half later, we found about 250 to 275 well behaved kids sitting quietly waiting for us.

They sang and clapped they hands and welcomed us! I was so glad and proud of my crew. Unfortunately, I lost my memory card which contains the picture but I have the whole event on film and I am looking for somebody who can transfer it on DVD for me,if you can help us please contact me.

On September 2, 2009 we headed to Thiotte, it was overwhelming to see the kids come so far away to receive something from us. Some of them walked as far as 5 miles to receive some little thing that they parents would otherwise might not have been able to provide to them. My cousin and brother went ahead of time and targeted the poorest people from the area and gave them a card and the location to come in order to receive the school supplies but word came out we had people with and without cards who showed up. We were able to give to even those with no cards but unfortunately not all of them could get something. About 250 kids participated in it. We delivered the items per session just to avoid overcrowding! Thanks to the crew it all went smoothly! The pictures below are only from Thiotte! I only have video from Trouin and please contact me if you want to help us convert it into DVD.

This is how we basically did it: we gave each kids 3 copy books 2 pencils, 2 pencils a ruler a pencil sharpener,those in 6th grade or higher received on top of these a copy book with a school kit.

No, we did not have the press covering this project and yet I feel so satisfied! I want to thank the special crew I had in Haiti without them any of this would have been possible!

I want to specially thanks my wife and kids, also Mount Sinai Church for being our biggest church sponsor and to my brother in law and his wife for their generous support, they were our biggest individual sponsor. I would also thank Mr. Smoorenburg director of Fondation Coeur Pour Haiti for providing us with the logistic and as well as a 4X4 pick-up and a driver. He was our biggest sponsor in Haiti hands down! I would also like to thank Believer’s Fellowship and it members for their support as well, my siblings and cousins who really invested in the dream (the trip to Thiotte was made possible by my cousin who drove us there and stayed with us), Smilemakers Inc and its employees for their support. Any one who has helped a way or the other to make this trip possible I do thank you and the kids are thanking you as well.

Thanks to all of you who made it possible financially, through your prayers or your showing up physically to help! In the name of the kids and parents of Trouin and Thiotte, a big thank you! If you have a dream go for it! You won't know till you try it and even when it does not work the first time don't give up as long as it is a legitimate one!

I have even bigger crazier dream for Haiti and I know that God will make them come true but first I have to start slowly! You will be made aware of the other projects in due time!
Thanks for helping and loving Haiti!