Dear Friends of Haitian Roots,
It has been awhile since we’ve sent out a newsletter and we have a lot of updating to do!
OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHY
Two weeks ago Chareyl Moyes–one of the original and most influential members of Haitian Roots–lost her beloved son Sterling. We know that many of you have become supporters of Haitian Roots because you know and love Chareyl. We send to Chareyl and her entire family our deepest sympathy for her loss and our gratitude for her love and shining example. www.meaningfulfunerals.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1208168&fh_id=13348
MAY 2011 HAITI TRIP
Just the day before the passing of Chareyl’s son, she wrote this beautiful letter:
“Dear Haitian Roots friends,
Sorry it took so long for me to sit down and write about Haitian Roots May trip to Haiti.
As many of you may already know things have been pretty tough in Haiti over the past year and a half since the devastating earth quake that rocked the island nation in January of 2010. After several Haitian Roots board/team members traveled to Haiti in 2010 and seeing the conditions in Haiti, especially in regards to our HR children and families, Haitian Roots made the decision to send a container to Haiti to help relieve some of the suffering of our HR children and their families. It has been a long journey to accomplish this goal and a great learning experience as well. Our recent trip was the final leg of our journey, distributing the items in the container. First let me say thank you to our team members Nancy Waterfall and Dan and Kristin Egan for all the work they did to get the container to Haiti. And a very special thanks goes to Ted Broman, who funded the shipping of the container!
The distribution project was big, but we were lucky to have a great crew of volunteers. It was also really great for me to have my 16 year old son Grayson along on this trip. He loved being in Haiti and loved working hard to help with the distribution, and I loved spending the time with him. We had a team of about 25 US volunteers and we had many volunteers on the Haitian side including Harry Mardy and his wife Pascal. We used the LDS church in Petionville as our distribution head quarters. As we unloaded all the boxes and sorted the items I was overcome with gratitude for all those who donated items, and for those who had made things; like hundreds of homemade dresses and dolls. There were hundreds of shoes and two rooms full of clothes and one room full of much needed food. So from all of us at Haitian Roots, Thank you so much to everyone who helped fill the container.
Once we had everything set up at the church the Haitian Roots families were able to come, they shopped in the rooms for the items they needed for their families, the children got their pictures taken and wrote letters to their sponsors, and before they left they got a hot meal. There were squeals of joy as little girls held up their dolls or their brand new dresses. There were young boys dancing out of the church with a brand new soccer ball. But most of all, there was gratitude from parents for the opportunity their children have to go to school. Several parents would come up to me and say “Thank you so much” over and over again and then they would tell me how hard their child is working in school and to tell their sponsors thank you as well.
The container project was a wonderful learning experience for all of us at Haitian roots and we feel that down the road as we start building our children’s village the knowledge we gained will be very invaluable. We are, however, very grateful to have that project completed and to refocus our energies towards raising the funds necessary to send our children to school this fall. This is what Haitian Roots is all about. We are grateful to have been able to have the experience of temporarily helping with the physical needs of our families but our focus and our goal remains the same: to change the future of Haiti through educating her youth today.
All of us at Haitian Roots want you, our supporters, to know how important you are to the success of our program. Since returning from Haiti I have thought much about each of you and have gratitude for your commitment to help educate the children of Haiti. I woke up the other morning and thought about what it might be like to not be able to read or write, or do basic math skills, how different my life would be. I have a great love for reading that started at a very early age and reading has brought me so much joy over my life time, I thought about all the stories and adventures I have read about and all the things I do because I can read. I can’t imagine my life without the ability to read. I spent a day looking at everything I do that is associated with reading, and it was the little things that really hit me, like reading the directions on the medication bottle, or reading a recipe when making dinner, or reading the directions on road signs or maps even sitting as a passenger in a car, let alone the ability to have a drivers license and drive. And most all, how would I be employed, how would my husband, and how would we provide for our family!
This is how many people still live their lives, especially in the country of Haiti, it is difficult for me to comprehend. This confirms my belief that one of the greatest gives you can give someone is the gift of education. I am grateful to be a part of Haitian Roots and am so thankful for all of you who support this great organization. We have much to do in the coming months, preparing for school to start and raising funds to build a fence around our property, and we can’t do it without your help! So once again I want to say thank you to all of our Haitian Roots supporters, and thank you to all of you that helped with the container project; all the volunteers that went to Haiti, you inspired me and made the trip awesome! And to all of you who sponsor children; trust me when I say, you are making a difference and you are appreciated beyond words!
I look forward to the future and all we can do together.
Chareyl Moyes”
THANK YOU
Chareyl wrote a letter about her trip a couple of weeks ago but she told me last week, “I rewrote the letter because I felt strongly that I needed to focus on gratitude.” We truly are so grateful to each of you who has sacrificed to help us send 135 children to school. The writer George Colman once said, “Praise the bridge that carried you over.” You have all been a part of the bridge that has carried over these children so far. We offer you our most sincere gratitude.
Yours,
The Haitian Roots Team
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