What I Learned in Haiti

As we traveled along the countryside in Haiti and got to know the partners on the ground, there were several things that I learned.  Here are some of them.

1.  I observed firsthand the diligence that FMSC goes to to be sure the food you pack gets into the bellies of kids.  Records are kept and audited often, to ensure that food is not wasted or sold for other items.  Children are weighed and measure to check their growth.  I can also personally attest to the food getting to the children.  When we served lunch to a school with 500 students, every plate came back completely empty.

2.  FMSC has a great desire to empower people in the area where the food is being distributed. Every partner we visited was working to employ as many Haitians as possible and not just for the lowest paying jobs.  They were training people for management and leadership so that these operations can continue to run without depending on American involvement on the ground.  They are also developing partnerships with farmers in several countries to buy rice and beans in their own country without having to ship them in from other places.  This a long and complicated process but one that FMSC is committed to.

3.  Every partner has an on-going long-term relationship with the children at each ministry.  When we pack food we don’t have any idea who is getting our food—they are anonymous to us.  But when it is distributed it is given by people who know Beno and Wowo, Ludienda and Blondine, Wagner and Drew, by name, and these people are invested in their lives.  I could go on and on with stories from Haiti but I have chosen just one to share with you.

Ricardo runs Hotfutbol

Ricardo runs an afterschool soccer program called Hot Futbol.  Each Tuesday-Friday about 170 kids come to form teams, work with coaches and on Saturdays they play teams from other communities.  Ricardo is passionate about this program because he was helped by a program like this when he was a kid.  (Most of our partners in Haiti expressed a strong desire to pay it forward because of help they had received when they were young.)  At the end of every practice session the kids are fed. Ricardo started feeding them because of an experience he had.

One day when this program was just getting started Ricardo took a team to compete in another community. During the first period of the game his team played great and were obviously the better team.  But during the second period they fell apart.  They ended up losing the game.  Frustrated, Ricardo spoke to the boys and said, “What happened?  You should have won that game.”  The boys replied, “We’re sorry, Coach.  We are starving.” And that’s when Ricardo knew he had to find a way to feed them. He raises funds for this program and he told us that if it weren’t for FMSC 70% of his funds would go to food. This soccer program is an important part of the players’ health but it also plays another important role. Players must be attending school to participate.  This incentive keeps lots of boys and girls in school longer so they get more education and to have the potential to get better jobs.

Everywhere we went we wanted to do more but in providing food we were freeing up funds to be used for all kinds of other purposes.

Feeding kids is important work so we are planning another mobile pack.  It will be on November 2-3.  I am planning on having it at the National Guard building again.  So it’s time to go to work to raise the funds to pay for the pack.  We raised enough money for our pack last year to have $2500 left over to be credited to this new pack.  We still need to raise $20,000.  Last Sunday Chapel kicked it off by donating nearly around $900.  I hope you will generously support this endeavor and that many of you will be available to join us to pack food in November.