Supply the Love: Haiti
In 2017 we launched Supply the Love! We supply the camera and film and you supply the love. We would love to have you be an ambassador of Print the Love! If you are traveling to an under-resourced community anywhere on the globe in the next year and would like to participate in spreading random photo kindness to the local people, lets chat! Together we can make a difference! Application is online.
The Supply the Love program is 100% supported by donors. If you are not travelling, you can still donate funds towards the camera and film for those who are.
As part of the program, we ask that ambassadors write a short description of their experience. All the words are their own.
Deb in Haiti
I have worked with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) hosting mobile pack events for the past 6 years. When they offered a Food in Action trip to Haiti myself and another committee member, we jumped at the chance to go.
During our five days in Haiti, the 19 of us with FMSC were kept on the move. On Sunday we attended church and visited a metalsmith market. Monday, we visited Melissa’s Hope, a special needs orphanage and Chance’s for Children, an orphanage & clinic. Wednesday, we visited The Apparent Project and the Good Shepherd Orphanage. Thursday, we went to Real Hope for Haiti, a rescue center for starving babies and others and in the afternoon, we visited Hot Futbol, an afterschool soccer program that feed the children following their practice.
At Melissa’s Hope, most of the children were confined to wheelchairs and had been abandoned by their parents. Pascal and his wife have taken them in and will care for them the rest of their lives. The orphanage receives no state funding so when I took out the camera and started taking their pictures – the pictures were treasured! The smiles and laughs were music to our ears!
Chances for Children includes an orphanage for children who are eligible for adoption and a clinic for the community. The adoption process takes 15 months to 2 years. All the children have been given up by their birth parents and are waiting for their forever home. They were excited to have a picture of their own to keep. They kept yelling Me, Me, Me! In hopes that I would take another picture of them! I had to keep saying ‘Only one”.
When we visited Real Hope for Haiti we saw children that were severely malnourished but were excited to have their picture taken. The rescue center is about 10 miles out of the city, but the travel and roads made it a very challenging place to visit. Mothers would walk 2-6 hours just to get their sick children to the center.
The Hot Futbol program is unique that the kids come to play soccer, but it was when they were playing in a tournament they soon discovered that the kids didn’t have enough to eat to keep their strength up to finish the tournament, that is when they connected with FMSC to give them food. The kids come from all over Port Au Prince to play soccer.
This was a wonderful experience for all involved. Thank you for the opportunity to Share the Love!
