Soccer is king in Haiti!

Soccer is life in Camp Hope.

Well, it is official.  What Miracle Village wants on ALL their uniforms for soccer, basketball and volleyball. On the front of the shirt, the coaches want “Kan L’Espwa” and on the back with their number, they want “Nou Pa 2!” or “We are NOT second!” HILARIOUS!

I NEED HELP MAKING THIS WISH OF ALL THESE UNIFORMS COME TRUE! Anybody that can help me with this, please step up! You will be the HERO of the camp!

I have struggled with the poverty around the world.  I have finally decided that while I can’t save the world, I can change the small part of the world I am working on each time I take a project.

Our small part for now is Camp Hope (Miracle Village) in Fond Parisien, Haiti. When I arrived in Jan/Feb, I was confronted with hundreds of tents, no one moving, 115 degrees in the tents, all on the ground on small thin mats with not just 1 surgery or amputation but with an amputation and a fracture or of a couple of crushing fractures. External fixators were attached to basically everyone. No one had moved. Most had surgery but no PT. Lack of medical knowledge and no guidance made these people just lay day after day on their mats. Immediately, I knew I had found the place for me.

At that time, we immediately went to work as soon as we arrived. We worked from early AM until way after dark. A few of us were seeing up to 60 patients a day. All we did was get these people up. We cut down crutches for the kids, adapted walkers and made slings out of whatever. It was an amazing time, for in just 2 days, the change in the camp was dramatic. The patients were beginning to come out of their tents with their families and moving to the shade. They were showing signs of hope and recovery, whereas before they just had accepted the position they were in. All the volunteers/patients noticed the extreme change in emotional and psychological conditions, and in the air was excitement and joy for the first time since the earthquake. It was truly wonderful and something that I will never forget.

Throughout this journey with Camp Hope, I have seen 200 disabled Haitians slowly begin their recovery, and some now are able and looking for work. Others are planning their lives, and so many are on their way to recovery!

LAC is working hard on building the homes, distributing food, providing seeds for a garden that Camp Hope is responsible for, and digging a well to find clean water. LAC will also be helping Camp Hope start a big market where the artists will have a house to sell their paintings, others will sell what they can make and others will sell vegetables and fruits or other items. The vision is that this village will be self sufficient.

HHI is working on the medical part and also teaching RNs to continue with the care of Camp Hope with referral if needed to LAC med clinic or Adventist Hospital.
ARC has been managing Camp Hope and hiring many of the Camp Hope residents to clean up the trash, clean the outhouses, and other duties.
HOLIA has been working primarily on PT and recovering 200 patients but we have also brought down tons of supplies including med supplies, can openers, small tools, glow sticks, soccer balls, notebooks, coloring books, crayons, boxes of food, marbles, powdered milk, tons of shoes/flip flops and boxes of crystal light packets which are popular. So much more I havent listed. Without counting them all, we will have had almost 100 volunteers–I think. All have brought as much in their suitcase as they can to help lessen the burden of these people. We have assisted in the organizing of the warehouse, the distribution, the malnurished babies, building the homes, and Lorin with mental health programs implemented. We have all given of our love/hearts and our PT clinic has become a special social gathering place even though we do work these patients hard. Our PT clinic has been a very special place for both Camp Hope but for all of us.

As we are projecting that we will have met our goals of all of our patients in Camp Hope for PT around mid October, we are looking to leave a gift. I just strongly feel that supplying Camp Hope with game equipment will add additional social, physical, and mental uplifting and would be a totally appropriate and special gift for the people of Camp Hope.

Bottom line is that with that final gift from all Hands of Light in Action volunteers and contributors, we really will have CHANGED THE WORLD in a small part of the world. We will have changed Camp Hope/Miracle Village. We will have brought them the full cycle from despair to a really good life for Haiti.

I understand that not all of the rest of the world is out of such desperation that would allow them to even think about sports, and I also understand if some choose not to help us achieve this small goal in our very small part of the world because of all the other people in need in so many parts of the world.

All HOLIA can do right now is just totally finish what we started and leave a piece of us behind for all to remember. We have all left a little of our hearts in Haiti.

Joy and Smiles,
Nancy