My recent bout of the stomach flu has made me grateful for some things: A comfortable bed. A toilet inside my home. Clean water when I’m dehydrated. Money for a doctor (and a vehicle to get to the clinic).
It’s a great feeling to be able to give back to someone who is always giving to others. An example I’d like to spotlight is Alina Previlda. The 50-year-old Haitian woman lives in a rural community where we support a Catholic mission led by Father Glenn Meaux.
In February I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting the 40 residents of Bon Samaritan (Good Samaritan) Elderly Care Home in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. After sharing a hot lunch together, I was able to capture their joy as Cross Catholic staff distributed new wheelchairs, donated by one of our generous supporters.
10-year-old Judeline Vincent is one of 300 orphaned and vulnerable children benefiting from the Cross Catholic-supported Seeds of Hope program, a medical and holistic outreach in rural Lahoye, Haiti. Judeline and her mother live a day-to-day existence, barely surviving in a dilapidated shack on one meal a day.
Kenasda Lafortune dreams of becoming a doctor. “I would like to help people when they are sick,” she told me, as we chatted in her schoolyard in Haiti’s rural Central Plateau.
Rosita Bernard is a teacher at Kobonal Haiti Mission’s school in Haiti’s Central Plateau. She is also a former student. In fact, many of the Mission’s 62 teachers were previous students. Rosita arrives early to school every morning to read the Bible and pray with her fellow teachers. This fellowship keeps her focused on the importance of her role in her students’ lives.