Crafting a Legacy

It is very hard to put into a few words the impact my involvement with Hope Force International (HFI) and subsequently, Haiti, has had on my life. Because of my involvement, I am now more relationship-driven than I have ever been in my life. The relationships that I have forged, and the lessons I have learned over the past few years are going to influence me for the rest of my life. All this, along with God laying Haiti on my heart in a big way, is the reason I keep returning to this country.

This past December was my third trip to Haiti with HFI. In the past visits, I have felt God nudging me to do more. After reading the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff -- a global overview of the status of women in the world, particularly developing countries -- I knew I had to do something, no matter how small.

Most of the time, if you give a woman an opportunity to better her life, she will invest the rewards from that opportunity into her children. So, at the present time, some friends and I are invested in helping individuals who show promise -- people who are willing to step up to help themselves. We are not limiting our project to just women, but also to men who show that they are committed to making their family?s life better.

For the most recent visit, we brought materials for sewing and beading projects. For two weeks, I worked alongside two women, teaching them to make paper beads and how to put jewelry together. What they do with what they have been taught is up to them. I will pay them for their time for the jewelry they make with the materials that were provided. The jewelry will come back here to the USA to be sold, and the profits will be put back into the project to help someone else.

There are also two tailors in the village and they are now making handbags to be sold here. Hopefully in the future, besides sending products back to the States to be sold, they will gain the confidence to develop other goods that can be sold to other Haitians.

In addition, we were able to encourage a man named Fritz, who used to paint, to start painting again. Fritz hadn?t painted since the earthquake, but I asked to see what artwork he had. He showed me what he had and I really liked it. He started to paint again and sold quite a few paintings to the teams that were there. That alone was worth the whole trip.

Just helping one person at a time is what we can offer. Time will only tell how these efforts will pan out. It is in God?s hands. No matter what happens in the future, these trips have been a blessing.

Janet Hall is an HFI reservist who has been to Haiti three times in the past 14 months.