The rough gravel crunched underneath my blue sandals. Sweat dripped down the side of my face. We were in Haiti, visiting the house of the boy I sponsor, named Romario. I took in my surroundings in Romario’s one-room, hot shack. The walls were ripped fragments of blue tarp; the ground was dirt. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I can’t believe Romario lives in this small hut with the many members of his family. I can’t believe that he sleeps on the bare ground every night. The worst part about his situation is that his tent house was supposed to be only temporary — a place to spend a short time after an earthquake destroyed thousands of homes in Haiti. But that earthquake was in 2010. And it is almost 2015. This temporary home has turned into a permanent one.
And this temporary-to-permanent ordeal has become all too common in Haiti. I walked through the sandy paths of his village, and these blue-tarp huts are everywhere.
I met another family while walking through this village. A mother and her many kids are living in the filthiest, smallest, and most tattered shanty I have ever seen. I squatted down in the dirt by her house and played with one of her many sweet children, an adorable child named Wilna. The mother was so kind, too, and I’ll never understand how she manages to stay hopeful and gracious through the immense poverty she endures.
I knew it in my heart right there that I couldn’t stand it if these two sweet families had to live another day in these worn-out, run-down huts. They needed a new home, big enough for all the people in their family, where no one has to sleep in the dirt, where they can laugh and cry and live their lives.
And these families will get a new home. Because Kayla Grooters Raymond, who is a close friend that is a missionary in Haiti, has had the idea to build five families, including the two families I mentioned, a brand new home with cement floors and beds!
My mom and I are helping with the fundraising for these homes, too, and that’s where you come in, my dear readers.
We need your support so we can build these houses for these families that deserve them so much! And if God is calling you to donate right now, to change someone’s life, we would greatly appreciate any donations!
(You can find Kayla’s blog post by clicking here. This is my mom’s post (click here).)
Together, we are asking if you might consider making a year-end donation to our project: 5 Homes for 2015.
HOW TO GIVE:
1) Through Pure Charity, by clicking here.
2) Directly to Touch of Hope, by sending a check to:
Touch of Hope
205 Old Mill Lane
Rock Rapids, Iowa 51246
– leave a note on your check that your donation is for “5 homes in 2015″ –
3) Through PayPal by clicking here.
(Touch of Hope is registered 501(3)c non-profit and all donations are tax deductible.)
Another way that you could help is to spread the word about this project, whether telling your friends or sharing about it on social media. This would be a HUGE help.
Thank you so much to anyone who is donating. You have no idea how much this will mean to these families! God bless you!
Lydia M. Lee 
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