Somewhere in southern Haiti, over one hundred miles from Port-au-Prince, ten minutes drive from a dazzling bay, and down a rocky country road lies a modest expanse of hope called Vilaj Espwa. Within the bounds of this place, girls giggle as they run to class, an older boy cuts a younger boy’s hair, housemothers scrub their laundry, someone’s welding something, painting something, building something, and someone’s eating. Espwa – Haitian Creole for “hope” – blossoms here under the careful governance of Fr. Marc Boisvert.
Vilaj Espwa is a part of Pwoje Espwa – a project that finds its home in a forgotten corner of the Western Hemisphere where, aside from the trucks and the odd rice farmer chatting on his mobile, time seems to have stopped - over a hundred years ago. Fr. Marc moved to Haiti over eight years ago and began by taking in fifteen needy kids. His organization now serves the various needs of over 1,000 children in Les Cayes and the surrounding areas.
At the end of December 2006, I will move down to Haiti to contribute in any way I can. The next few months will be filled with fundraising, sharing Haiti’s story and photographs from my recent trip, and telling of the impact espwa has on a poverty-stricken country.
1 comment:
Instead of reading your blog at the end I've started reading it at the beginning, slowly, savouring the sounds and smells...
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