I'm joining a team to provide training & support for the house parents of hundreds of orphans. This is part of a 6 year effort of Austin New Church and Help One now to bring consist long-term transformation. I'm really excited to see how the villages have developed and be a part of this mission more directly.

A bit about why Haiti is such an important mission field:

HAITI

As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with 77% of its 10 million people living below the poverty line, Haiti struggles to take care of its most vulnerable population. In 2008, there was an estimated 440,000 true orphans (those without both parents) in the country of Haiti.

After the devastating earthquake of 2010, estimates exceeded 500,000. Today, it is difficult to determine the true number of orphans in Haiti. Many other factors contribute to at risk children in Haiti. Parents may not be able to take care of their children because of social, cultural, economic, and/or related health issues. These at risk children are vulnerable to sex trafficking and child labor both in Haiti and across the border in the Dominican Republic. Many of these Haitian children are living in domestic servitude, subject to forced labor, beatings, sexual assault and other abuses. There is a significant range of at risk children in Haiti.