Joel and Sony hold a special place in many of our hearts. We first met Sony several years ago, hanging out in the yard of a local orphanage we frequent. As a “street kid,” he was not part of the orphanage and couldn’t attend the school there. We’d see him on every trip, just hanging out in that same yard. It took us a few years to really get to know him and hear his family’s difficult story. Espwa has been supporting his education for the past two years. At the same time, and unbeknownst to our team, one of the families in our network, the Hoobler’s, formed a relationship with Sony’s brother, Joel. They grew to sincerely admire his work ethic at school and in the support of his family. This trustworthy young man had been slowly working to build his family a home with whatever income he could scrape together.
If you know our story at Espwa, you understand that we desire to partner with our Haitian friends in positive ways. We strive to be a “hand up, not a hand out,” building relationships based on trust and commitment. We seek to walk through life with our friends, partnering with them, getting their input, and building them up as productive friends. So when the Hoobler’s approached us with an idea to partner with Joel and Sony in a bigger way, we were excited.
We crafted an agreement with Joel where he will become an apprentice for our farming project lead, Jovenel. Joel will work with the farming initiative over the next year, assisting Jovenel and at the same time, gaining much mentoring and support in a skill he’s interested in learning. In exchange, we’ll assist Joel with funds that can be put toward the completion of his family’s home. This opportunity will bring accountability, teach new skills, and hopefully set him up for a bright future. We also plan to work with Sony to see what skills and desires he has and try to match him with a project or small business opportunity that is the best fit for his long term success.
We can only do this with your generous support. Please visit the fundraising page below to hear more about the project!