Our Beach... La Gonave, Haiti

La Gonave was once a paradise.

Situated some 12 miles away from Haitiʼs mainland lies La Gonave, a long, oval island about 37 miles long and 9 mileswide. These 287 square miles are home for 100,000 of the poorest people with whom we share planet Earth. This once lush tropical island, rich with mahogany forests and dense vegetation, is today just the opposite. A once-green island has turned brown, its soil parched from unprotected sun, thin from run-off rains. Once-abundant tropical birds and animals have largely vanished, and the surrounding sea struggles to produce her once-plentiful harvest.

La Gonave. Where half of children under five are are malnourished and where most people cannot get to clean water. Where meaningful work is nearly non-existent and the ability to hope for a better future has evaporated. Where only a slim minority of children can attend school and where, even for those fortunate enough to attend and complete school, there are no next steps.

But... La Gonaveʼs people are beautiful, created by God to image Him in dignity... just like you and me. They are a people who love their country, for all its flaws. They are smart people, beautiful people, creative people, industrious people. Whose children love to play and sing. And they are a resilient people, who desire more than anything to make a go of it, willing to work hard to pull themselves and their land out of their rotten situation, if only there were a way to do it.

Sadly, these same people have lost that dignity they were created to have. Right now they feel they have nothing to be proud of and they are sure the world doesnʼt see them. Their lives are quietly desperate... hidden, pretty much, from the rest of Haiti... certainly from the rest of the world. Dying off quietly, one by one.

Friends in need, we see you. And we choose this day to join with you in your struggle.