FFCC's team of 17 just returned from a week in Haiti.  This was not a week for the faint of heart or muscle!  We worked hard!  Here's some things we accomplished:

• Unloaded trucks full of cement block then carried and stacked them for the walls of the girls dormitory at Shepherd's House (home for orphaned and abandoned children)

• Dug trenches, removed a dirt wall with pickaxes, and then hauled away the dirt in wheel barrows in 90+ degree heat.

• Unloaded a shipping container full of our 'Fight Against Hunger' boxes of food sent from San Diego.  They were then sorted and distributed to orphanages, churches, and needy families in the area.

• Installed water filters and trained families on how to properly use them.

• Loved and cared for children from 3 different orphanages.

• Hiked up a mountain to bring food and supplies to families in a remote area (six miles round trip!)

• Worked through language barriers to build friendships with the Haitian students from our Ayaiti Academy who lived and worked alongside us.

• Met with Congressmen, city officials, and hospital staff to discuss things such as establishing internship programs for our Haitian nursing students, constructing a medical clinic in the remote hills of Gressier, and logistical details for our April medical clinics and future conference. 

• Oh ya, and then there were the soccer games, late night card games, arm wrestling, dancing, swimming, and lots of laughing!

Here are a couple of testimonials from students on our trip:

Caroline Williams, a sophomore at Seattle University, made her third trip to Haiti with FFCC.

"Returning to Haiti again was familiar and exciting.  Haiti has become my home away from home.  All that I meet there remind me that we all have the same purpose in life: to love and be loved.  Upon our arrival to Shepherd's House we were greeted with hugs by familiar faces.  They welcomed us in with their genuine love and care.  The relationships we made within the team; with the children; with the Ayaiti Academy students and everyone in general are lifelong.  Although I may not physically be with them, their stories, smiles and lives are engrained in my heart.  In Haiti I feel able to love to my full potential and I am coming home with a more open heart and a greater willingness to serve others, no matter rich or poor, sick or healthy, good or bad.  I have learned that we are all family and all deserve to love.  Although I am unsure of when I will return, I rejoice in the knowledge that Haiti is in my future.  I trust that I will one day go back home to my Haitian family."

Sohini Desai is a junior at Mt. Carmel High School.  This was her second trip to Haiti with FFCC.

"I saw love and pain and suffering and hurt and hope.  Phil has always summed it up best with his inculcation that in Haiti, the days are long but the week is short. I had the opportunity to see things that forced me to think and even evaluate my own life.  The suffering in Haiti is not easy to witness, let alone experience.  I think that the Haitian people's ability to remain hopeful in the face of disaster displays a kind of courage and bravery that I am rather unfamiliar with.  The unwavering glorification of love and unity and brotherhood during this trip moved me in a way that I have never been moved before, and for that I am grateful!  I look back on the week knowing not only that this trip helped many people, but also I realize, selfishly, how much it has helped me.  I have changed.  When I don't want to work hard or I have doubts about sharing love and giving generously, I will think about this trip.  Much love to my Haitian family and my FFCC family.  Thank you."