Haiti: "Kayou" for a Young Missionary

 

Paty Abreau is a college student and youth missionary from Guadalajara. Her journey with Mission Youth started in 2010, just before her senior year in high school. Called to use her youthful energy to help the needy, Paty spent the summer serving through Mission Youth projects. 

 

Finding a new sense of purpose through prayer, hard work and charity, Paty craved even more challenge as a missionary. With news of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti still prominent in the media, Paty ached for the Haitian people as she heard story after story of orphans, widows and tens of thousands of homeless people with no support system. 

 

 In January 2011, Paty was en route to Haiti with the Mission Youth team. The trip was life-changing for this young woman. She returned home with a clear understanding of God's plan for her. "I felt the need to bring Haiti to my world and bring my world back to Haiti," she says. "The Haitians were in my heart to stay." 

 

Out of her drive to connect with the people of Haiti, Paty created the Kayou Foundation. (Kayou means "my home" in Creole.) Making key-chains, and charms and organizing a fashion show, Paty raised $8,000 in just a few months-enough to build a playground for the orphans in Haiti. She personally delivered the gift to the children herself that summer. 

 

 

 

Paty has remained active with Mission Youth, attending the "Bring Christmas to Haiti" project this past year and sharing her zeal to show the love of God to the people of Haiti. Catholic World Mission honors Paty and all those like her who answer the call of the Holy Spirit.