JoJo Brinkhoff
Managing Editor
On Jan. 3, 38 people, including myself, left the USA to spend five days in Haiti. Although adults and members of First Baptist Church in Anderson came along, about 23 of those numbers were college students.
The two biggest reasons for why we traveled to Haiti were to join the Daniel Project and to spread the Gospel.
According to Ben (Rob) Walker, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Anderson, the Daniel Project was started by a Haitian boy named Daniel who was raised in the orphanage called the Joy House. When reaching adulthood, Daniel had a desire to teach children the proper way of caring for their bodies.
“That was the vision that Daniel had,” said Walker. “Once they got over a couple of years old their survival rates was much higher.”
What started out as a means to teach personal hygiene, eventually lead to a gateway to bring medical attention as well as the Gospel. Although the Daniel Project’s main focus is expecting mothers and children under the age of two, the program has expanded to older children, depending on the situation.
Usually, a large group of people spent their mornings in town, doing the Daniel Project. The nurses (both professional and students) would check the mothers and children, and then depending on their condition, the nurses would direct them to different medical stations for more medical attention. After having their medical needs met, the patients would meet with a spiritual consular to tell them the Gospel and pray for them.
Those who didn’t go on the Daniel Project went to a local schoolhouse to teach English. Using English books donated to the school, we taught the Haitian kids not only English, but also a little about our homes. Afterwards, we played word games and sang songs as another way to teach English.
After a long morning, everyone regrouped at the place we stayed to eat lunch and rest for a while. Once everyone was rested, we would spend part of the afternoon doing the Daniel Project, visiting the orphanage or inviting people to the Crusade (revival).
Towards the evenings, the adults helped set-up and lead the service while the students did activities with the kids like teaching them Bible stories, playing duck, duck, goose and the Hokey Pokey; singing songs and dancing.
For the little time that was spent there, many of the students came back to the States with a life lesson that will forever stay with them.
“I learned how blessed I am in my life with everything I have, and it inspired me to spend my life helping others,” said Karmen Eden, nursing major. “I hope I made a difference when I was there, and I hope to go back someday.”
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