dreamfleur

Above: Two girls from the village of Bahaya, one of the poorest areas that we were in, and where my mother and sister were born.

In July I journeyed to Haiti for the first time, and able to visit and meet family there, as well as visit various cities (Port Au Prince, Forte Liberte, Cap Haitien and some others), churches and hospitals. The trip was bittersweet with joyful moments laughing and talking with aunts, uncles and loads of cousins (many loads), but also being reminded of the shaking of the earth a few months before in the faces of those who survived, and how so many were lost on the ground we walked on.

Seeing the country for the first time in my life was an eye-opener for me. In cracking walls I thought of the standing structure I call home in the U.S. In the children asking for loose change I thought of change that is often disregarded in many purses and pockets. In the kindness of the people and resilience in their eyes I realized how grateful I am to be alive.

It is so humbling to know that we are each a few circumstances away from living eachother’s reality. Let’s remember the faces of Haiti in helping with the recovery and rebuilding of lives and homes; we would yearn the same compassion if we were in their place.

Visit A Home in Haiti for information on how you can help build schools and orphanages in Haiti. Click here to view more photos from my trip.

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On January 12, 2010, thousands of lives were lost, buildings destroyed and many injured and in desperate need of aid after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the small nation of Haiti. I want to encourage you to both pray and send your support to help those affected. This news is very close to my heart as a Haitian American, as I have several family members there and I know many others feeling helpless and trying to make sense out of confusion. Let’s continue pray for peace in the hearts that are hurting and put action and love behind our faith.

How You Can Help:

Donate by texting “HAITI” to 90999. A $10 donation will be charged to your cell phone bill that will go to the Red Cross. It’s quick and easy, every bit helps. You can also visit www.redcross.org or www.yele.org to donate larger amounts. Other reputable organizations you can donate to include: Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Compassion International, Unicef.

I really enjoyed The Dream Lives Special Presentation on today’s Oprah Winfrey Show. If you missed it you can read the stories on the website or even pre-order a copy of the presentation on DVD. It was inspiring to view stories about interracial relationships, the history of civil rights in the United States, and ways of how everyday people today are living Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of freedom and unity.

The last story was of how a bus driver in Los Angeles, Tanya, encouraged her students to improve their grades. She started an organization where she drove the children around and took them on trips to view places around the world, places like civil rights sites and “a marine biology cruise just a short ride away from the inner city”.

Tanya explained, “…a few of my students pulled me to the side and said, ‘Miss Walters, I didn’t realize there was a life outside my community,’” she says. “And that gave me the strength to know that I had a purpose in life.”

Tanya said that the trips began to change the children. She says, “They’re able to link history together, and I think that’s what our youth need right now is to know that people came from all walks of background and [have] struggled for all different reasons.”

“They go through life, and they think that they can’t achieve. They think that they won’t amount to anything. And it’s not such!” Tanya says. “My goal, when I bring our kids together, is for them to dream again, for them to bring back hope. Because when you have hope, you have determination.”

Watching that last story strung a cord in me, and made me begin to think about what could be done to help younger people, like those I saw everyday in my inner-city community in South Florida, keep dreaming. I think its so true that if young people don’t know what’s possible or what’s beyond the walls of their neighborhoods, they can’t really dream to full extent. Without dreams, there’s nothing to strive toward, nothing to wish for, nothing to drive one to keep going.

Langston Hughes said it the best in his poem:

Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams, For when dreams go
Life is a barren field, Frozen with snow.

- Langston Hughes

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Note: I’ll be taking a short hiatus from posting, because of my workload at school and business. I’ll be back the last week of February with all new posts!

Here’s a story of something that happened to me recently. When I was little, writing was my favorite thing in the world to do. From little illustrated poems and storybooks I made for my family and friends as gifts to the little magazine I started and sold in elementary school, I’ve always loved to write. It seems recently though that other things have been taking over my life. I’ve felt so drained and confused lately as to if these other interests were what I should be pursuing fully, and if there was something missing.

I got an email a few weeks ago from a teacher I met in the first grade, Mrs. O’Connor (actually she was my brother’s 5th grade teacher at the time). She’s such a wonderful woman, and always encouraged me to write, and even encouraged me to try to get my stories published, even though I was only about six years old. I wrote so many stories and poems for her, and she nurtured my dream of expressing myself in the written word. She eventually became a family friend and even took my brother and I to see a movie for the first time in our little lives (I remember it was Aladdin) and swimming for the very first time (I was a really sheltered child). Wow, she was really a blessing to us, as my family was having difficulties at the time. We lost contact with her about a year or two after we first met, because my family moved to another state. That was 15 years ago.

Last year, an old card had sparked this teacher in my memory and I thought it would be great if I could find her contact information so I could write to to her and see how she was. I never could find her address.

That same teacher was cleaning out her basement a few weeks ago and found one of the stories I wrote for her. She decided to try “Googling” my name and found some websites I had designed and websites I’d been mentioned in, and eventually found my company’s website. She sent me an email, and I nearly cried when I saw that it was her contacting me. It was amazing and we were both so excited to be able to “reunite” online. We exchanged photos, addresses, and stories; it seemed like such a miracle that she found me after 15 years.

Just a few days ago I got a package in the mail, and was from my teacher, Mrs. O’Connor. When I opened it I found the little book I wrote way back when I was six, and stopped to look at the cover: scrawled on the faded construction paper were the words “The Christmas Story, A Ryme.” As I stood there and read the poem that my little hand had penned, a feeling came over me. It was like a gentle nudge saying - here is what you’re missing, your love for writing and sharing.

After I took the book from the envelope I took out the card in which my teacher had written an encouraging message to me, as she always had done. On the cover of the card (below) was also an appropriate message: “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”

God is so awesome, and works in strange ways. I will leave you with a snippet of the poem that 15 years ago was paraphrased from the Bible to remember the miracle of Jesus’ birth:

“There was a woman named Mary
Who on a night so dark and dreary
Received a message from God,
She received it in a dream and saw
A light shining in her eyes
Coming from the midnight skies
Then appeared what seemed like a ghost
Who was sent by God, a heavenly host
“Fear not!” soothed softly the angel
“I have good news of great joy to tell
You who in God have found favor
Will have a son and soon give labor
And with God’s love your heart be full
For with God, nothing is impossible.”

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Thank you Mrs. O’Connor for sowing in me seeds of courage that have allowed me to bloom, and wings that have allowed me to soar torwards my dreams…