Soles4Souls Shoe Distribution: Haiti

Haiti Trip Soles4Souls::|::

I am not sure I can fully put in to words what the Soles4Souls Haiti 

shoes distribution trip was like, but I will give it my best effort:)

This may be my longest blog, but I want you to feel like you were

there with us...along for the ride with Team Soles4Souls. 

The Travel:

   Our team consisted of 16 members from all over the country and even included Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster with family in alongside him. Kelly Hoskins (who is truly amazing) led the charge as the travel coordinator from Soles4Souls. We arrived on January 2nd, 2014 at the Miami airport sporting our Soles4Souls travel t-shirts so we could recognize each other. Through cancelled flights and missed connections because of weather, we all mustered through it to arrive on time and head out to Haiti as a group. I had been traveling since January 1st and due to snow storms/delayed flights, missed 3 connections and found myself huddled in my travel blanket on a seat at the Chicago airport awaiting the next available flight which was now the morning of January 2nd. At one point I began to look up how far it was to drive to Miami because I did not want to miss out on traveling to Haiti!

The view of the snowy Chicago airport around midnight

  After greeting everyone with small talk at the Miami airport, we gathered up and headed out for Port au Prince. Our guides Paul and Sam greeted us at the airport and upon arrival we all gathered our bags...except me. Yes, my luggage had been lost and for some unknown reason never made it out of Miami. Travel abnormalities honestly make me chuckle because they truly happen to me often. There is nothing I can do about it but smile because in the end, life works out and eventually everything will be fine:) This was my second trip to Haiti, so I was very anxious to be back. I had missed the people, the culture and bringing hope to the children of Haiti.

 Since our flight to Haiti had been delayed, we arrived when it was dark and headed straight to the hotel. The first night was full of extended greetings, Haitian cuisine and our first team picture.

 We listened to some wonderful stories of people who had previously been on Soles4Souls trips and how their lives had been impacted after the experience. After reviewing our schedule, it was time to call it a night.

Day One:

  We prepped for the official "Day One" of shoe distributions with a 7am start. The team sorted shoes by size in the lobby of the hotel along with some toys we had to hand out. 

The team sorting shoes for the distributions in the hotel lobby

  Two vans pulled up to the hotel for the teams and a bus for the supplies...off we went! 

My roommate Annie from Texas

  Children were lining the streets of our first stop and one car load with at least 30 children inside pulled up to the site. 

    The basics of a Soles4Souls shoe distribution are three steps: 

1.Size, 2.Wash, 3.Fit (dishing out hugs  to the children could technically be step 4!)

1.   Sizing

One of the team members checks the child's shoe size with a chart

2. Washing 

Each child gets their feet washed and dried before the fitting

3. Fitting

Soles4Souls Travel Coordinator Kelly Hoskins doing the fitting

Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster holds a little girl who just received her new shoes

The unofficial #4. Hugs and High Fives!

 The team did an amazing job pulling together to distribute shoes by communicating well, being willing to trade job roles to give others breaks and sharing words of encouragement. Everyone's energy with the intense heat and fast paced activity in a small space was astounding. It takes a few hours per distribution and it is non-stop, but when you finally take a breath and look around to see all of the smiling adoring children...any tiredness evaporates and is refilled with joy.

The Soles4Souls travel team sitting for lunch in between distributions

  After packing up we grabbed lunch, then headed out for distribution two. Same process and more adorable children to serve.

Distribution Number Two with Musician SaraLou Richards Singing (http://sarahlourichards.com/)

 

 

 

Our day ended up by distributing about 470 shoes!

We returned to the hotel around 5pm with some free time before our 6:30 team meeting. Someone shared with me about a soccer field close by that could be used for running and I grabbed my sneakers to head out the door as soon as possible. To be able to distribute shoes alone is amazing, but to get to run in another country for those that I race for...I was excstatic! After about 40 minutes, a group of girls showed up on the field and started to run with me. My last mile was spent holding the hands of two of the girls, we giggled the whole way and even though I can only say a few choice words in french, sports is an international language that crossed all barriers and we connected through our steps. After we ran, I decided to show the girls some other things they can do to workout. We did push-ups, stretched and some jumping jacks. One of the children that joined us took a quick video of the girls and I doing our jumping jacks :) 

I had made my way back to the hotel and was able to go out in to the ocean and catch sundown standing in the warm water of Haiti. 

Standing in the ocean watching the sundown, reflecting on the day

Day Two:

  We started our day with additional shoe sorting and headed out bright and early once again. Our first distribution had children lining up waiting and we each jumped in to job roles. I enjoyed washing the feet during the distributions because as I looked at the children's feet and held them in my hands, I imagined what story they told or wondered if anyone had ever held there feet and washed them with a smile from across a chair. With the help of others my French vocab expanded a little bit, but a smile alone is worth a thousand words. It was also fun to fit them because we were able to pick them up and hug them for a while.

 What a neat opportunity to hold them in your arms for a moment, my smile just writing about it right now is from ear to ear. By our day two distribution our Soles4Souls team had become a small family. We celebrated two ladies on the trip birthdays' and a young man's acceptance into college. 

Our first distribution crowd waiting for shoes while we prep inside

Our second distribution group on Day Two

 We ended up distributing over 600 shoes for day two! 

  After we returned to the hotel I was able to get in one more run, but this time there was a soccer game going on. It would have been a dream to jump in and play with them, but being able to watch peaking out of the corner of my eye as I circled the field was exciting :)

Day Three:

  Our trip wrapped up by attending a Haitian church service. 

The S4S Team outside the church we attended

Our last shoe distribution, the children lined up and waiting :)

After the service, we toured a orphanage called Rivers of Hope and then distributed shoes at the church we attended. 

At our last distribution letting some of the little girls try on my crown :)

After the church our team had our last lunch together seaside. Haiti's waters are so beautiful! 

 

This picture is not edited showing the stunning beauty of Haiti!

After lunch we had a chance to visit a school where I was able to play soccer with some of the kids there...they are SO good!

 

Some of the girls from the school

Our trip rounded out by taking a short hike up a mountain near by where we got to play with some of the children from nearby homes and see an amazing overlook!

Standing atop the mountain overlook (with a random goat joining me ;p )

 If you are interested in traveling with Soles4Souls, you can find out more information at this link http://soles4souls.org/travel4souls 

I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to go on at least one trip, not only will it change your life, but the lives of many others for years to come. 

 If you are not a traveling type, you still have the ability to help others all over the world with as little as $1! $1 = 1 pair of shoes for a child in need. You can give at the link below and 100% of your donation goes to Soles4Souls. 

https://secure.soles4souls.org/page/contribute/maggi-thorne 

Thank you for reading this blog and taking the journey with me as you read about Soles4Souls Haiti. More trips are to come this year and I can't wait to get out on the road to do more for Soles4Souls. Happy New Year again.

Helping to change the world one pair at a time,

 Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Maggi Thorne