Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Written By Paige

When I am older I would really like to start a mission of my own here in Haiti. My dream of a mission to start would be a home for developmentally disabled people.

I think that there is a huge need for this in Haiti. I know that handicapped people here are not taken care of the way they should be. They don't have anyone and sometimes they are thrown-away by their family.

There was one main thing that first started me thinking about this. I was sitting at the market waiting for my friends to finish their shopping when I saw an adult woman who was obviously not fully functioning. Another lady was taking a hat and throwing water on her and teasing her. Seeing this made me very sad because I knew that the only thing that this poor woman could do was scream at the girl that was taunting her. It got me thinking about this group of people in Haiti and how poorly (or not at all) that they are cared for.

I don't exactly know when I would like to start this project, I think that I should go to college in the States first and then come back here. I was thinking maybe to just start small with only a few people and hopefully after time it would grow. I think it would be cool to find and hire very loving and trustworthy Haitian staff that could run it and eventually take it over.

It makes me sad to think of the mentally ill and the forgotten people and I hope someday I can do something more to help them.