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Supporter Spotlight: Saint Paul’s Church, Conway

Our friends at St. Paul’s Church in Conway, SC, have been champions for the work of our partners, the Valdemas, for over fifteen years. Their enduring support and commitment to walking alongside Light from Light and Lespwa Timoun have been crucial to the growth and success of Carmel Valdema’s Nutrition Program and the Lespwa Timoun Clinic. We’re so grateful to St. Paul’s Youth Director, Sean Richardson, for sharing the history of this relationship and its impact on the church’s youth. Read Sean’s post below to learn more and hear the story of how God turned the disappointment of last year’s canceled mission trip into a life-changing blessing for one Haitian family.


Haiti is a land of hospitality and generosity with much potential, but it also has a very serious need. The people need resources, both natural and monetary. They need food. They need medicine. They need hope. Light from Light is an organization that is helping to meet these needs with help from churches and generous donors.

St. Paul’s Church in Conway, SC is one of those churches that has partnered with Light from Light and is helping to support Haiti. In 2004 we sent Ginny Biddle to Haiti to establish a partnership with Pere Val and Carmel Valdema. The next year, we sent our first team to Haiti, and afterwards began sending medical teams until the earthquake hit in 2010.

In May 2011, Kelsie Pharr (now Kelsie Helton) and I, Sean, went to stay with the Valdemas to research the feasibility of bringing a group of high school students and their parents for a trip to Haiti. A year later, that first high school trip happened. Four students and six adults ventured to Haiti for ten days, staying at the school at Croix des Bouquets. Since then, the St. Paul’s youth group has returned to Haiti several times, in 2014, 2016, and 2017. These trips have been beneficial for the people of Haiti whom we serve, but our own participants have gained so much love and insight during their time spent in Haiti.

The May 2011 scouting trip was Kelsie’s first overseas trip, and it opened up a door in her heart for international missions. Since then, she has returned to Haiti two other times and has also been to Uganda. One of the students who participated in our first youth trip back in 2012 fell in love with the people of Haiti so much that he returned to spend two consecutive summers working with the Valdemas. Another student, inspired by the nutrition work that Carmel had started, chose to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Public Health with an emphasis on women and children. This same student has also returned to Haiti and participated in another international trip to Togo.

St. Paul’s has also found some creative ways to generate funds for Haiti. Our men’s group has an annual golf tournament, and some of the funds raised during this tournament are sent to Light from Light to be distributed as they see fit. During Lent, Deacon Dawn Rider, who has participated in a Haiti trip, sponsors ‘Hogs for Haiti.’ Members of the church get piggy banks to collect spare change during the season of Lent. This money is also sent to Light from Light. More recently, we have begun buying Haitian artwork while in the country, which we bring back to the United States to sell at local festivals. Church members volunteer to sell the work, and this is one way that they are able to participate in helping out Haiti even if they aren’t able to physically go to the country themselves. The money generated from the artwork goes to sponsoring more trips to Haiti.

The most recent trip to Haiti that the St. Paul’s youth group scheduled was set for 2019, but we were unable to go because of the civil unrest. We had budgeted $2000 for this trip, and after canceling our plans we asked Carmel about how the funds should be used. She knew of a family who lived outside the Lespwa Timoun gates who could use the money. They were a family of seven (five children and two parents), though they lost one child to malnutrition. The money we sent was used to enroll three of the remaining four children in the Lespwa nutrition program. We were also able to send three of the children to school, reducing the risk of them becoming delinquents and gang members. With the children in school, the parents can focus on growing their business, and we were able to help them by providing them with supplies to rebuild their small shop.

St. Paul’s has been actively involved with Haiti for over 15 years now, and Pere Val, Carmel Valdema and Lespwa Timoun have a very special place in our hearts. By sending people and resources to Haiti and Light from Light, we hope to provide the Haitian people with hope and resources that they might not otherwise have.

Hope to see you in Haiti!

Sean Richardson, Youth Pastor

St. Paul’s Church, Conway, SC

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A Lespwa Timoun Love Story

During the month of February, we’ve been taking some to think about love. One love story that is near and dear to our hearts is that of Emilio and Lynnhelda Alexis Joseph.
 
Emilio has been the Administrator for our partner, the Lespwa Timoun Clinic, since April 2010. That’s nearly ten years of making sure everything runs smoothly and ​of overseeing the clinic’s employees, which today includes 47 people! Emilio is passionate about his work and the opportunities it gives him to help others, but long hours meant he was missing out on family time, so when a position opened up for a nurse at the clinic, Emilio’s wife, Lynnhelda, applied.
 
Lynnhelda was a great match and has been working at the clinic as a nurse for the past two years! If you’ve been on a mission trip recently, you may have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Lynnhelda since she often uses her gifts as a nurse to care for patients during mobile clinics.
 
Emilio shared with us that being able to work with his ​wife has been “a gift because [they] can understand the work of the other person.” Helping the clinic grow and supporting its founders, Carmel & Pere Valdema, in achieving their vision for a healthier, brighter future for Haiti is Emilio’s favorite part of his work and he loves that he and his wife now get to share in that work every day!
 
We’re so grateful for the way these two love those ​whom they serve through the Lespwa Timoun Clinic, and ​we celebrate ​with them that this shared passion for helping others has strengthened their love for each other.

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Inaugural A Brighter Haiti-Missouri

THANK YOU to everyone who attended A Brighter Haiti – Missouri and donated to Light from Light! Thanks to your radical generosity before, during and even after the event, we met and then exceeded our fundraising goals and in total raised over $86,000 for Light from Light! God is good! That money will go a long way to help our Haitian partners at the Lespwa Timoun Clinic create sustainable, positive change in their community through their Nutrition, Child Sponsorship, and Midwife Programs, and much more. 

Stories, Uncategorized

February 2019 Protests

 

 

As many of you have heard, the chaos of everyday life in Haiti escalated recently when thousands took to the streets to protest growing inflation and the alleged misuse of funds by the Haitian government. From February 7 through 15, streets were barricaded, homes and businesses were vandalized and looted, and some protests even turned violent. As a result, Haiti was on lockdown for over a week. Schools, public transportation, and businesses were all closed, including our partner, the Lespwa Timoun Clinic, which was unable to see patients for over a week. In a country where most people struggle on a daily basis to meet basic needs, being unable to leave their homes meant many suffered from food and water shortages.

Our partners in Haiti described the protests as stressful, but clinic staff and families remained safe. Carmel Valdema, clinic founder and coordinator, shared a reflection during this time: “Can you imagine staying for 9 days at home? Nine? I was thinking about the kids Lespwa Timoun had in the hospital, children who are in the Nutrition Program who needed to replenish their supply of Plumpy’Nut or akamil (ak1000). In many places, people don’t have water, food, gas, or charcoal to cook. It is so hard.”

Currently, protests are paused while the Haitian government begins to address citizen concerns and reform issues. Lespwa Timoun reopened on Monday, February 18, and staff remains focused on providing quality care. Light from Light remains dedicated to Lespwa Timoun and the people of Haiti, and we ask you to join us in keeping them in your prayers.

In Haiti, we know there are no quick fixes, but we are blessed and encouraged by the resilience, hope and faith of our Haitian friends. Light from Light continues to focus on empowering proven local leaders, like Carmel Valdema, to build and sustain long-lasting change. By joining with them, we are feeding the flame of hope and healing in Haitian communities. It is our prayer that this flame will shine brighter than the chaos surrounding it in the days ahead.

 

Blessings,

Miranda DuBose

Executive Director

Light from Light

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