Today is the last day of our January social-media campaign to spread the word about how Haitian Families First works to preserve struggling families in Haiti. We are a small organization with a handful of staff members—the majority of whom are volunteers—and a shoestring budget. Still, as I look back over the past three weeks’ worth of blog posts, I’m struck by how many people from all walks of life the work of Jamie and Ali McMutrie has brought together.
There are, for example, HFF’s employees, volunteers, and colleagues in Haiti with whom HFF partners. There’s Junia, HFF staff person extraordinaire, whose efforts to help other families, let alone her efforts to help herself, her birth children, and her soon-to-be adopted child, are nothing short of heroic. And there’s Sherry, who has been brave enough to let a painful past inspire her to help others get involved in HFF’s work. Board member and “professional volunteer” Vivian Croft has described how touched she was to visit Jamie and Ali in Haiti, even though she has traveled widely and been involved with many other volunteer organizations. Another volunteer, Ross, also describes a visit to Haiti, where he learned some valuable lessons about HFF’s work (not to mention the value of a good set of tires).
We’ve seen how people from around the U.S. have been inspired by Jamie and Ali’s dedication to the children of Haiti. We’ve witnessed the enormous outpouring of love and respect adoptive parents from all over the world feel for the McMutrie sisters and the appreciation they have for the care Jamie and Ali gave their children.
And we have seen glimpses of the insides of a Haitian hospital’s maternity and pediatric wards, where directors, doctors, and nurses work with HFF staff to care for children and bring hope to families.
What we also see in those videos, of course, are glimpses of the faces of those we work for: a single father struggling to feed his infant son even as he mourns the loss of his wife; a little boy lovingly receiving medical treatment; a mother and a family receiving a few seeds and a new chance for a better life.
I am deeply humbled by these stories, by how many difference lives, world views, and circumstances they encompass, by the sheer amount of miles that separate them. And I am in awe at what brings them together.
There is one story—just one—that made all of these others possible. Over a decade ago, a very young woman in her early twenties got on a plane bound for Port-au-Prince. She had no solid plans for herself once she arrived, didn’t know how long she’d stay, and did not really know what she’d find once she got there. She had little money and fewer connections. All she really had was a love of children, a hatred of poverty, and a vision of a better world.
Except for the occasional visit to her family, she’s never left. Jamie has learned a great deal since then, of course, as has her sister, Ali. They have endured hurricanes and an earthquake as well as the pain of having to watch many children suffer and many families be torn apart. But a few things have not changed. They still work tirelessly and mostly thanklessly. They are just as dedicated to Haiti’s children and to a vision of a better world as they were over a decade ago.
And, although Jamie won’t like me telling you this because she’s still too unpretentious to take a complement, we continue to be inspired by them.
–Jean Griffith, Executive Director, Haitian Families First
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