RedFlagMagazine

Location: Jacmel, Haiti

Text and photos by Michael Capponi

I arrived in Haiti the first time on day 5 of the January 12, 2010 earthquake with a team of Miami Beach Firefighters, nurses and doctors. Nothing in life had prepared me for what I saw in those days to come. It was a short mission and when we returned I felt propelled to immediately return with more aid.

Two weeks later I came back with tents and more supplies. This is a picture of a little girl named Darline Dimanche and her brother Michaelson camped out in the mud. I immediately set them up into a temporary tent and gave them what I could; food, clothing , sheets etc.

During the first year I saw and clearly understood the root at the problems facing Haiti. As my heart and soul only wanted to help them all, I took on some serious responsibilities such as committing to giving a new shot at life to over 60 other beautiful children like Darlene along with their parents.

In December 2011 we transported 60 children and adults that were living in our temporary camp to the south east coastal city of Jacmel. Our new mission was to uplift these children to their greatest potential.  We set up basic infrastructure with a focus on education. Most children had never gone to school. Today they are all in private school learning to use computers and learning English. Throughout my 75 mission trips to Haiti we have grown an unbreakable bond to one another.

The first photo is of me with our 100 Haiti Empowerment Mission students and parents holding the Red Flag to Activate awareness that there are many successful missions in Haiti and Haiti is not to be forgotten.

In the second photo Darlene is holding the Red Flag in Jacmel’s river mouth where children bathe and a town of 60,000 also dump their trash here. It’s a perfect storm for water born diseases etc. Unfortunately, once rainy season starts the river will get wider and all this trash will float into the rivers they bathe in.

For more information visit: Haitiempowermentmission.org