My Journey to Haiti

I traveled to Haiti on a medical mission in late January 2010 to care for earthquake victims. My job was to treat the broken bodies and share my love and passion for the Haitian people and for Jesus. What I experienced as a young physician in my first year of practice on my first mission trip was profound and life-altering. I left behind in North Carolina my husband Jon and five-year-old daughter Audrey, who somehow managed just fine without me.

When I returned home, I asked God what else I could do to make a difference. He answered: HELP THOSE WHO SERVE. To me, that meant finding practical ways to deliver basic needs to the Haitian medical team who chose to stay in the rubble and tirelessly care for their fellow citizens.

Within days of returning from Haiti, I began the quest to help the caregivers still in Haiti -- working through HillSong, my home church in Chapel Hill, NC. My HillSong friends had devotedly prayed for me throughout my trip to Haiti and now committed to help me find ways to continue the mission we named "Caring4Haiti." Caring4Haiti is a mission project that responds to those needs I saw firsthand: it provides tents, cots, bedding, canopies, food and medical supplies for the native Haitians who are working around the clock under very difficult circumstances to care for the wounded.

Below is the make-shift shelter where two engaged Haitian physicians I met on my trip were living at the time. Due to the genorosity of my friends at my church and partners in the business community, within a week of my return to the states, we were able to send a new "home" (a luxurious tent) and basic living essentials for this couple and the same for some of their medical teammates. And that is just the beginning for Caring4Haiti.