Take the World in a Love Embrace

Beginning this past January, I have been serving as Deputy Director for a start-up nonprofit in Jacmel called The Haiti Initiative (THI). Founded in response to January's earthquake and operational since March 2010, The Haiti Initiative, formalized under the name 'Social Tap,' is a voluntary relief project undertaking an asset-based approach to evaluate community needs and provide lifeline resources to disaster victims. THI secures resources and distributes aid in collaboration with established Haitian NGOs, identified local community leaders, and skilled professional volunteers, in an effort to empower the local community and promote sustainable development. (THI's website, http://www.socialtap.org/, is currently under contruction and anticipated to launch this in the coming week. If interested in learning more, please check back soon.)

My involvement with THI over the course of the past four months has taught me a great deal about the challenges and rewards, the costs and benefits, and the barriers and opportunities that make up the messy, often difficult and unrelenting, day-in and day-out of relief and development work. There are certain things that a person, no matter how much they prepare, cannot know and understand until experiencing them for themselves-- and for me, this Haiti experience has been one of them. I am, with each day that passes and in ways that I could never have forseen, growing in my depth of love, passion and knowledge of the needs of Haiti and her people, as well as for the field of development work. I am also growing in knowledge of myself: learning my limits- whether internally or externally imposed- while at the same time growing in confidence and wisdom when it comes to the approaches and methods by which I am able to best utilize the skills, gifts and interests that God has given me to most effectively impact the environment in which I currently live and work.

Many of you will know that my heart and passion have long been to serve as an advocate for and minister to the needs of women and children-- particularly girls-- to whom the world and society have largely turned a blind eye, or, in more cruel instances, a purposefully opressive hand. In Haiti, women and girls have long been living in a state of emergency: In a nation where 80% of the population is unemployed and 76% live on less than $2 per day, 1 in 90 women die in childbirth, and 7 of 10 women report being victims of domestic and sexual violence. In the wake of the 2010 earthquake such previously existing problems have been compounded, resulting in already vulnerable populations being put at even greater risk. Single mothers, homeless or displaced women and girls, domestic and sexual violence survivors, former sex workers and prostituted women, and female ex-offenders are populations in particular need of support.

Knowing this, my next year of work in Haiti (I am committed to staying at this time until atleast May 2012) will focus primarily on assisting, largely as an independent agent, in the development of THI's "Core Areas" of Human Rights and Domestic Violence. In collaboration with this organization and with the support of other like-minded agencies and individuals, I will be be working to develop and expand the following projects: Girl's Empowerment through Sports and Art in camps for displaced persons; local outreach through Hospitality and Community Building; Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Survior Support; creating Opportunities for Economic Empowerment through trade education, business planning training, and the creation of Cash for Work and microenterprise options; and finally, a Women's Prison nutrition, sanitation and medical outreach.

Currently, I am in the States, seeking partners who are willing to join me either in prayer or financial partnership as I move forward into this next phase of work in Haiti. While I have been recieving a small stipend for time spent assiting with volunteer hosting at THI, currently, the organization as a whole is operated on a voluntary basis so as to be able to commit as much funding as possible to ground initiatives rather than to operational costs. For this reason, it is necessary for me to secure my own personal funding for housing, travel, and monthly expenses for the coming year.

During the course of the last nine months, I have been blessed to be surrounded with a community of supporters, friends and partners from countries all around the world whom I have had the opportunity to witness again and again make the choice to believe in and invest thier own money, prayers, and other resources into the work that is happening in Haiti. God has used the generosity and displays of compassionate love demonstrated by my friends, family, and even complete strangers-- some of whom have now become cherished friends-- in incrediby powerful ways to keep me encouraged and teach me perserverence by keeping ever before me the knowledge of His perfect timing and provision when things have gotten difficult. If you are able and feel led to do so, I invite you to join in partnership with me. To be added to my list of prayer partners, to find out how you can become a monthly financial partner, or to get more detailed information and updates on the projects that I am working on and other ways that you can become involved, please email me at mary.hooke@gmail.com or call US (919) 360-3899. For one time gifts, click on the paypal button immediately below.

If you are interested in setting up a meeting or a speaking engagement with your church, classroom community or other small group, I would love to have the opportunity to come speak with you as well. Just shoot me an email or give me a call!

Thank you for your consideration and for your interest in partnering with me to support the people and nation of Haiti!