Mizzou Athletics Supports Soles4Souls in Haiti
5/29/2018 9:23:00 AM | MizzouMade
Mizzou Director of Student-Athlete Development Adam Kiel checks in from Haiti
Photo Gallery | Soles4Souls Information
Every day, children are prevented from attending school and adults are unable to work. Walking becomes unbearable. A new pair of shoes provides relief in many developing nations around the globe. Over the last two days, Mizzou Athletics has had the honor of distributing shoes to those in need with Soles4Souls.
Soles4Souls creates sustainable jobs and provides relief through the distribution of shoes and clothing around the world. Since 2006, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 30 million pairs of shoes in 130 countries. The vision for Soles4Souls is to disrupt the cycle of poverty.
Mizzou was represented by 10 student-athletes and a pair of staff members in Haiti last week, serving the local communities through shoe distributions and community visits. Along with two guides, Mizzou student-athletes and staff again demonstrated what it is to be model citizens and proud representatives of Missouri's flagship institution. Representing Mizzou in Haiti were Emmie Hahn (Track and Field), Alyssa Munlyn (Volleyball), Kelsey Dossey (Soccer), Michaelee Turner (Gymnastics), Britney Ward (Gymnastics), Iliana Jones (Swimming), Alexa Beckwith (Diving), Chase Brennan (Wrestling), Phyllip Deloach (Wrestling) and Cameron Valdiviez (Wrestling).
Adam Kiel, Mizzou's Director of Student-Athlete Development, provided a daily blog of the group's experience. He details their experience below.
Day 1, May 24
Today, 220 shoes were delivered to schools throughout the community. We visited two schools: Disciples Village School in Trouforban and Dalle in Carriesse. At each school, we sized, washed and fitted shoes for the children. We were able to see the kids walk away with huge smiles on their faces and new shoes on their feet. After the first distribution, there was plenty of time to play with the kids. Piggybacks, jumping rope and tag seemed to be their favorite games. The kids took this playtime as an opportunity to show us all of their English skills by counting to 10 and signing the ABCs. We wrapped up this distribution but we were far from done with the day. We headed to the next village and set up to distribute the shoes in a one-room schoolhouse that serves 75 kids. Here, we provided snacks and toys to the children. We fit shoes for the children as well as community members.
Day 2, May 26
We started our day with an hour drive to the Holy Family Church School in the community of L'esther. We received a warm welcome with songs and cheers from the schoolchildren as they eagerly awaited to join us inside. In just a three-hour span, we fitted 180 shoes, played games, and sang songs. We even got in an enthusiastic MIZ cheer that incorporated all of the kids and our entire travel party! We packed the vans and headed off to our next location, the community visit at Feeding Hope. We were welcomed with more songs and afterwards got a chance to interact with all the children. An hour-and-a-half has never flown by so quickly! The kids were infatuated with us as we sang along with them, took selfies and ran around. To end our day, we saw the house that other Soles4Souls volunteers are hosted in. While we were there, we had the opportunity to see and purchase art that a Haitian entrepreneur handcrafted from oil drums. A special thanks to Ccilu for providing the shoes that we are distributing to those in need!
Day 3, May 27
After several mornings of shoe distributions, we switched things up and spent the morning playing soccer with the Heroes of Hope soccer team. The members of this program range in age from 11-14 and play year round.
Despite the team having a 6:30 a.m. practice, they easily beat us in a friendly competition that we had the pleasure of joining them in. We distributed 28 hats to the players after the game. Two especially impacted student-athletes and walked away in just socks, as they had decided to give their own cleats to a couple of the players. After the match, we saw something amazing come together that had been in the works since February. Soles4Souls delivered a wheelchair to a little boy who they had been unable to fit with shoes on one of their previous distributions. The wheelchair will provide independence and the opportunity to attend school when he turns six. Additionally, $250 was donated to the family. This will help immensely with cost of living and other costs associated with school.
Our final distribution for the trip was at a school called Carenard. A total of 120 pairs of shoes were distributed to the students today. Over the course of the week, a total of 520 pairs of shoes were delivered to schools in Haiti. These shoes will have such a positive impact in the lives of the individuals who received them.
While distributions have wrapped up for the trip, plenty of community visits are yet to come during the next 3 days. We have some really exciting things happening and are looking forward to sharing them with you!
Day 4 - May 27
Todays trip was a little different than anything we have done in the previous days. We delivered 50+ bags of water and more than 100 sandwiches to one of the poorest community's that Soles4Souls supports, Rousseau, Haiti. As we pulled off the main highway, we quickly noticed that our vans could not handle the terrain of the mountain we were about to climb. A few of us fit into the truck with the sandwiches and water, but the rest of us walked the half-mile trail that led to the small community of 100 people. As we began walking, our group doubled in size as some of the children from the community met us at the bottom and made the trip uphill with us.
Later in the day, we hung out at an orphanage that hosts around 40 children. When we pulled up, the kids all ran up to us and gave us hugs and kisses! Even though we brought pizza and cookies to share with the kids, we like to think the excitement was more about our arrival. We spent hours playing games, singing, and even had a dance/aerobics session in the middle of the yard.
Either way, this day was full of ups and downs, but we were able to serve two great communities and make hundreds of friends.
Day 5 - May 28
Our longest trip during our week visit was to the Haitian American Caucus (HAC). The Caucus was located at a school that many of the children from the nearby orphanages attend. This school was different from the other schools we visited. It had a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) program and had recently participated in its first robotics competition, in which it earned first place! Upon our arrival we had time to play and interact with all the students right before we had a delicious lunch made by the female entrepreneurs that Soles4Souls sponsors. The lunch consisted of traditional Haitian foods including rice, plantains, beets, and chicken, fish and goat. Afterwards we got to meet with the man who runs the caucus, hear about his work within it and Soles4Souls involvement in the micro finance program that sponsored the entrepreneurs. Upon leaving the caucus we got to tour the nearby orphanage, where many of the children actually attended the H.A.C. as students, and help occupy all the little babies there as they work up from nap time.
On our way back to the resort we stopped at the memorial for the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. This memorial honors those who died in the earthquake. With few cemeteries, the government created this memorial and buried thousands on this site. In total, more than 200,000 people lost their lives in this terrible tragedy. We paid our respects and continued home.
We leave tomorrow and it's hard to believe it's over. The mountains and ocean will be missed as we come back to Columbia, but the people and children we met with love forever with us in spirit. Working with Soles4Souls has changed our group for the better! We were lucky to have this experience!
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