Imagine

Imagine for a moment….

As the sky darkens, “Marie” looked up to see the clouds coming together for yet another rainy season downpour.  She sighed and started pulling the family’s still wet clothes off the rope that her husband had put up to hold her prized pink sheets that now served as their only shelter.  If only it wouldn’t rain for one whole day,  she’d have the chance to get them dry.  The kids played on the mounds of rubble that used to be their house.  Had it really been 6 months since the earth shook so terribly?  She thanked God again for the fact that her family lived through it, although some of her neighbors hadn’t been so lucky.  She was so tired of first the dust, then the rain and mud, of huddling together at night, trying to sleep and not feeling safe and secure, of trying to fix meals and live under the little bit of protection that those pink sheets offered.  How on earth could they ever get back on their feet and even think of rebuilding with things the way they are she wondered.  The sound of a truck making its way carefully down their tiny road made her look up.  She watched in amazement as, in 3 hours, a team of Americans and the national staff from Reciprocal Ministries International put up a transitional home on the foundation where her previous home had stood.  She and her husband were thrilled when they received the keys to their new home.  They couldn’t stop smiling.  Tonight they would listen to the rain on a tin roof.  Tonight they would sleep safely locked in their new home. 

Can you imagine for just a moment if this were you?! 

Can you imagine what it would mean to you? 

Can you imagine how life changing it would be? 

This last week RMI President, Dan Shoemaker, and RMI Vice President, Kim Rose, led a Homes for Haiti team to southern Haiti.  The long awaited windows and doors (which were stuck in customs) arrived, enabling the RMI national staff to be trained in their installation as they fitted them into the 4 homes that had already been built.  The team was also able to put up 2 more homes.  One was for a Baptist pastor and his family.  Another (the one pictured above) was for a bookkeeper for Radio Lumiere, Haiti’s largest Christian radio station.  These families AND the team were all smiles and moved to tears as each family was given the keys to their very own earthquake and hurricane resistant home.  An interesting affirmation was received from townspeople who came to see the house.  They said, “Of all the temporary houses being built, this is the one I want!”  Wow.  And this in a town where a number of organizations are building shelters.  Which one would you choose?

The two on the left are made of a tarp type of material stretched over wood frames.  RMI’s metal home is on the right, behind the truck. What is the difference?  RMI’s home is a transitional home not a temporary shelter.  It is made of metal anchored in a cement floor.  Our homes provide security, safety and dignity.  They are built to last years. 

You can change a life!  $4,400 is all it costs to set a Haitian family on the road to recovery. 

How can you help spread the word??  We need more sponsors.  You can be an agent for change.  Actually you can be our real estate agents!  What a great ministry: being a “real estate agent” of sorts, helping RMI find sponsors for more homes in Haiti.  Can you promote or do a fund raiser for a home at your place of business?  Can your Rotary club sponsor a home?  Three different friends of RMI are donating 10% of their profits from their businesses for the next 6 months to building homes.  What other creative idea can you come up with to help us raise these funds?

Be sure to keep up to date with RMI’s happenings on Facebook and the RMI website, here.  Or feel free to call us toll free at 866-RMI-5439 or 239-368-8390.

You can see more pictures of the first homes being built here and here.  From start to finish, one home took 3 hours to build.  Let’s work together to get these homes built!