The community across the busy stretch of highway from the Back2Back Haiti campus has long received the fruits of relief efforts and donations. When the land was first purchased, staff dreamt of a day when they would work alongside families in the community and establish relationships and sustainability. Today, this vision is a reality.
Back2Back staff, Erik Mowery, Sarah Ellis, and Jason Munafo, recently visited the team in Haiti for a Strong Families Program training. Back2Back’s Strong Families Program was designed to help families move from surviving to flourishing through classes and creative workshops addressing their spiritual, physical, educational, emotional, and social needs. We provide the care they need today, so together they can participate in the hope of a flourishing tomorrow. By creating sustainability within the home, children remain where they truly belong – in families.
The training provided a time for the staff to understand the goals of this program and to get everyone on the same page, as they invest holistically in the families of Canaan. “We learned how to best care for families and keep them together,” shared Jimmy Francois, Back2Back staff. “By investing in each member of the family, we can offer depth of care. One of the key takeaways was that in making the families stronger, we are not working for them, but with them.”
The training also differentiated between relief work and empowerment. Knowing this difference and why it matters will greatly impact the families served and the partners who provide the training and classes.
Back2Back is currently working with four partners in the Strong Families Program, and it is through those partnerships they connect in person with the families. Staff and partners are excited and ready to utilize their new understanding. They look forward to providing skills that offer relief and implement models of sustainability. Please join us in prayer as this program flourishes and meets each family right where they are.