FFP Leaders Return from Review Trip in DR and Haiti

Last week Foundation for Peace leaders spent six days visiting current FFP projects and partner communities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. During the trip we reviewed the progress of current projects, met with pastors and community leaders to assess future needs, and looked for new projects to bring into the FFP family.

At every community we saw the story of FFP — doing the work of God hand in hand" told over and over again. Because of the work of our tremendous short term missionaries, nursing groups and in-country staff live have been changes and communities transformed.

• At Complexe Educatif Men Nan Men in Ganthier, the local government and FFP have worked together to establish a vision that is transforming a region. Today over 500 men, women and teens are learning English and Spanish. They have hope for a better life. 

• At Despizo, nine families received keys to their brand-new FFP-built latrines, vastly improving sanitation in this remote village. 

• In La Javilla de la Cruz a pastor and his wife envisioned a church in the wilderness. God led them to FFP and together have built a church and school. This wilderness has become an oasis.  

• In Pantoja, one of FFP's first projects, the community sent their children to school in a shack. With FFP's help a beautiful. mulit-level school now educates over 500 students. A vibrant church is a beacon of light, clean water vastly improves health and soon a medical clinic help save lives. Property values have even increased because of the revitalization of this community.  

• In El Cachon, one of our newest communities, a partially finished church has become a spiritual center for the community. Children attend weekly Bible school classes ... and we were blessed to witness one of them!

• In Batey San Joaquin, one of the poorest communities in the DR, young women desperate for money prostituted themselves at a nightly disco. FFP helped the pastor and today, a community center stands where the disco once stood and the women are being trained in skills like furniture making. 

• Last year in La Victoria, one of FFP's groups were working there when a house in the village burned down, leaving one of the church's families without a possession or place to live. Responding immediately the FFP group had extra funds wired to the DR and started to build her a new house. Today this woman has a lovely new home and gives tearful, heartfelt thanks God for the blessings He has provided to her and her children through FFP. 

These are only a handful of the dozens of stories we experienced last week. We were all inspired and encouraged that the work FFP is doing really and truly is making a difference. 

Said one trip participant, "Before I came on this trip I had no idea about all of the things FFP is doing in the DR and Haiti. To see it for myself makes me feel so blessed to be part of this organization and makes me want to do all I can to help. Working hand and hand isn't just something you say, it's something you do!"

To learn more about FFP and the work we're doing, go to our website.

The next review trip is scheduled for February 13-18, 2014. You can sign up here.