Haiti (MNN) — For many children in Haiti, getting an education begins with an exhausting walk.
“Some [Haitian] children walk miles, five miles, 10 miles to get to school,” says Roseline DeHart with For Haiti with Love.
The long journey can make it difficult for children to attend classes consistently and stay focused on learning. The ministry is responding in a practical way by collecting bicycles to send to Haiti.
Photo courtesy of FHWL
“A bicycle can make a huge difference between struggling to attend school and having a reliable way to get there every day,” DeHart explains.
She says bicycles are needed not only in rural areas but in cities as well.
“Even in the city, they walk to school, and the bicycle is a way to help them get there,” DeHart adds.
So far, the team has collected about 200 bicycles from local communities. The donations range from small children’s bikes to adult-sized models for older students.
“There are some repurposed bikes. We clean them up and fix them up. Some of them are very nice used bikes, and some of them are even new,” DeHart says.
Rather than distributing the bicycles at random, the ministry prayerfully considers which children have the greatest need.
“We try our best to figure out who is the farthest away from school and give the ones give it that,” DeHart says.
The bicycles do more than shorten a child’s commute. When families receive the unexpected gift, many parents wonder why someone would show such kindness. Those conversations create opportunities to share the love of Christ and explain the hope that motivates the ministry’s work.
The project still faces one significant hurdle. While hundreds of bicycles have already been collected, transporting them to Haiti is expected to cost up to $5,000.
Please pray that God will provide the funds needed to ship the bicycles. Also pray for the many outreaches of For Haiti With Love as the ministry continues revealing the heart of Christ to Haitians.
Visit For Haiti With Love to know how you can help Haitian children in prayer and action.
Header: Representative photo of a Haitian schoolboy (photo courtesy of Zachary Vessels via Pexels).
