Current:Home > StocksMeet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti -FundGuru
Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
View
Date:2025-04-13 20:26:51
Haiti has been racked by political instabilityand intensifying, deadly gang violence. Amid a Federal Aviation Administration ban on flights from the U.S. to Haiti, some volunteers remain unwavering in their determination to travel to the Caribbean country to help the innocent people caught in the middle of the destabilization.
Nearly 3 million children are in need of humanitarian aid in Haiti, according to UNICEF.
A missionary group in south Florida says they feel compelled to continue their tradition of bringing not just aid, but Christmas gifts to children in what the World Bank says is the poorest nation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
"Many people on the brink of starvation ... children that need some joy at this time of the year," said Joe Karabensh, a pilot who has been flying to help people in Haiti for more than 20 years. "I definitely think it's worth the risk. We pray for safety, but we know the task is huge, and we're meeting a need."
His company, Missionary Flights International, helps around 600 charities fly life-saving supplies to Haiti. He's flown medical equipment, tires, and even goats to the country in refurbished World War II-era planes.
But it's an annual flight at Christmas time, packed full of toys for children, that feels especially important to him. This year, one of his Douglas DC-3 will ship more than 260 shoe-box-sized boxes of toys purchased and packed by church members from the Family Church of Jensen Beach in Florida.
Years ago, the church built a school in a rural community in the northern region of Haiti, which now serves about 260 students.
A small group of missionaries from the church volunteer every year to board the old metal planes in Karabensh's hangar in Fort Pierce, Florida, and fly to Haiti to personally deliver the cargo of Christmas cheer to the school. The boxes are filled with simple treasures, like crayons, toy cars and Play-Doh.
It's a tradition that has grown over the last decade, just as the need, too, has grown markedly.
Contractor Alan Morris, a member of the group, helped build the school years ago, and returns there on mission trips up to three times a year. He keeps going back, he said, because he feels called to do it.
"There's a sense of peace, if you will," he said.
Last month, three passenger planes were shotflying near Haiti's capital, but Morris said he remains confident that his life is not in danger when he travels to the country under siege, because they fly into areas further away from Port-au-Prince, where the violence is most concentrated.
This is where the WWII-era planes play a critical role. Because they have two wheels in the front — unlike modern passenger planes, which have one wheel in the front — the older planes can safely land on a remote grass landing strip.
The perilous journey doesn't end there – after landing, Morris and his fellow church members must drive another two hours with the boxes of gifts.
"I guarantee, the worst roads you've been on," Morris said.
It's a treacherous journey Morris lives for, year after year, to see the children's faces light up as they open their gifts.
Asked why it's important to him to help give these children a proper Christmas, Morris replied with tears in his eyes, "They have nothing, they have nothing, you know, but they're wonderful, wonderful people ... and if we can give them just a little taste of what we think is Christmas, then we've done something."
- In:
- Haiti
- Florida
Kati Weis is a Murrow award-winning reporter for CBS News based in New Orleans, covering the Southeast. She previously worked as an investigative reporter at CBS News Colorado in their Denver newsroom.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
veryGood! (5325)
Related
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Advocacy group says a migrant has died on US border after medical issue in outdoor waiting area
- AP PHOTOS: Scenes of grief and desperation on war’s 7th day
- UAW President Shawn Fain vows to expand autoworker strike with little notice
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- 'Night again. Terror again': Woman describes her life under siege in Gaza
- US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut heat-trapping pollution
- In solidarity with actors, other Hollywood unions demand studios resume negotiations
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Son shoots father in stomach after argument over weed eater in Pennsylvania
Ranking
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Holiday shipping deadlines: Postal carriers announce schedule early this year
- After years of erasure, Black queer leaders rise to prominence in Congress and activism
- 5 killed in Mexico prison riot. Authorities cite dispute between inmates
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Michelle Williams to Narrate Britney Spears' Upcoming Memoir The Woman in Me
- In New Zealand, Increasingly Severe Crackdowns on Environmental Protesters Fail to Deter Climate Activists
- Microsoft closes massive deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard
Recommendation
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
5 Things podcast: Controversy ignited over Smithsonian's Museum of the American Latino
Biden Announces Huge Hydrogen Investment. How Much Will It Help The Climate?
Finding your place in the galaxy with the help of Star Trek
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
Ex-Connecticut police officer suspected of burglaries in 3 states
A father worries for his missing child: ‘My daughter didn’t go to war. She just went to dance’
Judge authorizes attempted murder trial in shooting over Spanish conquistador statue