About Lespwa
Lespwa Worldwide is a nonprofit organization started by a group of
college students who long to care for the children of Haiti. The
organization exists to find the people and raise the money necessary
to bring hope to the staggering number of hopeless children who live
only two hours from America. Lespwa Worldwide partners with an
established local ministry in Haiti to accomplish our goal of bringing
hope to the children in the community. This goal is accomplished by
building and supporting orphanages and by sponsoring children to
receive an education. All work is focused on bringing hope to a
specific community, with the belief that a restored community can grow
and then take the hope they have experienced throughout the country.
The Reality
- Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere
- Total population is 8.53 million people
- 70% of the population are children (under the age of 18)
- One out of every three children is malnourished
- There are 1.2 million orphans and only 200 thousand are in orphanages
- The rest live on the streets or with whoever will take them in, and as they get older, many turn to gangs or prostitution to survive.
Our mission is to bring hope to the children of Haiti.
The Vision
Lespwa means "hope" in Creole, the native language of Haiti. We desire
to give true hope to children without a home. Our goal is to find
people who want to partner with us in building, staffing, and running
orphanages. We desire to ensure that the children of Haiti have
permanent homes – with food, shelter, clothing, and health care – and
that they receive a quality education. We also plan on recruiting and
training people who will care for these children and nurture them in
the love of Jesus Christ.
The organization formed in the summer of 2006 after working with the
children of Haiti and seeing their desperate needs while on trips to
Haiti over previous years. Lespwa Worldwide started out of an idea to
raise a little support to send down to Haiti. After looking deeper
into the reality of poverty that Haitian children live in, the idea
progressed to become a long term pursuit in bringing hope to the
children in Haiti. The first fundraiser was a “dance party
celebration” which partnered with local businesses to raise money to
help build an orphanage. We continue to seek support and aid in
building an orphanage, and in 2009 we launched a program to sponsor
children to attend school.
Lespwa Worldwide
P.O. Box 3336
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004
lespwaworldwide@gmail.com