Hike With a Purpose

Seventeen years ago, three Lynchburg College students visited Haiti over spring break and returned to campus transformed by the experience. One of them, Rachael Tanner ‘02, wanted to do something to raise awareness about the community she had visited. Rachael was struck by the fact that in Haiti almost everyone walks everywhere: to fetch water from a spring, to get produce from the open air market, to carry charcoal for the cooking fire, to trudge over rocky terrain sometimes more than an hour to go to school, etc.

Rachael wanted her peers on campus to walk in solidarity with Haitians. She believed the hike could help Lynchburg College learn more about the people she had come to love and raise funds for them to continue educating themselves, grow food for themselves, build homes for themselves, etc. And so the Hike With Haiti was born. After graduation from LC, Rachael returned to Haiti and lived there for a year. She returns often to visit and has stayed in touch with many friends who are more like family to her by now.

I have been fortunate myself to visit our partnership community, the village of Matenwa, eight times now, including the past two summers. Haiti remains the only place outside of the U.S. that I ever want to visit. I have learned what it means to be resourceful, as teachers there have come up with innovative approaches to literacy. I have been inspired by the children who plant and nurture gardens to grow their own food for the school and who are trained in arts and crafts in order to create items for sale in the local market and for outside visitors. I have grown to appreciate the importance of real community as neighbors take time to visit with one another regularly and often and who bear each other’s burdens and lighten even the most difficult times with laughter and storytelling.

Each month I receive an update of the latest news from the community and I feel heartened by their continued resilience and creativity. (If you’d like to check out the latest news and photos please check this link: http://matenwaclc.org/)

Each time I visit Matenwa I see progress being made and hear about the people’s hope for the future. This past summer, the community was celebrating the presence of a nurse to serve the people on a part-time basis. I was especially happy to hear of this development as an 18-year-old had died the past year due to complications of a seizure disorder. Sophia was one of my dearest friends, and it broke my heart to know she might have been saved had she had easier access to health care and medication. In memory of Sophia, any money raised from this year’s Hike will go to support the small clinic and nurse in Matenwa.

If you’d like to join us for the Hike this year, please come to Sydnor Performance Hall Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Transportation will be provided to and from the Blackwater Creek Trail. We suggest a minimum donation of $10, but all our welcome regardless.The trail is paved, level, and in a lovely location and we walk about 4 ½ miles total. If you cannot join us but would like to support this most worthy cause, we would welcome your contribution. Checks may be made out to LC with “Hike With Haiti” in the memo line and sent to the Chaplain’s Office. In honor of Rachael and in memory of Sophia – we will hike with Haiti in our hearts.

Peace, Anne