Damanuel entered the Rev program in 2020; he is part of our first group of students in Port au Prince. The first year was rough. He was always a good kid while at the center, but his school life was different. He often got into trouble, and by the end of the year, his school told us he could not return. We didn’t believe that kicking a student out of school was the right thing to do when there were already so many children in the streets. So we sat down with Damanuel that summer and asked what he wanted to do. We could not continue to give him a scholarship if he wasn’t willing to invest in himself as well. He shared that his father died when he was 12 years old. And since then, he started messing around with some of the boys who were always in trouble. And he realized that this wasn’t the path he wanted to be on anymore. At this same meeting, we asked him if he knew Jesus as his savior. He told us he believed there was a God, but that he wasn’t good enough or ready to have a relationship with Him. We ended the meeting by letting him know we would never be good enough on our own, but that God would meet him right where he was at. And that’s where we left it. So we went to bat for D. He was put on probation for three months, as he entered a new school the following fall. Fast forward to last year. He was a senior in high school. He has surrendered his life to the Lord! At the beginning of the school year, his mom shared this with us. “Because of the Rev program, my son is a leader in our home and our community and is serving at church!” Damanuel wrote to me the other day and told me, “Yes, I accepted God in my life. He is so powerful. My life has changed. I’m so thankful for all of the Rev staff and people who support it for investing in us. I have no words to say how thankful I am for you.

Being very poor, it was a heavy burden for Christiana's parents to send her to school. Not wanting their daughter to struggle in poverty as they had always done, they worked the ground to pay for her fees in elementary school. Her parents have never gone to school at all. They wanted better for Christiana. In Haiti, most children drop out of school by the fourth grade. But it was in the fourth grade when Christiana's life took on a fantastic new course. It was then that a sponsor through the Reach Out Lafond's children's program changed her life. In Christiana's fourth-grade year, she got a sponsor to help her stay in school. Christiana became a Rev student and was part of the first graduating class in Lafond. She told us the Rev program changed her life. "When I'm at Rev, I am always happy. We have so many fun activities, and I learn so much. Before Rev, I couldn't pass my physics class, but now I can!" Because of a compassionate person, Christiana was the first person in her family to not only attend school, but also to graduate! She told us, "It is only because of the Rev program that I dream about going to university." To all the Reach Out Lafond supporters, Christiana says, "I pray that somehow God will make you see the great changes you have made in the Rev students. That you will see how you are truly helping the community of Lafond and us."