Explorer Christopher Columbus discovered the tropical Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1492. Its western third would become Haiti. After three hundred years of slavery and colonial rule, Haiti became the world's first black republic. Over two hundred years later, Haiti's children continue to search for hope as they grow up against a backdrop of poverty, unemployment, civil unrest, disease, disasters, hunger, and illiteracy.
At age sixty, Frances Landers took her first mission trip . . . to Haiti. The children entranced her. But could she even dream of making a difference? Partnering with a tall, visionary Haitian priest, and stepping out in faith, she accomplished far more than she could possibly have dreamed.
In 1981, Frances raised money for a small school in Haiti. Thirty-five years later, her Haiti Education Foundation educates thousands of children in dozens of schools in remote mountain villages. Environments of energy and expectation have replaced illiteracy and lethargy. Frances's HEF has changed tens of thousands of lives in Haiti. And across the United States, too, as people experience the joy of helping others help themselves.
The story of Frances Maschal Landers is nothing short of a miracle. Yet even miracles are burdened with struggle . . . progress against setbacks, the love of the Lord against the darkness of voodoo, the construction of schools against the destruction of an earthquake.
Join Frances on her journey. You will emerge at the end, like she, personifying hope.
