Amanda’s journey in Haiti began in the summer of 2012.  Her family moved to Haiti to help oversee an orphanage and train local leaders. Amanda’s main job in Haiti was to work with an existing orphanage.  Although she struggled to understand the Haitian culture and made plenty of mistakes, her love for Haiti grew rapidly as she loved on 28 beautiful kids at the children’s home.  She loved making their lives easier and bringing smiles to their faces.  For three years she worked alongside Wesly Louiceus (director of the FH). They learned a lot from each other, both having the passion and calling to serve children in Haiti.  Their work together, along with God’s guidance along the way, led to the opening of the Freedom House.  God’s plan was so much bigger than their own.  In the summer of 2014, the Freedom House was opened. Wesly and Josh (Amanda’s husband) had the vision set in place.  They carefully put staff in place and created a safe environment for the new children.

After living in Haiti for almost three years,  Amanda’s family decided to move back to the U.S., while continuing to help supervise the Freedom House. Amanda serves as the Basic Needs Coordinator for the Freedom House. Her role is to organize and improve the lives of all the kids, fundraising for the monthly operating budget, and providing vision and guidance for the future of the Freedom House. She works alongside Wesly and other Americans to oversee the children, and travels to Haiti every three months to help at the Freedom House and to take clothes and basic needs to the kids.

Before moving to Haiti, Amanda was an interior designer who loved creating new and beautiful things.  Amanda slowly started working with artisans in Haiti in 2012.  The artisans hand carve beautiful pieces of art with a recycled oil steel drum.  Amanda decided to start a business that would be dedicated to helping artisans, while continuing to provide income for mission efforts around the world. Beautifully Made became an actual business in March 2016.  Years of hard work and dedication have resulted in “Beautifully Made” products entering stores around the U.S., giving hope to the amazing people of Haiti and beyond. Year after year, the fair trade market has grown in size, raising over $100,000 for the artisans and orphanage.  Beautifully Made is a FTF member (Fair Trade Federation) which is recognized worldwide.  You can check out some of Beautifully Made products at BeautifullyMadeFairTrade.com.

Widner grew up in a family of 8 near the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti. They moved around the country every few years for work and to be closer to family as he was growing up. Shortly after they left one of the areas they had lived in it flooded from a storm called “Anna”. Many people they knew were killed and many more were left in need after that storm.

Widner has seen many hardships as a young adult. His family experienced financial hardships when Widner was a teenager. Since he has always been very flexible and acrobatic, he started performing in community areas for money by doing dance routines and flips with a few other kids his age. During this time he often found himself in situations he was not comfortable with. He decided to look for other more suitable ways to make money by working hard on his English so he could work as a translator. Widner left his family to go live with an uncle so he could continue his education in an area called Arcahaie. His family helped him pay for his education but for anything extra Widner had to find a way to provide for himself. He began volunteering at local clinics when Americans would come to sharpen his skills in English.

While volunteering in a local medical/dental clinic, he met Tracy. She saw his willingness to help during the clinics, and how eager he was to expand his English vocabulary. His desire to learn and to share his knowledge with others inspired Tracy to continue a friendship with him and would eventually help him further his education in English. Years later Tracy would realize the need for Widner’s presence at the Freedom House. Wesly needed an assistant director, and Widner was perfect for the job. He has made such a great contribution to the children’s quality of life at the Freedom House in many ways. He teaches them English, computer skills, various crafting projects, provides spiritual guidance, and is a great mentor to all the kids.

Kenny is on staff at Blount Community Church in Maryville, Tennessee, and has served in various ministry roles in Blount County for over 25 years. Kenny has been married to Anita for 30 years and has 3 daughters; Hannah, Mckenzie and Sydney. He fell in love with the people of Haiti shortly after the earthquake in 2012. Kenny has been involved with the Freedom House since the beginning, and has seen how God has used teams of people to make a difference. He is committed to the continued development of the Freedom House.