by Curtis Stout
Nearly every time I travel to Haiti, my dear friend, Guy Robert, shares a new Haitian Proverb with me. In January, Guy shared this one:
“Ou pa janm konnen ki kote dlo soti rantre nan kokoye.”
You do not know where the coconut tree gets its water.
In the midst of Project 117’s current fundraising stretch, we do not know where the water (resources) will come from, but we trust that God is going to help us grow. Yes, we have a strategic plan. Yes, we are doing the hard work of fundraising and not just sitting around. Yes, we are exploring new revenue streams like grants. But ultimately, only God knows who is going to step into our storyline and provide the resources we need to fulfill the vision God is inviting us into. In the same way that a healthy coconut tree grows each year, we at Project 117 trust that God will provide the water we need in order to grow our impact in Haiti.
Our first attempt at a capital campaign back in 2012 was an epic failure. We chose the next step we wanted to take rather than correctly discerning the next step God wanted us to take. Yet still, God allowed us to open our school in 2013. We had a humble beginning on our partner’s property where we saw God provide our start-up in a way that only He could align.
After launching the school in that temporary building, the pressure was back on to build our first building on our property. We sat under this pressure a lot differently the second time around, and we decided our first step was to correctly discern where God was moving. After scaling back our plans and discerning the healthy next step for our organization, God provided $107,000 in a matter of 4 months. A key volunteer and myself pursued fundraising a lot more intentionally this time, but ultimately God simply showed up and did His thing like only He can. In short, He made it rain!
So here we are again, in the midst of an audacious fundraising stretch. We are pursuing the Prodigy vision and believe, with everything inside of us, that this is something God wants us to pursue. As our second core value states, we are taking action, but ultimately we are waiting expectantly, excited to see how God brings the resource!
Join us as we search for water by praying for the success of the Prodigy Campaign!
Guy (left) serves on our Haitian Board of Directors and has been an invaluable player on our team for almost 5 years. Curtis (middle) serves as our stateside Director. Greg (right) is our Haitian Director/Principal and leads our day-to-day school operations, as well as, helps to develop vision for the future!