Tour for Haiti becomes personal
5.16.10
Tonight, I’m writing from Willet’s tour van following the last performance in Indianapolis on a 3-month tour in support of our new record, Teeth of a Lion, Fangs of a Lioness (www.itunes.com/willet). This tour was sponsored by Food for the Hungry and was designated to sponsoring children from Haiti.
For me, this was the most personal tour we have ever done because of our connection to Haiti. In August of 2009, myself and the other members of Willet had the opportunity to travel to Haiti to spend 10 days with a group of orphans there. Following that trip, I came home and told my wife about the children that I met. We began to pray as a couple, and after a week, it was very clear as to what we needed to do. The next week, my wife quit her job, and in November of 2009, Kathleen accepted a full-time volunteer position in the country of Haiti to care for these children. Both of our lives changed even more, along with hundreds of thousands of others when the tragic 7.0 earthquake hit the country on January 12th, 2010. Kathleen was with the children during the quake while the band and I were on tour in New Zealand. By God’s grace, Kathleen and the orphans survived! After the earthquake, the Lord has moved me to be even closer to the hurt—literally. I now live in Haiti with Kathleen among 3,000 orphaned children, traveling back and forth in between Willet tour dates. Kathleen now serves as the Community Development Facilitator for Food for the Hungry in Haiti.
Each week, Kathleen would send me photos of children in Haiti, and it served as a haunting reminder of how “real” the need is, and more importantly, how close the solution could be. On this 3-month tour, we covered cities from Maryland all the way to South Dakota sharing the love of Jesus through music, and challenging the church to respond in a very tangible way; a relationship with a child through Food for the Hungry. We showed video footage captured during the earthquake at all the tour stops, as well as updated field report videos from Kathleen in Haiti with the children.
On this tour, over 10,000 people came to the show, and we praise God that 202 children were sponsored!
Haiti…Help is on the way!
On Monday, I will be flying to Haiti to spend 10 days with Kathleen and the kids in the community before going back on tour with Willet for Ichthus Festival, Alive Festival, Lifest, Lifelight, Ignite, and Bash on the Farm Festival. In October, the band will be flying to Gorongosa, Mozambique to learn about a 4th community that we will work in with FH. Following that trip, we will do a 30-city Christmas Tour in support of children from Mozambique.
– Jeremy Willet
(Jeremy is the lead singer for Willet (www.willetonline.com). Jeremy would love to hear from you. Drop him a line at: E: jeremy@willetonline.com, Twitter: @jeremywillet, Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeremywillet)
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