About Me

Hi, I’m Laura. Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog and read about my experiences. I started this blog during the summer of 2015 as a way to document my experiences preparing for and moving to Haiti. I began my time in Gonaives, Haiti, teaching a second and third grade class at Academie La Saline(Jubilee School), then moved next door to Jubilee Clinic in the summer of 2017, where I founded and ran the clinic's social work programs.

I traveled to Haiti for the first time in 2010 with the organization Soles4Souls. After spending just one week in the country I felt captivated by the people and places I had been introduced to, and felt a strong pull on my heart to return. I was able to do that two years later after meeting Katie, a missionary in my church that had fallen in love with Haiti in a similar way. For me, this second trip to Haiti only reaffirmed my desire to someday live and work in the country.

Over the following four years, I studied Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, with a concentration on Child Welfare, and worked as a caseworker for Child Protective Services in Allegheny County. I believe God has called me to live in Gonaives, Haiti for an indefinite time to work specifically with women and children, with the goal of family preservation services.

After two years of teaching 2nd and 3rd grade at Jubilee School, I was given the opportunity to create a social work program in our Jubilee Clinic - providing counseling, resources, nutrition and family education programs, and child welfare services to the community of Jubilee.  The opportunity to do the work I'm most passionate about, and in the city and country I love, is a testament to how beautifully God has been working in my life. 

I have continued this blog as a safe space for me to process the extreme highs and lows that come with living in Haiti, and to share those experiences along my journey with each of you.