A God-given Opportunity

Mansour Masse recently spoke to the Holt Headquarters staff about ‘keeping the faith’ for the children.

By: Mansour Masse, Holt Haiti Director

What strikes me the most about working at the Holt Haiti program, as I talk with people and we share our stories, is the dedication and passion they have for doing this work. That’s personally what keeps me going.

When you have people who are so dedicated, so motivated to help kids, like we have in Haiti, it is just overwhelming. Sometimes we get discouraged, but we always find a good reason to start over. The kids go home to be with their permanent families, and that’s what keeps us going.

When I was hired at Holt, I told them this is not only a job for me.”Wow, this is a God-given opportunity for me to make a difference,” I thought, and I don’t think that I could ask for anything better than that. It’s not about money; it’s not about a job, because we all struggle daily in Haiti.

Adoption processing for kids has been extremely difficult recently. It takes a long time, but this is something that I do with my heart and I am very passionate about what I do. Whenever the kids enter the village, I feel like we have to do something right away to start providing a better life for them and a better environment. Get them at least three meals a day, take them to see a doctor, and just help them to be kids.

I like to say that they are all my kids. They call me ‘pappy’. It’s sometimes sad to see them leave, but it’s also a happy feeling. You think to yourself: “Good, they are going to have a permanent home, someone to care for them, and love them and treat them as their own kids.” I always look forward to that day.

Sometimes kids have to wait for two or two and a half years, but I try to keep the faith, believing in what I do, and do my work passionately. I strongly believe in the philosophy of Holt, and what we are doing in Haiti. I feel honored and privileged to be a part of this great effort to help change the lives of kids forever.

We have a great family preservation program.  Families in Haiti struggled for years, and then Holt came around, and we now have 90 families in the program. We send the kids to school and send the parents to get training, as well. The goal is for them to become self-sufficient, and be able to care for their children. We provide weekly training for the parents when they come to the center, and it’s a very successful program.

We are, hopefully, a couple months away from completing construction of new cottages on the Holt Fontana property. This will allow us to help more vulnerable kids–kids who are in desperate need. We also have a playground for the kids, and it is just so wonderful. The kids are having fun, and it’s affecting us in a very positive way.

It’s exciting to see those big smiles on the kid’s faces . You cannot ask for anything better than that. And while I do miss them when they leave, I always look forward to the day when the kids are finally going to be with their adoptive families.