Artist And Activist Pilgrimages of Hope:
Encountering the World’s Reality from the Other Side
Joel entertains our host family during a pilgrimage home stay.
Hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Caribbean each year seeking sun, sand, and sea. Unfortunately, most travelers spend their entire trip in a make-believe world that exists only behind the walls of expensive resorts. And they return home with little more than a nice tan.
Epple Seed Arts together with Beyond Borders invite you to skip the package and make a pilgrimage! Come discover the spiritual and cultural riches of Haiti and her people. Meet people who live on the other side of the global economic divide and let them show you the world through their eyes. Your world will never be the same again.
Relationships are key to the Pilgrimage experience.
You will experience the real Haiti — with all its joys and pains, its hopes and struggles. You will visit community organizations that wrestle against great odds to make a better life for their people. You’ll meet Haitians and expatriates who have spent years working for justice alongside the oppressed. You will visit with artisans and environmental heroes with a clear vision for a new Haiti. During part of your stay, members of your group will be hosted by Haitian families in their own homes. In many cases, these homes will have no electricity or running water. Yet even without these conveniences, you will encounter a level of hospitality that surpasses anything that even the finest hotels offer.
Rural life in La Kobat where we did our July 2010 pilgrimage homestay.
Your group will be assigned a translator who will help you build authentic relationships with people in the community you visit. Your guide will also help you make sense of the new cultural realities that surround you, and ensure that your visit is a safe and healthy experience.
These encounters are transformative for everyone involved, including the Haitian communities who receive the visitors. Participants from the north become more aware of the people on the other side of many of the choices they make and become more engaged in the effort to build a more just and equitable world. The Haitian hosts are affirmed for their courageous struggle. They are encouraged to learn that their voice is not only heard, but makes a difference in how their privileged visitors see the world.
July 2010 Artist and Activist Pilgrimage participants with artist John Sylvestre and family during our homestay in Croix de Bouquets
Epple Seed Arts together with Beyond Borders offer a unique experience that is quite different from the many work teams and short-term mission groups that frequent Haiti. You may engage in a small service project while in Haiti, but we believe the best gift you can bring to Haiti and her people is a desire to listen, learn, and be changed. The real work begins after you return home.
New trips are being planned all the time. If you would like more information on traveling to Haiti as part of an Artists and Activists Pilgrimage of Hope, or on the possibility or organizing your own group, please Contact Us.
What Visitors & Haitian Hosts Have Told Us
Visitors:
I continue to be washed by waves of gratitude, amazement, challenge, and even some sadness when I think of all that I experienced in Haiti…I was touched on so many levels—spiritual, cultural, emotional, and intellectual… The experience far exceeded any dreams I might have had for what would occur… Being in Haiti was an incredibly spiritual experience for me. I felt God’s presence so strongly in Haiti — most strongly in the people I met. And I felt the Spirit more strongly in myself too.
— Cara, Arizona
My trip to Haiti gave me courage to live my life fully. To not waste my time and energy doing something that is not in line with my deepest convictions. I came home and began taking steps to make necessary changes in my life. I’m thriving now. My life is full. I’m doing that which gives me great meaning. It was my trip to Haiti, one and a half years ago, that instigated this wonderful new direction.
—Jean, Oregon
I cannot begin to describe the impact on my life and the personal interior journey that began immediately upon return from my first transformational journey meeting with some amazing artisans throughout Haiti… I feel I will always have a deep need to return, as so much of my heart remains with the people of Haiti.
—Joel, Florida
Haitian Hosts:
We couldn’t believe the visitors would actually come stay with us. But when they arrived, it was like they were at home…
This visit has brought a lot of encouragement to the members of our women’s group; it has motivated us to work even harder. Thank you so much…
I would like to tell our visitors to always continue doing the work they’re doing, and even when they’ve arrived home to think about how we can continue in solidarity.