The Domino Effect – How One Act of Kindness Can Change the World

A Father’s Love



The Carmon family came to Denver a few weeks ago, ready to spend their lives inside a convention center. Once a year a great spectacle occurs in that city; one that a non-volleyball person may never understand or imagine. Two 3-day weekends, 89 hand constructed sport courts, close to 700 teams, exhibitors and college recruiters from around the country, and countless mini donuts— all jammed into a tournament explosion of whistles, video cameras, and cheers. Welcome to Colorado Crossroads, folks!

Photo Courtesy of The Denver Post
 

After day two, the Carmons were wiped out from all the mayhem and emotional strain of the day’s matches. But instead of heading straight to the escalator and back to the hotel, the father of the bunch was drawn to a particular table display. With wide eyes, he beckoned his wife and daughter to come join him. Reluctant and exhausted, they followed.

With great passion he began repeating what he just learned—how Child in Hand provides medical and psychosocial care and training to 6 orphanages in Haiti and works directly with USA Volleyball and the Haitian Volleyball Federation to build up the sport of volleyball in that country. Mr. Carmon also told them how the bracelets and jewelry displayed were decorated by the Haitian kids and orphans. He pointed to the images on the TV screen of a country and people living very different lives than the abundance in food and resources that his family knew.

“Look, honey!” He gestured towards the wall behind the table. “Those bags were decorated by kids here at the tournament and they will be taken to Haiti next week and given to the orphans! Isn’t that great?”

His daughter, Emily, saw the maroon drawstring bags. They were decorated with stickers, colors and inspiring quotes (both creole and English) that young players had written to the orphans. She said nothing and glanced toward her mom. It was clear the two ladies were ready to go, but Mr. Carmon insisted.

“No, honey, you need to do this. You don’t understand how good you have it, and I want you to make a bag for an orphan in Haiti. Would you like that?”

She blinked at him.

He grinned back, passion beaming from his face.

“Fine…” She said.

When the bag was done, she held out the bag for the attendant to put on the wall. Mr. Carmon stopped the exchange and requested a picture. The table attendant complied happily, and snapped a shot of Emily holding up her rainbow bag in front of the Child in Hand table.

“SMILE” was written in all caps at the bottom. Fittingly, a tiny smile crept on Emily’s face, as well. Something had happened—something happened that may seem small, but someday could make all the difference.

Mr. Carmon pulled the attendant to the side, locked her eyes and asked if she would send him a picture of the orphan who receives his daughter’s bag.

“Okay. I will.” She replied.

“No. Seriously. I need you to do this. Please give me your word that you will find a way to get me a picture.”

“I understand, Mr. Carmon. I will do my very best to get you this picture for Emily.” She said.

A satisfied, inspired father led his family down the escalator. And a picture remained of a young girl, a bag, and a mission.
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SMILE

Peter is a special little boy. When Child in Hand first met him two years ago at the ORAEDH orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he had a protruding belly, a sad face, and would fearfully retreat when approached. Over the years, Child in Hand has seen a remarkable transformation.

On March 16, 2013, the young table tenant and the CiH team arrived once again at ORAEDH, home of more than 70 children and caretakers. The goal of the trip was two-fold. First, CiH and One Laptop Per Child would assess the location as a possible recipient of specialty laptops and training to further the children’s education and vocational skills. Second, CiH was going to distribute 65 decorated bags filled with surprises to the 65 children living together on the small property.

The table tenant and translator Willy spoke to the children and asked them who their inspiration was. Without hesitation, the children cried out: “JES!” which means Jesus Christ. The next question was whether they believed if someone else was inspired by them. With hesitation, some said “Wi,” while others dropped their smiles with a “No.”

“BUT YOU ARE!!” said the table tenant. She told them how their faces and smiles and stories were an inspiration to young volleyball players in the USA. The children looked at her and Willy, amazed.

Willy then arranged them in a big circle and talked about giving and receiving. Next, the bags were handed out one by one and passed from one set of little hands to another until the whole circle had received a bag.

The children hugged the bags tightly, poked at the stickers, and attempted to read out loud the different phrases that had been written for them. The 65 kids piled up together for a group photo, waved their bags high in the air and shouted “Viv Ayiti!” (Live on, Haiti).

Then the bags were opened and toys, games, stuffed animals, and 65 red Molten playground balls unleashed pandemonium and much joy within the small concrete front yard. Balls were bouncing everywhere as the children, caregivers, and Americans danced and sang songs of praise together at dusk.

 

And in the background, little Peter, with the widest and brightest smile, clutched his new rainbow colored bag.

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Pass it On

Peter took out the flat red ball from inside his new bag and gave it to the older man next to him with the pump. After waiting patiently by his side and watching his arm pump the air in back and forth, Peter tapped the man on his leg.

The man stopped and Peter looked up into his eyes, still smiling. In perfect English and clarity of heart, the little boy spoke: “Thank You.”
 

The man closed his eyes for a moment, as if the beauty and purity before him was too much to take in.
 

Peter stayed near the man as he finished pumping up balls for the other kids. He pulled over his brother Clifford who spoke better English and said something to him. Peter wanted to know what the man’s name was.

“Scott,” The man replied.

Peter grinned. “My friend, Scott!”


On the van ride back to the CiH guest house, Scott shared this most pressing experience with the table tenant. Later that night, he shared it with the CiH team. Scott is a passionate former pastor who now focuses his time trying to increase connectivity to remote places in Haiti, especially for the means of telemedicine (where doctors from the states could essentially diagnose problems through live internet feeds).

 

Scott will share Haiti’s story with hundreds of Americans, because…
Peter has new joy today, because…
Emily gave a gift she never knew was inside of her, because…
A father’s heart is blessed to see his daughter grow.

…And the domino effect rolls on.
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Child in Hand would like to thank the “Carmon” family and thousands of other families, players, coaches, officials, staff, etc. of Colorado Crossroads Junior National Qualifier for spending time with us and supporting our efforts to help the children in Haiti. The money raised from the March tournament helped us to distribute 42 laptops to children and train local leaders and kids to use them. We were also able to distribute some love through the 150 CiH bags—hand-decorated by kids in America for orphans in Haiti. The bags were received with such wonder and were filled with donations including 150 red Molten playground balls. Imagine the bouncing and laughing mayhem!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for helping us help 
these deserving kids in Haiti. Truly, none of this would be possible without your support.

 

Thanks to Front Range Volleyball Club for their standout support!

  For more images of our March trip,

please visit our FACEBOOK page!

Please DONATE HERE if you are interested in helping us accomplish 3 goals in May:

·         Haitian National Team intensive skills training

·         Grand Opening of the Multi-Sport Facility (pictured above)

·         Psychosocial follow-up and workshops with caregivers at 6 orphanages