Riding the Trails
“We wanted to offer a helping hand; God intervened and we ended up serving with our feet…"
In 2018, as Director of Youth Ministry at Church of the Ascension, I was planning an international mission trip for the following year, and given that there were teenagers from Haiti H20’s founding families at the youth group, Haiti was very much on my radar. The dates were set and training sessions began, but in the spring of 2019 the U.S State Department put Haiti on the red list: “Don’t go there.”
So instead of flying to Haiti and using our hands to help build a new school in the village of Meloniere, we decided to ride our bicycles more than 330 miles from Ascension to the Haitian Embassy in D.C., and raise money for our Haitian brothers and sisters to build the school!
The 2019 trip was such a significant experience for all involved that we had to repeat it, but with one difference. This time we would bike from D.C. back to Pittsburgh. Thus in late July, more than 25 teens, college students, and chaperones drove in a convoy of jeeps, minivans and bike racks to the Haitian Embassy where we were given a tour—only a few weeks after the President of Haiti had been assassinated.
Then after a hearty dinner at the local Gisele’s Creole Cuisine (featuring djon djon rice, Creole chicken, goat, accra, plantain, and soup joumou), we slept at the facility of a friendly Coptic church in the area before rising early the next day and biking to “mile Zero” to begin our adventure together.
The next week flew by and also lasted a thousand years—an epic journey of campsites, conversations, and camaraderie. Our line of 25 cyclists, all sporting bright orange "Bike4Haiti” shirts and Haitian flags (gifts from the embassy), did not go unnoticed on the C&O trail or on the GAP trail. Folks from Haiti in particular were quick to stop us and ask us what we were doing and why. Each lunchtime, we enjoyed a structured conversation, prepared by Rhonda, which dug into the theology of thoughtful social justice while presenting the stories, poems, and paintings of the Haitian people. Gatherings around the campfire were often marked by songs from the guitar and prayers under the stars.
We returned to Pittsburgh on Saturday, August 7, but after an involved debate about whether we should go straight to Ascension or finish the GAP trail at The Point, a blind vote decided on the latter. The triumphant team can be seen here just in front of the fountain, and the photo was taken before many of the group jumped into the “source of the Ohio.” Thanks to everyone who supported us, as by serving with our feet we ended up raising more than $9,000!
