Please help bring Sorine and Azar to safety.

My name is Maddie, and I started going to Haiti in 2013 with some family friends to pursue humanitarian efforts. We went every year to Citè Soleil, Haiti. We realized very quickly how important it is to go continually to the same location every year, to truly get to know a community, to develop deep friendships with them, and to begin learning what their needs are. They taught us how we could assist on a sustainable level, rather than assuming we know how to help and what they need.

I met my friends, Azar and Sorine, when they were both 10 years old back in 2013. They grew up in Citè Soleil. Citè Soleil has a population of 400,000, most of whom are unemployed. Most families have to survive on less than $3-5 dollars per day. Although that has been true for a very long time, circumstances got extremely worse in Haiti when surges of gang violence have become the daily norm over the last four years. Now, 90% of Haiti is controlled by gangs. Water, food, shelter, resources, education, etc. (which were always very hard to come by), are now nearly impossible for so many in this beautiful country. To leave your home each day to try and find these basic needs is to risk being shot down in the street.

Sorine, Azar and I speak to each other almost every day. They absolutely love their country, family, and friends. They are some of the most humble, kind, caring, and smart boys I have ever known. They have dreams and goals of serving their community through their education that they have worked so hard on. However, they know they need to seek asylum in order to reach those dreams.

Please consider helping me reach this goal to support Sorine and Azar to find safety elsewhere. They have their passports. There are legal forms for Sorine and Azar to complete through sanctioned US programs that would allow them to live in the US for two years. They hope to return to Haiti and find it in a better, safer state than when they leave it. I would be their sponsor to guide them through this process, provide them housing, and meet their needs during their time here, but I need your help to do it successfully.

Thank you!