Thank you for visiting my site and for your interest in my personal journey, Haiti, and global missions.
On October 26, 2015, my wife of 16 years passed away. Almost immediately God began asking me to reevaluate much of my life. Through prayer, mentorship, fellowship with other believers, and ultimately waiting on Him, my heart was burdened to serve missionally.
Within six months of Chris' passing I knew I would be moving to Haiti. Most of my family and friends were very confused and worried, to say the least! Professionally, I come from a design background, not remotely close to life in a developing country; and additionally, I had never been to Haiti when I made the decision to move here.
I moved to Haiti June 10, 2017, to pursue missions full time and to work with the special needs community. I have been around the community most of my life and understand how God was using my experience to prepare me for this role. My personal mission has been to end the lie that these children are worthless. Kokobe, a commonly used Haitian word, meaning just that, is spoken over anyone born with a disability.
First and foremost, my role is to show these children they are more than a disability. By showing these children the love of Jesus, Haiti is experiencing real change in how disabilities are viewed. In some ways, when we accept a child for who they are, we are telling the parent it is okay for them to love their child just as they are. It's not amazing to realize parents deeply love their children, but it's heartbreaking to know that because of the amount of fear and shame placed on them culturally they were scared to show it. With their love, and often times, newly found pride, real change begins. First in the child, then in their family, next in their local community, and beyond.
Life is unpredictable, even more so in Haiti, but I look forward to what lies ahead. I am grateful God has given me this passion. In my time here I have had to wrestle with knowing I am joyfully living with purpose and the reality of great loss I had to go through to get here. My prayer was, and continues to be, God, make these people my people and this land my land.
None are worthless,
Taylor Westbrook