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Category: LD Stories

LiveDifferent Stories: Andia’s Birthday for Cause!

This is Andia. Last Christmas, she was inspired by a campaign we did asking people to donate towards school uniform for students at the LiveDifferent school in Haiti. (She even wrote a letter at Christmastime to Papa Noel, thanking him for visiting the students at the school in Haiti to bring their new uniforms!) 
 
 
Andia wanted to find a way she could also contribute to this project. Over the past three years, she’s chosen to ask friends not to give her a gift to celebrate her birthday, but to consider making a donation in support of something she felt passionate about. This year she wanted to support the students in Haiti. So, when she sent out invites to her birthday party she again asked for no gifts but gave some information and pictures about the school and the need for uniforms. She let them know that a $20 donation would purchase a uniform for a student. 
 
The response from her friends was overwhelming, as each friend who came to her party donated a uniform! Andia was thrilled and her friends were all excited to learn about the students who now had a school in their community to attend. One day, when she’s a little older, Andia hopes to have the opportunity to visit the school and meet the students who attend it.

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: October 19th, 2015

LiveDifferent Stories: Keke and Mina

Keke is 10, and his sister Mina is 7 years old. During the day, both children spend their days at home while their mother sells fruit and vegetables in the street nearby; however, Keke plays an especially large role in his sister’s life. Everyday, while his mother is out, Keke prepares meals for his little sister and himself. Today, Keke was cooking rice and beans in the stove-pot atop the makeshift cooker filled with charcoal that you can see to his right. 


Their mother’s job has taken them back and forth between Haiti regularly, but recently, the family has stayed put on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic and are in the process of gathering the appropriate documentation to register as citizens, in light of the highly publicized struggle between Haiti and the DR with residency and citizenship. Lack of documents presents many problems for natives of both countries, as they can face issues with employment, education, and access to health care, just to name a few issues. Keke and Mina represent a great number of undocumented Haitian and Dominican children who have been forced to grow up so quickly, but one day will hopefully have the citizenship papers that will give their families access to the resources that they need. 

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: July 16th, 2015

LiveDifferent Stories: Casley and Kitson

These two boys are an incredible pair.
 
Casley is 6 years old, and was born with a medical condition that prevents his nervous system from functioning in sequence with his brain and spinal cord. Though his brain is still perfectly healthy, his illness affects his learning in the classroom, as he has limited mobility of his body. Everyday, his mother pays a man to carry Casley on his back, up and down from LiveDifferent’s school at the top of a mountain. While at the school, he doesn’t have access to a proper wheelchair, so when he is at the school he lays back in a stroller and has teachers hold his head up so that he can see the blackboard. 
 

Kitson is a 13 year-old orphan who grew up on the streets of Cap-Haitien. Four years ago, he was involved in a street fight where he was attacked with a broken glass bottle, and he lost sight in his left eye and was scarred across his face. Last year, he was taken in to live in the home of a local family. He now lives in the same community as Casley and they attend the school together. 

Everyday at school. when the other kids are playing outside, Kitson dedicates his recess to looking after Casley inside, feeding him and spending time with him. He doesn’t do this because he is asked, he does this because he and Casley are best friends. Though the two of them haven’t spent much time together outside of school, the two cannot be separated when they are in the classroom. Their bond is unbreakable. These two share a genuine sense of kindness, friendship, and mutual respect. This is such a powerful example of how the most unlikely of friendships can create the most beautiful stories.
 

 

 

Author: LiveDifferent

Date: June 1st, 2015