Craig Carroll

My name is Craig Carroll. I work at Sharing and Caring Hands, a local Minneapolis charity serving the region's poor. This trip will be my second to Haiti.

In July of 2010, my wife and I left for the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere on my first mission trip to Haiti. For me, having experienced poverty in the United States on a daily basis, I wanted to better understand  what poverty is like in the rest of the world compared to what we, in the U.S.A., think of poverty. One of the striking features of Haiti is their extreme joy. For people who have absolutely nothing, they have so much happiness. It's incredible. They're so happy to share even the little they own with strangers. They're simply joyous in having you there.

I firmly believe the more you go there, the deeper you see behind the facade of what's going on. The first time you're there, you're in shock by the way the living conditions are. You're not going beyond that. On my second trip, I hope to get deeper into the daily Haitian battle to get by. For me, it's going back to renew friendships (I am sad to even imagine the likely possibility that they may not be there), to strengthen our bonds, and open up to their lives. I am so looking forward to going back.