Becker High School sophomore Jordan Gruenes recently did what few brave souls would dare to undertake. He ventured to a far away land with a group of strangers to work, play and save the souls of needy children.

 

It was his own soul that came back saved.

 

Gruenes is an avid soccer player and a member of the Becker varsity squad under the tutelage of Alex Jurek. Gruenes is also a member of an off-season soccer team in Coon Rapids who plays at many Twin Cities venues.

 

Last summer, Gruenes’ city team was approached by Tod Herskovitz, a director with an organization called The Sanneh Foundation. The Sanneh Foundation serves the holistic youth development needs of the increasingly diverse Twin Cities metro area and was founded by Tony Sanneh in 2003. 

 

Sanneh is a retired American soccer player  from St. Paul who last played for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. The SF is one of only nine organizations worldwide chosen to lead and implement an ISPI (International Sports Programming Initiative) reciprocal exchange program on behalf of the Dept. of State’s SportsUnited program.

 

At the soccer practice in which Herskovitz attended, he mentioned to the players he had an opportunity for volunteers to travel to Haiti to focus on ways sports can play a key role in promoting mare stable and inclusive communities and as an alternative to anti-social behavior.

 

As soon as Jordan heard of the program, he knew his heart was telling him to take the leap.

 

Jordan took an application for consideration and approached his mom and dad, Stephanie and Joe Gruenes of Clear Lake, with his desire to go and change the lives of those less fortunate.

 

The only issue Jordan faced was the fact he’d be setting out on this voyage completely alone — no friends, no family, no church members to come along and share the experience with him.

 

Before taking off from the Twin Cities, Jordan had a lot of things to do to prepare for his trip. He got a passport, filled out numerous forms and had to have several shots taken to combat Hepatitis A & B, Malaria and other potentially fatal diseases. He also had to try and raise approximately $1,800 for costs associated with the program including airfare, insurance, room & board for a week, ground transportation and travel gear.

 

Jordan’s grandparents, Mark and Lila Imholte of Clear Lake, generously donated half of the costs for Jordan’s trip just days before Mark passed away mid-February.

 

April 2 was when Jordan and the other 11 youths and 13 adults departed and arrived in Haiti. Herskovitz and Sanneh were also part of the team that eventually found home in the city called, Cité Soleil, an extremely impoverished and densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area in Haiti.

 

The task of the missionaries was to teach the children of the communities the English language, teach them the sport of soccer and experience the Haiti culture with excursions to the U.S. Embassy, hospitals, orphanages and museums.

 

That first day, the mission group walked around Cité Soleil to experience the appalling living conditions of the estimated 200,000 to 400,000 residents, who have had to deal with armed gangs, a weak government and the 2010, 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

 

When the children and youths saw Tony Sanneh, their faces lit up and they rushed to his side.

 

“They screamed, ‘Tony, Tony, Tony,” said Jordan. “We all had matching Sanneh T-shirts so the kids rushed up to us too and were so happy.”

 

Many of what Jordan and the others saw in the city was heartbreaking. Adults bartering on the streets for goods and foods and the kids playing on dirty, rocky terrain. The homes were small huts — or shantys—made of cement with a metal roof and dirt floors. Half of the huts are made completely of scavenged material.

 

Many of the people who were lucky to have a roof and four walls, still weren’t comfortable enough to sleep in the homes at night for fear the roofs would collapse like they did during the earthquake.

 

The Sanneh group were able to shack up at Nicole’s Place — a house that was modernized and touted as one of the areas’ finest places compared with the population. It featured three levels with a basement and nine rooms for the guests, who slept on bunk beds.

 

“It was really sad because we had a nice place to sleep in at the end of the day, while the others didn’t have nice places to sleep in at all,” said Jordan.

 

Each day of the week, the group awoke to breakfast, then a cultural/historical trip. They spent the afternoon feeding the children and teaching them English and mid-week they handed out balls, uniforms and equipment and played  a friendly match of soccer.

 

In the evenings, the group would have recovery and reflection and journaling.

 

At the meals, 320 kids would arrive to get a plate of rice with a spoon. Since the feeding center only had about 75 plates and spoons, many of the missionaries had to quickly wash and dry the dishes and utensils to get them back into circulation for the next group of starving children.

 

“That experience was an eye-opener,” said Jordan. “We take so much for granted back in the states and these people hardly have anything to eat or eat with.”

 

Jordan said the weather was tough, too as temperatures were in the mid-90s with very high humidity. Several of the missionaries ended up getting diarrhea and by Wednesday, Jordan began feeling sick and was vomiting. Fortunately, two of the adults on the trip were medical professionals and Jordan received top-notch treatment from his co-travelers at a nearby hospital.

 

Jordan still felt the aftermath of the sickness even after he returned home. The doctors told him he caught a bug and was extremely dehydrated. Jordan said though the sickness was unpleasant, he was still able to function and get the most of his experience he could.

 

“It was incredible to see such joy out of these kids faces who had so little,” he said. “It was a blast working with the kids and trying to make a difference in their lives.”

 

Jordan said he connected with all the youngsters he met on the trip but one he especially connected with. His name was Almos.

 

“It was hard leaving them all and especially Almos because I get to come back to the United States where I have a nice house, a school, family and friends and they have so little,” Jordan said. “Leaving them there is hard because of what they have to stay with.”

 

Jordan was promised by the state department that he could correspond with Almos if he desired.

 

“Yeah, I can write to him but I won’t get anything back,” he said. “They don’t have stamps or mailboxes or anything like that.”

 

Jordan said his friends back home here were supportive of him and his eagerness to help strangers across the planet. Until they heard of his stomach ailments, they too, were considering becoming missionaries.

 

“Whatever,” Jordan said of their trepidation. “I’d go back even if I had to go through the sickness again. These people need us.”