Gabi is the leader of the Abundant Life Charity who brings the support of donors to life. A Haitian by race, who determined to cross the border to the Dominican Republic for a better life, he has shared his observations and experiences as he supports not only help himself and his family, but the lives within his community of Higuey.
In his words:
Looking more closely at the critical situation that many young people and adolescents face in our society, I understood that only through study and a well-rounded life plan of learning, would these young people be able to enter the work force, generate resources and achieve a more dignified life. This is not an easy task for those with barriers to education for a variety of reasons.
I determined that I would work very hard to make this possible. I had a dream that I could really make a difference. I worked 16 hours a day, and was gifted in learning many languages which served me well working in the tourist industry.
To start, I built a fence around the flat roof of my home for children to come and be cared for, and to learn English. We were able to feed these children jam sandwiches on some occasions which kept them coming back. But in reality, all I had was a dream and my faith in God, and after several years it was clear that I could not do this alone.
When I met Kevin and Denise Macnab (my partners in Abundant Life Charity) on the beach, all this changed. They had been visiting my country for several years and had fallen in love with my people. They too had a vision of wanting to make a difference by providing education.
Over the next few years, they helped with many things over the next few years including
building a small classroom on the side of my house and furnishing it with desks and tablets for the
children to learn English and Math. This was so much more that I could have done alone, but the best
was coming.
The Abundant Life Charity that they had set up in 2018, partnered with Home Hardware in
2019 to build the first level of a school. It was completed in the spring of 2020 and we opened the doors during covid in November of that year. We employ 13 people including 5 teachers and support staff,and over 60 children have benefited.
After 2 years, we are still running after nearly 2 years, thanks to the generous support of our donors with many important projects we are working to bring to life.
