The Associated Builders and Contractors club (ABC) is converting two containers into homes for the children of Mercyland Orphanage.

Ebenson Verdule, who graduated from UNF in 2014, founded Mercyland Orphanage in his village of Port-de-Paix, Haiti while attending UNF, in March 2013. Although he attended UNF, his experiences in Haiti largely impacted his decision to found an orphanage.

“By the time I was seven I got driven to the streets of Haiti, surviving all on my own, begging, going through trash just to be able to survive for five long years – cheating death so many times,” Verdule said.

According to Verdule, his life in Haiti made him realize how limited the availability of resources is in villages outside of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. He believes if those who supported Haiti reached out to the smaller villages, he may have had a better childhood.

“Most people, when you mention Haiti, they say ‘Port-au-Prince’ because that’s where most of the help goes to, but you have these small villages, small cities, that don’t receive anything,” Verdule said. “Even now in this modern world, the help is not extended there”

Verdule’s orphanage partnered with the civil engineering department at UNF in 2013 to design the the orphanage’s community and first home. After two months of planning, Crowley Maritime Corporation donated the containers and work began.

“We could have had a home built down in Haiti and just take these children in,” Verdule said, “but I wanted to make sure that some of these students would have the reward of helping with these containers, getting the experience, going through some of these challenges you know that you do not face in the real world, and being able to apply their knowledge through this project.”

Although the ABC Club is the primary club working in the project, the members are trying to get other clubs, students, and organizations involved.

Verdule plans to have the containers completed by Summer 2016.

For more information on Mercyland Orphanage, those interested can visit their website.

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