For the third straight year, Ole Miss football spent spring break in Haiti to help build a sustainable community in Camp Marie.
The village, home to about 10,000 Haitians, has been impacted by drought in several areas. The Rebels sent a 28-person group to help provide valuable irrigation to the crops of farmers. Previously, the Rebels helped dig a well to provide clean water for the village.
The mission work is valuable to both parties, according to head coach Hugh Freeze.
“That trip never disappoints in the realm of making you grateful and thankful for what we have here,” Freeze said. “It is a difficult trip for me the older I get, but it’s worth it to a lot of families and kids.”
Freeze said the program has become a fixture there.
“We are well known in that village,” Freeze added. “They love to see the Ole Miss group there and to see them get fresh water and the joy they have for getting it is pretty humbling. It always ends up impacting us more than it’s impacting them.”
Ole Miss senior quarterback Chad Kelly made his second straight trip there and was accompanied by teammates Talbot Buys, Armani Linton and Sean Rawlings.
“It was amazing,” Kelly said. “You have the opportunity to kind of take a step back and realize how thankful you really are to be here in the United States and have the opportunity to play at a great university. A lot of those kids grow up in a certain situation and they can’t really get out of it. For us, to be able to go over there and put smiles on kids’ faces, that’s what it’s all about. We’re thankful we are able to go there and help them.”
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
