Indie band gives hope to children in HaitiSinger/songwriter Joshua Christopher has traveled a long and arduous road on the way to the releasing of his band, I am ♡'s first single "Starting Over." Which is released in support of Haitian charities, one of which he co-founded.
By: FEDAP Haiti March 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Pennsylvania "folkster" band I am ♡(pronounced i am love) is releasing their debut single in support of Haitians charities. The song titled "Starting Over", will support three Haitian charities, one of which was co-founded by band frontman Joshua Christopher.
Joshua Christopher's life was nearly just another American tragedy when he lost control of his car and plowed into the side of a tractor trailer. A broken clavicle, collapsed lung, and 10 broken ribs left him virtually immobile for months. Five months later, as he was just beginning to feel hope in his recovery, he collided head on with a tree. "No matter how good things were going, I always managed to find the self destruct button," he says. It was after this second near tragic mishap that Joshua took his wounded body and battered life to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, home to his brother Peter, whose wife and two children helped Joshua to view life differently. There, in the shadow of calamity he found hope, and his unique, soul-stirring voice. Jeanna, Joshua's native Haitian sister-n-law, encouraged him often to visit her childhood home. After seeing the emotional affects of the January 12th earthquake on his own family and friends he was moved to do just that. It was was on that first trip to Haiti, just weeks after the quake, that Joshua met Jeanna's older brother Ernest, a kindred soul with a hopeful heart to see his nation transformed. "Ernest is a brilliant man, he's Mr. Everything around La juene," being he's part lawyer, part school teacher, part school director, entrepreneur, and father. "Seeing the hopeful resiliency of the Haitian people changed everything for me," Joshua says, "It made me realize that nothing I had been through in life was really that bad." The two men bonded in their hopefulness, and with it began to share a common vision for the island nation. Upon this happening Ernest asked Joshua to head up the formation of his vision in the form of a non-profit organization. "I was taken aback when Ernest asked me to do this, I felt so incapable, but I just couldn't say no." Since that first visit in february 2010, the organization has been making strides toward their goals of building the first of many homes for abandoned children, a free library, improving education through technology, and the formation of Haitian owned and operated businesses. Upon returning from that first trip Joshua did what was most natural to him, he wrote a song. "Starting over is as much about my own life in the wake of this re-born sense of purpose as anything," says the visionary band leader, "In order to see hope for Haiti, I must first have hope for myself... that goes for all of us." Starting over is available through most on-line music retailers with 100% of sales being split between FEDAP Haiti and CDH a school and orphanage Joshua's grandfather helped to start 30 years ago in the small coastal town of Montrouis, Haiti. For more information or to view the song's video go to http://www.youtube.com/ Fedaphaiti.org http://cdhhaiti.org/ http://www.facebook.com/ iamlovemusic.com # # # About FEDAP Haiti: The foundation for the economic development and advancement of Pignon, Haiti is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the advancement of the Haitian people. Through education, micro-financing, and caring for the practical needs of the community FEDAP hopes to give the people of this small community in Haiti the same opportunity that most western nations share, the ability to succeed beyond their environment. End
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