Az Hamilton – Escape from Haiti

July 6, 2020
by Rodney Olsen
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On Bleeding Daylight this week, the story that changed the lives of all those involved. 

We hear about Az Hamilton’s escape from a very dangerous situation in a country overtaken by rioting. What Az describes is a shared experience. Az and I lived this dangerous escape together. So this is also my story.

The events we describe happened in April 2008 when Az and I were part of a media trip traveling to Haiti to see the work of Compassion. It was on this trip that both of us decided to do what we could to see more children released from poverty. Both of us ended up working for Compassion as a direct result of the events that unfolded.

Our time in Haiti was not the normal kind of Compassion trip. We faced very real danger at different times but obviously lived to tell the tale, and what a tale it is.

You can listen wherever you find podcasts by searching for Bleeding Daylight or just click play on the player below.



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7 Days 7 Dollars

December 16, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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az.jpgAz needs a haircut … but more on that later.

It’s estimated that over 600 million children are living on less than a dollar a day. That means they have less than one dollar each day to cover everything from food to housing to clothing and all the other things that most of us take for granted. While we’re promising ourselves not to over eat ‘too much’ this Christmas, millions of children around the world have little or nothing to eat.

Az Hamilton is Compassion Australia’s Youth Communications Specialist and he wanted to do something to highlight the need for something to be done about this terrible situation. He recently decided to try to live on a dollar a day for a week.

The story of his 7 Days 7 Dollars initiative is being told through daily videos on his website, 500DREADS.com.

I talked to Az during my morning programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM today.

Az was on the team I was part of which traveled to Haiti and Dominican Republic with Compassion Australia in April this year. I took the photo at the top of this post at a Compassion project in Haiti. The girls were fascinated by his hair. The trip affected Az so deeply that he is now working with Compassion Australia to see as many children as possible rescued out of poverty. Together we saw first hand the life saving work that Compassion carries out across the world.

As for that haircut, Az is promising to cut off all his dreadlocks once 500 children have been sponsored through Compassion via his site 500DREADS.com. If you think he needs a haircut just head to his site and follow the links.

To hear more from Az you can click play on the audio player at the bottom of this post and listen to the chat we had this morning.



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