Haiti Response

It’s all real: the throw back in time, rural schools made out of wood and tin, moonshine mills driven by donkey, women carting loads of charcoal in sacks on their heads, the abject poverty and the powerful resilient spirits of the people within the paradigm of more developed nations, seemingly bleak futures. What amazes me most is one can be immersed in this other world by traveling less than an hour and a half from one of the more cosmopolitan centers of the US, Miami.

All of the economic, and political aspects aside, the negligible geographical distance compared with the sheer difference in economic conditions, standards of living and culture provides a refreshing reminder of the diversity that remains despite globalization.

For those who take the leap and come to Haiti for whatever reason stand to gain more than what they intend to give. I recently had the pleasure of working with a group that came down on a short aid trip through the University of Scranton with Hope for Haiti. These individuals came with open minds and a true desire to serve and give in any way that they could while in the country over the course of eight days. These students spent a great deal of time debating and reflecting upon the viability on a moral, cultural, and pure effectiveness level of their type of relief trip and whether or not they felt as if they were making a difference. While the viability of short mission type trips can be endlessly debated, watching the depth of this groups reflection was inspiring. The general consensus was that there are a million and one ways to skin a cat and that every method has its advantages and disadvantages, but the overall effectiveness of a relief trip, despite the format depends on the makeup of the group. The consensus was while they gave all that they could, and they made a real difference, they all felt that they took far more away from the experience then they were able to give. Does that negate the purpose of the trip? Does that make the aid team selfish, because they could have simply sent aid money as opposed to coming down to Haiti to do work other nationals could have done? NOT AT ALL!

These eight individuals were so beyond humble, caring, and adaptive. They jumped right in to a world that could not have been any more foreign, especially for those on the trip who had not previously traveled outside of he US. They interacted with a group of 24 orphans over the course of a few days while painting their orphanage, rehashing their basketball hoop, and taking them to the beach. They cared for disabled children and walked extensive distances in impressive heat to rural schools to carry out vitamin A and de-worming medication distributions for the students. This type of cross-cultural interaction is markedly powerful and undoubtedly left a positive indelible impression on all present. All this, and only an hour and a half from Miami.