My Experience in Haiti

Recently, I spent a week in Haiti serving at Wings of Hope in a city called Jacmel. Prior to leaving, I wrote a series detailing the history of the country because I thought it was cool. I�m back now and here are my thoughts.

            However, before I jump in I ask for your help. I was greatly moved by the staff and residents at Wings of Hope this past week. If you don�t know, Wings of Hope is an orphanage for people with mental and physical disabilities. It provides education and a safe place for the residents to live and have fun. I can personally attest to the great work being done there. One way to keep this organization running and provide necessary care to the residents is to sponsor a child. To do so, go to heartswithhaiti.org and click on the �Get Involved� tab and then select �Wings of Hope Child Sponsorship.� The cost of sponsoring is $30 a month or $360 a year. If you have any questions, shoot me an email.

            Nothing could have prepared me for the poverty that I witnessed in Haiti. Driving down the busy streets of Port-au-Prince, it is obvious that little has been done to rebuild after the earthquake in 2010. There is no infrastructure to support the 1.2 million Haitians living in the city. There is also no clean way to dispose of trash. The streets were filled with mounds of garbage. Many people also burned their garbage and combined with the pollution caused by the number of cars and trucks, the air was hard to breathe. There was no viable economy that I saw while I was there, except for a few factories that manufacture food. Many people set up shop on the street and sell whatever they can. The most common being art and bracelets. The police in Haiti is more like a military force. We would pass trucks filled with men in military gear carrying machine guns. I went to a restaurant this past Wednesday and there was a policeman with a shotgun at the door. The government is pretty much non-existent in many parts of Haiti. There was a hospital in Jacmel, a police force, and Haitian Social Services. But besides that, there was nothing. Most Haitians do not get past the sixth grade in school.

            With that said, the people of Haiti are very adaptive and resourceful when faced with these unimaginable problems. There are no lazy people in Haiti because the mindset is different than in America. It�s about survival. Also, there is a strong sense of positivity and hope for the future in that the people are calm and the worship services were always very joyful. They also do not want anybody to fix their problems.

            I only got a peek of Haiti in the time that I was there and most of that time I was inside of a secure compound. But if I were to try to describe Haitian society in a simple way I would describe it as organized chaos. I say this because wherever we went it was chaos. There were always people everywhere and the driving was insane and there was constant commotion. But life went on. The sun rose the next day.

            As Americans, we live in one of the richest countries in the world with opportunities for everyone and guaranteed liberties. The Haitians live in one of the poorest countries in the world with a corrupt government and with a police force that acts more like a military force. Yet only 1 in 3 Americans say that they are happy. I was in a restaurant in Port-au-Prince this past Wednesday and a man walked up to me happily and asked my name and he gave me his. He spoke little English but we were able to have a conversation. I told him what I was doing and that I was about to leave for America and he told me before he left, �You welcome in Haiti.� That was my big takeaway from Haiti.  Despite the poverty, the people in Haiti are positive. While in the US, so many are negative. I hope to go to Haiti again someday. That�s all for this week. Next week we are back to regularly scheduled programming.