Sustain Haiti is an NGO dedicated to solving these problems. They have already sent over a thousand volunteers to Haiti to teach English, business skills, and work to improve public health. Volunteers also provide hands-on education in family-level agriculture projects, clean water technology, and micro-finance opportunities. All of these efforts point to one main goal for Haiti: putting sustainable development into the hands of Haitians themselves.
Brooklyn Day, a student here at BYU, volunteered with Sustain Haiti last summer. To raise money for the trip she organized a 5K and recruited sponsors. Brooklyn also teamed up with her brother's Eagle Scout project to collect medical supplies, which she was able to distribute to four orphanages in Haiti. As far as language preparation goes, Brooklyn had taken French through 201 at BYU; most people they worked with understood French, but Creole is more common. Here are some excerpts from the blig she kept during her trip:
Today I went with some girls to one of the orphanages. We work with four main orphanages but this one is the most heartbreaking. Today when I walked in the kids swarmed us, like usual but then they all ran away because they got their lunch. For about 40 kids there was one bowl of food. I don't know how else to explain what it was except that it looked like a microwave lasagna or something. It was that small. Every kid took a bite, with the same fork and that was their lunch. After they were done they fought over the styrofoam container it came in, ripped it into pieces, and ate them. The other day at the same orphanage a mother came to visit her children who were staying there because she couldn't take care of them. It was her first visit in a long time, and the two young boys cried for 45 minutes after she left. The mom was crying too, but there was nothing she could do...
...Junior is our gardening friend. He hangs around the house a lot. I have never met anyone sweeter. One of the guys down here said that if Haiti was full of Juniors then they wouldn't have any problems. I totally agree. I asked one of the volunteers, Andrew, why Junior hangs out with us all of the time if he has a wife and 2 kids (1 son and 1 daughter, Junior just learned that in English). Andrew told me it was because Junior doesn't have the means to feed his children and take care of his family and so it is easier to just not be there. We feed him to, so that's probably another reason he hangs around. It's crazy how much love I have for these people and I have only been here a week. I have never wanted to speak a language so bad. I wish I could communicate with the people here, I would feel so much more useful...
... The combination of everything makes everyone a little crazy. We go to bed at 8:30 pm. We are so tired by the end of the day, and I think the fumes from the 100% deet are getting to us. I only have 8 bug bites, not too mad so far. I have a gnarly farmers tan, and I currently have paint in my eye...I sleep so well every night which is also a first for me. I will probably come home with 29 diseases but hopefully I'll survive. As much as this is wearing on us physically, it's harder emotionally for sure. I haven't had a full on break down yet, but I'm still waiting for that one. This by far though is the most rewarding experience of my life...
...I am really confused. I don't know why I wasn't born Haitian, or why I wasn't born with a disease, or anything like that... Why were these people given so little, and I was given so much. It's so crazy to me. I got so so lucky. I think it's important to not forget that we are incredibly blessed. Yeah, a lot of us work hard for what we have, and a lot of us don't... either way, we are so fortunate, and I thought I realized that before I came, I thought I knew how lucky I was. Then I saw a small boy, laying on the floor in 101 degree weather in so much pain because he broke his leg, who doesn't have medication and who can't move unless an orphanage worker picks him up, but then as soon as the worker remembers he has brown liquid leaking from his cast they put him down and he is back on the tile floor, sitting in the sun, with no parents and no family. Then I remember just how lucky I am. I could have been that boy...
...Well today was wonderful, except for the fact that I have the black lung and I heard a pig being slaughtered down the street. We went to deliver my brother's medical kits at the orphanage and it was really cool because we got to teach them about sanitation and first aid and we got to treat some of their wounds. They were really interested, and we could tell the medical kits were going to a good place, so that was cool. Then we went to the Field Tent Orphanage and did manual labor, moving rubble, building a school etc. I was the only girl working there so that made it rather interesting. This guy told me, "Blooklyn, you are very beautiful, I hope you ok for me to say that." Keep in mind I had sweat dripping down my face and dirt on my clothes. Then he told me, "Listen to the rain, it's coming, we have to go." He grabbed my shoes, some other random haitian grabbed my bag and we ran to this tent. Right as we got there it started to downpour. That term doesn't even do it justice, it was coming down in sheets. I don't think it rains like that in the U.S. Anyways, about 5 minutes later, Matt, the man building the orphanage told us he needed our help because the Haitians can't work in the rain, they will get pneumonia. So off we went, digging up dirt and moving rubble into wheelbarrows for an hour and a half in the pouring rain. ... it was awesome. The rain felt so good. Even though I was digging in the crumbled streets of Haiti and I was working harder than I ever have in my life I felt so clean. That was the cleanest I've felt since I've been in Haiti...
...I've been back from Haiti for almost two weeks. It's funny how my time there has impacted me since I've been home. Haiti was definitely something that will have an on-going effect on me for a long time. From my air conditioned seat on the airplane looking over Haiti, I could have sworn I had never seen somewhere so beautiful. The island was emerald green and encircled by the most pure turquoise blue I've ever seen outside of a paint tube. From the airplane it looked like paradise. As we got closer though everything came into detail. It wasn't the same place I had seen from higher in the sky. I started to see the rubble, I started to sense the heat, I saw that the surface of the land was dotted with tent cities I could actually see the destruction from the air. When I stepped off the plane, the first thing I noticed was the heat. Maybe the first thing I noticed was the smell. Either way, both were overwhelming. What had I gotten myself into?
Haiti is the most potentially beautiful place that I have ever seen. Potentially beautiful. That's what's so sad. Everything in Haiti has fallen apart. People are living in places we'd never think could be called home. Children are packed into orphanages and people scurry through the streets, which are hardly streets at all, because they have no work. Bathrooms are wherever you want them to be, tent cities are crowded, hunger is rampant, children hang around our gate hoping for food or money and everyone has lost someone close to them in the earthquake. The thing is though, the people of Haiti are still so happy. I have never learned more about life. Happiness can come from simply loving others. Happiness comes from simple things, like listening to Sean Paul at 3 in the morning, or laughing at the American girl who fell in the mud while playing duck duck goose. Yes, that was me. Happiness comes from the human connection, happiness comes from love. The people of Haiti are beautiful because even though everyday is a fight for them to stay afloat they manage to find happiness in little things. Maybe it's because most of them don't know a different life. Maybe it's because they are simply better than me in that way... Haiti has all the potential in the world, and absolutely none of the tools to ever cultivate that potential. I miss Haiti. I miss the people, and sweating non-stop and the orphans, and the jungle and all of the things I saw that are burned into my memory. I've always rolled my eyes when I've heard the saying that "beauty comes from within." Until now. The natural landscapes and waterfalls and jungles and beaches are all amazing, but that's not what makes Haiti beautiful to me. It's the people that make Haiti what it is.
If you want to volunteer, you can find up to date information about information meetings, costs, fundraising, and more at sustainhaiti.blogspot.com. Many thanks to Brooklyn Day for her blog and incredible pictures!
