We're Safe & Well!

Hi everybody!

I’m writing you from bright and sunny Limonade, a fairly small village in the northern province of Haiti. We have been here since we arrived on Monday and will be making the four to six hour trek back to Port-au-Prince on Saturday. We have been staying with Gabrielle Vincent, the president of Sonje Ayiti, a non-profit organization that does great work here in Limonade. Unfortunately, her house does not have very good internet access, which is why we have been unable to post a blog before now.

Right now, however, we are working out of Rafaval, a cocoa factory run by a number of Haitian women in Limonade. Kylee, Billy, Hannah, and I were showing two Haitian teachers a lesson planning document we made last night on my computer and Patrick, our translator, was kind enough to let us borrow his modem to update you all!

Overall, we have had an amazing experience here in Limonade and in Haiti in general. However, I think our new folks experienced a bit of culture shock at the airport in Port-au-Prince, where you walk out and the “red hats” all try to “help” you with your bags. After navigating the airport via vice grips on our bag” and stubborn refusals to tip for the red hats’ “help,: we met up with Gabrielle and made the afore-mentioned four to six hour ride from Port-au-Prince to Limonade.

To say the ride was adventurous might be a large understatement. The first leg of our trip consisted of hairpin turn after hairpin turn up and down a mountain, which promptly lead to the “Parady Puke.” Fortunately, Brian seemed to make a full recovery in time for approximately three hours of travel on unpaved roads full of potholes, boulders, and mini streams that needed to be crossed. Despite the adventurousness, I think all of us appreciated the opportunity to see the Haitian countryside and see far more of the country than we would have from the air.

Thoroughly exhausted after arriving at Gabrielle’s house, we ate dinner, reflected, and went straight to bed – at 8pm. It was awesome. Approximately 6.5 hours after going to bed – 4:30am, for those whose math skills might be lacking – my bed (i.e. the top bunk) promptly fell onto Nick (i.e. the bottom bunk). Sorry to humiliate you, Mom, and don’t worry, Nick’s parents, he survived the ordeal completely unscathed – not even a scratch! Actually, he barely even woke up. Needless to say, it has become our go-to topic for a good laugh. And the Haitians think it is the funniest thing since forever. So that happened.

As for more substantial things, we have been split into two teams (though we both work out of Rafaval) – the Business (Nick, Taylor, Brian, Katie, and Melody) and Education (Kylee, Hannah, Billy, and Timmy) teams. The Business Team has been working with the women from Rafaval on a variety of things to help their business; I’m sure you will hear more details of their work in a future blog post.

The Education team has worked with three teachers from a school in Cima, an even smaller village outside of Limonade, to work on a method for lesson planning and curriculum building. Not surprisingly, the language barrier has been a struggle and the team without Gabrielle as a translator has been at a disadvantage. I think we have done a great job of pushing through, however, and we have made remarkable progress with our respective groups. I can’t really speak for the Business Team, but I know the Education Team has been encouraged by our progress and the teachers have made us feel that what we have worked with them on will actually be useful to them. We have been extremely cautious to repeatedly seek their feedback – there’s nothing worse than assuming what they need (like we could ever know) and giving them something that isn’t all that helpful. We have worked really hard to make sure our mutual time (so both our time and the teachers’) has been spent effectively.

There’s so much to talk about, but this blog has already gotten pretty long and there are many more people whose perspectives you all should hear from. Please just know that we are all feeling very safe and secure here in Limonade – the hospitality from Sonje Ayiti and the Haitian people in general has been heartening. We feel like our time and the resources used to get us here have been well-spent and we’re very much looking forward to the next several days here in Haiti.

So long for now,

Timmy

Saving the Best for Last!

Hello Blog readers!

As Timmy has already alluded to, I am the last to post my introductory blog post.  I believe there is some ancient (and quite profound) proverb that says (loosely) “he who is best always comes last”; which I am definitely going to prescribe to now!  I must admit it is a little difficult to keep up with teammates as motivated as mine!

A little about me…  I am currently a sophomore at the College, but spent my freshman year at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (about 20 minutes from where I live).  In addition to being involved in the William & Mary Haiti Compact, I am a member of Beta Theta Pi along with Nick and Billy, play on the College’s Croquet Team, and have just been selected to give tours with the Admissions office.  I am also a member of the William & Mary DC Summer Institute of Community Engagement, through which I will intern at a public policy in Washington D.C. this summer.

As Kylee mentioned in an earlier post, my interest in Haiti stems from my family.  I am one of five children, with three adopted siblings.  I have a brother and a sister who were adopted from South Korea, and a sister who we adopted from Haiti in 2001 as a nine year old.  In addition, my mom and her friend started a foundation that aimed to provided proper nutrients to children within orphanages by collecting baby formula (a much needed, but often hard to come by, resource in Haiti).  As a result, I have been aware of the challenges faced by Haiti for most of my life, yet have felt as though I did not have anything to contribute.  Upon meeting Nick, and later the rest of the team, I realized that in joining the Haiti Compact I would be able to institute real social change, and truly make a difference.

I look forward to keeping you updated on our progress!

-Taylor 

(I have also included a great picture of myself for Kylee…)

32 days.

Hello world! It's good to be back on the blog and looking forward to round two of the W&M Haiti Compact alternative break.

Our new partnership with Sonje Ayiti is exciting and not a little bit intimidating. When we got our work plan from their director, Gabrielle Vincent, we got the confirmation of what we learned when we met this May: this is one powerhouse woman running a real get-down-to-business organization. And so we're getting down to business ourselves. I've been getting resources together for business plan writing, and look forward to bringing at least three ideas to our meeting this week. I'm also excited to hear more about what the group working on education is simmering these days.

I've been thinking a lot about international service lately, thanks to a recent book club read of The Crisis Caravan: What's Wrong with Humanitarian Aid, by Linda Polman. Polman focuses on the harm done in the process of providing (mostly crisis-related) aid, and I must say that my stomach dropped several times as I made my way through the book. It is not pretty, how (mostly) well-intentioned NGOs have ended up supporting dictatorships, financing war and stepping on each other in a race to give (or fix?) without bothering to coordinate with local leaders or each other, or find out what's actually needed.

I must admit that the more I get into this stuff (that is, the meaningful and challenging world of working with alternative breaks like it's my job), the more complex I see it all is. We know that our trip to Haiti is not going to make a huge impact that changes the course of Haiti forever: we are a group of nine energetic, compassionate and well-educated people. But we are just nine people, and preparing to work in a cross-cultural situation, in a country where our own country has meddled off and on for a hundred years, for a very short term.

Unlike the organizations discussed in The Crisis Caravan, we aren't feeling the pressures of crisis responders, and as part of the national Haiti Compact, we've been intentional about our work in Haiti: long-term, in partnership with Haitian-led organizations, capacity-building and will not displace local labor.

And so, we will make an impact, thanks to our partnerships with those in Haiti who know their communities and let us participate with them in the good things they do. For the women who are part of RAFAVAL, our business and marketing ideas will help them make progress with their sales. For the children attending the one-tent school, our assistance will give tools to their teachers who can help them learn. And we know that we will be impacted for the better, too - as will those who hear what we experience and can join us as advocates for Haiti.

One huge lesson I've been reminded of by The Crisis Caravan: even with the best of intentions, failing to work with those who know what's best for the community, or to abide by values and practices that recognize power differentials, can result in disastrous consequences.

But I suspect that among the many things we learn (or are reminded of) on our trip, we will know that even though our kinship with those in Haiti is a complex relationship, we are indeed sisters and brothers. I'm excited to go back.