The Capstone

I've been home for a week now from Haiti. 

Everyone asks me the same questions-

What's was your favorite part? 

What was the worst part?

How was the food?

Wow you're so tan! (I lived in the carribean for six weeks people. What did you expect? I promise I wore sunscreen everyday....)

How are they recovering from the earthquake?

Or simply tell me about Haiti...

These all baffle me. How do you sum up such an experience in just one sentence? 

      

 "We all know that Western news media provide a constant barrage of images of snotty-nosed orphans wandering aimlessly around fly-infested tent camps. We’re supposed to feel bad for them, we’re supposed to give to charity because of the earthquake, and most importantly, we’re supposed to feel better about ourselves for giving. After spending some time there, everyone in the group can agree that this is not the real Haiti…well not the full picture at least. One cannot deny the reality that more than two years after the earthquake, more than 200,000 people still live in tent camps. However, down from a peak of 1.4 million not so long ago, that number doesn’t look so bad. They say that more than 50% of people in this country live on less than $2/day. But when you’re a subsistence farmer living in the countryside (like a majority of Haitians), you rarely spend any money because you live off your crops.

Each day we would drive by signs denoting million-dollar projects funded by USAID, CIDA, UNICEF, UNHCR or other big foreign players in the development game. Infrastructure projects have the opportunity to help thousands, if not, millions of people. But far too often, water tanks are built, roads are constructed and buildings are erected, only to be neglected and begin crumbling in the months/years after. Long-term commitment to maintain and repair these projects is always a challenge because let’s be honest, road maintenance does not make a sexy fundraising ask.

What lasts forever though? Education. Once someone is taught something, it can never be taken away from them. Education is the path towards freedom. The freedom to learn, the freedom to form new opinions, the freedom to exchange thoughts, the freedom to get a job/opportunity and ultimately, the freedom to make a better life for oneself, one’s family and one’s country.

After spending significant time with the students of English In Mind Institute (the Haitian run adult English school I was working at), we are just now beginning to understand these complexities. For as much English as we have taught them, they’ve taught us much more.

We didn’t go to Haiti with the expectation of “saving” Haiti. Nor did we think we were making a grand difference. So why was our trip so successful? To be honest, all we did was run some extracurricular test-prep courses for adults and some English/art classes at orphanages. What we did do was make a ripple that will be part of the greater wave of change this country needs. We formed life-long connections that will continue through our fundraising efforts and our knowledge that EIM is entirely Haitian-taught and Haitian-operated. EIM was here before we arrived and it will be here after we leave. That to us is success." - OG blog

I think the hardest things I've had to deal with since being back is not the cross-cultural shock. (with windows, AC, flushing toilets, paved roads, and all the above) I expected those. I knew they were there before I left an that wouldn't change when I returned. The hardest part about returning is that I've had this amazing experience in Haiti....and no one fully understands but me. No one really cares about Haiti, except me, or at least not as much as I do. No one understands when I say they lived in tent camps what that means. Or how orphanages are run, or the sad reality of restaveks, or how striven an motivated my EIM students are. 

This is the hardest part, caring so much for something that nobody can understand or relate too. 

Life must go on though. School has started and soon I'll get back into the swing of things called life and perhaps forget a little of what I learned this summer. But I think I will forever hold Haiti in my heart. 

If you would like to donate to English in MInd Institute to help keep my students learning english for free please visit: 

http://www.indiegogo.com/englishinmind

A school I believe deserves to be around for a very long time. 

There is only 11 days left to donate, so don't hesitate!