Thursday and Friday

Written by Guest Blogger Erik Mjourd

Today (Thursday), we visited a tent city about fifteen minutes from the Wall's House (where we are staying).  We were greeted by a member of the community that spoke Spanish, French and Creole and I, Erik, chose Spanish to translate his story to our group.  He told us about his community that was displaced due to earthquake damage from a small area a stone's throw away from where they are now living.  He told us that there were about 6,000 families (roughly 25,000 to 30,000 people) in this community alone (one of many, many tent cities in Port Au Prince), living in mostly UN provided tents and were struggling to survive.  We, however, were encouraged by his personal attempts to better his world as he proceeded to tell us about a program that he and his wife had initiated.  Simply put, he and his wife were working with a small group of young women and were providing instruction to young children of the community in the art of sewing, embroidery and crocheting.  Small, hand-made items are being produced for sale to anyone that might be able to purchase them.  The funds, in turn, were being spent for the children's elementary education which costs about 500 Haitian monetary units (Goud) to enroll and then 1,000 units (Goud) each semester to continue.  Their vision was to provide financial relief to the parents who could not produce the money necessary to put their children in school and to help them produce a sustainable income for their future.  This enabled the parents to use any extra income they might be able to produce to put towards the building of their new homes.  We felt very encouraged by their story and their vision.

Added by Meg:

While we did see this huge glimmer of hope and strong desire to work and provide for themselves, there was also a strong feeling of huge frustration on the part of our group in the fact that these people should still HAVE to live like this.  No one DESERVES to live like this.  Later this evening, we listened to Timothe (our translator and native Haitian) describe the Haitian viewpoint on charity.  We discovered they, too were immensely frustrated.  Billions of dollars have been provided for Haitian relief since the earthquake and very little of it is being put to use.  The tents from large relief organizations which were intended to be FREE to those affected by the earthquake disaster are being SOLD.  These tents were only intended to provide temporary housing, and yet 18 months after the earthquake we see these people pouring cement floors in front of their tent to shore the entry-way, installing windows in their tent to provide better circulation and adding personal "homey" touches, such as canopies and handmade decorations.  Timothe pointed out "If every aid organization involved since the earthquake provided just ONE permanent housing structure, the homelessness issue would be eradicated.  It is enraging that Billions of dollars are sitting doing nothing while thousands continue to suffer in extreme situations. 

The biggest impact is being made by small groups, such as ours, church groups and individuals who are able to function without the red tape and corruption and are able to JUST DO. 

We are encouraged by the fact that the little things we HAVE been able to do have gone a long way.  With money donated by YOU (thank you to those who bought sheets directly from me), we were able to serve PB&J sandwiches twice to children at Good Shepherd School in Pele (one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of town), we led Bible study and crafts to the same children at Good Shepherd three times, we held and comforted babies at the Sisters of Charity Orphanage/Hospital (and resisted the urge to bring each of those babies home with us),we established relationships with some young teen boys selling jewelry and keychains striving to make a better life for themselves, we visited The Apparent Project which proudly calls themselves an "un-orphanage", we distributed over 250 handmade lovies to both the Orphanage and to the children at The Apparent Project, we visited  Zanmi Lasante Hospital (started by Paul Farmer of Partners in Health) in Mirabalas (a beautiful mountainous region which we had not previously seen), we toured a small portion of the above mentioned tent city last night and will return again this afternoon to the orphanage, we donated 30 French/English dictionaries to youth yearning to learn, we donated hundreds of soccer uniforms to an organization which uses soccer leagues to encourage and tech youth leadership, we spend countless hours building relationships not only amongst ourselves, but more importantly amongst our new Haitian friends.  Overall, I'd say a little bit of effort CAN go a LONG way.  I'd like to personally thank each and every person who has made this trip possible through financial donations, physical donations, donations of time, prayers, good wishes and encouragement. 

Please continue to follow this blog as we continue to process our trip and experience and share more stories and thoughts (and PHOTOS!!!)