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Waaaaayyyyyy back when I was in high school I decided that I wanted to join the Peace Corps. Since that “idea” about threw my mother over an edge, I shoved it aside in order to pursue a more rational (sane, normal) route in life: college, marriage, career and family. A few decades later, I was feeling as though my Peace Corps dream had slipped on by, but just then I got an opportunity to travel to Haiti.
Two days into the trip I was totally hooked. I can 't say I understood a darn thing going on around me, but I surely was fascinated, especially by the CAN-DO spirit of the people. While bumping along in a bus on a dusty road in the Haitian countryside, sipping hot water from my water bottle, it did not matter that my stomach was likely churning from a newly acquired bug. It didn’t matter later either, when I was doing my business in a ditch with like fifteen little Haitian kids watching and giggling. I was already planning when and how I would return.
I have been traveling back and forth to Haiti consistently for over sixteen years now and have learned some truths and nuances about what "helping" really must translate to in Haiti.
Inspired by the strength, spirit, tenacity and capability of the Haitian people, I choose to engage with organizations and in ways that expand on productivity, capacity and sustainability.
