Why Haiti?

I wish I could answer that question with some level of intellect that makes sense, but the simple answer is that I can’t.  Why do I feel obligated to Haiti, why does Haiti hold a special place in my heart, why did I first go to Haiti, why did I return to Haiti so quickly, can I actually help Haiti and a whole host of other self-reflective questions come to mind, but the truth of the matter is that it is not about me; it’s about doing my part to continuously raise awareness about a country that has been in desperate need since its inception and remains the same ‘til this day.

I just returned from my second design mission trip to Haiti volunteering through an eMi project team.  This time around, my project team was master planning the site for a new university near Cap-Haitien, which is in the northern part of the country.  The university is the brain child of Henoc Lucien and is being spearheaded by the Vision of Hope Ministry (VOHM).  Just like the NGO from my previous trip this summer, VOHM is committed to the people of Haiti and improving the quality of life for Haitians. 

When I was invited to participate on this project team in late September, I didn’t immediately say yes, because I was concerned about how I was going to finance my trip costs and the amount of time I’d have to prepare myself for the trip that would be happening in a less than three weeks time.  But after a few days, it was quite clear to me that God intended for me to return to Haiti, and I just had to trust and believe in the fact that he wanted to use me for a specific purpose of that team.  After interacting with VOHM and being in Haiti, there was no doubt in my mind that I was supposed to be in Haiti again, even if I didn’t know where all the financial support would be coming from.

Unlike my previous design mission project, this project required interaction with a board of stakeholders from the US and Haiti.  This project was larger than my last and involved a lot more specific planning, which meant a lot more meetings involving a lot more people and a lot of personalities to work through.  Despite all the factors involved, I could see VOHM’s heart for this project, and I easily bought into the vision. 

While in country, I wanted to keep up with a blog like last time, but there was just way too much going on, and I had a much tighter timeline to work with for this project.  I was once again a part of the architect team and had an amazing time interacting and creating with that small subset of our larger 13 person team.  It took me no time to get comfortable with the rest of the team (especially since I was working with the same project leaders and one other person from my previous Haiti project). 

Once again, I felt completely comfortable with people, and had no problems adjusting to my surroundings.  Don’t get me wrong, there were some comforts (mostly hot showers) of home that I missed and the mosquitoes seemed to be biting with a vengeance this time around, but complaining about that seems useless when I’m just inconvenienced for a short period and knowing that the work we did in country has the potential to help so many Haitians and change their lives for the better. The new university would bring work to local artisans and laborers who would be involved with construction. It would offers students throughout Haiti another alternative to higher education than simply heading to Port-au-Prince, which is where many college students died in the earthquake.  It would also offer community development and most importantly, a new sense of pride to Haitians in Cap-Haitian and the surrounding areas. 

Some might say the vision is too grand, or that there is no way to successfully accomplish the large task ahead, but like one of the members of the university’s steering committee members pointed out “If you are going to dream, dream big”. What’s the point of dreaming the possible, when it’s the impossible that truly changes lives. He got me hook, line and sinker with that statement.