A life that consists of...

the "shower" room

washing clothes in the river

(continued from "Mr. Bennet post on March 11th)

Why them not us?  What fate decided that I would be born into the "land of opportunity" and Bénnet would be born into a life of struggle?

A life that consists of ...walking to the river each morning, while still half asleep, to go get water for the day.  "Showering" by standing in a large plastic wash-basin and pouring small bowls of water over your body.  Buying food at the market each and every day because you don't have electricity in your house.

These activities are not just reserved for the poorest of poor, those people without work.  No.  These are the daily activities carried out by the local shop owners, farmers and many of the health care workers I have been fortunate enough to work with.  Some of these health care workers are leaders in their community and supervisors of their district.  People who, in the United States, would certainly be earning enough to have multi-bedroom house, a car or two and the ability to send their kids to school.  However, here in the rural, Central Plateau of Haiti - the poorest region of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of these luxuries are unattainable primarily due to people's ill fortune of being born here.

Yet amid the daily struggle here in the rural mountains of Haiti, people carry on.  Working through the physical struggle of daily life.  Maintaining hope for a better tomorrow.  Even while, at times for me, it seems hopeless.

getting water from the river

I mean, how are you supposed to better your situation when you have to spend the majority of your time working, just to provide food, water, shelter, clothing, and health for your family?  I used to have this notion that if you work hard enough, you can achieve everything that your heart desires.  I used to think that everything is possible.  Sadly, here, that is certainly not the case.

With that being said as easy as it is for me to enter into a downward spiral of pessimism and doubt (of which I am often paralyzed by), that does not do us any good.  Because, as I have experienced, realized and been reminded of time and time again,

"You cannot get sick enough to help sick people get better.  

You can not get poor enough to help poor people thrive.  

It is only in your thriving that you have anyone to offer anyone.  

If you are wanting to be of advantage to others, 

be as tapped in, turned in and turned on as you can possible be." 

~ Esther Hicks

While I do believe it is extremely important to empathize with people who are struggling or suffering...dwelling on it won't do me, you, or them, any good.  What will do them good is action.  Action that supports the development of sustainable human capacity building.  Measures that help give a hand up, not a hand out.

My trips to Haiti have made me realize that while everything might not be within one's reach, anything is possible.  Working hard might not guarantee success, but not even trying will certainly ensure failure.

Health Care Worker utilizing his knew knowledge
to show a patient how to stretch

~ Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Jan 21st, 2014

Mr. Bénnet

Journal Entry - January 5th, 2014, Haiti

It finally happened.  I was brought down from "cloud nine."

I love it here in Haiti.  The land, the culture, the people.  They all have this way about them that is unlike anything I know in the United States.  At peace, yet not at rest.  Easy going, yet confrontational.  Hard working, yet playful.  This all blends together into the warm, yet cautious welcomes I get here: 

"Gade blan," all the little children say with joyful excitement.  

"Salut," the young adults say with a cautious happiness.  

"Bonjou," the elders say with pride.

While the welcome I receive here is unknown to those yet to experience it, the conditions in which people here live in, need to be known to all.

Unexpectedly, I was pulled down off of cloud nine.  For the past three days, I have been spending a lot of time at the house of a man named Bénnet (pronounced Ben-nay).  I have known Bénnet since my second trip to Haiti.  On the trip, Bénnet provided me, along with two first-time students, the chance to learn about and explore his community at length.  He pulled out chairs for us (a staple for any visit to someone's house), told us stories about his family and gave us the grand tour of his community (an experience I know myself and the two students will never forget).  

Chelsea and Mollie
(the first two students)

Bénnet and his wife

On our two trips since that first visit, I have only seen Bénnet for brief moments.  However, as fate would have it, on my second day here this time, I crossed paths with him as he was returning from his work.  Upon seeing me (which wasn't exactly hard to do considering I was the only white person around), he immediately stopped his "moto" (the creole word for motorcycle/dirtbike) and with a big grin on his face, said, "Kevens!" (the way most people in Haiti pronounce my name...which is impossible not to like.)  And since that exchange, I have visited his house on a daily basis - making multiple trips per day (he only lives two houses down from the Project Medishare guest house).  Meeting his wife and relatives.  Learning about the store they operate at the front of their "property."  Playing dominoes.  Even buying some crackers from him this morning - receiving my first ever Haitian Gourdes.  And up until this evening when I was once again at his house, sitting around enjoying people's company, I was on cloud nine - simply loving the fact that I was in Haiti.

I was talking one-on-one with Bénnet's wife when she asked, "Do you know people for our schools here in Thomonde?"  At first, I didn't understand.  But after working through the translation...it hit me.  What she was really asking , "Do you know people who can help our schools here in Thomonde?"  

Up until this point, nothing I had seen or heard had struck me like this question did.  Not the absolute poverty, or the unimaginable contrast in living conditions, or the the many kids shouting, "Giv me one dolla."  It was a harsh reminder of why I am here.  Why them?  Why us?  What fate decided that I would be born in the 'land of opportunity' and Bénnet would be born into a life of struggle?  A life that consists of...

...continued in journal entry from January 21st, 2014 (soon to come)