We are sorry it has been so long since our last episode, but so much has been going on in our lives: the continual transition with our adoptive daughter, school letting out, and my computer crashing. Our aim is to be more consistent with putting out more regular episodes over the summer.
Tonight, we have a very special interview with Taicha, our adoptive daughter. We ask her what its been like for her to transition into our home, what she has liked and what has been her struggles. We also discuss what it was like to live in the orphanange from her point of view.
The stories we tell…Jason, a big, burly construction worker, traveled to Haiti on a whim and fell in love with the kids from an orphanage. This and the people he met during that trip in the mid-nineties caused him to return time and time again to show the kids love and to help out wherever he was needed.
The stories we tell…Mariam, who works as a physician’s assistant, saw the dire medical need in Haiti and traveled there three years ago to work in the remote villages of Haiti, meeting their medical needs.
Then there are the stories of the Haitians themselves, the people that lived there or still do, each one with a different unique perspective, on their own country. I think of Arnold who came across on a skiff the the US, struggled the eight years he lived there, and used a forged passport to get back to Haiti. He believes that Jesus and education are the only way to help Haiti.
And what of those stories of people like Chris Lieb, who sacrificed a six-figure salary in the computer industry to go live on a mountain in a mission that focuses on helping Haiti holistically? Five years he has lived there with no thoughts of turning back. He has been there in the midst of political upheaval, serving the Haitian community. The organization he works for helps reforest Haiti, helps educate Haitians, provides a hospital with a 100 beds, and much, much more.
The stories we tell, the perspectives we share, the means and the way we all arrive in Haiti and grow to love the country are all different. Some see the poverty and react, others go because of some religious experience calls them to go, while still others end up in Haiti because of jobs and adoptions. Everyone’s story is different. Everyone’s story worth telling.
And we at Haiti in Focus want to tell it. This means that we will at times have widely varying opinions and perspectives on the show. Some will come across very religious, some will convey passionately a certain niche of work they are doing in Haiti, and some will share they way they see Haiti. We lay out all out there, believing that some how the truth lies somewhere in the midst of all this.
We hope that such interviews will not be a deterrent to you listening to this show. As always we welcome feedback and thoughts on all interviews we have and would love for you to share your perspective in writing or audio format to us. You can email us at haitiinfocus@gmail.com or call our listener line at (206) 600-482.
Recently I read through a blog post byPunchinello titled “Should we let Haiti fail?”, an interesting or at the very least a provocative essay on what might happen if we applied our philosophies about the auto bailout to Haiti. And no matter what your decision, what answer you stand by, the question makes us think: should we let Haiti fail?
My first gut response is to exclaim: what do you mean let Haiti fail? That is absolutely ludicrous! Haiti needs our help. We can’t just stand idly by. What about our responsibility to the poor? The sick need to be healed, farmers need to be taught, and orphans need to be loved.
But say for a moment that what we are talking about is not what we physically do in Haiti, but the money government and organizations throw into Haiti. When we look at it from this way, Punchinello may have a point. After all, the World Bank, the United States and many, many other organizations have dumped money into Haiti in an effort to help ease the poverty. The effects of all our efforts are that while there have been pockets of change, over all Haiti remains the same. Blame it on corruption with the Haitian government or whatever you want, the millions that we have thrown at Haiti already has largely not reached the masses.
So would it make a difference if we stopped pouring government finances into Haiti? it doesn’t seem so, unless I am missing the picture somewhere. I certainly don’t consider myself an expert on the issues surroundingHaiti. I do know that the average Haitian could be given a bag of rice that would last them the month for around 50 bucks. Divide that by a million dollars and you could feed 20,000 Haitians for a month.
There are many humanitarian organizations that are making a difference in Haiti. Giving to these organizations makes a bigger difference than the money that is handed to the Haitian government.
Perhaps it is not so much giving up on hait, but rather giving up on the government. However, its catch 22. Can Haiti change without its government? Questions, questions, questions.
Do Haitians have a responsibility to help themselves? Certainly. But I also believe that we need to walk alongside of them as they develop and progress. We need to use the knowledge that we have to help them build a better, more effective, more sustainable country.
Today if you walk the streets of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, the dreariness and weariness of the Haiti is written not just on the faces of her people, but the visage of the city. There are echoes of beauty in the architecture of the buildings, yet even these are worn. Potholes pock the streets; trash and broken down cars edge them like the banks along a river. This is clearly a country in need of hope, in need of all those who continually devote their time and resources to that country.
Recently I was shocked to find that seventy years ago, a different Port-Au-Prince existed, one in which the streets were clean, where the cars that drove them were beautiful, where the people dressed cleanly and proudly. The following video came to my attention once again from my friends at AIDG. I have never scene the Haiti that is in this video. Yet I have hope, hope that if Haiti was once beautiful, that if Port-Au-Prince was once the glorious representative for it’s nation, that it can be so again.
