I love Haiti.
It is a place full of insanity and seemingly asinine contradictions. For example, the denomination of the actual printed money used here in Haiti are called "gouds." The exchange rate from gouds to US dollars is 40 gouds:1 USD. However, there is another 'imaginary' currency that is the official currency...the Haitian Dollar. You could spend your life searching haiti for an actual haitian dollar, but you will never find one. It is an imaginary currency that goes like this...1 USD = 8 Haitian Dollars = 40 goud. It really isn't that big of a deal, until your seamstress shows up asking for money in Haitian dollars and you start doing the translations in your head. You turn around and say, "So 400 goud is what you need right?' Only to be told, "We don't deal in gouds, that's imaginary currency."
That's right. It wasn't a typo. The currency which has no physical existence is the 'real' currency, while the physical denomination of gouds is imaginary.
Again. I love Haiti.
I love Haiti because in the midst of over-NGOed, foreign aid entitled people, there is a young man willing to learn, work hard, and make an honest wage for the sake of his future and his family. He sticks out among the masses because at the end of a long day of my free labor in Haiti, he looks me square in the face and says in broken English, "Thank so much for the teaching me today." It is for this young man my heart longs to see this nation walk in prosperity once again.
9.10.2011
Our home away from home
Whit here...
I feel much more encouraged today, so thanks to everyone that lifted me up in prayer. I had a great talk with a local woman that is helping me with the sewing program and I'm working on a plan, I'll update more on the progress soon.
But for now, I'd like to introduce you to the Transition Home and it's sewing room, aka my home away from home.
Welp, it's Saturday evening which means we're off to Port au Prince Fellowship tomorrow. We're excited to see more of the city and meet some more people. Next week will include shopping for some fabric and working on organizing a schedule for the trans home. We're pumped!
-whit
I feel much more encouraged today, so thanks to everyone that lifted me up in prayer. I had a great talk with a local woman that is helping me with the sewing program and I'm working on a plan, I'll update more on the progress soon.
But for now, I'd like to introduce you to the Transition Home and it's sewing room, aka my home away from home.
 |
| Phara working on the overlock machine |
 |
| Dana in the workroom she created and wearing a dress she made! |
 |
| Chirley and Chedline working on a pillow case |
 |
| Part of our walk to the transition home |
-whit
9.09.2011
SEE ONE...DO ONE...TEACH ONE
Jd Here...
One of my duties here in Haiti for our VERY short month, is to teach the kids who are interested in woodworking about....building stuff with wood. The hope is to inspire hard work and impart a skill set to improve their chances of employment as they finish their schooling. But teaching something like carpentry or woodworking is difficult. Primarily because, there are projects that NEED to get done. I could accomplish so many projects in a small amount of time and of course the kids would be 'involved'...sure they'd be involved...yeah. They'd be busy holding a piece of wood, moving materials, cleaning up and watching the Americans build stuff. However, if you asked them to go and measure something, design something and build something. It could potentially be a modern art exhibit when all said and done. A seeming waste of precious resources.
SEE ONE... DO ONE.... TEACH ONE
The carpenter Jesus of Nazareth taught in a radical and risky way. He'd walk around exemplifying to his little worker bees what it looks like to be a crazy teacher doing signs and wonders. He'd show up, do a miracle, and then have a chat about what just happened. Then he'd look over to his groupies and say... now you go do it. Once they were finished attempting, messing up, attempting again.. then maybe kind of getting it... Jesus turns around and says, now go and get a bunch of other people to watch you and do the same.
THE TRICK
It is easy to not want to let go. If you let a 14 yr old Haitian boy take over your project, you might just end up with a pile of scrap wood. It may not look very good, it may be flawed, but these are necessary steps. Nobody became an expert without messing up...over and over and over again. So what is the trick?
The trick is to focus on the person... not the project. I learned from an amazing teacher who once said, "There's nothing you can do, that I can't fix." As a newbie carpenter, these words were both relief-giving and frightening. He would say this as my trembling hands cut a $300 piece of wood or marble. He would let me know it was expensive but upon failure always reminded me that literally, "There was nothing I could do, that he couldn't fix." Albeit some mistakes were more costly than others.
But the truth remains... if I am to actually teach these boys anything at all, it will require failure. It is only in the failing that the correct path becomes clear. For example, Emmanuel Victor is a local Haitian boy who has been diligently absorbing every ounce of information I can feed him. After I overwhelmed him with the fractional math necessary to read a measuring tape or ruler, I unleashed him to figure out how to change out some door locks and add a new one to an existing door.
I could have changed the lock and been finished in "two seconds", instead, I let him attempt to put the lock in upside down... backwards.... inside out... and every other way possible. Each time he realized the mistake and reverted back to try a different way. I sat back to watch the wheels in his brain spinning to solve this mechanical difficulty. Then the light sparks and he sees the correct path. A beautiful thing.
Tomorrow I will continue teaching him how to read a Tape Measure in sixteenths. Emmanuel hopes to be an architect one day and I know that although we spent 60 minutes installing one door knob, his experiential knowledge of working through the process of trying, failing and trying again will be the key to his success in life.
ZOOMING WAY OUT (My application for Haiti)
Haiti is known as the Republic of NGOs. Indeed, there are over 11,000 different non-governmental organizations operating in Haiti from all over the world. The best of intentions and the purest of motives are at the bottom of most of this presence in Haiti. However I wonder if all the NGOs have fallen into the temptation of being so project oriented that we've forgotten to step aside and let the person be the priority. What I mean is simple... perhaps Haiti would be better off if the outside 'teacher' were only there to train and then make recommendations. Emmanuel did all the work on that door knob and only at times did I step in to slightly guide him in his own pursuit of accomplishment. Is it possible that the overwhelming altruism of the NGO community has in fact created a situation of crippling dependency? At some point, we will have to hand over the tools of development and progress to say, "Okay guys, have a go, we'll be right by your side if you need us." When will the day come when the NGOs are the ones who are simply holding the wood while the skilled laborer makes measurements, decides on designs, and even uses the power tools!?
It may not be time. But I can tell you this... Emmanuel will be building things and designing things in no time. They may not be perfect, but they will be designed, built, and owned by him and him alone.
-jd
P.S. This orphanage/school/program has become a real source of refreshing enjoyment for us. The people are open, hungry and honest about the difficulties realities of life and yet see the greater reality of God's hope and desire for the wholeness of the world. Thanks so much to everyone who allowed us to have this wonderful experience.
One of my duties here in Haiti for our VERY short month, is to teach the kids who are interested in woodworking about....building stuff with wood. The hope is to inspire hard work and impart a skill set to improve their chances of employment as they finish their schooling. But teaching something like carpentry or woodworking is difficult. Primarily because, there are projects that NEED to get done. I could accomplish so many projects in a small amount of time and of course the kids would be 'involved'...sure they'd be involved...yeah. They'd be busy holding a piece of wood, moving materials, cleaning up and watching the Americans build stuff. However, if you asked them to go and measure something, design something and build something. It could potentially be a modern art exhibit when all said and done. A seeming waste of precious resources.
SEE ONE... DO ONE.... TEACH ONE
The carpenter Jesus of Nazareth taught in a radical and risky way. He'd walk around exemplifying to his little worker bees what it looks like to be a crazy teacher doing signs and wonders. He'd show up, do a miracle, and then have a chat about what just happened. Then he'd look over to his groupies and say... now you go do it. Once they were finished attempting, messing up, attempting again.. then maybe kind of getting it... Jesus turns around and says, now go and get a bunch of other people to watch you and do the same.
THE TRICK
It is easy to not want to let go. If you let a 14 yr old Haitian boy take over your project, you might just end up with a pile of scrap wood. It may not look very good, it may be flawed, but these are necessary steps. Nobody became an expert without messing up...over and over and over again. So what is the trick?
The trick is to focus on the person... not the project. I learned from an amazing teacher who once said, "There's nothing you can do, that I can't fix." As a newbie carpenter, these words were both relief-giving and frightening. He would say this as my trembling hands cut a $300 piece of wood or marble. He would let me know it was expensive but upon failure always reminded me that literally, "There was nothing I could do, that he couldn't fix." Albeit some mistakes were more costly than others.
But the truth remains... if I am to actually teach these boys anything at all, it will require failure. It is only in the failing that the correct path becomes clear. For example, Emmanuel Victor is a local Haitian boy who has been diligently absorbing every ounce of information I can feed him. After I overwhelmed him with the fractional math necessary to read a measuring tape or ruler, I unleashed him to figure out how to change out some door locks and add a new one to an existing door.
I could have changed the lock and been finished in "two seconds", instead, I let him attempt to put the lock in upside down... backwards.... inside out... and every other way possible. Each time he realized the mistake and reverted back to try a different way. I sat back to watch the wheels in his brain spinning to solve this mechanical difficulty. Then the light sparks and he sees the correct path. A beautiful thing.
Tomorrow I will continue teaching him how to read a Tape Measure in sixteenths. Emmanuel hopes to be an architect one day and I know that although we spent 60 minutes installing one door knob, his experiential knowledge of working through the process of trying, failing and trying again will be the key to his success in life.
ZOOMING WAY OUT (My application for Haiti)
Haiti is known as the Republic of NGOs. Indeed, there are over 11,000 different non-governmental organizations operating in Haiti from all over the world. The best of intentions and the purest of motives are at the bottom of most of this presence in Haiti. However I wonder if all the NGOs have fallen into the temptation of being so project oriented that we've forgotten to step aside and let the person be the priority. What I mean is simple... perhaps Haiti would be better off if the outside 'teacher' were only there to train and then make recommendations. Emmanuel did all the work on that door knob and only at times did I step in to slightly guide him in his own pursuit of accomplishment. Is it possible that the overwhelming altruism of the NGO community has in fact created a situation of crippling dependency? At some point, we will have to hand over the tools of development and progress to say, "Okay guys, have a go, we'll be right by your side if you need us." When will the day come when the NGOs are the ones who are simply holding the wood while the skilled laborer makes measurements, decides on designs, and even uses the power tools!?
It may not be time. But I can tell you this... Emmanuel will be building things and designing things in no time. They may not be perfect, but they will be designed, built, and owned by him and him alone.
-jd
P.S. This orphanage/school/program has become a real source of refreshing enjoyment for us. The people are open, hungry and honest about the difficulties realities of life and yet see the greater reality of God's hope and desire for the wholeness of the world. Thanks so much to everyone who allowed us to have this wonderful experience.
9.08.2011
Start Small
Whitney Here...
The day started with getting dressed. I wore my pink EMS shirt with a zebra on it and Jd wore his new Child Hope screened shirt that also happened to be pink (his first pink shirt ever). We were matching. So in honor of that, we opened the pink envelope sent by the Landon/Hilferty group, a note from Mamma Tracey.
Let me back up a minute, our jobs while we are here in Haiti will be to work with the Child Hope transition home. And the kicker is, when we arrived on tuesday, we had until thursday night to learn everything before our predecessors left town friday morning. Jd is standing in for David, the heart and soul of the transition home and I am replacing Dana, an incredibly talented 20 year old fashion designer that created a sewing program out of nothing in one month.... Daunting?
You took the words right out of my mouth.
So back to this morning, the pink shirts and the subsequent pink note. The card said Start Small. I opened it and immediately said, "well that's appropriate!" and as you can guess the rest of the note from Momma Tracey was right on the mark as well.
We've come here with essentially two things, the skills we have, and the big trump card, an awesome God. All we can do as finite beings is what we know how to do and pray and release the rest. Stressing about every aspect that Dana and I cannot fulfill or about all the projects David started that might lag in his absence will not make them come to fruition. Doing the very best I can with the woman or child right in front of me and trusting that God can do a much greater work than I could imagine, now that's something I can handle.
All that being said, I have learned a ton from Dana in the last 48 hours and she will be greatly missed. I also have some serious brain storming to do to come up with teaching plans, projects and possibly some business lessons (I'm open to suggestions!). But I now have some new priorities, start small, focus on the person in front of me and pray for the peace to not stress the things outside my control.
(internet is spotty so no pics yet. coming soon...)
The day started with getting dressed. I wore my pink EMS shirt with a zebra on it and Jd wore his new Child Hope screened shirt that also happened to be pink (his first pink shirt ever). We were matching. So in honor of that, we opened the pink envelope sent by the Landon/Hilferty group, a note from Mamma Tracey.
Let me back up a minute, our jobs while we are here in Haiti will be to work with the Child Hope transition home. And the kicker is, when we arrived on tuesday, we had until thursday night to learn everything before our predecessors left town friday morning. Jd is standing in for David, the heart and soul of the transition home and I am replacing Dana, an incredibly talented 20 year old fashion designer that created a sewing program out of nothing in one month.... Daunting?
You took the words right out of my mouth.
So back to this morning, the pink shirts and the subsequent pink note. The card said Start Small. I opened it and immediately said, "well that's appropriate!" and as you can guess the rest of the note from Momma Tracey was right on the mark as well.
We've come here with essentially two things, the skills we have, and the big trump card, an awesome God. All we can do as finite beings is what we know how to do and pray and release the rest. Stressing about every aspect that Dana and I cannot fulfill or about all the projects David started that might lag in his absence will not make them come to fruition. Doing the very best I can with the woman or child right in front of me and trusting that God can do a much greater work than I could imagine, now that's something I can handle.
All that being said, I have learned a ton from Dana in the last 48 hours and she will be greatly missed. I also have some serious brain storming to do to come up with teaching plans, projects and possibly some business lessons (I'm open to suggestions!). But I now have some new priorities, start small, focus on the person in front of me and pray for the peace to not stress the things outside my control.
(internet is spotty so no pics yet. coming soon...)
9.06.2011
Day 1 Haiti:
After waking up to an annoying little beep at 3 a.m....zooming to the airport....standing in lines....standing in longer lines....becoming an ethnic minority on an airplane....and pushing through the gauntlet of broken english 'bag toters'....
We are in Haiti.
There are already too many stories, sights, and experiences to recount in this short post.... however, here are two quick thoughts I've had so far.
1) This country is more in tact that I expected. Yes, we passed dozens of tent cities where people washed in the streets with dirty water. Yes, there were buildings broken in half. Yes, there are few intelligible roads and no road signs.... But people are working, building, driving, biking, living... Life has not stopped in Haiti and while the poverty is real, there are many who have jobs and are making it ok. I suppose I was expecting hoards of zombie like people crawling all over the streets.
2) Secondly, I have become more convinced in this first day that this nation is suffering from too much help in the wrong places. Yes, the work of the NGOs is amazing and I love Child Hope and the staff already. But what NGO is going to raise money to pave roads, create irrigation pathways for street runoff, and support and educational system that allows every young person aimlessly walking the streets a chance to become literate. No government or public sector is perfect and neither is any NGO. But at the end of the day, the goal should be to have a stronger national haiti, not a modernized NGO headquarters.
Blessings and love to you all. We are tired, but inspired for the work that lays before us.
Jd & Whit
We are in Haiti.
There are already too many stories, sights, and experiences to recount in this short post.... however, here are two quick thoughts I've had so far.
1) This country is more in tact that I expected. Yes, we passed dozens of tent cities where people washed in the streets with dirty water. Yes, there were buildings broken in half. Yes, there are few intelligible roads and no road signs.... But people are working, building, driving, biking, living... Life has not stopped in Haiti and while the poverty is real, there are many who have jobs and are making it ok. I suppose I was expecting hoards of zombie like people crawling all over the streets.
2) Secondly, I have become more convinced in this first day that this nation is suffering from too much help in the wrong places. Yes, the work of the NGOs is amazing and I love Child Hope and the staff already. But what NGO is going to raise money to pave roads, create irrigation pathways for street runoff, and support and educational system that allows every young person aimlessly walking the streets a chance to become literate. No government or public sector is perfect and neither is any NGO. But at the end of the day, the goal should be to have a stronger national haiti, not a modernized NGO headquarters.
Blessings and love to you all. We are tired, but inspired for the work that lays before us.
Jd & Whit
9.01.2011
Collective Guilt and the Health of a Nation
In 10 days I will finish my applications to three highly competitive universities who will decide whether a skinny kid from south jersey with no AP credits or Ivy League logos deserves a spot in their small, customized programs.
In about 100 days I will lead a group of students and professionals back into the heart of Haiti discussing disaster relief and the future development of Haiti.
Sound stressful?
It is... but I believe that is only because I don't fully understand the plight of those I wish to serve.
 |
| makeshift cholera clinic |
Currently in Haiti nearly 6,000 people have died from a completely treatable disease! Cholera runs rampant in the dirty streets of the tent cities. The U.N. continues to officially deny being the source of the cholera outbreak. For three months now I have been reading books, articles and watching documentaries about Haiti. Anything I can get my hands on and much of it leaves me saddened and discouraged.
And yet, I have been inspired... much like the prophet Nehemiah. It is time to rebuild the walls of Haiti. And this time, we will rebuild them better. You see, to see a vision of a beautiful, growing, and prosperous country on the western end of Hispaniola is radical. It's overwhelming but it is exactly what the whole of Scripture and true religion requires... that in the place of destitution... we work towards redemption. Where we see sickness... we spend ourselves in the way of supporting health. Where we see abuse... we stick our necks out to defend the weak. I can tell you that Haitians are proud of their country and they are on the forefront of making things better.
COLLECTIVE GUILT
 |
For many years I struggled with the concept of collective guilt. I was a fortunate soul to be born into an intact nuclear family with a middle-upper income standard of living and attend a private high school and undergraduate institution. Meanwhile, the majority of the world focuses on maintaining food, water, and shelter security. In the pursuit of purging this guilt, I sought to run from the wretchedness of wealth, riches, and the upper elitist of government and academia. To walk in the shoes of those many minimalists who live day by day on pennies... this surely would be the righteous response to my predicament. And then I met a man from Malawi.
Robert Manda, an educated Malawian who focuses on the vulnerable populations of rural Malawi... women and children. My family has essentially adopted him into our lives. I remember one day Robert smiled and looked deliberately into the eyes of my family. He said, "I pray for God's blessing and prosperity on your family. Because when God blesses the Landons, he blesses Malawi."
With this statement my world slowly shifted. How does one respond to the blessings of wealth, family, education and privilege? You start by being the smartest, wealthiest, and the best you can be in your field.... then you give yourself to the work of rebuilding the world better. If you are an architect, you strive for low-cost building solutions that will withstand the onslaught of hurricanes and earthquakes. If you are a doctor, you become the best doctor possible and find new strategies of health for vulnerable populations. If you are a computer geek, go help find IT solutions to increase accessibility to education via internet learning in rural villages. If you are a businessman, learn to create jobs and train the next generation that will support long-term prosperity for communities in need. Regardless of where we find ourselves or what fields we are passionate about, there is always a way to increase the quality of life for another. We must not run from our privilege but use it tirelessly for the plight of the poor.
To be a privileged American means only one thing.... that I have the privilege to open my eyes to the sea of suffering and do something.
Why do I go to Haiti? And why will I go to Malawi?
Because I can... and because I must.
8.14.2011
The Skinny on Haiti
Hi, Whitney here, I'm guest posting on Diaries sharing the skinny on our trip to Haiti. On September 6th Jd and I will be flying to Haiti to serve for a month with the NGO Child Hope. We were introduced to Child Hope through our church Revolution Annapolis and I immediately felt the Holy Spirit's tug on my heart to go. As it turns out, we are not the first from Gordon College (our alma mater) to go to Child Hope. Kaitlyn Evans, a fellow Gordonite, coaching classmate and fighting scot athlete also worked with Child Hope, the path was being laid. With the amazing support of our families, (this is a theme in our lives) we will be able to leave our jobs and sign on with Child Hope for the month of September.
- Child Hope is run by the Manassaro's, read their story here, it's amazing
- We will be helping with their transition programs doing carpentry, sewing, maybe some screen printing and whatever else we can come up with
- We'll hopefully get to help in their clinic, serve alongside their orphans in their feeding program and play lots of soccer
- We'll get to use our admin, organizational, photog, filming and general jack of all trade skills
- We'll be loving on some really awesome kids, staff and interns and the people of Haiti
- We'll be developing on the ground contacts for a Disaster Conference that we will be helping lead in January (more on that later)
- And we'll be keeping you posted on what we're doing here on this blog
We would greatly appreciate your encouragement and prayers while we are away. Pray that we will be joy filled servants, that our hearts would be broken for Haiti, that we will be Christ's hands and feet and that our time there would be a blessing to the Mnassaro's and interns of Child Hope.
We hope that you will be our cloud of wittnesses as we go on this journey.
We already appreciate the support. We couldn't do this without the blessings of friends in family.
Please contact us if are interested in supporting us financially.
Blessings,
Whitney and Jd
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)