Destination Haiti

As I board the plane from LAX bound for New York then Haiti, I feel a tinge of anticipation, both nervous and excited, as well as relief. About 10 minutes prior, I was scrambling to do a last minute packing of bags. Thank goodness for my roommate Jen who was kind enough to not only drop me off, but help me pack and lug a total of about 150 lbs. of luggage. I checked in 3 items. Good thing the person at the check in sees that I’m headed for Haiti and probably presumes service work since 2 of my bags weigh 51 pounds and I usually get in trouble for that. My third bag weighed 60 lbs, ugh, guess the scale at home was off. Reminiscent of my repacking on the way to Tanzania, I for the second time in a year, take out 10 pounds of crayons and redistribute it in my carryon. Carrying luggage 1.5 times my weight is well worth it. Nearly all of it is to be donated. I am lugging around 500 cholera coloring books, 360 packs of crayons, 2 large liquid soap bottles, 30 bars of soap, sports clothing for a secondary school from Russell Crowe, barbering tools for someone wanting to start a business in Haiti, snacks for Matt’s long stay, donated iPods, clothing for the kids and some of my stuff for camping.

It all seems too good to be true. I was so ready to go to Haiti about 3 months ago and had most of the supplies sitting in my apartment. It was the peak of the cholera outbreak and Haiti was in the midst of the first round of the presidential election, not the most stable of environments. One thing after another happened and I ended up not boarding the plane leaving for Port-au-Prince in the beginning of December. To say the least, I was disappointed, but firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. Ever since seeing the images of the IDP (internally displaced persons ) camp, orphanages and general need in Haiti when the earthquake hit on January 12, 2010, I had a strong urge to go. I even attempted to organize a trip during my spring break in the months after the earthquake but that proved to be challenging as well. So here I am, on my third earnest attempt to go to Haiti. It’s not that I feel like I can change the world or conditions in Haiti, but I can use the little skills I have to help in any way.

As a public health student, we are taught many important principles regarding global health aid work. The USC masters program transformed my way of thinking and my life. When we enter an underserved area as volunteers, it’s important to be conscientious of so many factors. The first and foremost would be respect of the local people and their culture. The second would be to avoid burdening the country or organization you work with. A cost-benefit analysis must be thought through: if you don’t speak the language, how useful will you be? Do you have a place to live and eat or are you expecting an organization to provide this? A third consideration is to work towards building a sustainable project for those you are helping. Traveling to a third world country and dropping off supplies is a one-time deal and can create reliance. Building educational programs or empowering the local people to help each other is more likely to go further into the future.

What am I going to Haiti for? I have a few projects that I hope to be involved with. I sit on the Board of Directors of the Global Adolescent Project (GAP) [www.globaladolescentproject.org]. GAP is dedicated to empower, educate, and encourage teens in Haiti through providing food, shelter, mental health services, secondary school tuition and a lot of love. My boyfriend and his partner, Dr. Nancy founded the organization a few months after the earthquake when they realized there was a gap in the provision of school and services to adolescents in Haiti since most organizations focus on the young kids. I feel as if I already know the kids: Josianne, Joselyn, Junior, Jean Woody, Best Friend (Eder), and Jean Widson. I typically spend more time communicating with the kids on Facebook chat or Skype calls than with my friends from the east coast. GAP has several initiatives for this Haiti trip. Dr. Nancy and Matt are already in Haiti and I will be meeting up with Matt. We need to secure forms of identification for the kids since they were lost in the rubble, look at new housing options, communicate with their schools and most importantly spend time with the kids that considers all of us in GAP their parents (many of them were orphaned after the quake).

I will also be working with Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) [www.apjnow.org]. The A-list celebrity board founded a free secondary school in the slums of Port-au-Prince. This is a huge investment in the future of Haiti since secondary schools are private and only the wealthy can afford it. They enrolled their first class of 6th graders last fall. I have been working with Dr. Reza Nabavian to create an evaluation survey which will ask a whole bunch of questions to determine whether the school has in fact improved the quality of life of these students. This trip, I will be testing the survey for logic and running some focus groups to see if I am missing any questions.

I also have semi-planned trips to FRADES, an orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets. I have been working via e-mail with Dr. Patricia Back, a fantastic pediatrician from Cincinnati that regularly goes to Haiti. My friend Bryant, an environmental engineer from U Cincy, have been working with Patricia to see if we can build a latrine, running water and electricity in an orphanage. I have also been in contact with a Haitian American whose father runs a school about 40 minutes outside of PaP from his own limited funding. There are a plethora of NGOs on the ground in Haiti. I am staying at Grass Roots United, an awesome org that allows volunteers and other NGOs to camp on their secure site 1 mile away from the airport at $15/night including meals.