100 Gourdes

On my daily rendezvous in Haiti, I stop with my companions/translators/friends, Junior and Jean Woody to have street food for lunch. The other week Junior and I ate lunch in a public park area and across from us sat two street boys that looked no older than 11. I invited them to have lunch with us. I ask my favorite question to ask any person, “what is your dream?”. One boy who said he was 12 years old even ;though he was so malnourished he looked more like 7 or 8, said he wanted to be a construction engineer. The other boy who was sick and laying down said he wanted to be anything that God would allow him to be. Junior translated a story they were telling him how they slept in the park and someone stole their shoes. Imagine someone else in so much poverty that they would steal shoes from homeless street children. Right then and there, how could anyone not feel the injustice of these children who never asked for that life and should be in school, focused on homework and imagining the world to be endless of possibilities? Junior later told me that it was not uncommon for wealthy people to hire street boys for a tiny amount of money to commit revenge crimes like murder and beat people. 

Regressing back to a week later at lunch with Jean Woody and Junior, we sat and ate and right outside the hut-like lunch area sat 5 boys/men staring at us while we ate. They looked us right in the eyes with every bite with the kind of hunger that pervades beyond the stomach but into their souls. I didn’t divert my eyes but I didn’t look at them every time. I finished my lunch and there was nothing left but bones but the boys and men still wanted my styrofoam container of nothing. That’s when it really hit me how hungry they were.  Junior asked what I was thinking but might not have had the courage to do, to give them some money. I was debating in my head about how I could buy them all rice and beans but wasn’t sure if that was a good idea...in a lot of aid work, giving something free to a few could lead to a lot more trouble like the summoning of friends and then a group of people asking for things. It’s happened a few times before to me in different cities. I gave Junior 25 Gourdes to hand to them and the 5 boys/men were excited but then I realized it wouldn’t nearly be enough for 5 people so I gave Junior 100 Gourdes instead. The 5 starving males were riled up and figuring out how to share the bill. They talked loudly amongst each other and ran towards another area presumably to buy food to share. It was obvious that their excitement and candor meant that 100 Gourdes was way more than they typically get. 100 Gourdes is equivalent to $2.40.