Finally... Haiti

One of the girls in the orphanage in Duchity, Haiti 

Hi everyone I hope you had a great week. Okay now I finally have a chance to describe the trip I took to Haiti over Winter break with 5 other Rockhurst Students and two faculty members. It was a dream come true for me to go back to Haiti. Ever since I had traveled to Haiti back in the summer of 2009 as part of a service trip I had always wanted to go back.

We traveled to a town called Duchity, Haiti which is the home of the twinning parish of my home parish. It is a 140 mile drive from Port-au-Prince although the drive took us 8 hours. While we were driving out of Port-au-Prince we saw blocks of just tents, this two years after the earthquake. It is crazy to see how different Haiti is and yet how close it is to the United States.

            While we were in Duchity we met with various community groups and school groups listening to their dreams and hopes for the future of Duchity. One group we had met with had dreams of building an internet café/ library and was looking for funding. Shortly into our trip we began to realize that these groups have good ideas however they have very little business knowledge which would have allowed them to realize that an internet café would not be able to be self-sustaining even with a grant to build the building. That is just one example of the various groups we met with. Perhaps one of the most memorable things we did was going to spend an afternoon at the orphanage. The kids there are just so full of life and so much fun to play with.

            For me I felt just this great sense of peace when I was down there, with limited electricity you just are able to be really present to the moment and to the people you are with. Our group is working on different ideas on how to help the community and we hope to return this summer. What really made the trip so great was the group I went with. I could not have asked to for a better group to go with. They are all amazing people with a true commitment to helping those who are less fortunate. Have a great week.