Good Morning.
Maybe you can relate? Do you know when you’ve been on a two-week vacation for about 10 or 11 days and then despite your best efforts you start thinking about home? All the things you need to catch-up on, and all of the ongoing work you’ve tried to block out of your mind come flooding back to you. I’m not sure about the others, but I’m there. It’s actually kind of ominous.
There’s an acute sense that what we do here is vitally important and what we do back home is falsely so. There has been much discussion about what else we can do to help Haiti and our Haitian friends after this voyage ends. A fuse has been lit. Be prepared for some changed hearts to return to Nanaimo and Edmonton.
The discovery (and for some rediscovery) of how happy Haitians are even in such a state of poverty is encouraging. The reality that some of the people we serve here will die of conditions easily cured in Canada is haunting. The reality that some of the loving and energetic children we encounter today could fail to ever find a permanent full-time job due to high unemployment and lack of schooling; is downright depressing. Cholera and HIV Aids will continue their fiendish destruction here in Haiti for years to come. My heart breaks for people still living in tent-camps three years after the earthquake.
Someone quoted a saying that “everything in Haiti is broken.” That’s not true. The people we’ve met have an undying dream that Haiti will see better days ahead. This spirit has not been broken. With every new building, housing project, school and orphanage; and with every stunning sunrise, Haiti seems to be on the mend. More tropical storms will come and more political strife is almost assured but in the same way as Haitians live in close community with each other, outsiders like Foursquare Haiti are earning their way into that social fabric and that’s something that the big NGOs can’t possibly achieve. I am absolutely thrilled to be supporting our Haitian heroes who are sheltering, feeding, clothing and educating a new generation within our global village. Thank you all who have had a hand in this worthy endeavor.
Todd
Maybe you can relate? Do you know when you’ve been on a two-week vacation for about 10 or 11 days and then despite your best efforts you start thinking about home? All the things you need to catch-up on, and all of the ongoing work you’ve tried to block out of your mind come flooding back to you. I’m not sure about the others, but I’m there. It’s actually kind of ominous.
There’s an acute sense that what we do here is vitally important and what we do back home is falsely so. There has been much discussion about what else we can do to help Haiti and our Haitian friends after this voyage ends. A fuse has been lit. Be prepared for some changed hearts to return to Nanaimo and Edmonton.
The discovery (and for some rediscovery) of how happy Haitians are even in such a state of poverty is encouraging. The reality that some of the people we serve here will die of conditions easily cured in Canada is haunting. The reality that some of the loving and energetic children we encounter today could fail to ever find a permanent full-time job due to high unemployment and lack of schooling; is downright depressing. Cholera and HIV Aids will continue their fiendish destruction here in Haiti for years to come. My heart breaks for people still living in tent-camps three years after the earthquake.
Someone quoted a saying that “everything in Haiti is broken.” That’s not true. The people we’ve met have an undying dream that Haiti will see better days ahead. This spirit has not been broken. With every new building, housing project, school and orphanage; and with every stunning sunrise, Haiti seems to be on the mend. More tropical storms will come and more political strife is almost assured but in the same way as Haitians live in close community with each other, outsiders like Foursquare Haiti are earning their way into that social fabric and that’s something that the big NGOs can’t possibly achieve. I am absolutely thrilled to be supporting our Haitian heroes who are sheltering, feeding, clothing and educating a new generation within our global village. Thank you all who have had a hand in this worthy endeavor.
Todd