Lessons learned in Haiti

Tonight is my last night in Jacmel, Haiti, having been helping in the relief effort for almost two weeks. As part of Shelters International Disaster Response, I have helped to clear rubble from two schools, and we just heard today that we have won the contract from the Salvation Army to rebuild the first one – a seven room grade school. I won’t be here to see it, but I’m heartened to have been a small part of the project, and proud of what SIDR is accomplishing with so little. The two Canadian founders take no salary, they live in a tent instead of a hotel, and they travel by moto-taxi and tap-tap rather than a hired SUV and driver. They treat their volunteers with respect, and give them 3 meals a day instead of just 1. Unlike many of the bigger NGOs, they have no overhead, so 100% of their donations hit the ground, feeding, transporting, and providing equipment for their volunteers, so that they can effectively help rebuild the community and provide much-needed training. True vagabonds, Laura and Scotty have called India and Morocco home for long periods of time as well as Haiti, and have not been back to their house in the woods of British Columbia in many months. As relief organizers, they go where help is needed the most.

When I set out on this adventure, I had no expectations beyond hard work and living in a tent. Even so, I was unprepared for just how hard it is to wield a pickaxe, shovel, and wheelbarrow for 7 hours a day under a hot sun, breaking down cement walls and untangling rebar. I met an artist whose workshop collapsed, paintings still visible under rubble, and I was able to give some assistance to a mother that’s living in a tent beside her damaged home. I’ve picked up piti-piti kreyol, and more of my french has come back from the recesses of high school memory.

Early in the morning I board a U.N. transport bound for Port-au-Prince to slowly make my way home to my supportive wife, comfortable bed, and indoor plumbing. But as I lie here in my tent, listening to crickets chirping and the U.N. generators humming, I think I might miss this unexpected place.