Haiti 2011

posted in Blog, Uncategorized | Friday, October 14th, 2011

Now that you have seen…

As our plane descended into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, I was thinking about the orphaned children I had heard so much about from the guys at Rice Bowls. I was already impressed with their resilience and generosity. I had heard about Mafuna and Marie-Victorie, who translate Creole for the doctors who come for a week at a time to work in the clinic. I had heard about how all the children travel with the orphanage directors to deliver extra food and supplies to less fortunate orphanages. As we started to exit the plane, Bob Caldwell, Bridgewater’s President, reminded us that someone from the orphanage would pick us up so stay together. We soon learned the reason for his caution. There were lots of tap-tap, or taxi, drivers all competing for our business. Bob, his wife and oldest son along with the Rice Bowls guys hopped into a tap-tap. The two Bridgewater sales reps who had won a contest in order to come on the trip, climbed in the tap-tap as well. The orphanage director, Ramon, herded me and the four Authorized Dealers with us into an SUV. As I opened the door, a cute little boy popped his head out. I recognized Francois from his photo on Bridgewater’s posters….I think he was a little surprised that I already knew his name. The drive to the clinic where we were staying should have only taken 20 minutes but our SUV got separated from the tap-tap when a road was blocked off. We went the long way and Ramon gave us a guided tour of the city he’d called home since he and his wife had agreed to run the orphanage. I was shocked at the desperate state of the Haitian people. Over half the population in Haiti live in abject poverty. No books or pictures can prepare you for seeing that amount of hopelessness. As darkness came, we passed tents that were thrown up after the earthquake. What should have been temporary housing was a permanent situation almost 2 years later. With no power, people live there in complete darkness. I was trying to imagine how they survive from day to day, when Ramon said “Now that you have seen, you are responsible.” Everyone was quiet for a few moments as we pondered what that meant.

The orphanage supported by Rice Bowls is a light in the surrounding city. The children there live in a family environment. The cycle of abuse and neglect in their lives have been broken. They are being raised my Ramon and Luz to one day make a difference in their country. I will tell more about our trip in a future post but the trip for me was summed up by Vanessa Belle, a little 3 year old full of life and personality. As we were taking a few photos, a child sneezed and someone in our group said “God bless you”. Vanessa said in creole “Thank you Jesus!” That little girl knew she was blessed and also who to thank for her blessing.