Development Team Visits Haiti
In February Development Manager Joan Kelly and Grants Officer Niamh Bohan visited HELP in Haiti. It was Joan's first ever trip to Haiti and Niamh's third, but the first in her new role. Here is what they saw:
Niamh and Joan with HELP staff and students together with SAKALA staff at SAKALA
On the afternoon of February 1st we walked off the plane in Port-au-Prince and were greeted by the familiar sounds of the “troubadour” band at the airport. Stepping through the gates of the HELP Center the next morning we were struck by how being there is so much richer and more dynamic than what we read and write about HELP. The vibrancy, focus, and optimism that permeates every inch of the Center is hard to convey. Everyone, from the drivers to the directors, seems wholly committed to HELP’s mission.After a traditional breakfast of coffee & cassava in the courtyard with the staff, our official orientation began with a tour given by a few of the newly minted HELP Student Ambassadors (see sidebar). The Ambassadors gave an overview of the Center and all the HELP programs while sharing their own stories. Adeline (Agronomy ‘16) told us about her service project tutoring "restaveks" (child domestic servants) whose schooling is often inconsistent, and Gerdy (Agro-Economics ‘18) spoke about the rigors of her law program, where, the other Ambassadors were quick to point out, she is the top female student.From there our week was filled with student activities, meetings with department heads and dinners with staff and students. We had first-hand experience of nearly every facet of HELP, sitting in on English classes, visiting a Citizenship & Leadership service project site, and tagging along on a morning of recruiting in Port-au-Prince.HIGHLIGHTS:Niamh – For me, there were two highlights of the trip (aside from the Patriots winning the Super Bowl the first night!) On the first day I started asking each person, “What is your favorite thing about HELP?” Sitting with students, their initial reaction was a sigh and an eye roll. But then someone said they liked the dorms - living with their classmates and always learning, and from there we were off, interrupting each other, adding more and more favorite things and only 20 minutes later did we exhaust the topic of favorite things about HELP. Here is a sample of the results of my “poll”.“My favorite thing about HELP is……seeing the students take charge on a recruiting trip, the way they handle the staff at the high schools with poise and confidence and how enthusiastically they promote HELP and our mission.“…once a student graduates, they no longer need assistance, from HELP or any other aid organization; we can cross the entire family off the list of people who need help, forever.”…the second family I have here.”…we only do one thing, and everyone is dedicated to making sure we do that one thing well.”…we come in as individuals but together we are great.”My other highlight was our morning with the recruiting team. It was eye opening to see the schools our students come from. Classrooms are often grouped together under a corrugated tin roof and separated by partial walls of flimsy plywood so the sounds from one classroom float easily into the next. If you’re not near the front of the class you are as likely to hear someone else’s lesson or students chatting at the back of another classroom as you are your own teacher. I hadn’t fully appreciated the dedication and work required to keep up, never mind excel, in this environment. There is no reason a student who graduates with straight-As should be denied a university education and I hope one day we will have the funds to accept all 200 of our applicants who have already beaten the odds and proven their potential. Returning to the HELP Center, the difference was stark; students were studying in the spacious courtyard, an English teacher gave a poetry lesson and advisors met with students heading into exam week. It’s hard not to learn in this environment.Joan – Without a doubt, the students are my highlight of the trip and our program. I was happy to see them in so many different scenarios, from having dinner with the Student Ambassadors at the Hotel Oloffson where Nikenson Romage (Business ‘19) tried bacon for the first time (“It’s good, I guess, but not what I expected”), to attending an English class where students sang Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” and discussed what lyrics like, “Say what you want to say, and let the words fall out, honestly I want to see you be brave” mean to them.In addition to balancing university classes, HELP classes and extra-curricular activities like internships and the Ambassadors program I was impressed with how eager students are to give back. Not only through the KOREM initiative (donating 15% of their salary for nine years after they graduate), but also through service projects like Sakala, co-founded by a former HELP student as an afterschool program for kids in his violence plagued neighborhood of Cité Soleil. We visited Sakala with HELP students who tutor there. “I’m from this neighborhood so I know how important it is for these kids to have a place like this to come to,” Peterson Jean (Computer Science ’16) told us. “It makes me so proud that HELP contributes to this library and that I can tutor students here.”Visiting Haiti and HELP puts our work in perspective. These students are doing everything they can to build a brighter future for Haiti, and I’m eager to do everything I can to help them achieve that goal. Thanks to the Haiti staff for organizing such an engaging week!