A Weekend in Haiiti

This past week I had the extremely unique and enlightening experience to travel to Haiti and see the rebuilding process first hand. I traveled there with a small non-profit organization, Let's Share the Sun, which was going to install solar panels on a rural school, which lacked electricity. I traveled with the group of 12 as the photographer, and was lucky enough to be able to capture the heart wrenching scenes that make up Haiti.

Although I had watched the news after the earthquake in 2010, and had seen photos of the "reconstruction," I wasn't prepared for the chaos that we entered - I don't think there is a way I could have prepared for such a scene. Granted many buildings had been rebuilt, or repaired, millions still remain homeless, and are living in tent cities.

As we drove the 18 miles from the airport to Leogane, which was at the epicenter of the quake, much of the road was lined with trash, crumbling buildings and piles of concrete and rebar, which had once been buildings. We were encouraged to see that there was an effort to rebuild, but the extent of poverty and destruction that remained was overwhelming.

Let's Share the Sun's mission is to bring solar panels to a remote school in the mountains, located south of Leogane. The school already had a small solar panel, that Let's Share the Sun had supplied a few months earlier, but our addition of 5 more panels was a significant addition to the school's electric capacity.

The school is located near a cluster of about ten homes, half of which had been destroyed in the earthquake. The rest of the community lived further up in the mountains, and children had to walk two or three hours to the school each day. With the added electricity, the school is now able to serve as a community center, offering 'family movie night' on Saturday nights, as well as a source of light in the darkness.

We also brought 50 solar-powered lanterns with us to distribute to the children. Let's Share the Sun had decided that in addition to powering the school, they wanted to reach out to each individual family. Each child at the school was given a lantern, which he or she will charge at school and take home every night. This will be the only source of light in their homes.

While visiting the school, we sang with the children, and read books--teaching them about solar energy and the possibilities it has. We interacted with them, and got a glimpse into their lives. This was an increasingly humbling experience, as we learned of the extent of their poverty. The people of the mountains have no real source of income. A few earn a small living off of farming peanuts, but the earthquake had destroyed a majority of the other work. Some of the children we were working with suffered from severe malnutrition.

Although it was upsetting to see people living in these conditions, we were given hope. Everyone we met had one thing in common, and that was joy. At first, as a group, we couldn't fathom it. How could they be joyous? Compared to our lives, they had nothing. But, they quickly showed us how wrong we were. Everybody we met had a smile, laughed and tried their hardest to enjoy life. One man explained to us that the most important thing to him was going to church on Sunday. Although it was held outside, since the church had been destroyed during the earthquake, he explained that it gave him hope. He had faith that the future would be better, and that Haiti would get better - and that brought him joy.

 As I looked out the window of the plane and watched the island shrinking below, I thought about all I had seen. It was still with me. It was stuck in my head. I couldn't just get on a plane, go back to the US and resume my life as it had been. Something had changed within me. My perspective. Perspective on what matters and is important to me. The Haitians taught me the most important life lesson: appreciate whatever you have, and have faith for the rest.