“Oh Americans-they would be almost perfect people except for one thing: if only they would listen!” – John Dorlus
Six weeks ago I was waiting for my airplane to arrive at the gate and be loaded for yet another trip to Haiti – and I didn’t have my book open so I took a good look around me. There were more white American faces than black Haitian faces headed to Port-au-Prince, not an unusual thing. But because my book was not open, I began to think about it. I realized that I, like most of the other blancs (white people), had their agenda well in hand. I had mine in triplicate and had gone over it with the President of my Board of Directors already. And I began to wonder…..I, who had made well over 30 trips to Haiti in the past 17 years, what do the Haitians really think of all of us blancs and our American agendas and ideas about what is best for the Haitians. It became very obvious to me that I needed to spend less time talking on this trip and more time listening. And so this trip became a different sort of trip for me – rather a journey instead of just a trip. I think it became one of the most amazing trips yet.
The program that Haitian Homes for Haitian Orphans had conceived and was ready to birth needed the input from those the program would touch, the Haitians themselves. So I spent several hours just listening for most of a week. I listened to long-term missionaries, Haitian clergy, those who oversaw Haitian orphanages, Haitian educators, and most importantly – a daughter of Haiti who had lived through the orphanage system. Needless to say, there were some flaws in our well-meant, American conceived program.
The term “orphan” in Haiti means any child that is not living with his or her birth parents. A parent that is no longer able to provide economically for a child may turn the child over to a relative, friend, orphanage, or even abandon the child. About 40-50% of the children in orphanages have living parents, most of whom have given them up for economic reasons. Often a child finishes elementary school and then the parent chooses to focus attention on younger siblings. That child is no longer able to attend school or may not even have food or a bed in the home. That child has no future.
Combining the ideas of the Haitians that I talked with and the wonderfully open attitudes of our Board of Directors, we reworked our program into a new and effective way to be pro-active and keep Haitian families together. We will work within the communities with schools and churches to identify families and children who are reaching crisis mode. That is the point at which we will step in. With our sponsors’ gifts we will give families a stipend that covers the basic living expenses for the child the sponsor is covering, and we will pay the school related expenses for the child. The family has been kept intact. A child has been saved from a life of poverty and meaninglessness. Haiti has gained a citizen with critical thinking skills who will be a valuable part of the country’s success.
Several years ago when I was still doing medical clinics, working as a pharmacist in Haiti, I encountered an 11 year old boy whose story still haunts me. We were riding in a truck across the town and a boy was running behind the truck the entire distance. When we finally stopped, he was so winded from running and crying that he could not talk for several minutes. Then his story poured out. Eric’s parents had both died and he was left in the care of an older sister. She could not care for him and she beat him regularly trying to get him to go away. He tried to find someone to take him in, but no one wanted him. The person who ran the clinics also had an orphanage and he begged her to let him live at the orphanage. I was immediately filled with hope for him. But he could not go to the orphanage. It held many younger children, impressionable and sheltered. At 11 years old, Eric had already lived in the streets and seen all of life, sexually and otherwise. He could not go to the orphanage because the other children could not be exposed to him. That was a point of reality for me. For a few years I helped pay a Haitian man whom I trusted to pay for him to go to school and he did learn enough English so that he is now able to get some work as an interpreter now that he is 18 years old. Once in a while I still see him….on the streets. Haitian Homes for Haitian Orphans exists for the Erics in Haiti.
Jane
