For the past few days we have mostly been doing a lot of orientation in our guest house. We took theses first two days as a way to familiarize ourselves with the Haitian culture. It would not have been a good idea for us to try to infiltrate ourselves among the Haitians without being aware of the cultural faux-pas that may affect our relationships with the group that we would work with. As one of the speakers had mentioned to us, "bel bonjou se paspo" (a beautiful greeting is a passport); our first interactions with people will determine the way they interact with us subsequently.
We were all excited to finally go out and get to our work site. It was an experience for us to drive through the streets of Delmas around 7 A.M. on a normal work and school day. There was such a commotion and lively atmosphere going on. Personally, it brought a lot of good memories to see all the students in their different colorful uniforms; rushing to get to school. We also got to experience of little bit of the "blokis" (traffic) that is so not uncommon in the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Just a little background about the service opportunity that we are doing throughout our stay here in Haiti. The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) which we are partnering with also work with Access. Access is a local group in the community that seeks to help members of their community, and they do so by hiring a different group of people every two weeks to remove rubble in their community. This not only allows the accomplishment of a work that needed to be done in the neighborhood, but also allows a group of people who are most of the time out of work to earn some money. After working, they are provided with a hot meal that might be the only one they get for that day in certain cases.
We finally got to meet with all the other workers at the church. They were all pretty warm and welcoming, but as every first encounter, it took a little while for them to warm up to us. The group was mostly composed of women from all ages. Although their was a language barriers for most, they were all willing to work with us and to make this work day a fun one: whether it was by chanting to pass the "bokit" (container that we put the rubble in) or simply using them as drums during our break. We worked at the top of this hill and stood in an assembly line formation to pass down the "bokit" filled with debris that would be picked up at the bottom of the hill and dropped to one the sites officially designated for this purpose. Oh did we work hard! It became a bit more challenging as the sun was coming up. It was a chance for me to see that "fanm Ayisyen gen kouraj" (Haitian women are strong), because where I was struggling, they seemed to be doing the work with much more ease.
In the afternoon, we got to meet with the executive director of Parole & Action (P&A), Eris Labady. P&A is a local organization, funded by a Dutch organization. Unlike many of the NGOs, they seek to foster sustainability in the communities they serve. Their goal is not just to provide a quick fix wherever they go, but they want to work with the members of the community so that at the end of their contract the community is able to function on its own. This focus on capacity building and community sustainability is a concept that many organizations take for granted, which can make a community dependent, and not very self-efficient. P&A focuses on four aspects when working in a certain community; education, health, agriculture and infrastructure. Personally, it was a bit comforting for me to see one of the local organization that understood the culture and the needs of the people they were serving,
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