CoreStrategies Gives Back Haiti 2007 Click here to read about the trip and see some of the photographs

 

The following notes reflect the principals’ observations on their trip to Haiti:

Dateline: April 2007

The unmoving Ft Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport check-in line for the flight to Port-au-Prince snaked half-way across the terminal. Huge suitcases lay piled everywhere. Seems the tie-up concerned the overpacked, way-over-weight luggage—excess baggage’ll cost you plenty—so people were busily repacking everything into carry-ons that would never fit in the overhead bins, occasioning another round of repacking. (We soon learned why people visiting friends and family in Haiti bring so much “stuff” along.)  An hour and a half later we were still in the airport, but at least we were ticketed. It wouldn’t be long before we were boarded and away.

The airport in Port-au-Prince Haiti seemed somehow larger than expected, despite having just one runway to accommodate arriving and departing flights. We exited the plane, and walked across the open tarmac to the distant entrance.

Inside was a man holding a sign that bore our names. Identifying ourselves, we were whisked through a door just inside the terminal. Our diplomatic status through FAVACA assured entrée into a well-appointed receiving area, where an elegant staff offered refreshments. We admired the wall-mounted artwork as English-speaking officials attended to our passports and paraphernalia. Shortly thereafter, we found Chris Beyer, our FAVACA representative, waiting for us.

Chris proved to be a great guide, outstanding program facilitator, and comforting bodyguard: our all-purpose handler! He’d previously lived in Haiti while in the Peace Corps; now, as a frequent return visitor, he ably answered our questions concerning the island’s history and people.

The ride to our hotel took some 45 minutes. Beyond the car windows, drainage ditches filled with stagnant water, sewage and trash lined both sides of the road. The unending tableau of construction sites with no workers, half-reared, incomplete buildings, and projects stalled for a lack of money, appeared depressingly permanent. We learned that after dark, thousands of people slip off the streets into these unfinished warrens and mazes.  No wonder that in Haiti, the average life expectancy is 47 years old. 

The rank smells of diesel, crowds and heat assailed us. There seemed not an empty space in all of Port-au-Prince; just lots of people, especially young people, and cars.We’d been told the country lacked automobiles, yet the streets were jammed bumper to bumper. It also appears that drivers kind of make up the rules as they go along. Chris, fortunately, drives with panache, an admirable mix of grit and caution. But it’s not just the cars. The people, too, cross everywhere, all without looking. They simply assume that you’re the one going to stop.

Haiti is known as ‘little Africa’ for good reason—it feels like Africa. Everywhere people balance baskets atop their heads while lugging goods or children, and everything is in a constant swirl of motion. Shops, lean-to’s, really, of wood or corrugated iron—or blankets simply spread upon the ground—feature vendors squatting cheek-by-jowl selling their wares of fruit, roosters, art, vegetables, drinks, cooking oil, clothes. We saw only one small, forlorn grocery store.  Shoes hang inexplicably from the garishly adorned cement walls that are everywhere but support nothing. The many barbershops and beauty parlors were easy to spot. They advertise, as in Africa, by pictograph. Here, large painted heads sport flamboyant coifs and hairdos.

At some point each day, we found, people converge at a neighborhood spot where water trucks dole out the daily allotment. Thunderstorms are a welcome event. One can leave out buckets to catch the rain.

UN personnel patrol the streets in trucks armed with large-caliber weapons. Their role? Ensure stability. This country brims with illegal arms, drug trafficking, roaming gangs and abject poverty; unemployment is 80 percent. It’s also a country of palatial homes isolated behind guarded gates. Amidst these extremes of poverty and wealth, children of all socio-economic levels attend school, if they can. Dressed in colorful uniforms, they look like children anywhere in the world as walk hand in hand and laugh. 

Small flatbed ‘tap-tap’ jitneys with a roof but no windows (most bright with handpainted religious themes), cram passengers onto wooden benches, or permit their dangling from the sides and back. Tap-taps are infamous for weaving crazily down narrow alleyways filled with potholes. Riders tap-tap the roof to announce their intended stop. Rain, sunshine, heat, it doesn’t matter—passengers are forever hanging off these bucking tap-taps. Chris allowed that it gets “quite warm” with all those bodies.

As we neared our destination we began to see modern banks with large sculptures in front, and billboards featuring computer store and cell phone ads. We noted that one company employed a marketing strategy familiar in the US, namely, giving away t-shirts at special events. High-end galleries with vaulted ceilings sold nothing for less than $1,000 US–no bargaining, please. There were also expensive restaurants with sophisticated ambience serving great food. Still, like everywhere else, the streets were crowded, unpaved and dirty. Many buildings appeared to be merely facades.

While we’d been warned not to drink the water in Haiti, our hotel assured us we could safely drink from the thermoses left in our rooms. Just to be sure, though, we’d brought along a suitcaseful of bottled water, and usually drank Coca-Cola at the hotel restaurant. We also avoided fruits without thick skins, or uncooked vegetables. And, we used plenty of insect repellent, not fully trusting our anti-malarial medicines. 

Back in Port-au-Prince, the chairman of Fondamie had invited us to visit the office. We had been told about the dangers of the center city, but we felt it essential to see the program. Arriving, we found a small complex set behind a wall covered with barbed-wire loops and broken bottles cemented along the top. Mauraders beware! A walk in the small courtyard revealed window bars of wonderfully worked wrought-iron. Beautiful, yes, but they still served the necessary purpose of security. Inside, the small rooms had high ceilings and thick walls to help keep things cool. In 10 minutes we found ourselves drenched and realized that “cool” is relative.  Computers sat on desks in all the offices, but save for a few faded wall photos, the rooms were empty. A back courtyard appeared similar to the forecourt. They said that some of the children played there. We noticed the lack of space and play equipment.  We also noticed the rubble lying in one corner.

 

The Training

We called the meeting for 9:00am at our hotel. Coming from breakfast at 8:15, we saw a number of people already in the lobby. At 9:00 sharp, 35 people filed into the meeting room. Young adults, staff and board members all sat attentively around a U-shaped table. The young adults, students at a nearby university, are studying public relations, management and business. They are gathered here at the behest of Fondamie’s executive director and board chair, themselves adjunct professors. The students were expressly recruited to put their talents to use on behalf of Fondamie. Clearly, they’d been told how special this opportunity to learn new skills and concepts was. 

Two translators were provided for us, which was helpful since none of us speak Creole. Building thoughts into complex dialogue at first yields frustration; but together we worked through the challenge of translating large ideas simply into a foreign language.  Everyone, including the participants, help using English, Creole and French. It works. The group suddenly connects in understanding—Eureka! The discussion became substantial, thoughts turned creative, and problem solving grew far-reaching. This was teamwork at its best: using creative group dynamics to collaborate successfully.

The second day, we divided into small groups to create plans of action. Each group was assigned a specific goal. Around the room, we could hear the participants using the same mental processes they’d just learned in training. How gratifying!

Our fantastic translators interface between presenters and group, and write in Creole as we write in English. The participants rapidly grasp the basic principles we’ve been sharing of fund raising, marketing and public relations, and use them to sequence ideas and plans of action. They are nearly ready to act as an important organizational support. Investing time and energy to achieve worthwhile goals, and mastering critical issues through sophisticated concepts, energizes the entire room. The group has formed that exact nexus where ideas and action converge positively—an experience they will surely remember! 

And, it’s thrilling to note that in a sea of unrelieved poverty, abysmal living conditions, and a dire lack of opportunity there are still energetic, bright young people able to carry this country forward.

Our efforts are rewarded. Even at the end of Day One we received many thank-yous, and one student delivered a beautiful note addressed in English. However, the end of Day Two showed how much everyone really cared. One of Fondamie’s sponsors is personally involved with the issues of orphans and the blind. She asked a group of blind musicians to entertain us. A touching presentation ceremony followed where each of us, including Chris, received a large hand-carved isle of Haiti plaque. Then the same student who’d penned the previous day’s note made another presentation, this time of two Haitian dollars. Old, and long out of circulation, the bills featured a striking portrait of Toussaint L’Ouverture, liberator of Haiti. They were given to us with the message that unlike most foreigners who come only to take, we had come to give and were therefore accepted as family. Everyone’s eyes welled up, and Chris announced that he’d never seen such an outpouring of gratitude. All in all, an exceptionally rewarding experience!

In too-short order, we were back at the airport awaiting our flight. We took a last opportunity to scour the meager shops, and found a few tangible souvenirs of this fascinating journey. Then we made the reverse trip across the tarmac, and in minutes Haiti appeared only another small island set against the backdrop of the turquoise sea.  However, it shall always remain significant in our minds and hearts.