Tag: Haiti
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The people of Haiti have never deserved the hand they’ve been dealt, and that only got worse early this morning, when news broke that the president, Jovenel Moise, known as “the Banana Man,” was assassinated and his wife wounded when an as-yet unidentified team of commandos attacked his home near Port-au-Prince. Moise is a complicated and…
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I’m no expert on Haiti. I’ve been there twice in the past four years, for a total of two weeks. But two weeks is more than most folks, and it’s enough to form an impression. And enough to refute our president. Because when President Trump reportedly called Haiti, El Salvador and most of Africa “shithole…
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Even though I’ve been back home for nearly a month, people I haven’t seen in a while keep asking how January’s service trip to Haiti was. My response is along the lines of “Do you want the 20-second version or the 9-hour version?” They think I’m kidding. I am and I’m not. Trying to explain…
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One of the amazing things I learned in Haiti happened in a little room located at the headquarters of the Papaye Peoples Movement (MPP). It was a workshop, actually, where a small team put together and repaired solar panels for use by peasants. The technicians told us that they have been doing this for several…
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A poem I wrote after our scary Wednesday in Haiti. The boy lies limp in the dust Of the road. An argument engulfs him. The boy’s Papa screams, “Who did this? What have you done to my boy?” But no one helps the boy. Ayiti lies on the road under a midday sun, Blood from her…
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There were several times in my time in Haiti when I felt like the world as I had known it was turned upside down. One of those came on Monday, when the current director of the Papaye Peasant Movement visited with us and explained his group’s take on education, specifically adult education. This is one…
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One of the most interesting parts of our stay with the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), in Haiti’s Central Plateau, was the group’s principled take on agriculture. As a child of industrial agriculture (and also as an employee of a company that publishes Organic Life magazine and whose founder, J.I. Rodale, started the organic movement), it was…
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It was the lights of Miami that told me our trip was over. The lights I didn’t take for granted, and that seemed so abundant—excessive and wasteful, even—after a week spent in Haiti’s Central Plateau. The plane ride allowed for some time to take stock of the past three days. None had the emotional rawness…
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Trip co-leader Mike Carpenter warned us at Tuesday night’s evening reflection that if something is going to go wrong during our time in Haiti, it’ll happen on Wednesday. He was right and wrong. The day started with a visit to MPP’s schoolhouse, which was expanded in the past year with a generous gift from the…
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We are settled in with our Haitian hosts after a whirlwind day and a half. The 13 members of the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice service learning trip to Haiti arrived in Port-au-Prince Friday and Saturday. Most of us are from the Main Line and Wellsprings congregations in suburban Philadelphia. This is the first…
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I am headed back to Haiti in early 2016, with my youngest son and members of local Unitarian Universalist congregations—including my own, Wellsprings—so I have my eye on what’s going on there. And the news is not particularly good: The recent run-off for president was criticized as rigged, and led to street protests across the…
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Kelly and I spent a week in Haiti. I can’t say it’s life-transforming—it’s simply too early—I can say it opened my eyes and made me question the rather thoughtless abundance of my existence. What do I need? What do I merely want? What could give up? Below are photos from our trip. Great group of…
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