Andrea's sister, Nicole recently took a volunteer trip to Haiti so Andrea interviewed her to find out the details about her experience! What a cool thing to do--good job Nicole! Here are the questions she asked her:
Q: How did you get involved with this trip to Haiti?
A: Westerly Road Church in Princeton, NJ and Princeton Evangelical Fellowship, a Princeton University student organization for Christians, joined together to form a team to send to Haiti. I had wanted to go on a short-term mission trip as I had felt God calling me to do so, so I applied for the Haiti, was accepted, and went!
Q: What motivated/captivated you to volunteer for this trip? What were you're motivating factors to go to such a place of poverty?
A: After the earthquake in 2010, I was shocked by the devastation. At that time, I was finishing graduate school and working and I didn’t feel the timing was right for me to travel there. When this trip to Haiti came up this year, I still really wanted to help. I am a Christian and I have chosen to devote my life to Christ. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and the earthquake left it in even worse shape. I wanted to go to serve those in need, but also to grow as a Christian and learn to live more and more by faith.
Q: Did you have any expectations about what you were going to see upon arrival?
A: In some ways, yes. Our team had 5 preparation meetings to train before departing for Haiti. A few team members had visited Haiti since the earthquake so we knew where we were going and what our tasks were going to be. However, I was not expecting to see as much rubble and building devastation from the earthquake as I did. On the day of the earthquake, nearly 300,000 people died. Over 1.5 million were displaced as a result of the earthquake. Many of these people now live outside Port-au-Prince in permanent tents that have no infrastructure (no electricity, no plumbing, no water).
Q: Can you describe what you saw when you arrived?
A: Once we arrived, we saw some of the damage the earthquake had done such as cracks in buildings and fallen walls. We didn’t immediately drive through Port-au-Prince, so much of our initial experience was seeing the displaced people in the tent cities outside Port-au-Prince. Global aid provided temporary tents to people who lost homes in the earthquake. Today, many people are still living in the tents either in a tent city or they have set up a tent along the street, or in a village. Most of our trip was spent in a town one hour north of Port-au-Prince. When we returned to Port-au-Prince four days into our trip, we saw the remains of my buildings destroyed by the earthquake and rubble and garbage lining the streets. Clean up efforts are still underway today.
Q: Did your experience change you? Did it affect you? If so, how and in what ways?
A: Without a doubt this experience changed me. I am forever thankful for simple things I take for granted such as a roof over my head, clean, drinkable water, hot water, an d enough food to sustain me. But, the biggest impact Haiti had on me was the faith of the Haiti people. Over 80% of the people are Christians. Their faith is present everywhere. The taptaps (their taxis) have Bible verses and Jesus painted on the sides. The people gather daily to pray for each other. They shared many stories with us of their faith and their hope that God will bring them out of the wreckage they are in. Even with nothing, they are filled and it was an amazing act of God’s love. I will forever think of the Haitian people and their way of life and know that God’s grace is present everywhere.
Q: Can you describe your mission? What did you set out to accomplish? What did you accomplish?
A: The first few days we worked on a construction site of a new vocational school in Fond Parisien, Haiti. It is estimated that nearly 2/3 of the workforce is unemployed. Our host, the Foundation for Peace, has plans to build a vocational school to train workers in basic skills to be mechanics, electricians, cooks, seamstresses, etc. Our job was to dig the foundation for the school. We dug it by hand with shovels and pick axes as they do not have heavy equipment. After a few days, we went to Camp Hope, a tent city formed for people who suffered from amputations and severe injuries in the earthquake. Here we did a Vacational Bible School afternoon of crafts, games, and snacks with over 300 children in the camp. One day we drove up the mountain to a remote village, Thoman, to pass out water purification tablets. Cholera has become a widespread problem for much of Haiti since October 2010. Many people do not have access to clean drinking water. Our team learned a few phrases in Creole so we could go door-to-door of this village and give AquaTabs and explain how to use them. Our church also donated hygiene kits of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap and those were distributed here as well. As a team, we hoped we would arrive in Haiti, work together, help where we could, and reach out to the Haitians in need. I think we would all say our time there was more than we expected and many of our goals were met. However, we all felt we didn’t want to leave because so much more needs to still be done.
Q: What was your favorite/most memorable part of the trip?
A: The night we arrived we went to a church service in a church in Fond Parisien. The church was nothing more than cinder block walls with cutouts for the doors and windows, a rock floor, a tin roof, and broken school desks for chairs. But, the people were signing and were so joyful. I looked around to see hundreds of people singing louder than any church would sing in the US! I had tears in my eyes during most of the service. I didn’t know what they were saying, but their faith is real and this was so present.
Q: You told me about the children you saw there and how they touched you so much. What was so special about them?
A: We met many children in the tent city, Camp Hope. The children were always happy to see us. The small kids wanted us to hold them, or hold their hands, or play with them. They loved having their pictures taken! And always wondered what treats we had to bring them.
Q: Can you talk about the little girl that you adored so much? What was it about her that drew you to her?
A: Oh yes, she had this beaming smile I couldn’t resist. When we first arrived, we came off the bus and a flood of children came running to us. We were swarmed like rock stars. They touched our hair, our skin, our bracelets, our clothing. There would be 10 kids on me at once. They would hold my hand, get a little bored, and move on to someone else’s hand. I had been doing this for 5-10 minutes with many groups (mostly girls went to girls), but then I felt this hand grab mine and I looked down to see her just smiling away. I immediately picked her up; she was the only one I did because she was all alone. She was maybe 2 or 3. She didn’t speak English and I only wish I could remember her name (I know I asked her because I would ask each of them in Creole their name, tell them mine, and ask how they were). She was so happy to see us. She just wanted to be loved and hugged. Since we couldn’t communicate with the Haitians very well (our Creole was not very good J), smiling, hand holding, hugging, carrying was the best way for us to be with them. I thought about her the rest of the trip!
