They could use a hand

My trip to Haiti is actually 2 trips in one. The first week I’m there will be with a medical group out of St. Anne’s Catholic Church. That group will be handing out medication like Tylenol, antibacterial cream, bandages, etc. and instructing people how to use them.  At the end of the week, the team is leaving and I am staying. My wife Tricia and our two older kids are then meeting me there for the following week where we will be helping with the school.  The Kobonal Mission in central Haiti is, among several other things, a school to over 1200 students.  We are going to provide them with things such as pencils, paper, crayons, scissors and the like.  And we are going to get to know them and their culture. My daughter hopes to use this as an opportunity toward her Gold Award in Girl Scouts – perhaps setting up a pen pal program or creating a lesson plan for teachers about what life is like in this region.

Ultimately, we’ll just have to see what, if anything, comes of this trip for US.  But for the people we are visiting, we want to make sure at least something comes of it in terms of assistance in some of the most basic areas.  Some of these students are walking more than 2 hours to school each day and then 2 hours back home.  We’ve heard they take school VERY seriously  and are eager to learn.  But many have nothing to write on or write with which obviously inhibits their ability to learn.  Add to that, eager teachers lack basic resources with which to teach.

Of course we can’t do anything to help their commute. But what we can do is help them have the basic tools they need to be effective when they finally get to school.  At the very least, then, our visit will provide some Haitian kids access to pencils and paper, illustrated learning tools and that sort of thing.  We can’t help them all, we can’t even help a lot, but we can help some and that’s worth it.  Because to me, the school is really the key to an improvement in the humanitarian conditions in Haiti.  Better prepared students will be better students. Better students will be smarter students. Smarter students will be better equipped to solve problems.  And problem solvers is what that country so desperately needs.

If you’d like to help us help these kids, we’d sure appreciate it. We’re not asking for money, just items that seem so trivial here yet are in desperate need over there. Click here to purchase something from our Amazon.com shopping list for Haiti. And thank you!