What's right with Haiti
by Howard B. Schiffer

With all of the recent images of the total destruction in Port-au-Prince flooding the airwaves, and reminders of Haiti’s long-term hardships, poor governance and weak leadership, it is important to remember what’s right with Haiti. Having just visited Haiti in October to view Vitamin Angels on-going programs (Thrive to Five and Operation 20/20) and to meet one of our partners, Hope for Haiti (see the video with their Country Director), I want to share with you some of what I saw.

In March of last year I was working in the Dominican Republic along with Tom Tolworthy from Vitamin Shoppe and Mike Funk, Anabella Funk (10 years), and Tom Dziki from UNFI.  We decided to walk across the border for an impromptu visit to Anse-a-Pitre, Haiti. There we met with Dr. Alexander a young Haitian doctor who has committed his life to serving a population of 30,000 people. With only 12 hour’s notice, he organized a children’s multiple vitamin distribution. Three hundred mothers, babies and toddlers showed up! We also met with a group of young men who were drilling a deep water well for a water purification plant to bring clear water to their community.

In October, I was back in Haiti with Sharon Dressen from Rainbow Light to do vitamin A and prenatal distributions. We landed in Port-au-Prince and immediately visited the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa) baby hospital (we’ve just heard that the hospital survived the earthquake!). Five minutes after we arrived we were in a ward with 25 babies (many orphans or abandoned) and within 10 minutes we each had a baby in our arms. We then visited St. Jorge School where we talked to the children about their dreams (we are still awaiting word to know if the school survived), and ended our day at the Chateau Blond Children’s Hospital, an incredibly modern and impressive facility and learned about their incredible dreams for a full service medical center from Erin (view the interview with Erin). (We just received news that the hospital suffered some damage, that Erin was injured and tragically her brother died in the earthquake). 

We ended our trip in the Southern Peninsula traveling out of Hope for Haiti’s base in Les Cayes. We traveled 4 hours on deeply rutted roads and hiked for 45 minutes to small villages to do distributions and meet the children. Every small town and village we went through, we saw children walking along the road in uniforms on their way to or from school. We met Sister Denise from Baraderes who runs the Little Sisters of St. Therese Clinic. Sister Denise and the other wonderful sisters at the clinic serve a population of 45,000 people, including women who travel long distances on foot for prenatal care at their facility (view the interview with Sister Denise). We also visited Platon, Haiti where dedicated teachers spend their day educating excited children who are so eager to learn. All of these people are doing the most selfless work, living in the most basic conditions and dedicating their lives to helping the children in Haiti.

The children we met are beautiful. During this time I think it is most important to remember them. Haiti has an awful reputation and many people are literally afraid to go there. I can tell you that from having been there recently I'm left remembering the children, who despite having so little, are excited and engaged and thirsting for education, I think of all of the people doing heroic work to give Haiti a chance at a brighter future. And I recall all of the mom’s who walk for miles with children in tow to our vitamin distributions to try to ensure that their children will be healthy.  More than anything I’m left with a lot of hope.    

View more pictures from my trip>>

Read My Notes from the Field: Day 1>> Day 2>> Day 3>>

Read the blogs from the trip: Amy Steets>> Sharon Dressen>>